Experience the raw power of Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, ‘Anna Christie’, and read the complete play online for free.
Premiering in 1921 and awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1922, Anna Christie is one of Eugene O’Neill’s early masterpieces and a landmark of American naturalist theater. The play shatters romantic illusions about the sea and confronts the grim realities of prostitution, addiction, and forgiveness with unflinching honesty. The story revolves around Anna Christopherson, a young woman who arrives in New York to reunite with her father, Old Chris, a Swedish-born barge captain who has idealized her for fifteen years as an innocent farm girl back in Minnesota. The truth is far darker: after being abandoned to relatives, Anna was sexually abused and forced into a life of prostitution.
The tense reunion aboard Chris’s coal barge is further complicated by the rescue of shipwrecked sailors, including Mat Burke, a boastful, soulful Irish stoker. A powerful, elemental attraction flares between Anna and Mat, offering her a glimpse of redemption and honest love. However, the weight of her past and the lies she and her father have told threaten to destroy this fragile hope. O’Neill’s genius lies in his sympathetic, complex characterizations and his poetic use of the sea as both a literal force and a metaphor for fate, forgiveness, and the inescapable past. The famous, ambiguous ending offers not a tidy resolution, but a hard-won, tentative peace.
On this page, you can engage with this groundbreaking work of American drama. We offer the complete 1921 play for online reading.
Book Info
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Title | Anna Christie |
| Author | Eugene O’Neill |
| Year of Publication | 1921 (first production) / 1922 (Pulitzer) |
| Genre | Drama, Naturalist Theater, Tragedy |
| Language | English |
| Legal Status | Public Domain |
| Format | Online Reading |
[Read Anna Christie Online]
Step aboard the barge and into a storm of secrets. Begin this powerful play by exploring the first act interactively below.
This preview introduces Old Chris and the arrival of Anna, but the full, emotional tempest of confession, confrontation, and strained hope is available in the complete text for our subscribers.
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About Anna Christie
O’Neill elevates a potentially melodramatic plot into high tragedy through psychological realism, symbolic depth, and his innovative use of vernacular speech.
The Character of Anna
Anna is one of O’Neill’s great female creations—hardened by life yet yearning for purity, fiercely independent yet desperately seeking connection. Her journey is one of reclaiming her voice and her story. Her long, cathartic confession in Act III is a tour de force of dramatic writing, stripping away pretense and demanding to be seen for who she truly is.
Old Chris and the “Old Devil Sea”
Chris Christopherson embodies O’Neill’s complex relationship with the maritime life. He is a “foine, good man” in many ways, yet a negligent father who blames all life’s misfortunes on the “old devil sea.” His superstitious fatalism is both a character trait and a philosophical stance, contrasting with Anna’s more grounded, if wounded, realism.
Mat Burke: The Elemental Force
Mat is passion incarnate—boastful, religious, quick-tempered, and profoundly romantic. His love for Anna is possessive and puritanical, making her confession a shattering blow to his identity. Their relationship dramatizes the conflict between idealized love and the complicated truth of a lived life.
Naturalism and Setting
The play is a classic of theatrical naturalism. The detailed setting (the bar in Act I, the fog-shrouded barge thereafter) is a crucial determinant of character and mood. The ever-present fog symbolizes obscurity, secrecy, and the blurred lines of morality, while the sea represents the fateful, uncontrollable forces that shape the characters’ lives.
Themes of Determinism vs. Free Will
The characters feel trapped by forces beyond their control: the sea, societal hypocrisy, economic desperation, and family legacy. A central question of the play is whether they can break these cycles. Anna’s act of confession is a pivotal assertion of free will, an attempt to cleanse her past and define her future.
Language and Dialect
O’Neill meticulously crafts the dialects of his characters—Chris’s Swedish-inflected English, Mat’s Irish brogue, the slang of the waterfront. This not only adds authenticity but also highlights their social positions and cultural identities, making their communication (and miscommunication) a central dramatic element.
The Ambiguous Ending
The conclusion is famously open-ended. The “happy ending” of reunion is undercut by Chris’s muttered curse against the sea and the persistent fog. O’Neill offers not salvation, but a temporary armistice, a moment of grace earned through brutal honesty, with the future and the power of the past still uncertain.
Why Read Anna Christie Today?
It remains a powerfully relevant drama about trauma, shame, and the search for self-forgiveness. Its critique of how society creates and then condemns “fallen women” is still potent. As a piece of theater, it showcases O’Neill’s revolutionary ability to find tragic grandeur in the lives of ordinary, flawed people.
FAQ
Is the play misogynistic in its portrayal of Anna?
A modern reading must contend with the context. While the plot revolves around her sexual history, O’Neill’s treatment is remarkably sympathetic and progressive for 1921. Anna is given immense agency, voice, and complexity; she is a victim, but she is never merely a victim. She judges herself more harshly than the play ultimately does.
What is the significance of the title change from the short story “Chris Christopherson”?
The shift from the father’s name to the daughter’s in the title marks the play’s central focus: it is Anna’s story of reckoning and potential rebirth, not just Chris’s story of paternal failure.
How was the play received?
It was a massive commercial and critical success, solidifying O’Neill’s reputation and winning the Pulitzer. The original Broadway production starred Pauline Lord, who was acclaimed for her performance.
Is the famous Greta Garbo film adaptation faithful?
The 1930 MGM film (“Garbo Talks!”) is a Hollywood version with a significantly softened, more conventionally romantic ending that betrays O’Neill’s ambiguous, naturalistic conclusion.
Can I read it on my phone?
Absolutely. The dramatic format and intense dialogue make it a gripping and fast-paced read on any device.