The Iceman Cometh

Eugene O'Neill

• Publisher: Passerino
• Year: 2026
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9791224728931
• Subtopic: American Drama
• Index: Literature

They all have a dream. They all have an excuse. And they all believe tomorrow will be different. In a shabby New York saloon, a group of lost souls drinks away the days, clinging to old promises, failed ambitions, and comforting lies. Then Theodore “Hickey” Hickman walks through the door. Usually the man who brings laughter and whiskey, Hickey has changed. He now claims to have found the secret to peace: give up the illusions, face the truth, and stop waiting for a better tomorrow.
But truth comes at a price. As Hickey forces his old friends to confront the lives they have wasted and the dreams they have never fulfilled, the atmosphere turns darker, more desperate, and increasingly dangerous. Powerful, unsettling, and unforgettable, The Iceman Cometh is Eugene O’Neill’s masterpiece about broken dreams, friendship, addiction, guilt, and the lies we tell ourselves in order to survive. A gripping American classic that asks one haunting question: what happens when hope itself becomes impossible?

Eugene O’Neill (1888–1953) was one of the most influential American playwrights of the twentieth century and a major figure in modern drama. Known for his intense psychological realism and tragic vision, he explored themes such as family conflict, guilt, addiction, loneliness, and the struggle between illusion and truth. His best-known works include The Iceman Cometh, Long Day’s Journey into Night, Mourning Becomes Electra, and The Emperor Jones. O’Neill received four Pulitzer Prizes for Drama and, in 1936, became the first American playwright to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Table of contents

• Cover
• The Iceman Cometh
• Table of contents
• Characters
• Act One
• Act Two
• Act Three
• Act Four