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The play opens with a lengthy stage description. What effect does this have, and why might O'Neill have added so much detail?
The curtain opens on a grand hall, the emperor's throne room on a tropical island. While the room is sparsely furnished, we see the throne dedicated to the eponymous "emperor" before we see anything else. O'Neill paints a detailed description of the room itself that not only gives technical instructions for how to appoint the stage, but also have a novelistic attention to detail and tone. Not only do we the reader know what the set is to look like, but also, to a certain extent, how it is meant to make the audience feel.
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What role does Smithers...
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