A Doomed Tragedy
Mourning Becomes Electra(1931), a masterpiece play in American literary history, is a trilogy dealing with the tragic story happening to a New England family in the Civil War period. As T.S. Eliot once observed, 'good poets borrow, while great poet steal.' The great playwright Eugene O'Neil also stole the plot for Mourning Becomes Electra from Oresteia by Aeschylus, a noted Greek tragedian. He successfully situated the ancient story of family murder and divine retribution in civil war America and proved it to be an artistic triumph. Apparently, the title indicates O'Neil's interest in the daughter, Lavinia Mannon(Electra), who avenges the murder of her father Ezra( Agamemnon) by his wife Christine(Clytemnestra) and her lover, Ezra's cousin Adam Brant(Aegisthus). Part one of the trilogy, Homecoming, describes Ezra's poisoning upon his return to New England in 1865 from serving as a Union general in the American civil war; part two, The Hunted, depicts the outraged Lavinia manipulating her neurotic, Oedipal brother Orin(Orestes) into killing Brant and goading Christine into taking her life. The final play, The Haunted, finds Lavinia worried that Orin, driven half-insane by guilt and incestuous desire, will confess and tarnish the
The past is governed by one's ancestors. Consequently, she cotrived together with Brant the scheme of poisoning Ezra. However, in the end, she felt that she was unable to evade the influence of the dead and begin a new life, she returned to her puritan, Mannon self again. In addition, she had a secret affection for her mother's lover, Adam, who looked exactly like her father. This remark also reveals O'Neil's determinism, which is in large part itself determined by the Greek tragedians, Freud, and early twentieth century American culture. In the beginning, she was harsh and severe, boyish in appearance, which was a token of her repressed femininity. She became jealous of Christine and hated her disloyalty to Ezra. No matter what pursuit of love each Mannon had, they all cherished a dream of leading a carefree pagan life in the Blessed Isles, which was a yearning for prenatal non-competitive freedom from fear. Conscious of his guilt, he resorted to alcohol and became a heavy drinker. Young, handsome, and full of vitality, Adam possessed the qualities she desired of a lover. He lived under the self-imposed oppression by the life-denying puritan ideology, and became indifferent, rigid, and devoid of any vitality. After Christine's death, she was no longer grim and severe, instead, she displayed her natural disposition, turning into an enthusiastic and attractive woman, just like her mother. And she saw him as a man who can help her cast off the fetters put on by the Mannons.
Common topics in this essay:
Ezra Lavinia,
Ezra Ezra,
Haunted Lavinia,
O'Neil Puritanism,
Oresteia Aeschylus,
Christine Lavinia,
Mourning Electra1931,
Blessed Isles,
Adam Brant,
Adam BrantAegisthus,
civil war,
mother's lover,
mannon family,
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Acceptance Essays
