Mourning Becomes Electra- Eugene
O'Neill
Plot Overview
1. The
Homecoming-
It is late spring
afternoon in front of the Mannon house. The master of the house,
Brigadier-General Ezra Mannon, is soon to return from war. Lavinia, Ezra's
severe daughter, has just come, like her mother Christine, from a trip to New
York. Seth, the gardener, takes the anguished girl aside. He needs to warn her
against her would-be beau, Captain Brant. Before Seth can continue, however,
Lavinia's suitor Peter and his sister Hazel, arrive. Lavinia stiffens. If Peter
is proposing to her again, he must realize that she cannot marry anyone because
Father needs her.
Lavinia asks Seth to
resume his story. Seth asks if she has not noticed that Brant looks just like
her all the other male Mannons. He believes that Brant is the child of David
Mannon and Marie Brantôme, a Canuck nurse, a couple expelled from the house for
fear of public disgrace. Suddenly Brant himself enters from the drive.
Calculatingly Lavinia derides the memory of Brant's mother. Brant explodes and
reveals his heritage. Lavinia's grandfather loved his mother and jealously cast
his brother out of the family. Brant has sworn vengeance.
A moment later, Lavinia
appears inside her father's study. Christine enters indignantly, wondering why
Lavinia has summoned her. Lavinia reveals that she followed her to New York and
saw her kissing Brant. Christine defiantly tells Lavinia that she has long
hated Ezra and that Lavinia was born of her disgust. She loves her brother Orin
because he always seemed hers alone. Lavinia coldly explains that she intends
to keep her mother's secret for Ezra's sake. Christine must only promise to
never see Brant again. Laughingly Christine accuses her daughter of wanting
Brant herself. Lavinia has always schemed to steal her place. Christine agrees
to Lavinia's terms. Later she proposes to Brant that they poison Ezra and
attribute his death to his heart trouble. One week later, Lavinia stands
stiffly at the top of the front stairs with Christine. Suddenly Ezra enters and
stops stiffly before his house. Lavinia rushes forward and embraces him.
Once she and Ezra alone,
Christine assures her that he has nothing to suspect with regards to Brant.
Ezra impulsively kisses her hand. The war has made him realize that they must
overcome the wall between them. Calculatingly Christine assures him that all is
well. They kiss. Toward daybreak in Ezra's bedroom, Christine slips out from
the bed. Mannon's bitterly rebukes her. He knows the house is not his and that
Christine awaits his death to be free.
Christine deliberately
taunts that she has indeed become Brant's mistress. Mannon rises in fury,
threatening her murder, and then falls back in agony, begging for his medicine.
Christine retrieves a box from her room and gives him the poison. Mannon
realizes her treachery and calls Lavinia for help. Lavinia rushes to her
father. With his dying effort, Ezra indicts his wife: "She's guilty—not
medicine!" he gasps and then dies. Her strength gone, Christine collapses
in a faint.
2.
The
Hunted
Peter, Lavinia, and Orin
arrive at the house. Orin disappointedly complains of Christine's absence. He
jealously asks Lavinia about what she wrote him regarding Brant. Lavinia warns
him against believing Christine's lies.
Suddenly Christine
hurries out, reproaching Peter for leaving Orin alone. Mother and son embrace
jubilantly. Suspiciously Orin asks Christine about Brant. Christine explains
that Lavinia has gone mad and begun to accuse her of the impossible. Orin sits
at Christine's feet and recounts his wonderful dreams about her and the South
Sea Islands. The Islands represented all the war was not: peace, warmth, and
security, or Christina herself. Lavinia reappears and coldly calls Orin to see
their father's body. In the study, Orin tells Lavinia that Christine has
already warned him of her madness. Calculatingly Lavinia insists that Orin
certainly cannot let their mother's paramour escape. She proposes that they
watch Christine until she goes to meet Brant herself. Orin agrees.
The night after Ezra's
funeral, Brant's clipper ship appears at a wharf in East Boston. Christine
meets Brant on the deck, and they retire to the cabin to speak in private.
Lavinia and an enraged Orin listen from the deck. The lovers decide to flee
east and seek out their Blessed Islands. Fearing the hour, they painffully bid
each other farewell. When Brant returns, Orin shoots him and ransacks the room
to make it seem that Brant has been robbed.
The following night
Christine paces the drive before the Mannon house. Orin and Lavinia appear,
revealing that they killed Brant. Christine collapses. Orin knees beside her
pleadingly, promising that he will make her happy, that they can leave Lavinia
at home and go abroad together. Lavinia orders Orin into the house. He obeys. Christine
glares at her daughter with savage hatred and marches into the house. Lavinia
determinedly turns her back on the house, standing like a sentinel. A shot is
heard from Ezra's study. Lavinia stammers: "It is justice!"
3.
The
Haunted
A year later, Lavinia
and Orin return from their trip East. Lavinia's body has lost its military
stiffness and she resembles her mother perfectly. Orin has grown dreadfully
thin and bears the statue-like attitude of his father. In the sitting room,
Orin grimly remarks that Lavinia's has stolen Christine's soul. Death has set
her free to become her. Peter enters from the rear and gasps, thinking he has
seen Christine's ghost. Lavinia approaches him eagerly. Orin jealously mocks
his sister, accusing her of becoming a true romantic during their time in the
Islands.
A month later, Orin
works intently at a manuscript in the Mannon study. Lavinia knocks sharply at
the locked door. With forced casualness, she asks Peter what he is doing. Orin
insists that they must atone for Mother's death. As the last male Mannon, he
has written a history of the family crimes, from Abe's onward. Lavinia is the
most interesting criminal of all. She only became pretty like Mother on Brant's
Islands, with the natives staring at her with desire.
When Orin accuses her of
sleeping with one of them, she assumes Christine's taunting voice. Reacting
like Ezra, Orin grasps his sister's throat, threatening her murder. He has
taken Father's place and she Mother's. A moment later, Hazel and Peter appear
in the sitting room. Orin enters, insisting that he see Hazel alone. He gives
her a sealed envelope, enjoining her to keep it safe from his sister. She
should only open it if something happens to him or if Lavinia tries to marry
Peter. Lavinia enters from the hall. Hazel moves to leave, trying to keep
Orin's envelope hidden behind her back. Rushing to Orin, Lavinia beseeches him
to make her surrender it. Orin complies.
Orin tells his sister
she can never see Peter again. A "distorted look of desire" comes
into his face. Lavinia stares at him in horror, saying, "For God's sake!
No! You're insane! You can't mean!" Lavinia wishes his death. Startled,
Orin realizes that his death would be another act of justice. Mother is
speaking through Lavinia. Peter appears in the doorway. Unnaturally casual,
Orin remarks that he was about to go clean his pistol and exits. Lavinia throws
herself into Peter's arms. A muffled shot is heard.
Three days later,
Lavinia appears dressed in deep mourning. A resolute Hazel arrives and insists
that Lavinia not marry Peter. The Mannon secrets will prevent their happiness.
She already has told Peter of Orin's envelope. Peter arrives, and the pair
pledges their love anew. Started by the bitterness in his voice, Lavinia
desperately flings herself into his arms crying, "Take me, Adam!"
Horrified, Lavinia orders Peter home. Lavinia cackles that she is bound to the
Mannon dead. Since there is no one left to punish her, she must punish herself she
must entomb herself in the house with the ancestors.
Reference-
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