Mourning becomes Electra.

               Mourning becomes Electra 

                                                  Eugene O’Neill

                           The play ‘Mourning becomes Electra’ is written by the American play writer Eugene O’Neill published in 1931. He was born on 16^th October 1888 and died on 27^th November 1953. The play is much inspired by the Greek ancient play ‘Oresteia’ by Aeschylus. Of course because here it is modern play it has modernist features. In both the plays the characters are much similar. The play ‘Mourning becomes Electra’ is divided into three parts: 1) Homecoming 2) The Hunted & 3) The Haunted.

               The play ‘Mourning becomes Electra’ tells the story of the Mannon family. All most all members were having high position in the society. That is why they were the talk of the town. Many people also tried come near to the Mannon family to know about them. The town was proud upon Ezra Mannon, but not upon her wife Christine Mannon; because she was having foreign look. Lavinia and Orin are the siblings. The other thing about this family was almost all the male family members were having same kind of look.

This is the story of Lavinia Mannon. She loves her father so much and from the childhood she thinks that her mother is her envy. Her father spends 10 years in army and stay away from the house. During these 10 years her mother Christine falls in love with her husband’s stepbrother Adam Brand. When Ezra comes back he feels gap between husband and wife. He behaves as if during these ten he was here with his wife. He tells her wife to forget about these 10 years. It was not so easy for her and she openly confesses her love with Adam Brand. She tells that when she marries Ezra she was in love with him but after marriage she feels disgusting towards Ezra. She needs a lover and that’s why she goes to New-york to meet Adam Brand. Hearing this truth Ezra feels something in his left side may be heart-attack. And after taking the medicine he died. Here ambiguity remains that whether it was his nature death or he died because of medicines given by his wife Christine.

Here other notable thing is that Lavinia also wants to receive her father’s love. When her father was away from her she all the time was thinking that when her father will be here she will receive all his attention and love. Even when Peter proposes her she denies his proposal and says that her relationship with him is like brother and sister and she can’t marry him because her father needs her. Here we can see Lavinia’s too much love towards her father. Even when after ten years her father comes at home he ordered her to go into bedroom which doesn.t like. Her father wanted to spend some time with his wife, and that is why Lavinia thinks that her mother is competitor. Here we can see the Electra complex in Lavinia’s character.