The House of Mannon

The House of Mannon Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra is a play of revenge, sacrifice, and murder conveyed through visible references to Aeschylus' House of Atreus. O'Neill alludes to The House of Atreus in order to ground the play; attaching the plot to well-known aspects of history. As well, it brings a certain significance that otherwise would be neglected if their underlying manifestations went unnoticed. The most prominent of these allusions is that to Aeschylus' House of Atreus. O'Neill specifically modeled Mourning around Aeschylus' work, modernizing it, applying it to a new generation of readers. Agamemnon, a general in the Trojan War, becomes Ezra Mannon, a Civil War soldier of the same rank. Ezra "was a great man...he was a power for good" (323). He was well respected within the community - he was a Mannon. "They've been top dog around here for near on two hundred years and don't let folks ferget it" (265). A renowned man with a name that connotes wealth and power, comes home physically drained from battle, yet emotionally in touch with himself, to his wife, Christine, who shadows Aeschylus' Clytemnestra. The town perceived Christine negatively; "she ain't the Mannon kind" (265). She would come to conspire with Brant (Aegisthus), further tainting the Mannon name, in order to "bring you (Brant) my share of the Mannon estate" (294). Christine poisons her husband, both literally and figuratively, by not only disclosing her relationship with Adam Brant, but by administering poison in place of heart medicine to her enraged husband, thus killing him. Lavinia (Electra), rushes in when she hears her father's cries, only to have him say to her, "She's guilty - not medicine," (316) as he falls limply back onto the bed. It is at this juncture in the story that Lavinia hereby begins a vendetta with her mother, by saying "You murdered him just the same - by telling him! I suppose you think you'll be free to marry Adam now! But you wont'! Not while I'm alive! I'll make you pay for your crime! I'll find a way to punish you!" (317). Following the storyline of The House of Atreus, Orin, (Aeschylus' Orestes) arrives home from battle, finding a cold, dark house, one that he is not familiar with. In conversation with Peter, he asks, "Did the house always look so ghostly and dead?" (327), and continues to contrast it with a "tomb" (327). In actuality, the house is much like a tomb, a tomb for the poisoned Ezra Mannon who found his fate at the hand of his own wife. This parallels Clytemnestra's killing of Agamemnon in order to further explore her love interest, Aegisthus, as well as Orestes' homecoming. Orestes later takes his own life, escaping certain agony and torment. Prior to Orestes' suicide, however, he conspires with his sister, Electra, in attempt to prevent their mother from becoming romantically involved with Aegisthus. Ultimately, the only ample resolution to prevent such an event from transpiring is the murder of Aegisthus, which is executed by Electra and Orestes. This series of events directly parallels the actions of Lavinia and Orin in response to their mother's display of love for Captain Adam Brant. Christine, in a moment of loss and severe depression, commits suicide with a revolver; her son follow suit, leaving Lavinia alone in the Mannon estate. With Lavinia left to endure a lifetime of guilt stricken sorrow, the Mannon dead plague her continuously, much like when Orin was still alive. The Mannon dead serve the same purpose as Aeschylus' furies in that they "haunt" Lavinia and Orin, eventually leading to Orin's suicide and Lavinia's assumption of responsibility. There were no ghosts, spirits, or specters present, merely portraits that kept a vigil on the house and the Mannon name. O'Neill alludes to the House of Atreus with the intention of expressing the revenge, the hatred, the murderous contempt that threads itself throughout the play. Christine openly expresses her adulterous love for Brant when she spurts out Yes, I dared! And all my trips to New York weren't to visit Father but to be with Adam! He's gentle and tender, he's everything you've never been. He's what I've longed for all these years with you-a lover! I love him! So now you know the truth!"(315). O'Neill also mimics the characters' names as close as possible to that of Aeschylus' original work. By using these techniques, O'Neill pulls together the story of The House of Atreus with similar names for his characters, and masks it, modernizes it, adapts it. One concept that remains unmasked is that of the Oedipal and Electra complexes. The Oedipus complex concerns a male child's love for his mother, while the Electra complex is the exact sexual opposite. Throughout the play, Lavinia exhibits a strange attraction to her father; more emotionally involved then most father-daughter