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69-545: The story is a retelling of the Oresteia by Aeschylus . The characters parallel characters from the ancient Greek plays. For example, Agamemnon from the Oresteia becomes General Ezra Mannon. Clytemnestra becomes Christine, Orestes becomes Orin, Electra becomes Lavinia, Aegisthus becomes Adam Brant, etc. As a Greek tragedy made modern, the play features murder , adultery , incestuous love , and revenge , as well as

138-568: A "ravage" between mother and daughter; Doris Bernstein sees the murder as a step on the path towards Electra's individuation; and Melanie Klein views it as emblematic of the dual power of the psyche to split of the mother into a good object and a bad one. Serena Heller recalls Ronald Britton's idea of the Athene-Antigone Complex to explain Electra's hatred of her mother deriving from an intense idolization of her father and, thus,

207-476: A compulsion to exonerate herself from the restraints of feminity and the female body. Once the girl recognizes her gendered difference in the world, she must undergo re-cognition, deciding whether to mourn the maleness that she does not possess, or engage in a choice which frees them from their gendered bind. Athene, Antigone, and Electra all have a desire for "female castration" that dictates their choices in their patriarchal societies. Amber Jacobs also claims that

276-630: A constructive force of vigilance in Athens. She then changes their names from the Furies to "the Eumenides" which means "the Gracious Ones". Athena then ultimately rules that all trials must henceforth be settled in court rather than being carried out personally. Proteus ( Πρωτεύς , Prōteus ), the satyr play which originally followed the first three plays of The Oresteia , is lost except for

345-450: A group of townspeople who function as a kind of Greek chorus . Although fate alone guides characters' actions in Greek tragedies, O'Neill's characters also have motivations grounded in 1930s -era psychological theory. The play can easily be read from a Freudian perspective, paying attention to various characters' Oedipus complexes and Electra complexes . Mourning Becomes Electra

414-432: A light far off in the distance—a bonfire signaling Troy's fall—and is overjoyed at the victory and hopes for the hasty return of his king, as the house has "wallowed" in his absence. Clytemnestra is introduced to the audience, and she declares that there will be celebrations and sacrifices throughout the city as Agamemnon and his army return. Upon the return of Agamemnon, his wife laments in full view of Argos how horrible

483-522: A passive role and do not influence the plot. In contrast, The Libation Bearers ' Chorus desire vengeance, and influence both Electra 's and Orestes ' actions, shepherding Orestes towards revenge. The final play of the Oresteia , called The Eumenides ( Εὐμενίδες , Eumenídes ), illustrates how the sequence of events in the trilogy ends up in the development of social order or a proper judicial system in Athenian society. In this play, Orestes

552-454: A secret for Ezra's sake but Christine must promise to never see Brant again. Christine accuses her daughter of wanting Brant for herself. Christine then appears to agree to Lavinia's terms but proposes to Brant that they poison Ezra and attribute his death to his heart trouble. Act III One week later, Lavinia stands at the top of the front stairs with Christine waiting for Ezra. When he arrives, Lavinia rushes forward and embraces him. Once Ezra

621-627: A son of Hermes, catalyzing the curse of the House of Atreus. Pelops had two children, Atreus and Thyestes , who are said to have killed their half-brother Chrysippus, and were therefore banished. Thyestes and Aerope , Atreus' wife, were found out to be having an affair, and in an act of vengeance, Atreus murdered his brother's sons, cooked them, and then fed them to Thyestes. Thyestes had a son with his daughter and named him Aegisthus, who went on to kill Atreus. Atreus' children were Agamemnon , Menelaus , and Anaxibia . Leading up to here, we can see that

690-481: A stop near the end of The Eumenides when Athena decides to introduce a new legal system for dealing out justice. Justice through the law is achieved in The Eumenides . After Orestes begged Athena for deliverance from the Furies, she granted him his request in the form of a trial. Rather than forgiving Orestes directly, Athena put him to trial to find a just answer to the question of his innocence. This

759-566: A two-line fragment preserved by Athenaeus . It is widely believed to have been based on the story told in Book IV of Homer 's Odyssey , where Menelaus, Agamemnon's brother, tries to return home from Troy and finds himself on an island off Egypt, "whither he seems to have been carried by the storm described in Agam.674 ". The title character, "the deathless Egyptian Proteus ", the Old Man of

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828-518: A wharf in East Boston. Christine sneaks out to meet Brant on the deck, and they retire to the cabin. Lavinia and an enraged Orin (who followed their mother from the house) listen from the deck. Brant and Christine decide to flee east and seek out their Blessed Islands. they painfully bid each other farewell. When Brant returns, Orin shoots him and ransacks the room to make it seem that Brant has been robbed. Act V The following night Christine paces

897-469: Is a principal motivator for most characters in Oresteia . The theme starts in Agamemnon with Clytemnestra, who murders her husband, Agamemnon, in order to obtain vengeance for his sacrificing of their daughter, Iphigenia. The death of Cassandra, the princess of Troy, taken captive by Agamemnon in order to fill a place as a concubine, can also be seen as an act of revenge for taking another woman as well as

966-704: Is alone with his wife, he impulsively kisses her hand. The war has made him realize that they must put aside their differences. Christine agrees. They kiss and, for the first time in many years, share a bed. Act IV Toward daybreak in Ezra's bedroom, Christine slips out. Ezra, waking, bitterly rebukes her. He believes Christine awaits his death. Later, she deliberately taunts him that she is Brant's mistress. Ezra rises in fury, threatening to kill her but falls back, clutching his heart and begging for his medicine. Christine gives him poison instead. After taking it, Ezra realizes her treachery and calls out to Lavinia. Lavinia rushes into

1035-722: Is both her husband's murderer and her daughter's avenger; Aeschylus continues to explore the fundamental moral quandary of vengeance and "justified" bloodshed in The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides . In The Libation Bearers ( Χοηφόροι , Choēphóroi )—the second play of Aeschylus' Oresteia trilogy—many years after the murder of Agamemnon , his son Orestes returns to Argos with his cousin Pylades to exact vengeance on Clytemnestra , as an order from Apollo , for killing Agamemnon. Upon arriving, Orestes reunites with his sister Electra at Agamemnon's grave, while she

1104-493: Is divided into three plays with themes that correspond to the Oresteia trilogy. Much like the Aeschylus plays Agamemnon , The Libation Bearers , and The Eumenides , these three plays by O'Neill are correspondingly titled Homecoming , The Hunted , and The Haunted , respectively. These plays are normally not produced individually, however, but only as part of the larger trilogy. Each play contains four to five acts, with only

1173-467: Is heard from Ezra's study. Lavinia stammers: "It is justice!" Act I, scene 1 A year later, Lavinia and Orin return from their trip abroad. Lavinia now resembles her mother, even wearing a green dress like the one her mother was wearing at the start of the play. Orin has grown dreadfully thin and bears the statue-like attitude of his father. Act I, scene 2 In the sitting room, Orin grimly remarks that Lavinia has stolen Christine's soul. Peter enters from

1242-452: Is hunted and tormented by the Furies , a trio of goddesses known to be the instruments of justice, who are also referred to as the "Gracious Ones" ( Eumenides ). They relentlessly pursue Orestes for the killing of his mother. Through the intervention of Apollo , Orestes is able to escape them for a brief moment while they are asleep and escape to Athens under the protection of Hermes . Seeing

1311-616: Is mentioned that Agamemnon had to sacrifice his innocent daughter Iphigenia to shift the wind for his voyage to Troy. This caused Clytemnestra to plot revenge on Agamemnon . She found a new lover Aegisthus and when Agamemnon returned to Argos from the Trojan War , Clytemnestra killed him by stabbing him in the bathtub and went on to inherit his throne. The death of Agamemnon thus sparks anger in Orestes and Electra ; they plot matricide (the death of their mother Clytemnestra) in

1380-475: Is said to be the end of the curse of the House of Atreus. The curse holds a major part in the Oresteia and is mentioned in it multiple times, showing that many of the characters are very aware of the curse's existence. Aeschylus was able to use the curse in his play as an ideal formulation of tragedy in his writing. Some scholars believe that the trilogy is influenced by contemporary political developments in Athens. A few years previously, legislation sponsored by

1449-463: Is seen to be broken when Orestes is not killed by the Furies, but is instead given his freedom and deemed innocent by the goddess Athena. To the anthropologist Johann Jakob Bachofen ( Das Mutterrecht , 1861), the Oresteia shows Ancient Greece's transition from "hetaerism" ( polyamory ) to monogamy ; and from "mother-right" ( matriarchal lineage) to "father-right" ( patriarchal lineage). According to Bachofen, religious laws changed in this period:

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1518-612: Is soon to return from the Civil War. Lavinia, Ezra's daughter, like her mother Christine, has just returned from a trip to New York. Seth, the gardener, takes Lavinia aside. He warns her against her would-be beau, Captain Brant. Before Seth can continue, Lavinia's friend Peter Niles and his sister, Hazel, arrive. If Peter is proposing marriage to Lavinia again, he must realize she cannot marry anyone because her father needs her. Seth asks Lavinia if she has noticed that Brant resembles members of

1587-416: Is the first example of proper litigation in the trilogy and illuminates the change from emotional retaliation to civilized decisions regarding alleged crimes. Instead of allowing the Furies to torture Orestes , she decided that she would have both the Furies and Orestes plead their case before she decided on the verdict. In addition, Athena set up how the verdict would be decided. By creating this blueprint,

1656-426: Is the first of the three plays within the Oresteia trilogy. It details the homecoming of Agamemnon , King of Mycenae , from the Trojan War . After ten years of warfare, and Troy fallen, all of Greece could lay claim to the victory. Waiting at home for Agamemnon is his wife, Queen Clytemnestra , who has been plotting his murder. She desires his death to avenge the sacrifice of her daughter Iphigenia , to exterminate

1725-449: Is then able to enter the palace, where he then kills Aegisthus, who was without a guard due to the intervention of the chorus in relaying Clytemnestra's message. Clytemnestra then enters the room. Orestes hesitates to kill her, but Pylades reminds him of Apollo's orders, and he eventually follows through. Consequently, after committing the matricide, Orestes is now the target of the Furies ' merciless wrath and has no choice but to flee from

1794-422: Is used as a trial dummy by Athena to set-up the first courtroom trial. He is also the object of the Furies, Apollo, and Athena. After the trial comes to an end, the votes are tied. Athena casts the deciding vote and determines that Orestes will not be killed. This does not sit well with the Furies but Athena eventually persuades them to accept the decision; instead of violently retaliating against wrongdoers, become

1863-620: The Metropolitan Opera gave the world premiere of an operatic version, composed by Marvin David Levy to the libretto of William Henry Butler. Both film and opera retain O'Neill's title. In 1978, a five-hour television miniseries was produced for and shown on PBS ' Great Performances , which starred Bruce Davison , Roberta Maxwell and Joan Hackett . It was well received by the critics, with Hackett, in particular, being highly praised for her portrayal of Christine. In 2010

1932-496: The Oresteia won first prize at the Dionysia festival in 458 BCE. The principal themes of the trilogy include the contrast between revenge and justice , as well as the transition from personal vendetta to organized litigation . Oresteia originally included a satyr play , Proteus ( Πρωτεύς ), following the tragic trilogy, but all except a single line of Proteus has been lost. Agamemnon ( Ἀγαμέμνων , Agamémnōn )

2001-466: The " Electra complex " the jealousy of the daughter towards the mother for her sexual engagement with the father. Sigmund Freud disagreed with this claim, noting that the " Oedipus complex " cannot be applied directly to the female sex, since daughters do not undergo the same penis-envy as sons. Many contemporary scholars have theorized what this matricide means in the context of womanhood: Dana Tor invokes Lacan to argue that Electra's scheming represents

2070-484: The "natural sexual behaviour" of men and women. For the feminist Kate Millett , the latter factor is mistaken, and The Eumenides is important in documenting the state's arguments for repression of women. Electra's role in the murder of her mother has been hotly contested by scholars throughout time. Many view Electra's by-proxy killing of her mother as a representation of daughter-inflicted matricide. Psychoanalyst Carl Jung attributes her behavior to what he coined as

2139-614: The Apollo and Athena of The Eumenides present the patriarchal view. The Furies contrast what they call "gods of new descent" with the view that matricide is more serious than the killing of men. With Athena acquitting Orestes, and the Furies working for the new gods, The Eumenides shows the newfound dominance of father-right over mother-right. Bachofen's interpretation was influential among Marxists and feminists . Feminist Simone de Beauvoir wrote in The Second Sex (1949) that

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2208-526: The Furies asleep, Clytemnestra 's ghost comes to wake them up to obtain justice on her son Orestes for killing her. After waking up, the Furies hunt Orestes again and when they find him, Orestes pleads to the goddess Athena for help. She responds by setting up a trial for him in Athens on the Areopagus . This trial is made up of a group of twelve Athenian citizens and is supervised by Athena. Here Orestes

2277-619: The Mannon family. Seth believes Brant is the child of David Mannon (Ezra's uncle, who later hanged himself) and Marie Brantôme (a French Canadian nurse), a couple expelled from the house due to fear of scandal and public disgrace. Suddenly Brant himself enters from the drive. Calculatingly, Lavinia derides the memory of Brant's mother, who died of starvation as Ezra never replied to a message she sent for help. Brant explodes and reveals his heritage. He tells Lavinia that her own grandfather (Ezra's father) also craved his mother and thus cast David out of

2346-777: The Sea, is described in Homer as having been visited by Menelaus, who sought to learn his future. Proteus tells Menelaus of the death of Agamemnon at the hands of Aegisthus and the fates of Ajax the Lesser and Odysseus at sea. Proteus is compelled to tell Menelaus how to reach home from the island of Pharos: The satyrs who may have found themselves on the island as a result of shipwreck . . . perhaps gave assistance to Menelaus and escaped with him, though he may have had difficulty in ensuring that they keep their hands off Helen. The only extant fragment that has been definitively attributed to Proteus

2415-445: The altar, where, once she is alone, she begins predicting the death of Agamemnon and her own shared fate. Inside the house, a cry is heard: Agamemnon has been stabbed in the bathtub. The chorus separates from one another and rambles to themselves, proving their cowardice, when another final cry is heard. When the doors are finally opened, Clytemnestra is seen standing over the dead bodies of Agamemnon and Cassandra. Clytemnestra describes

2484-403: The bitterness in his voice, Lavinia desperately flings herself into his arms crying, "Take me, Adam! " Then, horrified, she breaks off their engagement and sends Peter away. She realizes she is forever bound to the Mannon dead. As there is no one left to punish her, she must punish herself. She decides to live alone in the old house with the ghosts of her ancestors. She orders Seth to board up

2553-626: The curse of the House of Atreus was one forged from murder, incest and deceit, and continued in this way for generations through the family line. To put it simply, the curse demands blood for blood, a never ending cycle of murder within the family. Those who join the family seem to play a part in the curse as well, as seen in Clytemnestra when she murders her husband Agamemnon, in revenge for sacrificing their daughter, Iphigenia. Orestes, goaded by his sister Electra, murders Clytemnestra in order to exact revenge for her killing his father. Orestes

2622-716: The democratic reformer Ephialtes had stripped the court of the Areopagus , hitherto one of the most powerful vehicles of upper-class political power, of all of its functions except some minor religious duties and the authority to try homicide cases; By having his story being resolved by a judgement of the Areopagus, Aeschylus may be expressing his approval of this reform. It may also be significant that Aeschylus makes Agamemnon lord of Argos, where Homer puts his house, instead of his nearby capitol, Mycenae, since about this time Athens had entered into an alliance with Argos. In 1981, Sir Peter Hall directed Tony Harrison 's adaptation of

2691-413: The drive before the Mannon house. Orin and Lavinia appear, revealing that they killed Brant. Christine collapses. Orin kneels beside her promising he will make her happy, that they can leave Lavinia at home and go abroad together. Lavinia orders Orin into the house. He obeys. Lavinia tells her mother she can still live. Christine glares at her daughter then enters the house. Lavinia remains outside. A gunshot

2760-402: The envelope. Orin then tells Hazel to leave. Orin forbids Lavinia from ever seeing Peter again. He tells her he loves her. 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. He thinks Christine is speaking through Lavinia. Peter appears in the doorway in

2829-505: The family. Brant has sworn vengeance. Act II 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 Adam Brant. Christine defiantly tells Lavinia that she has long hated Ezra and that Lavinia was born of her disgust for him. She loves Lavinia's brother Orin because he always seemed to be hers alone, and never Ezra's. Lavinia says that she will keep her mother's adultery

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2898-414: The first act of The Haunted being divided into actual scenes. Thus, Mourning Becomes Electra is extraordinarily lengthy. In many productions, the length is cut for the sake of practicality, and the chorus of townsfolk cut from productions due to the expense, leaving only the eight main players. Act I It is late spring in front of the Mannon house. The master of the house, Brigadier-General Ezra Mannon,

2967-502: The future of revenge-killings and the merciless hunting of the Furies would be eliminated from Greece. The trial sets the foundation for future litigation. Aeschylus, through his jury trial, was able to create and maintain a social commentary about the limitations of revenge crimes and reiterate the importance of trials. The Oresteia , as a whole, stands as a representation of the evolution of justice in Ancient Greece. Revenge

3036-436: The guilt of want. Their jouissance in her death arises from a pre-genital dichotomy of love and hatred from the son and the daughter towards the mother. Professor of philosophical and historical anthropology Elizabeth von Samsonow notes the intense debate over Electra's relevance in the murder of Clymenestra— Sophocles , for example, viewed her as a key component of the killing while Aeschylus sees her as incidental—but refutes

3105-468: The last male Mannon, he has written a history of the family crimes. He then observes that Lavinia only became pretty like their mother on the islands they visited. Orin angrily accuses her of sleeping with one of the men on that island and Lavinia assumes Christine's taunting voice. Reacting like Ezra, Orin grasps her throat, threatening to kill her. It becomes apparent that Orin has taken Ezra's place as Lavinia has taken Christine's. Act III A moment later,

3174-522: The life of Iphigenia. Later on, in The Libation Bearers , Orestes and Electra (siblings and remaining children of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra) succeed in killing their mother to avenge their father's death. In The Eumenides , the Furies—goddesses of vengeance—seek to take revenge on Orestes for the murder of his mother. It is also discovered that the god Apollo played a part in the act of vengeance toward Clytemnestra through Orestes. The cycle of revenge

3243-535: The matricide in the Oresteia ultimately embodies a societal repulsion towards the female gender, as Athena's motherless status allows Zeus to argue that the father is more important than the mother and absolve Orestes of his crimes. Tor ultimately claims that the convergence of both Orestes' and Electra's motivations for revenge are two-fold: both a repayment for the debt of desire and a symbol of feminine jouissance . They must repay their Freudian or Jungian debts from

3312-462: The midst of the argument. 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, as Orin commits suicide in the other room. Act IV Three days later, Lavinia appears dressed in deep mourning. A resolute Hazel arrives and insists that Lavinia not marry Peter. Hazel admits she has told Peter of Orin's envelope. Peter arrives, and he and Lavinia pledge their love anew. Surprised by

3381-466: The murder in detail to the chorus, showing no sign of remorse or regret. Suddenly, the exiled lover of Clytemnestra, Aegisthus, bursts into the palace to take his place next to her. Aegisthus proudly states that he devised the plan to murder Agamemnon and claim revenge for his father (the father of Aegisthus, Thyestes, was tricked into eating two of his sons by his brother Atreus, the father of Agamemnon). Clytemnestra claims that she and Aegisthus now have all

3450-627: The murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra , the murder of Clytemnestra by Orestes , the trial of Orestes, the end of the curse on the House of Atreus and the pacification of the Furies (also called Erinyes or Eumenides). The Oresteia trilogy consists of three plays: Agamemnon , The Libation Bearers , and The Eumenides . It shows how the Greek gods interacted with the characters and influenced their decisions pertaining to events and disputes. The only extant example of an ancient Greek theatre trilogy,

3519-472: The next play, Libation Bearers . Through much pressure from Electra and his cousin Pylades , Orestes kills Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus. Consequently, Orestes is hunted down by the Furies in the third play The Eumenides . Even after he escapes, Clytemnestra's spirit comes back to rally them again so that they can kill Orestes and obtain vengeance for her. However, this cycle of retaliation comes to

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3588-507: The only thing hindering her from taking the crown, and to finally be able to publicly embrace her good-time lover Aegisthus . The play opens with a watchman looking down and over the sea, reporting that he has been lying restless "like a dog" for a year, waiting to see some sort of signal confirming a Greek victory in Troy . He laments the fortunes of the house, but promises to keep silent: "A huge ox has stepped onto my tongue." The watchman sees

3657-463: The palace. The Chorus in The Libation Bearers is distinctly different than the one in Agamemnon. From Agamemnon to The Libation Bearers , the Chorus switches from a collection of old, Argive men, to foreign slave women. Furthermore, the Chorus in Agamemnon possessed a fearful voice, characterized by their critical commentary on the events and characters of the play. Despite this, they play

3726-470: The play explored the theme of revenge, where the crime of the past determines the actions and the suffering of the protagonist in the present. For this theme, some observers note that O'Neill's approach is more similar to William Shakespeare 's outlook in Hamlet than Aeschylus' in Oresteia. O'Neill also differed with Aeschylus on the theme of fate and the role of the gods in the lives of men. In Oresteia, as

3795-475: The power, and they re-enter the palace with the doors closing behind them. Like most Greek tragedies, Agamemnon is a morally complex play. Agamemnon may be an admired veteran of the Trojan War but it is made clear that many do not approve of the way he sacrificed his daughter, Iphigenia. Many citizens resent Agamemnon because they lost their sons and husbands in the war he initiated. Similarly, Clytemnestra

3864-468: The rear and gasps, thinking he has seen Christine's ghost. Lavinia approaches him eagerly. Orin jealously mocks his sister's warmth toward Peter, accusing her of becoming a true romantic during their time in the South Seas. Act II A month later, Orin is working intently at a manuscript in the Mannon study. Lavinia enters and asks what he is doing. Orin says they must atone for their mother's death. As

3933-637: The room. With his dying breath, Ezra indicts his wife: "She's guilty — not medicine!", he gasps, and then dies. Christine collapses in a faint, and Lavinia falls to her knees in anguish. Act I Peter, Lavinia, and Orin arrive at the house. Orin complains of his mother's absence. He jealously asks Lavinia about Christine and Brant. Lavinia warns him against believing their mother to be innocent of an affair. Suddenly, Christine appears and embraces her son jubilantly. Act II Orin asks his mother about Brant. Christine explains that Lavinia has gone mad. Orin sits at Christine's feet and recounts his wonderful dreams about

4002-515: The scene switches to Hazel and Peter in the sitting room. Orin enters, insisting that he see Hazel alone. He gives her a sealed envelope, warning her to keep it away from Lavinia. She should only open it, (a) if something happens to him, or (b) if Lavinia tries to marry Peter. Lavinia enters from the hall. Hazel tries to keep Orin's envelope hidden behind her back, but Lavinia rushes to Orin, beseeching him to let her see it. After Lavinia says she loves him, and agrees to do whatever he wants, Orin gives her

4071-452: The tendency to shoehorn her motivations into Freud's model. She asks for scholars to reconsider Electra as undergoing vagina-envy, resulting from the woman's powerful and sexually-active position in pre-Hellenic society. By liberating Electra from the male-centric complexes and histories that restrict her motivations, study of mother-daughter relations can evolve into an "outline of a future world." In another of her works, Jacobs, too, writes on

4140-553: The tribunal saw Orestes as son of Agamemnon before being son of Clytemnestra. In The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884), Marxist Friedrich Engels praises Bachofen's "correct interpretation". Nonetheless, he sees it as "pure mysticism" by Bachofen to see the change in divine perspectives as the cause of the change in Greek society. Instead, Engels considers economic factors—the creation of private property —and

4209-598: The trilogy in masks in London's Royal National Theatre , with music by Harrison Birtwistle and stage design by Jocelyn Herbert . In 1999, Katie Mitchell followed him at the same venue (though in the Cottesloe Theatre, where Hall had directed in the Olivier Theatre) with a production which used Ted Hughes ' translation. In 2015, Robert Icke 's production of his own adaptation was a sold out hit at

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4278-669: The two of them in the South Sea Islands. The islands represent everything the war was not: peace, warmth, and security, or Christine herself. Lavinia reappears in the room and coldly calls Orin to view their father's body. Act III In the study, Orin tells Lavinia that Christine has already warned him of her madness. Lavinia insists that Orin certainly cannot let their mother's lover escape. She proposes that they watch Christine until she goes to meet Brant as this should convince Orin of her treachery. Orin agrees. Act IV The night after Ezra's funeral, Brant's clipper ship appears at

4347-491: The untheorized state of matricide in literature and asks for an expansion of symbolism beyond the classic Oedipean model. The House of Atreus began with Tantalus , son of Zeus, who murdered his son, Pelops , and attempted to feed him to the gods. The gods, however, were not tricked and banished Tantalus to the Underworld and brought his son back to life. Later in life Pelops and his family line were cursed by Myrtilus ,

4416-406: The wait for her husband and King has been. After her soliloquy, Clytemnestra pleads with and persuades Agamemnon to walk on the robes laid out for him. This is a very ominous moment in the play, as loyalties and motives are questioned. The King's new concubine, Cassandra , is now introduced, and this immediately spawns hatred from the queen, Clytemnestra. Cassandra is ordered out of her chariot and to

4485-439: The windows and throw out all the flowers – then she enters the dark house alone and shuts the door. In 1947 the play was adapted for film by Dudley Nichols , starring Rosalind Russell , Michael Redgrave , Raymond Massey , Katina Paxinou , Leo Genn and Kirk Douglas . It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Michael Redgrave) and Best Actress in a Leading Role ( Rosalind Russell ). In 1967,

4554-513: Was adapted in India in the Malayalam language as Elektra (2010 film) There are literary readings that classify Mourning Becomes Electra in the naturalism movement . This is based on O'Neill's focus on violent emotional states of men to emphasize the subconscious and inner spiritual forces as well as man's inability to escape the cyclical pattern and outcomes of human action. Like the Oresteia,

4623-412: Was the case in the classical Greek tragedies , the divine is part of the environmental forces that humans cannot control but determine their fate. In O'Neill's interpretation, these forces are eliminated in favor of Freudian and Jungian psychology. Oresteia The Oresteia ( Ancient Greek : Ὀρέστεια ) is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus in the 5th century BCE, concerning

4692-449: Was there bringing libations to Agamemnon in an attempt to stop Clytemnestra's bad dreams. Shortly after the reunion, both Orestes and Electra, influenced by the Chorus, come up with a plan to kill both Clytemnestra and Aegisthus . Orestes then goes to the palace door, where he is greeted by Clytemnestra. He pretends he is a stranger and tells Clytemnestra that he (Orestes) is dead, causing her to send for Aegisthus. Unrecognized, Orestes

4761-503: Was translated by Herbert Weir Smyth : A wretched piteous dove, in quest of food, dashed amid the winnowing-fans, its breast broken in twain. In 2002, Theatre Kingston mounted a production of The Oresteia and included a new reconstruction of Proteus based on the episode in The Odyssey and loosely arranged according to the structure of extant satyr plays. Retaliation is seen in the Oresteia to cascade. In Agamemnon , it

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