Mourning Becomes Electra
Eugene O'Neill
Contains spoilers for the entire book.
Discussion topics
Topic 01 of 08
The Greek story
How does O'Neill reshape Aeschylus's Oresteia for New England after the Civil War?
Keep the conversation going
- What is gained by replacing the gods with psychology?
- Which parallels with the Greek story did you notice?
There is no single right answer. Bring your own reading.
Discussion topics
How does O'Neill reshape Aeschylus's Oresteia for New England after the Civil War?
Keep the conversation going
- What is gained by replacing the gods with psychology?
- Which parallels with the Greek story did you notice?
What does the Mannon house, with its white temple portico, come to stand for?
Keep the conversation going
- Why does Lavinia end by shutting herself inside it?
- How does the house work almost as a character?
Why does Christine hate her husband so much, and does the play let us understand her?
Keep the conversation going
- How did you respond to Ezra's attempt, on his return, to speak honestly to her?
- Who is more to blame for their marriage?
What drives Lavinia, and how does she change through the trilogy?
Keep the conversation going
- Why does she come to look and act like her mother?
- Is she Electra, Clytemnestra or both?
What does Adam Brant's history, as the son of a disgraced Mannon and a nurse, add to the family's curse?
Keep the conversation going
- Why is Christine drawn to him?
- How does he resemble the Mannon men?
How does the war change Orin, and what drives him to kill Brant?
Keep the conversation going
- How did you respond to his jealousy and his attachment first to his mother, then to Lavinia?
- Why does he finally destroy himself?
What do the South Sea islands mean to the characters, as a dream of escape?
Keep the conversation going
- Why can none of them get there and stay?
- What does the play suggest about the Puritan past they are trying to escape?
Does the play present the Mannons' fate as inherited, chosen or both?
Keep the conversation going
- What do the townspeople and Seth add, as a kind of chorus?
- How did you feel about the ending, with Lavinia alone in the house?
There is no single right answer. Bring your own reading.