Eugene O’neill and the the Rebirth of Tragedy a Comparative Survey on Mourning Becomes Electra and Oresteia

Eugene Gladst oneness ONeill is one of the greatest American playwrights, he is known for plays such(prenominal)(prenominal) as Long Days Journey into Night ,Beyond the Horizon (1920), Anna Christie (1922), other Interlude (1928), Mourning Becomes Electra(1931)and The Iceman Cometh (1946). His plays probe the American Dream, race relations, class conflicts, sexuality, human aspirations and psychoanalysis. He often became immersed in the modernist movements of his time as he mainly sought to create modern American drama that would rival the great works of European modernists such as Ibsen, Strindberg and G.B. Shaw. ONeill was a great superstar of classical theatre and as a young man he had read Friedrich Nietzsches work almost the origin of Grecian disaster, in sequel he was very familiar with the subject and the techniques of representation. The ideas of the German critique and philosopher guided his dramatic works, in which he manifested the ability to adapt the defining chara cteristics of the classical tragedy to a modern script and audience.Thus, it is not surprising that we encounter God Dionysus in Lazarus Laughed (1928) or an adaptation of Oedipus character in Desire Under the Elms(1924). As for Mourning Becomes Electra (1931), ONeill explores Greek tragedy, attempting to modernize it. The play is based on Aeschyluss trilogy The Oresteia (though it is closer to Sophocles Electra than to Aeschylus plays). In a 1931 letter to drama critic allow Atkinson, ONeill wrote, Greek criticism is as remote from us as the art it criticizes.What we need is a definition of Modern and not Classical cataclysm by which to guide our judgments (Letters 19886 390). The play (a trilogy made up of three plays) examines a post-Civil War American family. The scene in Mourning Becomes Electra is laid on a c atomic number 18fully chosen setting- a city in New England, immediately after the Civil War. It is infrequent whatsoever that ONeill set the plot against such a histo rical background that had been previously chosen for the setting of great American novels by writers such as W. Faulkner or Nathaniel Hawthorne. It is well known that the southern was the cradle of American aristocracy, which after the Civil War underwent a severe decay, thus providing a suitable climate for recreating a Greek tragedy. . The plot of the scratch two uses of the trilogy- Homecoming and the The Hunted closely follows the pattern of the events expound in Agamemnon and the The Libation Bearers (Choephoroi) Ezra Mannon (Agamemnon) who ad just come back from the war was killed by his married woman Christine (Clitemnestra) with the help of her whapr, captain Adam Brant(Aegisthus) further on Lavinia (Electra), the Mannons daughter, forces her brother Orin(Oreste) to punish the murder of their father. The Erinnyes1 take the shape of madness in Orins case, as he feels responsible for the death of his mother and he is haunted by the feelings of guilt and remorse. The third part of the trilogy differs at some extent, as Orin kills himself while Oreste is exonerated of his guilt.thither are many other dilate that are different from Aeschylus trilogy for instance, Ezra Mannon didnt sacrifice Iphigenia sooner leaving, his death and that of other characters is also different the sword is replaced by the poison, and the matricide was a suicide caused by the sons conduct. However, in spite of all these differences, ONeill largely maintains the plotline of the Greek trilogy. Besides the plot, ONeill preserves elements of Oresteia such as the use of masks, which enables him to individualize the tragic heroes from that of the anonymous group of the Chorus.All of the Mannons are described as having a very droll expression which reminds of a mask, just their eyes seem to have a certain vitalityHer face is unusual, one is struck at once by the strange mold it gives in repose of being not living flesh but a wonderfully life-like pale mask, in which only the de ep-set eyes are alive(the description of Lavinia, p. 7) these masks that they naturally bear are a mark of their hero-like status which places them above the rest of the community, formed of characters such as servants or neighbors.It is remarkable how ONeill contrives to preserve the Chorus, which is a fundamental element of the Greek tragedy. Although it is not as dramatic as the tragic Chorus of the classical Greek plays, for each one and every of the three parts of Mourning Becomes Electra begins with the performance of a chorus formed of different men and women that comment upon the Mannons, the history of their family, revealing to the audience details about the behavior and the character of the heroes.Moreover, the setting chosen by ONeill is similar to the classical one used by the Greeks. It is known that in Aeschylus generation a wooden wall was used as a background of the setting, the wall usually stood for a palace or a temple and this on the nose the same as in ONeil ls trilogy, as the greatest part of the action takes place in front of the Mannons residence which is described as being an enormous stone mansion that has the aspect of a Greek temple(the temple of god Apollo) with a white wooden portico, with six noble columns2.However that was the typical construction for a house that belonged to an American aristocratic family in the XIX century. In Mourning Becomes Electra, ONeill brought into consonance the fundamental traits of the Greek tragedy and the specific elements of modern theatre, thus creating a modern tragedy that would please the contemporaneous audience. The tragedy of the House of Atreus is relocated in New England, at the end of the Civil War (the action of the play takes place between 1865 -1866), creating in this way an appropriate atmosphere.There are also allusions regarding the Gold make (p. 31), the assassinate of President Lincoln (p. 82) or the abolition of slavery (p. 256). Given this historical framework, Mourning B ecomes Electra has a series of both thematic an stylistic elements that yield a modern like character, making a tragedy of our times out of it. First of all, one can observe how the puritan environment that surrounds the characters, enables ONeill to have a modernist approach to the Greek expression of Fate.Quite similar to the Greek tragedies in which there is an obvious interference of the gods in the life of the mortals, or the tragic flaw or the hubris are put on the report card of a supernatural force, and the mistakes of the ancestors inflict upon the present, in ONeills work the battlefront of a power that prevails above all is also encountered. One the one hand, it is the history of the Mannons that triggers the tragedy(Adam Brant comes to revenge his father, who was disinherited), the portraits of the Mannons hanged throughout the house play an important part as they seem to observe and govern the Destiny of their descendants.On the other hand, the characters seem to acc ept quite naturally the rigor of destiny, for instance, Mrs. Hills, one of the members of the chorus that performs in the beginning of the second part, blames the Destiny for the death of Ezra Mannon, although she also casts a spiritual and divine shadow Maybe it is fate. You remember, Everett, youve always said about the Mannons that p exempte goeth before a fall and that someday God would humble them in their sinful pride3.In between the lines 469-470 of Agamemnon the same matter is dealt with, as the chorus speaks about the danger of receiving too much praise, referring to Agamemnon who victoriously came back to ArgosThere is peril in the praise Over-praised that he hears For the thunder it is hurled from Gods eyes4. Mrs. Hills is the wife of Everett Hills, a government minister of the North-American Congregational Church, so apparently, Zeus took the shape of a puritan god.It is a god that handles the threads that control the humans (according the Puritan belief in predestinati on), a god of justice who punishes those who transgress the strict moral code of New Englands puritan society. There are several innuendoes that continuously remind us that we deal with a Puritan milieu Christine hates the house she lives in because of its Puritan grey ugliness(p. 34), she calls Lavinia Puritan maiden(p. 78) and her hatred towards Ezra Mannon is put on account of his Puritanism which prevents him to fully satisfy his wife in their love relationship. (p. 102).Even though ONeill inserted the idea of Fate and predestination in his trilogy, this is just the surface layer, a pretext to conceal the real human frailties that are the source of tragic. The tragic flaw or the hubris are in fact of a different temperament than that in the classical Greek plays (Fate), it is the heros weak and instinctual nature that urges him to commit reprehensible deeds such as murder or incestuous behavior. In his eagerness to adapt the classical legend to the modern times, ONeill took int o account the psychological developments of his time, especially when creating the heroes.One can foresee in his characters the exclusion of Sigmund Freuds and Carl Gustav Jungs theories about the importance of the unconscious, infantile sexuality, and the relationship between parents and children. In Mourning Becomes Electra we can observe a wide range of steamy disorders that trouble the characters in their family relationships Orin obviously manifests Oedipus complex, as the main reason of his revenge (him killing Aegisthus) is not that of making justice, but rather his desire to get rid of his mothers lover.Subsequently, once the mother is dead, the incestuous feeling develops towards his sister, Lavinia, given her physical resemblance with her mother, Orin displaces the love he once had for his mother to Lavinia. As far-off as Lavinia is concerned, she clearly suffers of Electras complex, as she passionately loves her father and permanently looks up to usurp her mothers pla ce. The origin of this disorder has its roots in Lavinias childhood as she was rejected by her mother ever since she was born. In her pursuit to supervene upon her mothers position she unconsciously yearns for the love of Adam Brant(who physically resembles her ather, Ezra Mannon). Her feelings for Adam Brant and the hatred that she feels for her mother are in fact the true reasons of her revenge. Lavinia comes to acknowledge this in the end of the play when her subconscious plays her a trick (she calls her fiance, Peter, by the name of Adam) and commits what Norman Berlin calls a Freudian slip5. Although ONeill denied to have had a deep knowledge of the theories that stood at the root word of psychoanalysis6, it is beyond doubt that these principles surround the entire work, enhancing the characters with peculiar traits and motivations.Thus, it results a classical legend in modern psychological terms that were widely disseminated among the society of the XXth century, in consequen ce easy to understand for the contemporaneous spectators. Moreover, it is obvious that Mourning Becomes Electra does not have the poetic quality of Oresteia, as ONeill doesnt use the poetise as a means of expression although at times the tone might seem solemn and dignified, we deal with a work that is written in colloquial prose, full of phrases and idiomatic expressions appropriate to the social class that the heroes belong to.Even the language of the chorus reflects the speech of the American working class of the time, with their peculiar syntax, vocabulary and pronunciation. Although some representative literary figures wrote theatre in verse7, the contemporary audience was not much accustomed to attend such a performance. ONeill does not disappoint his audience in this matter.In conclusion, Eugene ONeill encompasses in Mourning Becomes Electra all the aspects of modern civilization such as the Puritan environment, psychological science and language attached to the distinctive features of Greek tragedy that he preserves from the original the plotline, the masks, the chorus and the setting that convey an attractive uniqueness, which makes the play to be one of the most popular and praised works of the American literature.If Oresteia enabled Aeschylus to get the first prize of the drama contest held in Athens in 458 A. D. , Mourning Becomes Electra contributed to the awarding of Eugene ONeill with the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1936.