paper - 10 Mourning Becomes Electra Myth to Modern tragedy

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  Prepared by : Megha Trivedi

  Roll No         : 18

  Paper – 10  : American Literature

  M.A. ( English) : Sem – 3

  Enrollment No :  2069108420170030

  Batch  : 2016 – 18

  Email : meghatrivedi666@gmail.com

  Submitted to : Smt. S. B. Gardi, Department of English MK Bhavnagar University

   Topic : Mourning Becomes Electra Myth to Modern tragedy

                                              

Preface :-

       Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was born on 16, 1888 and died on 27 November, 1953. He was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. O' Neill's plays were among the first to include speeches in American vernacular and involve characters on the fringes of society. They struggle to maintain their hopes and aspirations, but ultimately slide into disillusionment and despair. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright. (wekipedia)

          “ The theater to me is life the substance and interpretation of life...(And) life is struggle”.

        O'Neill was an artist of integrity and courage; He was constantly exploring , expanding and experimenting.

Introduction of the play : -

                                                   

        The story is a retelling of the Oresteia by Aeschylus. The Characters are used parallel from the Greek play. For example Agamemnon – Ezra Mannon, Clytemnestra- Christine, Orestes – Orin, Electra- Lavinia, Aegisthus- Adam Brant. As a Greek tragedy made modern , the play features murder, adultery, incestuous love and revenge, even group of townspeople who function as a kind of Greek chorus. O'Neill used psychological theory as well. The play can easily be read from a Freudian perspective like Oedipus complexes and Electra complexes.

         Mourning Becomes Electra, this play divided into three plays with themes that corresponded to the Oresteia trilogy. This play divided into three parts 1) Homecoming 2) The Hunted 3) The Haunted. It is trilogy.

Myth and literature : -        

          Connection between myth and literature we find always in various works. Many writers and poet used myth in their works of art. Myth is a legendary or a traditional story that usually concerns an event or a hero, with or without using factual or real explanations. These myth particularly   concern with  demigods or deities and describes some rites, practices and natural phenomenon. Myth involves historical events and supernatural beings. There are many types of myths, such as classic myths, religious myths and modern myths (htt2). In literature also myths played very vital role. For examples T.S. Eliot used myth well in his worked “ The Weastland” and Keats also used various myths in his odes. So through  the myths works become more literary and with deep meaning. Here this play also made on one myth named “ House of Atreus”.

Greek Myth “ House of Atreus” : -

       Atreus and Thyestes were brothers. After founding that Thysestes had an affair with his wife Aerope, he decided to take revenge. Atreus invited to Thysestes for dinner. After having a dinner Atreus informed Thysestes that he had killed and cooked his two sons and served him. Thysestes became angry that's why he decided to take revenge of his sons murderd. Then Thyestes make relation with his own daughter Pelopia. Pelopia and Thysestes had one son Aegisthys and for revenge Aegisthys murdered Atreus.  Atreus had two sons named Menelaus and Agamemnon. Menelaus married with most beautiful lady Helen and Agamemnon married Clytemnestra, sister of Helen. After some time Helen was carried away by prince of Troy Paris, at that time Agamemnon promised Menelaus to fight for this and then this war known as Trojan war .Agamemnon had three children, Iphigenia and Electra two daughters and Orestis one son.  Agamemnon scarified Iphigenia to get feriable wind for sailing war, at that time Clytemnestra became angry and during the absence of Agamemnon Clytemnestra and Aegisthys started love afraid , when Agamemnon came back from war at that time as revenge motif Clytemnestra and Aegisthys killed Agamemnon and got throne. For the revenge of father's murdered Oresists killed Aegisthys and his own mother Clytemnestra. After Oresists was horrified by furies with the help of goddesses Athena. So this myth is full of bloodshed , revenge and infertility. In this story most of the members killed by their own family members. (Jadeja) 

Greek play “ Orestia” by Aeschylus :-

          This play based on the myth “ House of Atreus”.  Oresteia is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus. This play concerning the murder of Agamemnon by Clytaemnestra and the murder of Clytaemnestra by her own son Orestes. Here the main thing is the Trojan war and we can find the Oedipus complex at the center. Relationship between Clytaemnestra and Orestes is not normal one and that's why Oedipus complex we find . Same thing we can find in the Hamlet also.

Mourning Become Electra :-

        

           As  per the title “ Mourning Becomes Electra” Mourning means the expression of sadness for  someone's death, grief, lament, lamentation Black clothes worn as an expression of sorrow when someone dies. “ Electra” means sparkling the fairy sun “ Becomes” in sense of “befits” Mourning ( sorrow) is becoming to her, it is the only color that becomes her destiny.

                “ Like William Shakespeare, O'Neill was a man of the theatre”

           This play also based on the Greek play “ Oresteia”. But in Mourning Become Electra writer put some major changes and that's why this play known as a modern tragedy. Mourning Become Electra is also trilogy, this play divided into three parts 1) Homecoming  2) The Hunted 3) The Haunted. In the very first part we find that the character of Ezra Manon came from the civil war, and in some scene the Electra complex also we find. Then he knows the reality of his wife that his wife Christine had an affair with the Adam. Then Christine killed her husband Ezra through the poison. In the second part Oedipus complex we find in the characters of Orin and Christine.

         

                                                 

           According to the play, the “Oedipus complex” arises because the mother loves the father too little and the son too much. This Freudian hypothesis explain the attraction  and attachments that motivate the events each Mannon is drawn by an unconscious impulse to that person who resembles the  parent of the opposite sex. Oedipus is a Greek mythological  character based on the myth of “ Oedipus Rex” was written by Sophocles. Oedipus who unwittingly kills his father, Laius and marries his mother Jocasta. (Bhatti)

            Sigmund Freud = Conscious - Unconscious - Oedipus Complex

  “ I loved [ Orin ]”, Christine says, “until he let you and your father nag him into the war, in spite of my begging him not leave me alone”.

          Then after the death of Ezra , Lavania try to show the reality to Orin. Orin knows  the reality and killed the Adam, and that's why after some time Christine also did suicide. In the third part the haunted both brother and sister leaved alone then Orin and Lavania looked like same their parents. At the end for the suffering of his mother's death Orin killed himself. And Lavenia lived alone in Manon house.

Differnce between The Greek tragedy and Modern tragedy:-

            In both the play we find many similarity as well as some major different also. That's why The play Mourning Become Electra known as a modern tragedy. First major different O'Neill put in the play is the Civil war, on the other side in Greek play we find the Trojan war. So through the changes of war writer try to give some modern touch of this play. In Oresteia Oedipus complex is major aspects, but in Mourning become Electra the main theme is Electra complex in the characters of Lavenia and Ezra. How she protecting her father and hates her mother. After the death of his father she had an attraction towards the her brother Orin also. So in the modern tragedy writer used “ psychological fate” well. Eugene O'Neill used Oedipus complex also well. In Greek play the characters are used with high level but in O'Neill 's play all characters are very normal or ordinary. In Greek play Aeschylus used inhuman character but in morning become Electra we find all characters are very well organized. Puritan mindset is presented well and the puritan attitude towards love. In Mourning Become Electra writer used Psychological state of mind well. We can find family fate also. So myth is justify everywhere in the play. But for giving modern touch psychology is used at supreme level. Here in this play some biographical elements also used well. Freudian concept and Puritan spirit explained well.  So, that's way these both play different from each other.

           Traditionally in Greek tragedies, the chorus consists of masked actors who dance and chant. Generally, they do not participate in the action itself, which allows them to remain objective and offer advice or commentary. They often present background information and represent the community's position or traditional values. In the Mourning Becomes Electra trilogy, the groups of local. O'Neill is able to show great amount of information about his play just through the set alone. This is a unique aspects of his style. O'Neil's stage direction focus on the individual characters. This occurs in all of O'Neill's work but there is not finer example than in Mourning Becomes Electra.

“ It is impossible to put one 'label' on Eugene O'Neill's style of dramatization. And sometimes within the framework, he is a naturalist, a romanticist, a symbolist often bordering on the surreal. He  is an empircist, a psychoanalyst, and a mystagogue”. (Bhatti)

Chief Themes:-

           O'Neill 's plays in main in relation to his society, his God and the universe, O'Neill experimented successfully with new techniques of drama. Like Oresteia, O'Neill's play features theme of fate, revenge, hubris, adultery, and honor. Many critics note that the play reflects his recurring concerns about the unsuccessful struggle of an individual to escape a tragic fate and the dark nature of human existence.

·Revenge -   Revenge serves as a primary motivation for the play's actions. Seeking to revenge the death of his mother, Marie Brantome, Adam hopes to destroy the Mannon family, especially Ezra. Paradise is an obsession for many of the play's characters. As a seafaring family, early generations of Mannons had sailed to beautiful south Pacific Isles. Orin wants to run away with his mother Christine an attempt to escape societal norms so that he can sleep with his mother. Christine wants to go with her lover, Adam.

·Incest -     Incest and incestuous desire lie behind most of the relationships central to Mourning Becomes Electra. Ezra's daughter Lavinia loves her father; Christin's son Orin loves his mother, and Lavinia and Orin love each other. While O'Neill presents these relationships as unconsummated desires, Orin does urge Lavinia to The Haunted, hoping that by committing incest that they will be bound together in sin and guilt. His sister refuses. ( Themes)

·Sin and Guilt as a theme -     O'Neill's work illustrates his fascination with sin, guilt, punishment and redemption. In Mourning Becomes Electra, the sins include murder, adultery, suicide and premarital sex. In a sense Ezra murders Brant's mother by refusing the sick woman money for food and medicine. Also Lavinia “ Kills” Christine and Orin by driving them both to commit suicide. Orin's feelings of guilt lead him to write his confession,  which he threatens to give to Peter if Lavinia marries him. At  the play's end Lavinia's guilt forces her to give up hopes of happiness and to punish herself, as the last Mannon by rejecting love and shutting herself in the house. (Bhatti)                                                            

 Conclution : -

           Myth is collective unconsciousness but O'Neill used realism as well as psychological theory well in his play. So that's why this play known as a modern tragedy.  “ Mourning Becomes Electra” is a multi era play and has within it some aspect of twentieth century thought. It is condensed philosophy and a plausible on a scholastic venture. In Mourning Becomes Electra O'Neill has used myth and legend as symbols to give a broad and universal significance to his theme. In this play he used the Electra legend to achieve an approximation to the Greek sense.

                                                                                                                   

       Works Cited

<https://literarydevices.net/myth/>.

Bhatti, Nikunj. "Bolg." <http://nikunjbhatti2014-2016.blogspot.in/2015/10/critical-note-on-mourning-becomes.html>.

Jadeja, Poojaba. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I-e6IBgYd0>.

wekipedia. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_O%27Neill>.