Essay Database

Although O'Neill derived Mourning Becomes Electra from the Oresteia, the myth that actually structures the play's action is overwhelmingly that of Oedipus. The Oedipal drama, and Freud's elaboration of it, determines the course of the trilogy. Lavinia, for example, yearns to replace Christine as wife to her father, and mother to her brother. Christine clings to Orin, and Brant is but a substitute for her precious son. Orin also yearns to re-establish his incestuous bond …

…thinking at a time when people were turning to psychology as the means to open and examine the human psyche- the secularists version of the soul. The song "Shenandoah" symbolizes the action of the play. The lyrics "I'm bound away" suggest that the Mannons are bound to their own sordid history, and cannot break free. These very words as Christine takes her own life, binding herself to the fates of her family, living and dead.