Name: Mourning Becomes Electra
ISBN: 9781446484463

Eugene O'Neill

Set in New England just after the end of the Civil War, Mourning Becomes Electra is O'Neill's three part reworking of themes from Greek tragedy. This adaptation of Aeschylus' Oresteia by one of America's greatest playwrights is a landmark in the history of theatre.

Mourning Becomes Electra

A trilogy of full-length plays reworking themes from Greek tragedy, particularly the Oresteia of Aeschylus, relocated to New England in 1865, just after the end of the Civil War.Lavinia Mannon (Electra) dotes on her father Ezra (Agamemnon), who has just returned victorious from the war, and despises her mother Christine (Clytemnestra) - especially since Catherine has been making a cuckold of Ezra with Lavinia's ex-suitor, Adam. Lavinia's brother Orin (Orestes), on the other hand, war-wounded and weak, idolises his mother and resents his overbearing father. When Christine and her lover poison Ezra, Lavinia convinces her brother that they must avenge their father's death. But they have spent years soaking in family conflicts and curses of generations past, and fate will be sated...This edition includes a full introduction, biographical sketch and chronology.

Mourning Becomes Electra

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