Lavinia in Mourning Becomes Electra House of Atreus is an Ancient Greek myth that has been passed from one generation to another for endless centuries. The lessons taught from this myth to the humanity at large about the meaning if being human are numerous and very interesting. The famous writer, Eugene ONeill recognized this and rewrote the Greek myth by creating his trilogy, Mourning Becomes Electra. It is a more modern version of the same story. Within each story, there exists a very important daughter-figure who plays an important role in the deaths that occur in each household. Lavinia in Mourning Becomes Electra hates her mother and is jealous of her, that is what makes her behave the way she does throughout the book.
In order to fully analyze the character of Lavinia from the book at issue, we will first compare her to the character of Electra from the Ancient Greek myth, to be followed by more close elaboration on various subtle aspects of Lavinias nature. Though the stories both exhibit similarities, Eugene ONeill changed his story by bringing Lavinia Mannon out to the front and making her the prominent character. This may be because the time period he wrote in is more modern than that of the Greek myth, and the audience he is addressing is more present day as well. In the House of Atreus, Electra plays a less important role and does not commit the same actions as that of Lavinia. Although the stories are very similar, the lives and actions of Electra in House of Atreus and Lavinia Mannon in Mourning Becomes Electra exhibit many similarities as well as many differences. Both Electra from The House of Atreus and Lavinia Mannon from Mourning Becomes Electra exhibit many characteristics and actions that are very similar.
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Being the daughters of their houses, both girls share a common feeling of deep anger and hatred towards their mother. At the same time, both girls express an overwhelming love for their father. Each anticipated the arrival of their father home from war because of the sorrow the girls felt while their mother lived at home with a lover. In a plot to kill their mother, each girl experienced help from their brothers. Without the help of Orestes or Orin, neither Electra nor Lavinia would be able to take the life of their mother. After the death of their mothers, each girl did not express any sense of shame or guilt. But in their triumph they did not stop to think that this death, to, like all the others, would surely bring evil in its train.
Similar in their outcomes, the girls exhibit the same fate as well. Neither one of the girls ends her life in murder or suicide, but it is assumed that each continued to live her life. Although each girl exhibits many similarities, they also display many differences as well. Although Electra in the House of Atreus and Lavinia in Mourning Becomes Electra are very similar, they exhibit more differences in their actions and traits. In the House of Atreus, not only does Electra have a brother, but she also has a sister, Iphigenia, whose death sets the curse on the house. Although she experiences much sorrow and pain for the death of her father, Electra does not plot the murder of her mother. She lives endless years of hardship under the rule of her mother, Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus. Although she does not play a major role in the story, her significance is important to the death of her mother.
In the story of Mourning Becomes Electra, the main character, Lavinia, plots the murder of her mother in response to the death of her father. Not long after their fathers murder, Lavinias jealous rage and great persuasive skills help her to convince her brother to take the life of their mother. On the other hand, Electras whole life was concentrated in one hope, that Orestes would come back and avenge their father. Electra expresses the need to kill her mothers lover, Aegisthus, whereas in Mourning Becomes Electra, Lavinia plots the murder of her mother. This may be because of Eugene ONeills decision to make Lavinia the more prominent character than Electra was. Rather than following the story line of the Greek myth and giving the decision to take Christines life to the male-figure, Orin, ONeill instead gave the decision to the main character, Lavinia, which is a very important fact to be considered when analyzing that very character. Lavinia appears as the keeper of the family crypt and all its secrets, figuring as an agent of repression throughout the play.
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She seems to be a rather grave and depressive character, and that is probably according to the authors intent. She will urge Orin in particular to forget the dead, compulsively insist upon the justice of their crimes, and keep the history of the family’s past from coming to light. She seems to be strange to various other characters, and that is true her psychological inner world is far from normal. Lavinia’s repressive stiffness and mask-like countenance mirrors that of the house, the monument of repression erected by her ancestors to conceal their disgraces. She is not an outgoing and communicative person, she is all in herself, and she does not want to share her views and attitudes with anyone else. Ultimately the manor becomes her tomb, Lavinia condemning herself to live with the Mannon dead until her and all their secrets with her die. She seems to be balancing between the worlds of dead and alive, and the line of her own life is rather blurred.
Despite her loyalties to the Mannon line, Lavinia appears as her mother double from the outset of the play, sharing the same lustrous copper hair, violet eyes, and mask-like face. Christine is her rival. Lavinia considers herself robbed of all love at her mother’s hands, Christine not only taking her father but her would be lover as well. Thus she schemes to take Christine’s place and become the wife of her father and mother of her brother. She does so upon her mother’s death, reincarnating her in her own flesh. In doing so, Lavinia comes to femininity and sexuality. Lavinia traces a classical Oedipal trajectory, in which the daughter, horrified by her castration, yearns to become the mother and bear a child by her father that would redeem her lack.
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What is meant by identity? Identity can be defined as how I see myself and how others see me. (Woodward, 2007, p7). Identity can be confused with personality. Where personality describes certain qualities individuals may have such as being confident and outgoing or shy and introvert, identity requires some degree of choice. Identity is marked by similarity and identities are formed through ...
Orin figures as this child as well as the husband she would leave to be with her son, that is, Peter substituting as Brant. Lavinia definitely experiences some strange psychological disorders, which makes her a very peculiar character, she is not a person that is easily understood by someone else and she does not try to change this. It is evident that hatred and jealousy towards her mother makes Lavinia behave the way she does. She does not to be just an imitation of her mother, on the contrary, she wants to take her place, which is a sign of a strong psychological breakdown. Lavinia is a person that searches for her true identity, and since she cannot find one, she decides to take on the identity of her mother, which means killing her mother. Instead of forming an identity of her own, she decides to take an identity of another person, and there are a lot of reasons for that: she does not have any friends that would help her with her own identity, she is not communicative enough to make any friends, she lives in a world of her own that no one else understands.
Lavinia in Eugene ONeills book is definitely the most prominent character. The whole story line is centered around her and the author illustrates to his audience how her inner world dominates her and makes her behave the way she does kill her mother in search of her true identity. Words Count: 1,312..
