The House of Mannon
Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra is a play of revenge, sacrifice, and murder conveyed through visible references to Aeschylus' House of Atreus. O'Neill alludes to The House of Atreus in order to ground the play; attaching the plot to well-known aspects of history. As well, it brings a certain significance that otherwise would be neglected if their underlying manifestations went unnoticed. The most prominent of these allusions is that to Aeschylus' House of Atreus. O'Neill specifically modeled Mourning around Aeschylus' work, modernizing it, applying it to a new generation of readers. Agamemnon, a general in the Trojan War, becomes Ezra Mannon, a Civil War soldier of the same rank. Ezra "was a great man
he was a power for good" (323). He was well respected within the community he was a Mannon. "They've been top dog around here for near on two hundred years and don't let folks ferget it" (265). A renowned man with a name that connotes wealth and power, comes home physically drained from battle, yet emotionally in touch with himself, to his wife, Christine, who shadows Aeschylus' Clytemnestra. The town perceived Christine negatively; "she ain't the Mannon kind" (265). She would come to conspire with Brant (Aegisthus), further tainting the Mannon name, in order to "bring you (Brant) my share of the Mannon estate" (294). Christine poisons her husband, both literally and figuratively, by not only disclosing her relationship with Adam Brant, but by administering poison in place of heart medicine to her enraged husband, thus killing him. Lavinia (Electra), rushes in when she hears her father's cries, only to have him say to her, "She's guilty not medicine," (316) as he falls limply back onto the bed. It is at this juncture in the story that Lavinia hereby begins a vendetta with her mother, by saying "You murdered him just the same by telling him! I suppose you think you'll be free to marry Adam now! But you wont'! Not while I'm alive! I'll make you pay for your crime! I'll find a way to punish you!" (317). Following the storyline of The House of Atreus, Orin, (Aeschylus' Orestes) arrives home from battle, finding a cold, dark house, one that he is not familiar with. In conversation with Peter, he asks, "Did the house always look so ghostly and dead?" (327), and continues to contrast it with a "tomb" (327).
"'A person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between.'" Act 3, Scene 1 pg. 87 . The characters in the play are either portrayed as good or evil with no in between , which makes life even harder for them . Salem mislabeled people in town as good or evil , but they had very little or no evidence at all to support it . Salem labels Rebecca nurse as a witch and evil , when really she was innocent and took care of everyone's babies. Abigail was an evil character who was a liar, vindictive and careless , the people of Salem viewed her as good character .
Silas House is an American writer born in 1971 in Lily, Kentucky. He spent most his childhood outside playing and enjoying nature as most kids in Appalachia do. He went to Sue Bennett College, Eastern Kentucky University, and got his masters at Spalding University. He grew up and is known for his novels but also is a music journalist, environmental activist, and a columnist. The times as a kid help develop the writer his is today most his works revolve or have nature in them because it was such a big part of his life and still is. In his novel A Parchment of Leaves he takes about nature “Confluence of the Redbud Creek and the Black Banks River.” He’s a true American writer because he writes about America it’s self.
Aeneas witnessed, for apparently the first time in his understanding, the horrors of war and the vile nature that it brings out in men. He calls it an `inhuman shuddering" because the act he has just witnessed is so far from the realm of decent human behavior and it causes an equal reaction.
Through time it can be seen that the world’s history has a nature of repeating its self. Author Miller, was aware of this as he experienced a repitition of history of society’s flawed government. In the text The Crucible, the writer, Author Miller has identified and illustrated the problems society faced during the 1950’s setting by drawing parallels with the setting of the 1962 Salem witch hunt. This setting helps readers to understand the characters of John Proctor and Giles Corey.
Could the dysfunction of the Walls family have fostered the extraordinary resilience and strength of the three older siblings through a collaborative set of rites of passage? One could argue that the unusual and destructive behavior of the parents forced the children into a unique collection of rites of passage that resulted in surprisingly resilient and successful adults. In moving back to Welch, Virginia, the children lost what minimal sense of security they may have enjoyed while living in their grandmother’s home in Arizona. The culture and climate (both socially and environmentally) along with an increased awareness of their poverty resulted in a significant loss of identity. As they learned new social and survival skills in this desperate environment, there is a powerful sense of camaraderie between the older children. Their awareness, drive and cunning survival skills while living in Welch result in a developing sense of confidence in their ability to survive anything. This transition, while wretched, sets the stage for their ability to leave their environment behind with little concern for a lack of success. As the children leave, one by one, to New York, they continue to support one another, and emerge as capable, resourceful young adults.
The House of the Seven Gables written by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a novel that engages the reader in an intricate love story that blends history and a fanciful ancestry. Hawthorne stays true to the Romantic era’s convections through his detailed development of the plot. Through his writing, the reader can capture the emotions, morality and motives of each character. Although Hawthorne writes in the romantic style, he does not fail to go against the social norms with the plot. He defines the normal roles of women and he emphasizes the role of wealth in society. Furthermore he asserts his opinions on issues that were prevent in that time, such as, racism, slave emancipation and Jim Crow. The story was not created to just provide a creative love
Aristotle wrote the Poetics in the fourth century BCE as an account for his observations of the defining characteristics of tragedies and epic poetry. In this work, Aristotle defines catharsis as “purging” and “cleansing” of the emotion of the audience at the end of a tragedy or epic poem. Such feelings of pity or fear towards one character or one group of characters are caused because of their unfortunate circumstance throughout the plot of the tragedy or poem. In The Women of Troy there are multiple characters who are faced with hopeless situations that would cause the audience to feel pity and release their emotion. In the Iliad, the release of emotion is less obvious but still present. Euripides’s uses of catharsis in The Women of Troy and Homer’s uses of catharsis in the Iliad comply with the definition that Aristotle provides in the Poetics; and are essential in aiding the audience in understanding the severity of the Trojan War and its aftermath.
The tragic play Medea is a struggle between reason and violence. Medea is deliberately portrayed as not a ‘normal woman’, but excessive in her passions. Medea is a torment to herself and to others; that is why Euripides shows her blazing her way through life leaving wreckage behind her. Euripides has presented Medea as a figure previously thought of exclusively as a male- hero. Her balance of character is a combination of the outstanding qualities of Achilles and Odysseus.
The play The Crucible by Arthur Miller focuses on the frenzy that occurred in the Massachusetts town of Salem in the year 1692. It shows the interactions between the characters and how their varying personalities affected the dynamics of the trials. One of these characters is Giles Corey, an eighty-three year old farmer who is the scapegoat for many of the bad occurrences in the town. The primary reason for this is that he is uneducated and had a fiery personality which led to many confrontations with others. Although Giles Corey’s personality antagonized him with the townsfolk, this same stubbornness is what makes Giles one of the heroes of The Crucible.
The thesis of the Oresteia proves to be the sacrifice of Iphigenia, for it is with the death of a woman that the tables of the curse on the house of Atreus start to unfold. The sacrifice of Iphigenia becomes the start of the continued curse within this particular generation of the house of Atreus. Agamemnon, a misogynist, did not value the life of his innocent daughter over the spoils of men. It is significant that an innocent woman, ready for marriage, an act that brings together two households, was not married but instead murdered. Her sacrifice shows a separation between men and women along with failure within the household.
Clytemnestra has the ten years of the Trojan War to plan her revenge on Agamemnon. Upon his return Clytemnestra shows him some love. That love she showed quickly changes to rage and hatred when Clytemnestra she’s Agamemnon with his mistress Cassandra.
Several similar themes are present between the three plays Antigone, Medea, and Oedipus Rex, written by Sophocles and one by Euripides. The three plays were written during the time of the ancient Greek civilization and, therefore, contain the morals and values of that time. Throughout the three plays, it is observed that the protagonists all carry similar traits: a sense of duty and stubbornness in their ways. Both of these traits lead to a tragic ending for the characters in the three plays. By observing the three plays and comparing them, readers are able to see these two traits play out among them and see how they ultimately lead to their downfall.
These focus elements, of pity and fear are essentially what formulate the action within Medea, and in turn, reflect upon the characters creating a relevance to the audience, and the cathartic response for which Aristotle was so passionate. A key point within the text of Medea, which represents the perpetuation of these emotive elements, is when she is informed by Kreon, [Lord of Corinth] that she is to be exiled, as the following excerpt details.
Throughout Euripides’ Bacchae, there are plot elements which seem out of place for tragedy. However, these out of place plot elements serve as a comedic relief and a way to further the underlying thematic elements of the play. One of these seemingly out of place plot elements is the comedic way Agave handles the death of her child, which indirectly furthers the theme of feminism in the play. Without the comedic elements, such as Agave, the audience would cease paying attention after uncomfortable situations, such as the brutal death of Pentheus. Therefore, the way Agave handles the death of her son emphasizes the underlying theme of feminism, because her behavior helps to refocus the audience’s attention to the play.
Euripides'version is much more dramatic. The play begins with Electra's marriage to a peasant. Aegisthus had tried to kill Electra. but Clytemnestra convinced him to allow her to live. He decided to marry her to a peasant so her children will be humbly born and pose no threat to his throne. Orestes and Pylades arrive. Orestes says that he has come to Apollo's shrine to pledge himself to avenge his father's. murder. Orestes, concealing his identity, talks with Electra about the recent happenings in Mycenae. She admits that she is sad that her brother had been taken away at such a young age and the only person that would recognize him to be her father's old servant. She also discusses her scorn of Aegisthus desecrating the monument over. Agamemnon's grave and his ridicule of Orestes. When the old servant. arrives, after being summoned by Electra, he recognizes and identifies.