Assignment:10 Psychoanalysis in Mourning Becomes Electra
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Name: Rudrika Gohel
Course: M.A. English
Sem: 3
Batch: 2017-2019
Roll No: 32
Enrollment No: 2069108420180015
Submitted to: Smt.S.B.Gardi Department of English MKBU
Email Id: rudrikagohel97@gmail.com
Paper No: 10
Topic: Psychoanalysis in Mourning Becomes Electra
Author:-
Eugene O'Neill has an influence of Freudian concepts. His portrayal of characters is very realistic, his expressionism is closer to Strindberg's "psycho-expressionism". O'Neill created characters representing psychological complexes, as we can find in his play The Strange Interlude. In his play the struggle is with the man himself and with his own past and future. Also his characterization is significant. He uses psychological symbolism. The psychological pattern of the play has become ever more introvert and complex.
About the Play:
The title itself suggests the context of Greek mythology. We can include the myth of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. The play has a trilogy, The Homecoming, The Hunted and The Haunted. The play begins with the mother and daughter, waiting for Ezra Mennon. Through the gardener, it is learnt that the townspeople gossips about the affair of Christine and Edam Brant. Lavinia, the daughter of Christine and Ezra Mennon. And she has also doubt on her mother. She spys on her mother. Love and hate is the central theme of the play.
#Autobiographical perspective..
O'Neill's own attachment to his mother was deep and firm. In his own experience, too, there was the idealistic Irish-Catholic identification of mother, and purity was tied tightly to the mother-image. Eugene built the psychological theory in to the plot and the characters of Mourning Becomes Electra. In the play we can find the experience of the author. The folk tale attitude towards mother, the American experience and O'Neill's own heritage established a background for the Freudian position and indicate how the playwright is likely to interpret the complexes.
#Greek pattern..
As I earlier mentioned that the play follows the pattern of Greek trilogy in the beginning. The first play, entitled the Homecoming is closest to the original. It tells of the return of General Ezra Mennon-Agamemnon from the civil war, and of his murder by his wife, Christine-Clytemnestra, at the the urging of her lover, Adam Brant-Aegisthus, and it ends with the confrontation of the mother by her daughter, Lavinia Mannon-Electra. As we can compare the play with the myth of Agememnon. The chief difference of the modern play from its original is that Christine and her lover di not stab the husband in his bath. She gives poison to him instead of the medicine he expects.
Ezra seems less the conquering hero than the lonely old man, and his guilty is disproportionally small, it is not the cruelty and self-willed pride of the Greek. Although the first play explains the actions of the classical Agamemnon in modern psychological terms, it substitutes neurotic hatred for the full-blooded passion and violence of the original. Moreover, in changing the character of Electra from the Greek original, O'Neill also changed the action and the dramatic conception of the final play.
#Aspects of Freudianism
Freudian theories of character are a version of reality that explains the crimes of the Mannons as heritage explains their guilt. O'Neill chose Freudian view in his character. As a social dimension of O'Neill's action extends into the the puritan past, so the broader dimension extends into the unconscious, where drives are determined by infantile experience. Like the piritanism, the Freudianism of the play is popular and unscientific. According to Freud, “the mind could be considered to consist of three systems—the Conscious, the Preconscious and the Unconscious” (Isbister: 168). Graphically, Freud’s system would look like this,
The unconscious, Freud says, is “something that could never fully be understood,” but that it contains basic instincts and drives which are “primarily sexual—he called the energy behind the drives the ‘libido’.” These drives “were constantly seeking discharge” and they “included infantile bisexual impulses, sexual longings and jealousies directed at and against parents (the Oedipal desires).” Those drives, though, are most of the times diverted—they are “prevented from reaching consciousness by repression or censorship.”
#Oedipus and Electra complex.
Mourning Becomes Electra" can be called a modern tragedy of "Oresteia" where Neil has not only changed the names of characters as well as the story but also altered. The complexities are found in the characters like Lavinia and Orin. Lavinia has excessive emotions for her father and very much hatred for her mother. As it is Orin has very much influence of his mother.
ORIN-- And I'll never leave you again now. I don't want Hazel or anyone. (with a tender grin) You're my only girl!
While away at war, Orin dreamt of his mother as an Island of space. The wish to possess mother and the acting out of the father-murder give Orin the classic Oedipal symptoms. In the Orin and Lavinia, the third generation, this impulse has grown into a fixation, a love-hate directed primarily at mother. Lavinia's love for her father is so deep rooted that she is wilful in rejecting the genuine love of Peter saying: "I can't marry anyone, Peter. I've got to stay home. Father needs me". Peter counters her "He's got your mother" and she "sharply" reacts: "He needs me more!" We may agree that her mother, Christine, has been cheating on her father but the tone in which she speaks is enough to reveal the deep psychosexual jealousy of Lavinia. Both characters are perfectly fit in the complexes, Lavinia spy on her mother and she hated her mother because she cheats her father. Christine manipulates her son, after the death of Ezra Mennon and Edam Brant she has only one option, Orin. As it is Lavinia also needs the support of his brother.
The complex of Hamlet towards his mother Gertrude, she married with his uncle and we can imply the Oedipus complex into him. In India there is different myth, Yayati, in which son has payed for the deeds of his father. In Hindu narratives the hero is one who submits to the will of the father, society, and tradition. Obedience is the highest virtue. He is the good son. He who obeys. Surrenders. Submits. Because the father knows best. Father must win in the Indian tradition. Father is tradition. Father is the great keeper of cultural values. His indiscretions must be forgiven. According to the play, the Oedipus complex arises because the mother loves the father too little and the son too much. This Freudian hypothesis explains 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 gender.
#Purticular details of Freudianism..
In Mourning Becomes Electra, every male character is attracted to woman, who resembles his his mother in physical appearance and every female desires man who resembles her father. The women characters are also significant. They are identified with one another different symbols. The author creates the confusing action while characters loves each other in a very differently. Adam loves Christine, Lavinia loves her father, Adam and Orin ; Ezra loves his wife and daughter; Orin loves his mother and sister; Adam hates Ezra and Orin; Orin hates rivals for his mother's love, Adam, and Ezra. This is how O'Neill makes imagery of Freudianism.
We can say the modern story of Electra, it is very appropriate. The details of relationship in the House of Atreus created the structure of the Mennon clan. Different names of the characters following the punning allusion to 'Agamemnon' in Ezra Mennon. And also such details are obvious, but less so, it signifies that O'Neill's remarkable fidelity to basic motifs of the myth.
#Conclusion...
Mourning Becomes Electra takes its place in the forefront of many modern dramas based on Greek themes and written by the greatest writer in the modern theatre.
Mourning Becomes Electra doesn’t measure to Aeschylus’ Oresteia the trilogy O’Neill used as his model, and it does fail to follow any convincing understanding of Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis which was O’Neill’s major influence. Mourning Becomes Electra is a well-structured play. Even the critics who have pointed out the play’s major flaws recognize it’s “theatrically effective”, and “superbly constructed”. Mourning Becomes Electra is, indeed, Eugene O’Neill’s masterpiece.
To evaluate my assignment click here,
Name: Rudrika Gohel
Course: M.A. English
Sem: 3
Batch: 2017-2019
Roll No: 32
Enrollment No: 2069108420180015
Submitted to: Smt.S.B.Gardi Department of English MKBU
Email Id: rudrikagohel97@gmail.com
Paper No: 10
Topic: Psychoanalysis in Mourning Becomes Electra
Author:-
Eugene O'Neill has an influence of Freudian concepts. His portrayal of characters is very realistic, his expressionism is closer to Strindberg's "psycho-expressionism". O'Neill created characters representing psychological complexes, as we can find in his play The Strange Interlude. In his play the struggle is with the man himself and with his own past and future. Also his characterization is significant. He uses psychological symbolism. The psychological pattern of the play has become ever more introvert and complex.
About the Play:
The title itself suggests the context of Greek mythology. We can include the myth of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. The play has a trilogy, The Homecoming, The Hunted and The Haunted. The play begins with the mother and daughter, waiting for Ezra Mennon. Through the gardener, it is learnt that the townspeople gossips about the affair of Christine and Edam Brant. Lavinia, the daughter of Christine and Ezra Mennon. And she has also doubt on her mother. She spys on her mother. Love and hate is the central theme of the play.
#Autobiographical perspective..
O'Neill's own attachment to his mother was deep and firm. In his own experience, too, there was the idealistic Irish-Catholic identification of mother, and purity was tied tightly to the mother-image. Eugene built the psychological theory in to the plot and the characters of Mourning Becomes Electra. In the play we can find the experience of the author. The folk tale attitude towards mother, the American experience and O'Neill's own heritage established a background for the Freudian position and indicate how the playwright is likely to interpret the complexes.
#Greek pattern..
As I earlier mentioned that the play follows the pattern of Greek trilogy in the beginning. The first play, entitled the Homecoming is closest to the original. It tells of the return of General Ezra Mennon-Agamemnon from the civil war, and of his murder by his wife, Christine-Clytemnestra, at the the urging of her lover, Adam Brant-Aegisthus, and it ends with the confrontation of the mother by her daughter, Lavinia Mannon-Electra. As we can compare the play with the myth of Agememnon. The chief difference of the modern play from its original is that Christine and her lover di not stab the husband in his bath. She gives poison to him instead of the medicine he expects.
Ezra seems less the conquering hero than the lonely old man, and his guilty is disproportionally small, it is not the cruelty and self-willed pride of the Greek. Although the first play explains the actions of the classical Agamemnon in modern psychological terms, it substitutes neurotic hatred for the full-blooded passion and violence of the original. Moreover, in changing the character of Electra from the Greek original, O'Neill also changed the action and the dramatic conception of the final play.
#Aspects of Freudianism
Freudian theories of character are a version of reality that explains the crimes of the Mannons as heritage explains their guilt. O'Neill chose Freudian view in his character. As a social dimension of O'Neill's action extends into the the puritan past, so the broader dimension extends into the unconscious, where drives are determined by infantile experience. Like the piritanism, the Freudianism of the play is popular and unscientific. According to Freud, “the mind could be considered to consist of three systems—the Conscious, the Preconscious and the Unconscious” (Isbister: 168). Graphically, Freud’s system would look like this,
The unconscious, Freud says, is “something that could never fully be understood,” but that it contains basic instincts and drives which are “primarily sexual—he called the energy behind the drives the ‘libido’.” These drives “were constantly seeking discharge” and they “included infantile bisexual impulses, sexual longings and jealousies directed at and against parents (the Oedipal desires).” Those drives, though, are most of the times diverted—they are “prevented from reaching consciousness by repression or censorship.”
#Oedipus and Electra complex.
Mourning Becomes Electra" can be called a modern tragedy of "Oresteia" where Neil has not only changed the names of characters as well as the story but also altered. The complexities are found in the characters like Lavinia and Orin. Lavinia has excessive emotions for her father and very much hatred for her mother. As it is Orin has very much influence of his mother.
ORIN-- And I'll never leave you again now. I don't want Hazel or anyone. (with a tender grin) You're my only girl!
While away at war, Orin dreamt of his mother as an Island of space. The wish to possess mother and the acting out of the father-murder give Orin the classic Oedipal symptoms. In the Orin and Lavinia, the third generation, this impulse has grown into a fixation, a love-hate directed primarily at mother. Lavinia's love for her father is so deep rooted that she is wilful in rejecting the genuine love of Peter saying: "I can't marry anyone, Peter. I've got to stay home. Father needs me". Peter counters her "He's got your mother" and she "sharply" reacts: "He needs me more!" We may agree that her mother, Christine, has been cheating on her father but the tone in which she speaks is enough to reveal the deep psychosexual jealousy of Lavinia. Both characters are perfectly fit in the complexes, Lavinia spy on her mother and she hated her mother because she cheats her father. Christine manipulates her son, after the death of Ezra Mennon and Edam Brant she has only one option, Orin. As it is Lavinia also needs the support of his brother.
The complex of Hamlet towards his mother Gertrude, she married with his uncle and we can imply the Oedipus complex into him. In India there is different myth, Yayati, in which son has payed for the deeds of his father. In Hindu narratives the hero is one who submits to the will of the father, society, and tradition. Obedience is the highest virtue. He is the good son. He who obeys. Surrenders. Submits. Because the father knows best. Father must win in the Indian tradition. Father is tradition. Father is the great keeper of cultural values. His indiscretions must be forgiven. According to the play, the Oedipus complex arises because the mother loves the father too little and the son too much. This Freudian hypothesis explains 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 gender.
#Purticular details of Freudianism..
In Mourning Becomes Electra, every male character is attracted to woman, who resembles his his mother in physical appearance and every female desires man who resembles her father. The women characters are also significant. They are identified with one another different symbols. The author creates the confusing action while characters loves each other in a very differently. Adam loves Christine, Lavinia loves her father, Adam and Orin ; Ezra loves his wife and daughter; Orin loves his mother and sister; Adam hates Ezra and Orin; Orin hates rivals for his mother's love, Adam, and Ezra. This is how O'Neill makes imagery of Freudianism.
We can say the modern story of Electra, it is very appropriate. The details of relationship in the House of Atreus created the structure of the Mennon clan. Different names of the characters following the punning allusion to 'Agamemnon' in Ezra Mennon. And also such details are obvious, but less so, it signifies that O'Neill's remarkable fidelity to basic motifs of the myth.
#Conclusion...
Mourning Becomes Electra takes its place in the forefront of many modern dramas based on Greek themes and written by the greatest writer in the modern theatre.
Mourning Becomes Electra doesn’t measure to Aeschylus’ Oresteia the trilogy O’Neill used as his model, and it does fail to follow any convincing understanding of Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis which was O’Neill’s major influence. Mourning Becomes Electra is a well-structured play. Even the critics who have pointed out the play’s major flaws recognize it’s “theatrically effective”, and “superbly constructed”. Mourning Becomes Electra is, indeed, Eugene O’Neill’s masterpiece.
Work cited:-
https://www.scribd.com/document/327653850/Mourning-Becomes-Electra
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