Mourning Becomes Electra Questions and Answers
by Eugene O’Neill

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• Mourning Becomes Electra
  Explain why Mourning Becomes Electra and Long Day's Journey into Night are complementary.
  The two works, both written by American dramatist Eugene O'Neill, are only complementary in the sense they are written by the same author and concern the same subject matter—namely, family....

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• Mourning Becomes Electra
  Describe the sea imagery in the play and analyze the sea motif as an image of escape.
  Mourning Becomes Electra is a play cycle written by Eugene O’Neill that premiered in 1931. Set in 1865 New England, the three plays—known individually as Homecoming, The Hunted, and The Haunted—is...

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• Mourning Becomes Electra
  Comment on the theme of love and lust that unfolds in "Mourning Becomes Electra."
  In Mourning Becomes Electra, O'Neill presents love and lust as powerful forces that, once unleashed, can devastate people's lives. The play's protagonist, Lavinia Mannon, has what's called an...

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• Mourning Becomes Electra
  What are the elements of classical Greek tragedy that O’Neill incorporates in his play Mourning Becoming Electra?
  As Mourning Becomes Electra is consciously based on ancient Greek tragedy, it's not surprising that it contains a number of classical elements. First and foremost, we have a tragic heroine in the...

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• Mourning Becomes Electra
  In Mourning Becomes Electra, would the nature of the tragedy be considered to be political, familial, or human?
  There's a lot of tragedy in Mourning Becomes Electra, and all of it ultimately derives from unresolved tensions within the Mannon family. Appropriately enough, Lavinia has an Electra complex, which...

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• Mourning Becomes Electra
  Analyze the title of the play Mourning Becomes Electra and explain how it becomes more ironic than defective.
  Mourning Becomes Electra is a play by Eugene O'Neill. It is a Greek tragedy in modern times, its title nodding to the original legend, Electra, the tragedy by Euripedes (there is another version by...

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• Mourning Becomes Electra
  What is the relationship between Ezra and Christine?
  The relationship between Ezra and Christine is . . . complicated. The play trilogy, Mourning Becomes Electra, by Eugene O'Neill, is set in New England at the of the Civil War. At the opening of the...

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• Mourning Becomes Electra
  What is the significance of the title "Mourning Becomes Electra?"
  The title is intended to remind the reader of the ancient tragedies by Aeschylus and Euripides about the children of the House of Atreus. The plot evokes the Atreides' story by both its tragic...

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• Mourning Becomes Electra
  Examine the conflict between personal will vs. Puritan society in Mourning Becomes Electra.
  For O'Neill, the Puritan atmosphere that encourages a lack of individual openness about one's own condition as well as a desire to be perceived as socially acceptable and socially sanctioned...

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• Mourning Becomes Electra
  Which kind of relationship exists between mother and daughter in Mourning Becomes Electra by Eugene O'Neill?
  This play is an "updated" version of the Greek Tragedy Electra. Both Sophocles and Euripides wrote plays about this daughter of King Agamemnon, who was killed by his wife Clytemnestra upon...

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• Mourning Becomes Electra
  What is the significance of title the 'Mourning Becomes Electra'?
  The title works on two different levels; on an aural level, O'Neill makes it sound like the title refers to a positive rebirth and transformation. One could think of the image of "morning" becoming...

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• Mourning Becomes Electra
  Discuss "Mourning Becomes Electra" as a modern tragedy. How is this drama is different from a Greek tragedy?
  This play is actually made up of 3 different plays, a trilogy: The Homecoming, The Hunted, and The Haunted. To begin, then, let's define "tragedy": "a dramatic composition, often in verse,...

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