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The Haunted: Act 3
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Mourning Becomes Electra, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Justice, Revenge, and Lasting Peace
Familial Love vs. Carnal Desire
History and Repetition
Wartime Horror vs. Domestic Discontent
Lineage, Biology, and Destiny
Summary
Analysis
Three days later, Seth is out in front of the Mannon house, singing “Shenandoah” to himself as the sun starts to set. Lavinia, dressed again in black, is filling the house with flowers, just like Christine used to do. Vinnie insists that the house must be pretty for when Peter arrives. But Seth wonders if the flowers are really just a coping mechanism, Vinnie’s way of girding herself against Orin’s death three days ago.
The parallels between the first scene of the play and the last one are numerous; in both, Seth is singing “Shenandoah” while a Mannon woman collects flowers and tries to beautify the family’s grounds. But whereas the first scene of Homecoming began with Vinnie in direct opposition to her mother, now, she is the spitting image of Christine in both looks and behavior.
Themes
Vinnie wants to marry Peter and leave this house forever, boarding it up with all the portraits inside. As Vinnie waits for Peter to arrive, however, Hazel appears, accusing Lavinia of concealing the truth about her brother’s death. Hazel insists that if Peter marries Vinnie, he will be unhappy forever. As she turns to go, Hazel appeals to Vinnie’s sense of justice: “I know in your heart you can’t be dead to all honor and justice,” Hazel thinks. “You, a Mannon!”
O’Neill’s source material, the Oresteia, ends with divine intervention, as the ancient Greek goddess Athena steps in to ensure that formalized justice will break the violent cycle of revenge. But here, in a more modern context, there is no such divine intervention. Instead, the only way the Mannons can achieve justice is by looking into their "hearts,” finding within the “honor and justice” they have so frequently flouted outwardly.
Themes
Peter arrives, vowing that as soon as he and Vinnie are married, they will escape this house. Vinnie confesses that Hazel just came to visit, which upsets Peter. In a panic, Vinnie asks Peter if he will marry her that very night. Peter is unsure of what to say, so Vinnie begs him to kiss her. As they get closer, Vinnie accidentally calls Peter “Adam,” then insists that she has only ever heard that name in the Bible.
In addition to ancient Greek influence, the trilogy’s biblical undertones now come into focus, as Vinnie’s desire for Adam recalls that first story of human sin, in the Garden of Eden. And poignantly, in the exact moment that Vinnie should be looking to the future and building a new life with Peter, she has no choice but to reach back into the past, still unconsciously recreating the desire her mother felt for Adam Brant.
Themes
As Peter wonders what has come over Vinnie, Vinnie has a moment of clarity—she tells Peter that she cannot marry him, claiming that it is because she slept with Avahanni. Peter leaves, and Seth returns, wondering what will become of Lavinia. Knowing that it is time for her to face punishment, Vinnie decides that she will spend the rest of her life locked in the house. She tells Seth to throw out all the flowers and, in the play’s final moment, Lavinia “marches woodenly into the house, closing the door behind her.”
In the Oresteia, the central figures achieve peace by looking outwards, seeking order and restitution in the formal court system. But in updating the tragic trilogy, O’Neill also takes a more pessimistic view of peace and order. In this shocking final scene, Vinnie decides that the only way to truly deliver justice to herself and to her ancestors is by turning even more inwards, growing even more isolated. And as Vinnie “marches woodenly into the house” that has caused her family so much hurt, the narrative suggests that “closing the door” to the outside world (the ultimate “island on the land”) is the most painful—and perhaps most appropriate—punishment a contemporary tragic hero can find.
Themes
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