Development of Characters in Mourning Becomes Electra

{tocify} $title={Table of Contents}

What is Art of Characterization?

Characterization is a literary device which empowers a writer to highlight and present details about a character in a story, step by step. Art of Characterization is a writer's ability on how a writer draws his characters. Art of Characterization is often used as a synonym with the development of a character. Mourning Becomes Electra is a versatile play, dealing with a variety of themes. So the characters have to be versatile to showcase the themes of war, death and freedom. O'Neill's art of characterization or development of characters has to revolve around these themes to make the central idea of the play easily approachable and properly associated with the historical context.

Art of Characterization in Mourning Becomes Electra

Caught by the Evil Forces

The major characters in Mourning Becomes Electra are destined to fall a victim to the supernatural power of evil. Lavinia loves a sea captain Peter Niles and chooses as her life partner but she is withheld by her inner voice, calling her to help her [ageing] father, more than anyone else. Why? Lavinia's faith in love shatters when she learns about the affair between Captain Brant and her mother Christine. So, the evil-doing of one [or two] character(s) catches the other character in its web. The dark force of the evil wipes almost every living Mannon and Orin states the 'shift' of evil to his sister Lavinia as below:

I’m now in Father’s place and you’re Mother……… That’s the evil destiny out of the past I haven’t dared predict: I’m the Mannon you’re chained to!

A Psychological Mess

Mourning Becomes Electra is a psychological mess because of the complexity O'Neill has implemented in this play. The psychological theories of Sigmund Freud are prominent in the shape of complex love between mother and her son, father and his daughter and then sister and brother. Such psychological mess pretty much sets the course of [tragic] action in the play.

Characters are Borrowed from a Greek Tragedy

The structure of Mourning Becomes Electra is borrowed from a Greek tragedy The Oresteia by Aeschylus, so as the characters and their course of action. The return of the king from the Trojan War is connected with the return of Ezra Mannon from the American Civil War. The character of Electra is paralleled by Lavinia. But the most common sharing of characters between the two plays is of the chorus. Chorus is a group of people which comments on the story but in Mourning Becomes Electra, Seth Beckwith also plays his part as choragos (the chorus leader) to move the story. Some minor characters like the chantyman appear in only a few places to fill the gap of other choral members in the play.

Characters Exchange Their Roles!

It is not an odd thing in O'Neill's plays that characters often change their roles. In Mourning Becomes Electra, when Christine kills herself, Lavinia takes place of Christine for Orin, who is so close to his mother. Brant assumes the character of his mother Marie Brantome to leave her impact even after her death. After Lavinia returns back from the clipper-ship adventure, she resembles the commanding voice of her father. When the womanish identity wakes up in Lavinia, she, again, transforms into Christine and Orin shapes himself as Ezra Mannon since there is no one left to play his role.

Conclusion

The characters in Mourning Becomes Electra are developed in the tradition of a Greek tragedy to present the horrors of war psychologically and morally.