Lavinia: the Aristotelian tragic heroine in O’Neill
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Eugene O’Neill’s “Mourning Becomes Electra” was inspired by Aeschylus’ The Orestes. In O’Neill’s version, Agamemnon is the American general Ezra Mannon, Clytemnestra is his second wife Christine, Orestes is his son Orin, and Electra is his daughter Lavinia. The play featured murder, adultery, incestuous love, and revenge. Although only fate guides the actions of characters in Greek tragedies, O’Neill’s characters also have motivations based on 1930s psychological theory. Although the play can be read from a Freudian perspective paying attention to complexes from the Oedipus and Electra complexes of various characters, the characters can also be evaluated according to Aristotle’s concept of a tragic character.
Aristotle’s ideas about tragedy were recorded in his literary theory book entitled Poetics. In it, he has much to say about the structure, purpose, and desired effect of tragedy. His ideas have been adopted, disputed, expanded and discussed for several centuries.
The following is a summary of his basic ideas about the tragic hero:
1. The tragic hero is a character of noble stature and has greatness. This should be readily apparent in the work. The character must occupy a position of “high” status, but must also embody nobility and virtue as part of his innate character.
2. Although the tragic hero is preeminently great, he is not perfect so that the audience can easily relate to such a character. Although perhaps elevated to a higher position in society, the character should be seen as as essential as the normal person.
3. The hero’s downfall is partly his own fault, the result of his free choice, not accident or villainy or some evil fate. In fact, tragedy is often triggered by some error in judgment or some character flaw that contributes to the hero’s lack of perfection. This error in judgment or character flaw is known as hamartia and is often translated as tragic flaw.
4. The hero’s misfortune is not entirely deserved. The punishment outweighs the crime.
5. The fall is not pure loss. It could generate an increase in awareness, a gain in self-awareness, and a discovery on the part of the tragic hero.
Eugene O’Neill Mourning Becomes Electra: A Recap
Ezra Mannon is one of the prominent figures in the city. He had served as a judge, a mayor, and most recently as one of Grant’s generals in the Civil War. He has a bad heart and has a hard time expressing love. His wife, Christine Mannon, was an adulterous woman who stopped loving him from the beginning of their married life.
Lavinia Mannon is the loving daughter who hated her mother and adored her father. While Orin Mannon, Lavinia’s weak-willed brother, hated her father and adored her mother.
The other characters in the play include Adam Brant, who is the illegitimate son of Ezra’s uncle and a servant. He is a captain of a merchant marine ship and had an illicit relationship with Christine. Peter is Orin’s childhood friend and Lavinia’s fiancé. Helen, Peter’s sister, is Lavinia’s childhood friend and Orin’s fiancée.
The curse on the house of Mannon, a prominent New England family, dates back a generation, to Ezra Mannon’s father, Abe, and Uncle Ben. Ben was thrown out of the family when he impregnated a French-Canadian servant named Marie Brantône. Gambler and drunk, he eventually committed suicide. Marie asked Ezra, now the head of the family, to help her; but he ignored her and she died. Therefore, her son, Adam Brant, had an understandable grudge against Ezra. While Ezra and his son Orin are fighting in the Civil War, Adam Brant introduced himself to the family as Lavinia’s suitor. The handsome captain ended up seducing Christine.
The war is over and Ezra Mannon was on his way home. His wife Christine and his daughter Lavinia were waiting for him. While Lavinia was excited to see it, Christine was not. She never loved Ezra, and having finally experienced love with Adam, she thought that she could no longer bear Ezra’s touch. On the night of Ezra’s return, Christine gave him poison instead of his heart medicine; but before he died, Ezra was able to tell Lavinia what Christine and Adam had done.
A few days later, Orin returned home from the war. Still in shock from the death of his father, Orin has become the battleground between Lavinia and Christine. Eventually, Lavinia convinced Orin to accompany her and follow Christine, who went to Adam’s ship. The two spied on Christine and Adam. Orin was overcome with jealousy when he saw his mother, whom he loved so passionately, cavorting with Adam. Christine and Adam had planned to run away, but just after Christine left to get her things, Orin killed Adam. When Orin told Christine what she did to Adam, she shot herself.
After that incident, Lavinia and Orin traveled to the South Seas for a year. When they returned home, their friends Peter and Helen found them transformed. Lavinia had become the spitting image of her mother, and Orin, instead, had become a disintegrated person. Orin wrote a letter describing her family’s sad history and threatened Lavinia to give it to Peter if she tries to marry him. Lavinia protested and because of that, Orin tried to abuse her. Lavinia was able to free herself. At first, Orin committed suicide.
With what happened, Peter went to Lavinia to comfort her only to be told that she had, in fact, loved Adam Brant. In the end, Lavinia ignored Peter, and instead she embraced a lonely destiny by locking herself in the Mannon house.
Lavinia’s mourning
The tragic nature of O’Neill’s work has become the basis of this article by establishing the basis that Lavinia, who is the key character of the story, is an example of Aristotle’s concept of a tragic character.
1. Lavinia is a character of noble stature and has greatness.
Although the concept of nobility has been much observed in the early years, Lavinia’s stature of being a member of a prominent family in the community suffices for Aristotle’s notion of nobility. Other than that, Lavinia’s greatness as a character has been manifested in the fact that she had adhered to what is moral and just. Upon learning that her mother had an illicit relationship with Adam, she decided to break the relationship. Furthermore, although she herself has also been attracted to Adam, she tried to suppress her feelings for him. She has not succumbed to her congratulations and temptations which, in turn, caused Adam to divert attention from her to the love-starved Cynthia.
2. Although Lavinia may be pre-eminently cool, she wasn’t perfect so that readers can easily relate to her.
Although perhaps elevated to a higher position in society, Lavinia can also be seen as someone who is essentially the same as a normal person. Her attachment to Peter as a suitor and lover, her expression of grief at the death of her father, her expression of hatred for her mother for her infidelity, and her act of revenge for her father constitute the natural reaction of a person faced with the same situation. that she had Such behavioral manifestations go against the concept of a perfect character seen from a Christian perspective.
3. Lavinia’s downfall is partly her fault, the result of her free choice, not accident or villainy or some overwhelming evil fate.
Lavinia may not have died in the story, but her decision to self-isolate may be taken as her undoing. Such a fall has been caused by some error of judgment on her part. After Orin’s death, she could have had a new, redeemed life at Peter’s hands; however, she had squandered the opportunity when she admitted to him that she had, in fact, loved Adam, a revelation that had hurt Peter. Lavinia could have kept those feelings to herself because she is no longer in any relationship since Adam is already dead. So, it was her lack of judgment that led her to express a revelation so painful that it ultimately led to her downfall.
4. Lavinia’s misfortune is not entirely deserved. The punishment exceeds the mistake made.
Lavinia, the loving and respectful daughter, can be considered a victim of circumstance. She could have gotten her redemption through Peter, but other factors had intruded and made her give up her personal happiness. Her resolution to self-isolate herself by locking herself inside the Mannon house to lazy over her family’s sins may be considered too harsh for her.
5. Lavinia’s atonement is not pure loss: there is an increase in awareness, a gain in self-awareness, and a discovery on her part.
Lavinia could have decided to leave and run away to start a new life, but she chose to stay. In her decision, she has shown a sense of epiphany and renewal. Running away from her won’t necessarily allow you to escape the guilt and haunting of her past. Her act of self-sacrifice has allowed him to end the curse on her family, thus ending the series of misfortunes that has befallen her family. This act has elevated her to the role of her sacrificial lamb, making her the spiritual savior of the family from decadence and moral degradation.
Conclution
Although they aroused mixed emotions, the character of Lavinia does not leave her readers, or the audience, in a state of depression. Aristotle (Leitch 2001) argues that one of the functions of tragedy is to arouse the “unhealthy” emotions of pity and fear through a catharsis. Basically, through Lavinia and her fate, everyone is cleansed of those emotions.