Character Clues
Character Analysis
Physical Appearance
When it comes to plays, what you see is what you know. Plays are designed to be watched, rather than read, so it goes without saying that physical appearance is going to be very important in what it tells us about different characters, their attitudes and personalities, and what we should expect from them. O'Neill's narrator, for instance, describes Christine as a "tall striking-looking woman of forty" with a "fine, voluptuous figure" who "moves with an animal grace." Like Ezra and other characters, though, her face is also described as being "not living flesh but a wonderfully life-like pale mask" (Homecoming, Act 1).
Christine's beauty and curvy body signal a sexuality that her affair with Brant confirms. The "animal grace" O'Neill describes is meant to convey to us that she's dangerous, like a hungry lioness on the hunt. Lavinia's different at first; she's bony, small-breasted, and dressed in black, all indicators by O'Neill of the absence of sexual feeling. And, even though they both have faces that look like masks, Ezra's mask-face is meant to tell us that he's got some real issues with expressing emotions and acting like a human being; Christine's mask-face is meant to suggest the kind of mask you hide behind, telling us that she's not to be trusted because she's concealing something.
If looks could kill, Christine would be on death row. Hazel Niles, on the other hand, has a "strong chin and capable, smiling mouth" that are meant to tell us right away that she is "frank, innocent, amiable and good." We know that appearances aren't everything, but we'd take hanging with Hazel over Christine any day.
Family Life
In a trilogy of plays filled with daddy issues and mama-drama, it makes sense that the interaction of different family members is the major way we learn about the characters. Lavinia and Christine are at each other's throats almost from the very beginning of the play, so that tells us there's definitely some nasty anger there. Christine's coldness toward Ezra when he shows up after being gone for so long shows us how heartless she can be. Christine and Lavinia's attitudes tell us that these are strong, assertive characters determined to carry out their plans.
And then there's poor, confused, war-addled Orin. He's quick to believe what Lavinia's telling him about Christine and Brant, but all Christine has to do is baby him and he's back to worshipping the ground she walks on. All his interactions with his mother and sister show us that Orin's weak and easily manipulated. Hazel and Peter are shown as siblings who get along fairly well, with the usual amount of affectionate teasing. They have very appropriate reactions to the Mannons' scheming and lying. So reading their scenes, we understand that they are normal and healthy young adults.
Sex and Love
Because Mourning Becomes Electra is a family drama, sex—and love—are really important tools of characterization. The fact that Christine is an adulteress lets us know she's faithless, hateful, frustrated, and lacks self-control. Her sexual intimacy with Ezra just before she kills him is the ultimate statement about how heartless she is. Lavinia's refusal to marry Peter because she feels obligated to take care of her ailing father, shows us just how incapable of normal love she is.
There's really no end to what the love lives—or lack of a love life—can tell us about different characters. Brant tells Christine that he never intended to fall in love with her, and yet now they're having a steamy affair (Homecoming, Act 2). This tells us that Brant is impulsive and that somebody with a cooler head, like the ever-calculating Christine, could very easily toy with him. Orin's inability to have a healthy relationship with Hazel because of his warped affections for Christine and Lavinia is yet another way that O'Neill is telling us Orin is damaged goods.
Relationships
The health, or mostly the lack of it, of the characters' relationships is one way we learn about their own psychological adjustment. And for the most part, it's all pretty dismal. Very few of the major characters seem capable of having normal, lasting relationships. Everyone in the Mannon nuclear family has what you might call "boundary issues." They're all wrapped up in enmeshed, incestuous feelings for the parent/child of the opposite sex, which fractures the marital relationship. Everyone seems to be living another character's life. Lavinia becomes Christine; Orin turns into his father. Adam Brant acts out the drama of his parents' illicit relationship. These relationships just scream "crazy." And no one really gets out alive except Lavinia, and, well, can you call that living?
The only healthy people are outside this family group: Hazel and Peter. And they barely escape the carnage. They have normal, relatively uncomplicated feelings for each other and for Orin and Lavinia, respectively, and they seem like people who could have reasonably happy relationships. It doesn't take much, though, for them to realize how toxic the Mannon family is, and they break off these relationships. Good choices, and it shows that they're way psychologically healthier than the Mannons.
The way Adam Brant handles his relationship with Christine, even though it's based on deceit, gives us a hint that he's not a totally bad guy. He's uncomfortable with the lies and wants the relationship to be out in the open, even if he's condemned by the Mannons like his father was. But his willingness to be persuaded and controlled by Christine shows us that he's right about himself—in the end, he's a coward.
Social Status
The Mannon clan are some seriously rich and powerful folks. Unlike a character like Seth, who's worked all his life, the Mannons don't seem to do anything except argue with each other, scheme, and/or slowly go crazy. Ezra's the exception; he's thrown himself into work and public service to distract himself from his unhappy marriage. So his social status is based partly on deception.
Sometimes, being high class tells us that a character is, well, classy—but that's not the case where most of the Mannons are concerned. It's partially their worries about "gossip" and how other people see them that make them so inclined to lie, deceive, and shamelessly back-pedal. Lavinia's even willing to sacrifice her family members to protect the family's reputation, or what's left of it.
Seth, on the other hand, may be selective with what he tells to certain people, but he's way more honest. Brant, who's slightly higher on the social ladder than Seth but still way below the Mannons, may be an adulterer and a maniac hell-bent on revenge, but he's uncomfortable from the very start with Christine's dishonest scheme. He wants to be straight with Old Man Mannon and shoot it out, Wild West style.
Hazel and Peter seem to be from an upper-class family, but they're generally kind and classy. We really don't know enough about their family to know what their social standing is, but there's no one in town like the Mannons. They're legendary.
Language
Think about this really basic exchange between our buddy Seth and the always-so-good Hazel Niles:
SETH: […] Evenin' Hazel.
HAZEL: Good Evening, Seth. (The Haunted, Act 4)
O'Neill's really good at communicating a lot in just a few words. Seth's greeting is informal—the verbal equivalent of a t-shirt and jeans. He even drops the "g" on "evening." Hazel's response is prim and proper, and meant to convey that she knows they're not on the same social level.
Same with this dialogue between Seth and Lavinia:
SETH: There now! Don't take on, Vinnie. No need gettin' riled at me. (He waits--then goes on insistently.) All I'm drivin' at is that it's durned funny--his looks and the name--and you'd ought fur your Paw's sake to make sartin.
LAVINIA: How can I make certain?
Seth's buddies have a similar dialect. The other "chorus," consisting of the minister, the town doctor, and their wives, speak more correctly but much less formally than the Mannons. They're the middle class, educated, but not as prominent in town as the Mannons. They're more expressive and spontaneous in their speech.
And if you ever happen to forget where the plays are taking place, O'Neill constantly reminds us with that favorite new England standby: "ayeh."