Mourning Becomes Electra Fate Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Name of Play, Act #)

Quote #1

SETH: I believe anything you tell me to believe. I ain't been with the Mannons for sixty years without learning that. Ain't you noticed this Brant reminds you of someone in looks?

LAVINIA: Yes. I have--ever since I first saw him--but I've never been able to place who--Who do you mean?

SETH: Your Paw, ain't it, Vinnie?

LAVINIA: Father? No! It can't be! Yes! He does--something about his face--that must be why I've had the strange feeling I've known him before--why I've felt Oh! I won't believe it! You must be mistaken, Seth! That would be too--! (Homecoming, Act 1)

That strange feeling…Lavinia's starting to feel fate creeping up on her in the person of Adam Brant aka Adam Mannon. It's our first hint that something's rotten with this family's history. O'Neill writes this sequence in a way that lets us know that it's really important information that's going to have serious repercussions.

Quote #2

BRANT: You're so like your mother in some ways. Your face is the dead image of hers. And look at your hair. You won't meet hair like yours and hers again in a month of Sundays. I only know of one other woman who had it. You'll think it strange when I tell you. It was my mother. (Homecoming, Act 1)

You can almost hear the crash of the organ music. Act 1 of Homecoming does a great job of setting up the foreshadowing and sense of inevitability that something weird is destined to go down in this family.

Quote #3

BRANT: I thought, by God, I'll take her from him and that'll be part of my revenge! And out of that hatred my love came. It's damned queer isn't it? (Homecoming, Act 2)

No, Adam, it isn't queer at all. It might seem queer because you didn't understand how it could happen. That's because you didn't realize that it was fated to happen.