Mourning Becomes Electra The Hunted, Act 5 Summary

  • We're back in front of the Mannon Estate, where Christine sits on the porch. A full day has passed, and it's the night after Brant's murder.
  • Hazel approaches, and we learn that Christine sent for her.
  • Christine says she has the house all to herself; she's alone and afraid.
  • Hazel thinks it's the grief. But it's not; it's the guilt.
  • Christine tells Hazel that she's stopped believing in heaven, because she's convinced only hell is real. Not the best conversation starter.
  • Hazel does her best to cheer Christine up.
  • Christine wonders where her kids could be.
  • Hazel offers to spend the night there with Christine.
  • As Hazel's about to leave for a minute or two to tell her mother she'll be staying with Christine, she meets Orin and Lavinia coming up the drive. (Now that the kids are back, Hazel will not be staying the night.)
  • Orin confronts Christine and tells her the truth about where he and Lavinia were.
  • He tells Christine that he and his sister followed her when she went to meet Brant, and overheard everything.
  • Orin also cops to killing him and making it look like a robbery.
  • Christine's can't believe it. She's crazy with grief, but Orin says he'll do everything he can to make it up to her—he's convinced Brant planned Ezra's murder and forced Christine to go along with it. Mommy Dearest couldn't possibly have been so evil.
  • He begs her to forgive him and wants everything to be right between them again. They can sail away to the South Seas and be happy!
  • Christine stares ahead like a zombie. She heads towards the house.
  • Lavinia calls after her to say that she can live without Brant, that justice has been done.
  • Christine laughs crazily—"Live?" Right. She goes inside.
  • Lavinia jumps all over Orin for acting like a baby again.
  • Orin decides to try and find his mother.
  • We hear Seth singing "Shenandoah" from a good distance away, and there's a single pistol shot from inside the Mannon home.
  • Orin finds his mother dead and runs out of the house screaming.
  • Lavinia calls it justice for her father.
  • Orin's rapidly becoming a gigantic mess of emotions and he blames himself for killing his mother by killing Brant. He's sobbing hysterically the whole time.
  • Lavinia tells Orin to pull it together before Seth shows up.
  • After Seth arrives, she has him go get Dr. Blake, and tells him that Christine has killed herself. She makes sure Seth thinks it's because of grief over losing her husband.