The "original sin" in this trilogy is one of lust: David Mannon's illicit affair with the family's French Canadian nurse. (You know those Canadians—no self control, right?) This affair haunts the Mannon family and sets in motion all the revenge and murder that follows. Conflict about sexual desire is what destroys Ezra and Christine's marriage and leads them to seek comfort in really inappropriate attachments to their children. There's constant friction in the trilogy between sexual repression and sexual longing. Reading these plays as someone not born in the 1800s, you might wonder what the big deal is. Is adultery a capital offense? Is it really shocking to be a sensual person? O'Neill's giving us a peek into a society where sex is best kept under wraps, where being a sexy person gets you labeled as strange or foreign. The result of all this repression is an explosion of twisted sexuality, in the form of incestuous feelings which ultimately destroy the Mannon family. In fact, most of the sex (or sexual desire) in these plays are between parents and children, or people who represent parents and children. Eww.
Questions About Sex and Lust
- How does Lavinia's physical appearance in the beginning of the play suggest she's uncomfortable with sex?
- What is Captain Brant's sensual and romantic nature (those lips! those eyes!) meant to convey about his place in the family?
- Are the Blessed Isles a place of sexual innocence or sexual excess? How do the characters differ in their opinions about it?
Chew on This
O'Neill's characters are a product of their sexually repressed era.
O'Neill's characters are a product of their family's messed-up ideas about sex.