Mourning Becomes Electra The Supernatural Quotes

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

Quote #1

SETH: […] And here's another funny thing—his name. Brant's sort of queer fur a name. I ain't never heard tell of it before. Sounds made up to me—like short fur somethin' else. Remember what that Canuck girl's name was, do you Vinnie? Marie Brantôme. See what I'm drivin' at?

LAVINIA: But—don't be stupid, Seth—his name would be Mannon and he'd be only too proud of it.

SETH: He'd have good reason not to use the name of Mannon when he came callin' here, wouldn't he? If your Paw ever guessed—!

LAVINIA: No! It can't be! God wouldn't let it! It would be too horrible—on top of—! I won't even think of it, do you hear! What did you have to tell me?

SETH: There now! Don't take on, Vinnie. No need gettin' riled at me. All I'm drivin' at is that it's durned funny—his looks and his name—and you'd ought for your Paw's sake to make sartin.

LAVINIA: How can I make certain?

SETH: Catch him off guard sometime and put it up to him strong—as if you knowed it—and see if mebbe he don't give himself away. Looks like he's comin' up the drive now, Vinnie. There somethin' about his walk calls back David Mannon, too. If I didn't know it was him, I'd think it was David's ghost coming home. (Homecoming Act 1)

Skeletons in the closet and a ghost in the driveway. Seth's description is eerily accurate though—you could say that David Mannon lives on in Brant, and Brant—like the ghost of his father might do—has come to seek revenge against the Mannon clan.

Quote #2

SCENE—Ezra Mannon's bedroom. A big four poster bed is at rear, center, the foot front, the head against the rear wall. A small stand, with a candle on it, is by the head of the bed on the left. To the left of the stand is a door leading to Christine's room. The door is open. In the left wall are two windows. At left, front, is a table with a lamp on it and a chair beside it. In the right wall, front, is a door leading to the hall. Further back, against the wall, a bureau.

[…] Christine's form can be made out, a pale ghost in the darkness, as she slips slowly and stealthily from the bed. She tiptoes to the table, left front, and picks up a light-colored dressing gown that is flung over the chair and puts it on. She stands listening for a sound from the bed. A pause. Then Mannon's voice comes suddenly from the bed, dull and lifeless. (Homecoming, Act 4)

It's no accident that O'Neill describes Christine as a ghost-like here. Not only is it super creepy, adding to the tension that will end in Ezra's murder, but it also foreshadows her own death—as a direct result of what she's about to do, Christine will become a ghost herself.

Quote #3

CHRISTINE: You are genuinely pure and good of heart, aren't you?

HAZEL: Oh no! I'm not at all—

CHRISTINE: […] Let's go in, shall we? I would rather wait for Orin inside. I couldn't bear to wait and watch him coming up the drive—just like—he looks so much like his father at times—and like—but what nonsense I'm talking! Let's go in. I hate moonlight. It makes everything so haunted. (The Hunted, Act 1)

Whatever you say, Christine. You sure it's not just your guilty conscience that makes everything seem "haunted?"