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Mourning Becomes Electra; a Trilogy \By Eugene O'neill, 1931 the Action Mourning Becomes Electra; A Trilogy \by Eugene O’Neill, 1931 The action of the trilogy, with the exception of an act of the second play, takes place in or immediately outside the Mannon residence, on the outskirts of one of the smaller New-England seaport towns. A special curtain shows the house as seen from the street. From this, in each play, one comes to the exterior of the house in the opening act and enters it in the following act. This curtain reveals the extensive grounds--about thirty acres-- which surround the house, a heavily wooded ridge in the background, orchards at the right and in the immediate rear, a large flower garden and a greenhouse to the left. In the foreground, along the street, is a line of locust and elm trees. The property is enclosed by a white picket fence and a tall hedge. A driveway curves up to the house from two entrances with white gates. Between the house and the street is a lawn. By the right corner of the house is a grove of pine trees. Farther forward, along the driveway, maples and locusts. By the left corner of the house is a big clump of lilacs and syringas. The house is placed back on a slight rise of ground about three hundred feet from the street. It is a large building of the Greek temple type that was the vogue in the first half of the nineteenth century. A white wooden portico with six tall columns contrasts with the wall of the house proper which is of gray cut stone. There are five windows on the upper floor and four on the ground floor, with the main entrance in the middle, a doorway with squared transom and sidelights flanked by intermediate columns. The window shutters are painted a dark green. Before the doorway a flight of four steps leads from the ground to the portico. The three plays take place in either spring or summer of the years 1865-1866. PART ONE--HOMECOMING--A Play in Four Acts CHARACTERS BRIGADIER-GENERAL EZRA MANNON CHRISTINE, his wife LAVINIA, their daughter CAPTAIN ADAM BRANT, of the clipper "Flying Trades" CAPTAIN PETER NILES, U.S. Artillery HAZEL NILES, his sister SETH BECKWITH AMOS AMES LOUISA, his wife MINNIE, her cousin ACT ONE SCENE—Exterior of the Mannon house on a late afternoon in April, 1865. At front is the driveway which leads up to the house from the two entrances on the street. Behind the driveway the white Grecian temple portico with its six tall columns extends across the stage. A big pine tree is on the lawn at the edge of the drive before the right corner of the house. Its trunk is a black column in striking contrast to the white columns of the portico. By the edge of the drive, left front, is a thick clump of lilacs and syringas. A bench is placed on the lawn at front of this shrubbery which partly screens anyone sitting on it from the front of the house. It is shortly before sunset and the soft light of the declining sun shines directly on the front of the house, shimmering in a luminous mist on the white portico and the gray stone wall behind, intensifying the whiteness of the columns, the somber grayness of the wall, the green of the open shutters, the green of the lawn and shrubbery, the black and green of the pine tree. The white columns cast black bars of shadow on the gray wall behind them. The windows of the lower floor reflect the sun's rays in a resentful glare. The temple portico is like an incongruous white mask fixed on the house to hide its somber gray ugliness. In the distance, from the town, a band is heard playing "John Brown's Body". Borne on the light puffs of wind this music is at times quite loud, then sinks into faintness as the wind dies. From the left rear, a man's voice is heard singing the chanty "Shenandoah"--a song that more than any other holds in it the brooding rhythm of the sea. The voice grows quickly nearer. It is thin and aged, the wraith of what must once have been a good baritone. "Oh, Shenandoah, I long to hear you A-way, my rolling river Oh, Shenandoah, I can't get near you Way-ay, I'm bound away Across the wide Missouri." The singer, Seth Beckwith, finishes the last line as he enters from around the corner of the house. Closely following him are Amos Ames, his wife Louisa, and her cousin Minnie. Seth Beckwith, the Mannons' gardener and man of all work, is an old man of seventy-five with white hair and beard, tall, raw-boned and stoop-shouldered, his joints stiffened by rheumatism, but still sound and hale. He has a gaunt face that in repose gives one the strange impression of a life-like mask. It is set in a grim expression, but his small, sharp eyes still peer at life with a shrewd prying avidity and his loose mouth has a strong suggestion of ribald humor. He wears his earth-stained working clothes. Amos Ames, carpenter by trade but now taking a holiday and dressed in his Sunday best, as are his wife and her cousin, is a fat man in his fifties. In character he is the townsfolk type of garrulous gossip-monger who is at the same time devoid of evil intent, scandal being for him merely the subject most popular with his audience. His wife, Louisa, is taller and stouter than he and about the same age. Of a similar scandal-bearing type, her tongue is sharpened by malice. Her cousin, Minnie, is a plump little woman of forty, of the meek, eager-listener type, with a small round face, round stupid eyes, and a round mouth pursed out to drink in gossip. These last three are types of townsfolk rather than individuals, a chorus representing the town come to look and listen and spy on the rich and exclusive Mannons. Led by Seth, they come forward as far as the lilac clump and stand staring at the house. Seth, in a mood of aged playfulness, is trying to make an impression on Minnie. His singing has been for her benefit. He nudges her with his elbow, grinning. SETH--How's that fur singin' fur an old feller? I used to be noted fur my chanties. (Seeing she is paying no attention to him but is staring with open-mouthed awe at the house, he turns to Ames-- jubilantly) By jingo, Amos, if that news is true, there won't be a sober man in town tonight! It's our patriotic duty to celebrate! AMES--(with a grin) We'd ought to, that's sartin! LOUISA--You ain't goin' to git Amos drunk tonight, surrender or no surrender! An old reprobate, that's what you be! SETH--(pleased) Old nothin'! On'y seventy-five! My old man lived to be ninety! Licker can't kill the Beckwiths! (He and Ames laugh. Louisa smiles in spite of herself. Minnie is oblivious, still staring at the house.) MINNIE--My sakes! What a purty house! SETH--Wal, I promised Amos I'd help show ye the sights when you came to visit him. 'Taint everyone can git to see the Mannon place close to. They're strict about trespassin'. MINNIE--My! They must be rich! How'd they make their money? SETH--Ezra's made a pile, and before him, his father, Abe Mannon, he inherited some and made a pile more in shippin'. Started one of the fust Western Ocean packet lines. MINNIE--Ezra's the General, ain't he? SETH--(proudly) Ayeh. The best fighter in the hull of Grant's army! MINNIE--What kind is he? SETH--(boastfully expanding) He's able, Ezra is! Folks think he's cold-blooded and uppish, 'cause he's never got much to say to 'em. But that's only the Mannons' way. They've been top dog around here for near on two hundred years and don't let folks fergit it. MINNIE--How'd he come to jine the army if he's so rich? SETH--Oh, he'd been a soldier afore this war. His paw made him go to West P'int. He went to the Mexican war and come out a major. Abe died that same year and Ezra give up the army and took holt of the shippin' business here. But he didn't stop there. He learned law on the side and got made a judge. Went in fur politics and got 'lected mayor. He was mayor when this war broke out but he resigned to once and jined the army again. And now he's riz to be General. Oh, he's able, Ezra is! AMES--Ayeh. This town's real proud of Ezra. LOUISA--Which is more'n you kin say fur his wife. Folks all hates her! She ain't the Mannon kind. French and Dutch descended, she is. Furrin lookin' and queer. Her father's a doctor in New York, but he can't be much of a one 'cause she didn't bring no money when Ezra married her. SETH--(his face growing grim--sharply) Never mind her. We ain't talkin' 'bout her. (then abruptly changing the subject) Wal, I've got to see Vinnie. I'm goin' round by the kitchen. You wait here. And if Ezra's wife starts to run you off fur trespassin', you tell her I got permission from Vinnie to show you round.
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