This document provides biographical information about American playwright Eugene O'Neill and analyzes his play Mourning Becomes Electra. It notes that Mourning Becomes Electra explores Freud's theory of the Oedipus complex through its characters. Specifically, it examines how the play depicts the Oedipus complex between Christine and her son Orin, as well as Lavinia's relationship with her father, as turning points in the development of their Oedipus and Electra complexes. The document concludes by discussing Freud's theory that the mind consists of conscious, preconscious, and unconscious systems, as relevant to O'Neill's interpretation of psychoanalysis in the play.

1.  Name : Solanki Pratiksha M.
 Roll No : 21
 Enrolment No : PG 13101032
 Paper : 10. The American Literature
 Sem : 3. (2014-2015)
 Subject : Oedipus Complex in Mourning Becomes
Electra
 Submitted to :
 Smt. S.B. Gardi
Department of English
M.K.Bhavnagar University
 pratikshasolanki068@gmail.com

2.  Eugene O'Neill
 O'Neill was an Irish
American playwright and
Nobel laureate in
Literature..
Occupation : Playwright
Full Name : Eugene
Gladstone O'Neill
Born : 16 October, 1888.
Died : 27 November,
1953.
 His Masterpiece
a)Long Day's Journey into
Night( 1957)
b)Beyond the Horizon
(1920)
c)Anna Christie (1922)

3. Mourning Becomes Electra

4. • Mourning Becomes Electra is a play
cycle written by American playwright
Eugene O'Neill.
• Published in 1931
• Mourning Becomes Electra is
extraordinarily lengthy for a drama.
• Characters from the ancient Greek
play.
• Freudian perspective.

5. • Various characters :
Oedipus complexes and Electra
complexes.
• Mourning Becomes Electra is
divided into three plays.
• Themes : The Oresteia trilogy by
Aeschylus.
1. Homecoming,
2. The Hunted,
3. The Haunted.

6.  Oedipus complex
Oedipus
Emotions Desire Ideas
to have
sexual
relation

7. Opposite sex
• Son
attracted
• Their
mothers
• Daughter
attracted
• Their
fathers

8.  Psychological Element.
Sigmund
Freud
Conscious Unconscious Oedipus
complex

9. Beckground : Oedipus complex
• Greek mythological character
Oedipus.
• Unwittingly kills his father.. Laius
• Marries his mother..Jocasta.
• A play based on the myth. Oedipus
Rex
• Was written by Sophocles..

10. In Mourning Becomes Electra..
Where..
 Mr. O’Neill’s interpretation of
Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis is
a totally disaster.
 Ezra and Orin are away..
 As a turning point in the
development of the Oedipus and
Electra complex.

12. " “I loved [Orin]”, Christine says,
"until he let you and your father nag
him into the war, in spite of my begging
him not leave me alone".
• Christine
• Orin
( Mother )
( Son )
• Lavinia
(Daughter)
•Her
Father

14.  Conclusion
• According to Freud..
" The mind could be considered to
consist of three systems, the
Conscious,the Preconscious and the
Unconscious”..