Christine Mannon

Character Analysis

This play has no shortage of villains, but we nominate Christine Mannon as the worst. Modeled after Clytemnestra in the Oresteia, she's the young and beautiful wife of old General Ezra who's tired of Ezra's coldness and oldness and has taken Ezra's nephew as her lover. She's a nasty, miserable and distant mother to her daughter and a smothering, crazy-making, coddling mother to her son.

Being a Mannon only by marriage and not by blood, Christine's different in some important ways from everyone else. There's a sexiness about her, and she feels trapped by the Mannon family coldness and stiffness. She hates her dark old house and tries to brighten it up with flowers. Being the outsider, she can see the family patterns for what they are, and she likes to talk about "you Mannons." She can't stand to think of herself as one of them. But she can't completely escape the family patterns.

Despite being described by the playwright as having an animal sensuality, she's become secretive and shut-down after years of marriage to Ezra.

Nobody in town likes Christine:

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. (Homecoming, Act 1)

Your Cheatin' Heart

Oh, did we mention she's a murderer? When her hopes that Ezra will be killed in the war don't pan out, she has another plan to be with her lover.

CHRISTINE: Didn't you say you wanted to kill him?

BRANT: Aye! But I'd give him his chance!

CHRISTINE: Did he give your mother a chance?

BRANT: No, damn him!

CHRISTINE: Then what makes you so scrupulous about his death? It must be the Mannon in you coming out! Are you going to prove, the first time your love is put to a real test, that you're a weak coward like your father?

BRANT: Christine! If it was any man said that to me—

CHRISTINE: Have you thought of this side of his homecoming—that he's coming back to my bed? If you love me as much as you claim, I should think that would rid you of any scruples! If it was a question of some woman taking you from me, I wouldn't have any qualms about which was or wasn't the way to kill her! (Homecoming, Act 2)

I Hate You, You Hate Me, We're a Messed-up Family

You can see that Christine's not only a murderer, but a master manipulator. Throughout the play, we see her manipulate her husband, her lover, and her son. The only one she can't seem to completely manipulate (not for lack of trying) is her daughter because Lavinia's on to her adultery and lies. Naturally, Christine hates her guts. In their showdown after Lavinia's discovered her mother's affair with Brant, we get the backstory for their mutual loathing:

LAVINIA: Stop lying, I tell you! I went upstairs! I heard you telling him--"I love you, Adam"--and kissing him! You vile--! You're shameless and evil! Even if you are my mother, I say it!

CHRISTINE: I--I knew you hated me, Vinnie--but not as bitterly as that! Very well! I love Adam Brant. What are you going to do?

LAVINIA: How you say that--without any shame! You don't give one thought to Father--who is so good--who trusts you! Oh, how could you do this to Father? How could you?

CHRISTINE: You would understand if you were the wife of a man you hated!

LAVINIA: Don't! Don't say that--before him! I won't listen!

CHRISTINE: You will listen! I'm talking to you as a woman now, not as mother to daughter! That relationship has no meaning between us! You've called me vile and shameless! Well, I want you to know that's what I've felt about myself for over twenty years, giving my body to a man I--

LAVINIA: Stop telling me such things! Let me go! You--then you've always hated Father?

CHRISTINE: No. I loved him once--before I married him--incredible as that seems now! He was handsome in his lieutenant's uniform! He was silent and mysterious and romantic! But marriage soon turned his romance into--disgust!

LAVINIA: So I was born of your disgust! I've always guessed that, Mother--ever since I was little--when I used to come to you--with love--but you would always push me away! I've felt it ever since I can remember--your disgust! Oh, I hate you! It's only right I should hate you!

CHRISTINE: I tried to love you. I told myself it wasn't human not to love my own child, born of my body. But I never could make myself feel you were born of any body but his! You were always my wedding night to me--and my honeymoon!

Way, way too much information from a mother to a daughter, ya think? That you hate your daughter because she reminds you how much sex with your husband disgusts you?

Yowza.

Cry Me a River

Christine tries to be threatening and controlling, but underneath it all, she's an insecure mess. She's afraid of losing her reputation or her dashing young boyfriend:

CHRISTINE: I don't think you'd propose that, Adam, if you stopped thinking of your revenge for a moment and thought of me! Don't you realize he would never divorce me, out of spite? What would I be in the world's eyes? My life would be ruined and I would ruin yours! You'd grow to hate me!

BRANT: Don't talk like that! It's a lie and you know it!

CHRISTINE: If I could only believe that, Adam! But I'll grow old so soon! And I'm afraid of time! As for my sailing on your ship, you'll find you won't have a ship! He'll see to it you lose this command and get you blacklisted so you'll have no chance of getting another. (Homecoming, Act 2)

Brant wants to be a man about the situation and tell Ezra that he wants to marry Christine, or at least kill him the old-fashioned way—in a duel. But Christine knows she'd lose her reputation and money if that happens so she taunts Brant for being a coward for not wanting to go along with the murder plan. In a twisted way, she's responsible for Brant's death, too.

Once Brant is dead and her children threaten to reveal everything, Christine knows there's only one option for her. She's committed murder to be with Brant, and her children have killed him off. After hearing this news, O'Neill tells us "Christine continues to stare blankly in front of her. Her face has become a tragic death mask." She probably realizes that her pushing the murder plan was part of why he ended up dead. With no more reason to live, she rushes into the house and shoots herself.