How we cite our quotes: (Name of Play, Act #)
Quote #10
CHRISTINE: I fainted before I could hide [the poison]! And I had planned it all so carefully. But how could I foresee that she would come in just at that moment? And how could I know he would talk to me the way he did? He drove me crazy! He kept talking of death! He was torturing me! I only wanted him to die and leave me alone!
BRANT: He knew before he died whose son I was, you said? By God, I'll bet that maddened him!
CHRISTINE: I'd planned it so carefully--but something made things happen! (The Hunted, Act 4)
C'mon Christine. You know what that "something" was.
Quote #11
ORIN: By God, he does look like Father!
LAVINIA: No! Come along!
ORIN: This is like my dream. I've killed him before--over and over.
LAVINIA: Orin!
ORIN: Do you remember me telling you how the faces of the men I killed came back and changed to Father's face and finally became my own? He looks like me, too! Maybe I've committed suicide! (The Hunted, Act 4)
This passage, loaded with (spoiler alert) foreshadowing, shows us Orin's feeling that his act of murdering Brant is somehow part of a larger pattern he can't quite understand, like some horrible fate he's forced to repeat "over and over."
Quote #12
LAVINIA: What kind of history do you mean?
ORIN: A true history of all the family crimes, beginning with Grandfather Abe's--all of the crimes, including ours, do you understand?
LAVINIA: Do you mean to tell me you've actually written--
ORIN: Yes! I've tried to trace to its secret hiding place in the Mannon past the evil destiny behind our lives! I thought if I could see it clearly in the past I might be able to foretell what fate is in store for us, Vinnie--but I haven't dared predict that--not yet--although I can guess--
LAVINIA: Orin! (The Haunted, Act 2)
By this point, Orin's a psychological wreck. He knows he's been tortured by generations of a Mannon family saga he doesn't quite understand, so he's writing it all down trying to find the curse that started it all and maybe unload his guilt. He feels they've all been driven to whatever actions they've taken by some evil force hidden in the family's sorry past. His suicide is his final acknowledgment that he's powerless over his tragic Mannon family destiny.