How we cite our quotes: (Name of Play, Act #)
Quote #7
BLAKE: I'll tell you something, Josiah—strictly between you and me.
BORDEN: Of course. What is it, Joe?
BLAKE: I haven't asked Christine Mannon any embarrassing questions, but I have a strong suspicion that it was love killed Ezra!
BORDEN: Love?
BLAKE: That's what! Leastways, love made angina kill him, if you take my meaning. She's a damned handsome woman and he'd been away along time. Only natural between man and wife—but not the treatment I'd recommend for angina. […]
BORDEN: Can't say as I blame him! She's a looker! I don't like her and never did but I can imagine worse ways of dying! (The Hunted, Act 1)
This exchange is one of the only places where we actually hear some pretty normal talk about sex. Christine's a looker, Ezra's been away a long time, wink-wink—you know what that leads to. Borden and Blake are comfortable talking about what might happen when sex gets a little too hot for an old man with a bad heart. It might be an unkind joke, but it's typical sexual banter two guys might have. They're definitely not Mannons.
Quote #8
ORIN: […] I used to have the most wonderful dreams about you. Have you ever read a book called "Typee"—about the South Sea Islands?
CHRISTINE: Islands? Where there is peace?
ORIN: Then you did read it?
CHRISTINE: No.
ORIN: Someone loaned me the book. I read it and reread it until finally all those Islands came to mean everything that wasn't war, everything that was peace and warmth and security. I used to dream I was there. And later on all the time I was out of my head I seemed really to be there. There was no one there but you and me. And yet I never saw you, that's the funny part. I only felt you around me. The breaking of the waves was your voice. The sky was the same color as your eyes. The warm sand was your skin. The whole island was you. A strange notion, wasn't it? But you needn't be provoked at being an island because this was the most beautiful island in the world—as beautiful as you, Mother! (The Hunted, Act 2)
O'Neill is making it pretty obvious that these islands are more than just islands for the trilogy's major characters. In this passage, we get a full-on picture of the pathetic and disturbed relationship Orin has with his mother. O'Neill's giving us a great description of what Freud called the "oceanic feeling," a baby's blissful state of oneness with the mother, no boundaries, just pleasure. One problem, though: Orin's an adult. Freud thought the oceanic feeling was rather asexual or maybe pre-sexual, but when Orin's talking, it's got serious erotic overtones.
Quote #9
LAVINIA: Orin keeps teasing that I was flirting with that native he spoke about, simply because he used to smile at me and I smiled back.
PETER: Now, I'm beginning to get jealous, too.
LAVINIA: You mustn't. He made me think of you. He made me dream of marrying you--and everything.
PETER: Oh, well then, I take it all back! I owe him a vote of thanks!
LAVINIA: I loved those Islands. They finished setting me free. There was something there mysterious and beautiful--a good spirit--of love--coming out of the land and sea. It made me forget death. There was no hereafter. There was only this world--the warm earth in the moonlight--the trade wind in the coco palms--the surf on the reef--the fires at night and the drum throbbing in my heart--the natives dancing naked and innocent--without knowledge of sin! But what in the world! I'm gabbing on like a regular chatterbox. You must think I've become awfully scatter-brained!
PETER: Gosh no! I'm glad you've grown that way! You never used to say a word unless you had to!
LAVINIA: Oh, Peter, hold me close to you! I want to feel love! Love is all beautiful! I never used to know that! I was a fool! We'll be married soon, won't we, and settle out in the country away from folks and their evil talk. We'll make an island for ourselves on land, and we'll have children and love them and teach them to love life so that they can never be possessed by hate and death! But I'm forgetting Orin! (The Haunted, Act 1)
Another jam-packed scene. Here's Peter's fairly normal sexual reaction to a loosened-up Lavinia—lovin' it but at the same time a little freaked out. Lavinia, OTOH, is all over the place. She wants to give in to the newfound passion of the islands, but catches herself—doesn't want to freak out the boyfriend. And just when she's on the verge of grabbing some happiness for herself and putting the Mannon craziness behind her, the thought of her bro brings her back to earth. She's stuck. We can see the Mannon family dynamic squashing any hope of a normal sexual or love relationship. Lust is just too dangerous a feeling.