Mourning Becomes Electra Sex and Lust Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Name of Play, Act #)

Quote #10

ORIN: You're doing the lying! You know damned well that behind all your pretense about Mother's murder being an act of justice was your jealous hatred! She warned me of that and I see it clearly now! You wanted Brant for yourself!

LAVINIA: It's a lie! I hated him!

ORIN: Yes, after you knew he was her lover! But we'll let that pass for the present--I know it's the last thing you could ever admit to yourself!--and come to what I've written about your adventures on my lost islands. Or should I say, Adam Brant's islands! He had been there too, if you'll remember! Probably he'd lived with one of the native women! He was that kind! Were you thinking of that when we were there?

LAVINIA: Stop it! I--I warn you--I won't bear it much longer!

ORIN: What a paradise the Islands were for you, eh? All those handsome men staring at you and your strange beautiful hair! It was then you finally became pretty--like Mother! You knew they all desired you, didn't you? It filled you with pride! Especially Avahanni! You watched him stare at your body through your clothes, stripping you naked! And you wanted him!

LAVINIA: No!

ORIN: Don't lie! What did you do with him the night I was sick and you went to watch their shameless dance? Something happened between you! I saw your face when you came back and stood with him in front of our hut!

LAVINIA: I had kissed him good night, that was all--in gratitude! He was innocent and good. He had made me feel for the first time in my life that everything about love could be sweet and natural.

ORIN: So you kissed him, did you? And that was all?

LAVINIA: And what if it wasn't? I'm not your property! I have a right to love! (The Haunted, Act 2)

Orin, driven slowly crazy with guilt, projects all his sexual jealousy onto his sister. He's disgusted with her sexual attraction to Avahanni just like he was sickened by his mother's attraction to Brant instead of himself. You can see Lavinia's shot at happiness just evaporating before our eyes. This passage totally reminiscent of the scene between Ezra and Christine when she admits her affair with Brant and tells Ezra she has a right to be happy with a lover. Orin and Lavinia have turned into their parents. What a confused mess of a family. It gets worse.

Quote #11

ORIN: And I suppose you think that's all it means, that I'll be content with a promise I've forced out of you, which you'll always be plotting to break? Oh, no! I'm not such a fool! I've got to be sure--You said you would do anything for me. That's a large promise, Vinnie--anything!

LAVINIA: What do you mean? What terrible thing have you been thinking lately--behind all your crazy talk? No, I don't want to know! Orin! Why do you look at me like that?

ORIN: You don't seem to feel all you mean to me now--all you have made yourself mean--since we murdered Mother!

LAVINIA: Orin!

ORIN: I love you now with all the guilt in me--the guilt we share! Perhaps I love you too much, Vinnie!

LAVINIA: You don't know what you're saying!

ORIN: There are times now when you don't seem to be my sister, nor Mother, but some stranger with the same beautiful hair-- Perhaps you're Marie Brantôme, eh? And you say there are no ghosts in this house?

LAVINIA: For God's sake--! No! You're insane! You can't mean--!

ORIN: How else can I be sure you won't leave me? You would never dare leave me--then! You would feel as guilty then as I do! You would be as damned as I am! Damn you, don't you see I must find some certainty some way or go mad? You don't want me to go mad, do you? I would talk too much! I would confess! Vinnie! For the love of God, let's go now and confess and pay the penalty for Mother's murder, and find peace together! (The Haunted, Act 3)

Holy. Crap. This is what it's all come to. Orin wants to make all those sick incestuous fantasies into reality as a way to possess Lavinia like he wanted to possess his mother. As the meaning of what Orin's saying comes crashing down on Lavinia, she knows he's finally lost it.