How we cite our quotes: (Name of Play, Act #)
Quote #7
LAVINIA: I had kissed him good night, that was all—in gratitude! […]
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!
ORIN: You—you whore! I'll kill you! No! You're lying about him, aren't you? For God's sake, tell me you're lying, Vinnie!
LAVINIA: Yes—it was a lie—how could you believe I—Oh, Orin, something made me say that to you, against my will—something rose up in me—like an evil spirit!
ORIN: Ghosts! You never seemed so much like Mother as you did just then! (The Haunted, Act 2)
Is this that evil spirit that Seth was talking about? What do you think it might actually be? Maybe Orin's mental instability makes him more susceptible to superstition.
Quote #8
HAZEL: Here he comes now. I'll go by the back. I don't want him to meet me I know you're suffering, Vinnie--and I know your conscience will make you do what's right--and God will forgive you.
LAVINIA: I'm not asking God or anybody for forgiveness. I forgive myself! I hope there is a hell for the good somewhere. (The Haunted, Act 4)
Lavinia's taking O'Neill's position here by saying that crime and punishment have nothing to do with God. It's people that sin and people that forgive or punish.
Quote #9
SETH: Don't try and live here, Vinnie! You marry Peter and get clear!
LAVINIA: I'm going to marry him! And I'm going away with him and forget this house and all that ever happened in it!
SETH: That's talkin', Vinnie!
LAVINIA: I'll close it up and leave it in the sun and rain to die. The portraits of the Mannons will rot on the walls and the ghosts will fade back into death. And the Mannons will be forgotten. I'm the last one and I won't be one long! I'll be Mrs. Peter Niles. Then they're finished! Thank God! (The Haunted, Act 4)
Oh, Vinnie—you have no idea how wrong you are. You don't have to believe in ghosts to feel haunted by your past. And this family's past proves too powerful to escape.