Summary
The story
begins on the house of Mannon (a prominent New England family) in the
generation of Ezra Mannon. Ben, Ezra’s uncle was kicked out of the family whne
he impregnated Marie Brantone. Marie asked Ezra to help her, baut he ignored
her and finally Marie was died. As a result, Adam Brant (Ben and Marie’s son)
has a grudge to Ezra. When Ezra and his son (Orin) are off fighting in the
Civil War, Adam approaches the family as a suitor to Lavinia.
Then, the
war has ended and Ezra is on his way home. Christine (his wife) and Lavinia
(his daughter) waiting for him. Lavinia is excited to see him, but Christine is
not. She never love Ezra as soon as they were married. The night of Ezra’s
return, Christine gives him poison instead of his heart medicine. But, before
Ezradies, he told Lavinia what Christine and Adam have done.
A few day
later, Orin return home. Lavinia forces him to follows Christine at dead of
night to Adam’s ship. They spy on Christine and Adam. When Orin see his mother
so passionately in another man, he starts to unravel and stabs Adam when his
mother is gone. After that, he tells Christine what he has done and Christine
shoots herself.
After
travel to South Seas for a year, Lavinia and Orin return to Massachusetts.
Lavinia becomes a beautiful woman like her mother. Orin writes a letter about
his family life history and threatens Lavinia tha he will give it to Peter if
Lavinia married with Peter. Orin torture Lavinia because he has disintegrated
with the Lavinia’s beauty. When Lavinia runs from Orin, he shoots himself.
After that, Lavinia reveals to Peter that she still loves the dead Adam Brant
and she dismisses Peter. Finally, she shutting herself up forever in the house
of Mannon and instead her lonely fate.
Characters and Their Characteristics
- Ezra Mannon, a brittle New Englander, is judge, mayor and, most recently, one of Grant’s generals in the Civil War. He has a bad heart and a hard time expressing love.
- Christine Mannon, Ezra’s wife, stopped loving him as soon as they were married.
- Ben, Ezra’s uncle.
- Marie Brantone, a French Canadian serving girl.
- Lavinia Mannon, Ezra and Christine’s daughter, hates her mother and adores her father.
- Orin Mannon, Lavinia’s brother, hates his father and adores his mother.
- Adam Brant is the bastard son of Ezra’s uncle by a servant. He is captain of a ship in the merchant marine, and romances both Christine and Lavinia.
- Peter is Orin’s childhood friend.
- Helen, Peter’s sister, is Lavinia’s childhood friend.
Settings (Places and Times)
- Places
A house in a small Massachusetts town (and a
ship in Boston harbor).
- Times
The story of this drama was in the summers of 1865 and 1866.
Impressing/Interesting Part
The most
interesting part for me is when Orin stabs Adam while his mother is gone. It’s
show us that Orin has a big love to his mother, he doesn’t want his mother has
another love with another man.
Theme
The theme of this drama are about fate, repetition,
substitution. The fate of this story is the repetition of a mythic structure in
a generation. This story also tell us about substitution , a substitution made
most explicit in Lavinia and Orin’s reincarnation as Christine and Ezra.
Moral Values
- As a good wife shouldn’t cheated on her husband, because her husband had difficulty support his wife and family.
- Do not ever feel jealous of what others earned.
Comments
The stories in this drama shows that sometimes
the law of reciprocity applies in life. This is one phenomenon that is considered the community as a natural
thing because of disharmony in the family can bring a dispute between members. Seen in the story when Orin was acting arbitrarily against to Lavinia because he was disintegrated by the beauty of Lavinia. Besides it before them, Christine (their mother) also poisoned her husband because she did not love him at all, finally she killed her husband (Ezra Mannon) and making love with Adam
Brant.
