Intertextuality: Allusion, Convention and Transformation in The Oresteia and Mourning Becomes Electra

Abstract

This article aims to show the relationship between the plays of O’Neill and his European counterpart, Aeschylus. O’Neill subscribes to Greek mythology but modifies or transforms it in the American scenario. Our study of the plays has considered the way meanings are constructed by a network of cultural and social discourses which embody distinct codes, expectations and assumptions. Besides, the thematic and linguistic similarities and differences between the works of the European and that of the American author selected have enabled the researcher to have an insight into literary influences and affinities. This article has demonstrated that there is no end in the making of texts, as O’Neill has revisited classical literature to write his play, Mourning Becomes Electra. This paper argues that intertextuality must not be limited to influences as Aeschylus had no direct influence on O’Neill though O’Neill rewrites his play The Oresteia. Both writers have no biographical similarities nor do they come from the same generations. O’Neill alludes to Aeschylus’s Greek mythological form of play writing but transforms it into the American scenario, through American Realism. To analyse these plays, the critical approach used was Postmodernism since interetxtuality is the major tenet of postmodernism. The paper concludes that, although O’Neill subscribes to Greek mythology, he deviates from European playwrights of this dramatic convention. His work has aspects of American Realism, and he is equally a social critic who writes about the ills that plague his society, in order to create awareness in his countrymen.