Orestes in Modern Drama: "Mourning Becomes Electra"

"I'm always acutely aware of the Force behind - (Fate,
God, our biological past creating our present, whatever one
calls it - Mystery certainly) - and the eternal tragedy of Man
in his glorious, self-destructive struggle to make the Force
express him instead of being, as an animal is, an incident
in its expression. . . . This is the only subject worth writing
about and . . . it is possible - or can be - to develop a tragic
expression in terms of transfigured modern values and
symbols in the theater."
(Eugene O'Neill)
When Eugene O'Neill received the Nobel Prize in 1936, critics proclaime…