O'Neill's trilogy "Mourning Becomes Electra," no matter how much the comparison with the ancient poet troubled or frightened him, remains one of the most interesting and inventive interpretations of Aeschylus' "Oresteia." The second part of O'Neill's trilogy, titled "The Hunted," corresponds to Aeschylus' "Choephori."

The dramatic setting of O'Neill's work is puritanical New England in America, where, according to the author, the most suitable dramatic conditions for the tragic plot involving crimes of passion and revenge can be created. The solution the author found to replace the power of the gods and fate, which compel the heroes to act destructively or self-destructively, is the activation of the puritanical conscience of his protagonists.