What convinces Mortimer that he should not marry Elaine in Arsenic and Old Lace?

The press is on hand when Mortimer Brewster arrives with Elaine Harper at the marriage license bureau to get married. When the reporters realize it is him, Mortimer Brewster, the confirmed bachelor and great opponent of wedded bliss, planning to get married, they begin to photograph him. Mortimer grabs Elaine by the hand and runs out of the bureau. He says to her:

"How can I marry you ? Me, the symbol of bachelorhood. I've sneered at every love scene in every play. I've written four million words against marriage!"

It is the press attention he will get and the way he will come across as a hypocrite after all he has written against marriage that persuades Mortimer not to marry Elaine. However, he is so in love with her that he quickly changes his mind, braves the cameras, and heads back with her to marriage bureau. They do get married, though afterwards Mortimer has some qualms as he remembers how much insanity runs in his family. His aunts, for example, poison old men with elderberry wine and bury them in the basement, his uncle believes he is Teddy Roosevelt, and his brother is a psychopathic murderer. Nevertheless, all will end well when Mortimer discovers he is not really a Brewster.


Mortimer Brewster has the reputation of being a profound skeptic when it comes to marriage. In fact, he literally wrote the book on the subject, penning what he calls "the bachelor's bible." Mortimer wants to protect that reputation, and so his initial reluctance to marry Elaine is perfectly understandable. But Mortimer's deeply in love with Elaine, so he agrees to become engaged to her.
However, as the bodies start piling up in the Brewster residence, Mortimer gets cold feet about his forthcoming marriage. He starts to believe that insanity must run in the Brewster family; it's the only rational way to describe the growing madness on display. So the last thing that Mortimer wants to do is to pass on his crazy gene by settling down and having children with Elaine.
Thankfully, for all concerned, Mortimer's murderous aunts inform him that he was an illegitimate child, and therefore not actually a Brewster after all. If madness does run in the family, then Brewster need have no worry about passing it on.

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