What are the themes of Desire Under the Elms?

Desire Under the Elms Themes

• Desire, Revenge, and Tragedy. As its title suggests, Desire Under the Elms centers on characters who are consumed by their personal desires.
• Farming, Labor, and Poverty.
• Gender.
• Religion, Faith, and Suffering.

What is the meaning of Desire Under the Elms?

The significance of the title Desire Under the Elms is that it highlights the earthy nature of human passions. Far from being unnatural or out of the ordinary, desire is an important part of what it means to be human. It is as much a part of the natural world as any elm tree. PDF Cite Share.

What does Eben in Desire Under the Elms strongly desire?

Eben thus believes that Cabot worked Maw to death, and he’s obsessed with the idea of avenging her death and taking the farm back for himself.

How does O’Neill deal with desires in Desire Under the Elms?

He is hypnotized by desire and is almost blind for his land. He does not want to pass the farm to any of his sons. Because of his obsession with the farm, he always feels lonely and does not find any comfort in the house.

Who is the tragic hero in Desire Under the Elms?

Eben
Desire under the Elms, as a tragedy in general, complies with Aristotle’s most important element of tragedy which is the plot. Through the character of the tragic hero, Eben, the causality and the arrangement of the plot was successfully showed in the progression of action.

What is the desire of Abbie?

Abbie, the young wife, desires a home and security. That is why she marries to the old 75 years old Ephraim just for the sake of land and the security. Simeon and Peter, the two sons, desire freedom from the hard labor of a New England rock bound farm and wants own independence in the gold mining work of California.

Why does Eugene O Neill’s Desire Under the Elms remind the reader of Greek tragedies?

In Desire Under the Elms, Eugene O’Neill not only adopts some elements from Greek tragedies, but brings more different ideas for readers, such as supernaturalism, and the degeneration of the tragic heroes or the peasant like language and sets more comic elements.

What do the elms represent in the play?

Here, the elms represent the nature thwarted by Puritanism. Nature can be suppressed, but not for long; It takes revenge upon its oppressors. Hence, the elms come to represent the brooding and ultimately triumphant fate.

How does Eben take revenge on his father?

Eben takes his last revenge on his father seducing his step- mother, Abbie. His father suffers greatly when he comes to know that Abbie loves Eben, and Eben was Abbie’s baby’s father, and cries to hear that Abbie smothers it in the cradle.

What makes Cabot extremely happy?

Cabot’s aggressive intention. She persuades him and tells him that she wants a baby, which makes them happy and stops the quarrelsome activities. One night Cabot falls asleep deeply.

Why did Peter want to get rid of his father in Desire Under the Elms?

Simeon and Peter, who are Cabot’s sons from his first marriage, hate their father for subjecting them to hard lives of physical labor on the farm, and they dream of running away to California to strike it rich in the Gold Rush.

What is tragedy of passion?

A tragic figure, according to the classic definition, is a person of noble birth whose character is flawed by a weakness that causes his downfall. Othello’s flaw is a passion he cannot control, he is slow to anger, but once he is angered, his passion overwhelms his good sense.

What happens to Abbie’s baby at the end of the play Desire Under the Elms?

At the end of the play, Abbie suffocates the newborn baby using a pillow in an impulsive moment, as she mistakenly thinks that this will prove to Eben that she won’t use the baby as leverage to seize the farm for herself and that she genuinely loves Even.

How does O’Neil handle the theme of sin and retribution in Desire Under the Elms?

For this reason, he wants to take revenge upon his father. That means his first sin is a revengeful tendency. His second sin is making illegal and nasty relations with Abbie. At last, he takes his punishment by going to prison.

Which psychological condition is depicted in Desire Under the Elms?

The Plight of Modern Man O’Neill’s Desire under the Elms represents the plight of modern man through many themes. The play represented theme of greed, family problems, Alienation and psychological problems which are all considered to be within the problems faces by modern man.

Who is the first character we are introduced to in Desire Under the Elms?

As the play opens we are introduced to the three Sons of Ephraim Cabot and Peter, are fed up with their life on the stony farm their father has made them over-work and now they desire freedom from drudgery on their father’s farm.

How is Desire Under the Elms similar to a Greek tragedy?

Desire Under the Elms is reminiscent of a Greek tragedy in its emphasis on the domestic politics of family rivalry, incest, and murder. Eben’s desire for his stepmother Abbie as he mourns the death of his real mother is Oedipal. Eben wants Abbie both sexually and as a mother. Like Oedipus, Eben has sex with a mother.

Who ends up with the farm in the end Desire Under the Elms?

An early production of Eugene O’Neill’s Desire Under the Elms, 1924. In this play Ephraim Cabot abandons his farm and his three sons, who hate him. The youngest son, Eben, buys out his brothers, who head off to California. Shortly after this, Ephraim returns with Abbie, his young new wife.

How was Desire Under the Elms influenced by Greek myths and tragedy?

Why does Cabot leave the farm?

Relieved, Cabot leans in to kiss Abbie, but she pulls away in disgust. Abbie convinces Cabot to leave the farm to her if she has a baby, and he agrees.