Desire Under the Elms is the last of ONeils naturalistic plays written in three parts with each part in split into four scenes.

Authors Avatar

Desire Under the Elms:  A Play by Eugene O’Neil

        Desire Under the Elms is the last of O’Neil’s naturalistic plays written in three parts with each part in split into four scenes.  This play was first produced at the Greenwich Village Theatre, November 11th, 1924 (Young).  This play is based off Euripides' Hippolytus, and Jean Racine's Phèdre. Two plays in which a father who returns home with a new wife in which the son falls in love with (Britannica).  This play has been described as “a fine process of solidity and finish, it is better written throughout; it has as much tragic gloom and irony but a more mature conception and a more imaginative austerity” (Young).

Characters:

  • Ephraim Cabot
  • Simeon
  • Peter
  • Eben
  • Abbie Putnam
  • Young girl and neighboring town folk.

Plot Summary:

Part One

Set in New England of 1850, all action of the play takes place either inside of outside of the Cabot Farmhouse.

Scene One

The play starts as Simeon and Peter come in from a hard day’s work.  As they come in, they talk about moving to California to strike gold, and become rich.

Scene Two

Eben, Peter and Simeon are all at the table eating supper, discussing the health of their father.  Eben believes that because he is the youngest son, and that his mother was last married to Cabot, he is the rightful owner of the farm.  Eben’s mother died when he was 15, which left him to do all his mothers work.  After supper, Eben gets up to leave into town to see Minnie, a prostitute, while his brothers tease him.

Scene Three

Simeon and Peter are in their room asleep; Eben bursts in, and says that he heard news that their father has just married a 35 year old woman.  Seeing it as their father’s way of keeping them from inheriting the farm, Simeon and Peter once again bring up the idea of leaving to California again.

Join now!

Scene Four

It is the next day.  Simeon and Peter leave the house to start work, but stop and change their minds since their father has remarried.  Eben, angry because they won’t do work, and in a fit of possession leaves the house to milk the cows and do their work for them.  After a moment, Simeon and Peter decide to join him.  Before they leave, Eben returns saying he’s spotted their father coming down the road with his new bride.  They hide in the bushes to see his new bride, and after they pull up, Simeon ...

This is a preview of the whole essay