Desire Under Elms by Eugene O’Neill | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Desire Under Elms was a 3 Act play by Eugene O’Neill that was first performed in 1924. The play is loosely based on the Greek myth of Hippolytus and Phaedra which was first depicted in the play Hippolytus by Euripides. Eugene O’Neill depicted a similar story in a rural New England setting, albeit there are some basic differences between the story of Hippolytus by Euripides and the story of Desire Under Elms by Eugene O’Neill.

Characters: Eben Cabot is a young man with a strong sinewy build. He is attractive looking with defensive and resentful eyes. He lives with his old father and two half-brothers from his father’s first wife. The farmland they live on belongs to his mother whom his father married for land. His mother died while working hard at the farm and Eben blames his father for her death. Simeon and Peter Cabot are elder than Eben. Simeon is 39 years old and Peter is 37 years old. None of them wishes to waste their life on the farmland and they dream of venturing out to California and trying their luck in gold mines. Ephraim Cabot is 75 years old man, father of Eben, Simeon, and Peter. He is strongly built though his eyesight is weak now as he is too old. His first wife died at an early age when Simeon and Peter were little. He married for the second time and worked the farm of his second wife and made it successful. His second wife also died early and he often complains of being lonesome and the fact that no one really knows him. While he remained dutiful to each of his sons, none of his sons is close to him. Simeon and Peter wish he dies so that they may get their share of the farm and go to California to find gold. Eben on the other hand resents his father and wrongly blames him for his mother’s death. Abbie Putnam is a vivacious buxom woman, 35 years old. She is attractive with a strong appeal that cannot be denied. She marries Ephraim Cabot and becomes his third wife for security, money, and land. However, Ephraim is too old for her and she sets her eyes on Eben. Eben believes that she married his father only to grab his mother’s land. He resents Abbie for this but gradually accepts her as his lover. Abbie is happy to get the security of home as Ephraim’s wife while her physical and emotional needs are fulfilled by Eben until he comes to think that she is tricking him for his land.
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