Desire Under the Elms Essay

This article discusses several different elements of the play. It talks about things such as the nature of the play, the setting, and even the concerns that were happen around the time that the play was written. The critic opens up by giving a brief synopsis of what’s happening in the outside world during the time that Eugene O’Neil wrote the play. The article opens up stating how O’Neil takes a difference response with this play as if he was demonstrating Greek theatre. Henry is trying to explain that even though the play does not follow any particular play, that it echoes Hippolytus and Medea which both involve incest and infanticide (Henry, 2006). This type of behavior was highly intolerable during this time; this is what made the Desire Under the Elm stick out to readers and reviewers. In the article, the main point that is brought up is the desire between Eben and Abby. From the moment that Abby is known at the house, there is some form of tension between her and Eben. While Eben tries to remain loyal to the memory of his mother he his overcome by Abby, with her beauty, charm, and grace (Henry, 2006). It is hard for Eben to confess his love or true feelings for Abby because it is hard for him to accept Abby’s place in his home and the fact that she will one day own the farm that was robbed from his mother. Eben truly believes that Abby is an intruder, that is trying to seek his inheritance. All the while Abby is the type of person that had learned to fight for what she wants, and she will get it by any means necessary (Henry, 2006). The article also speaks on Abby as a person. Henry feels that Abby would’ve made a great wife for Ephram for as long as he lived, if Eben had not been around (Henry, 2006). Abby was the type of woman that knew how to get what she wanted. In this case, in this story Abby had dreams on owning Ephram’s farm. She was only 25 years old and she wasn’t expecting for Ephram to live too much longer, that way she could have some inheritance. There are several things that I learned while reading this critical analysis. The first thing that caught my attention was the history of time during this period. I had no idea the O’Neil was living in a time where he had lost both his mother and his brother before he wrote the play (Henry, 2006). In my opinion, the play was a minor hit of his own life during this time. He could have very well been compared to Eben. Another important fact that catches my attention about the article is that the conflict between father and son are so strong. In my opinion this proved that Ephram was not a good man at all. Eben’s reason for not liking his father was based on the facts that his mother told him. The thing that confused me was why did Ephram’s other sons Peter and Simon hate him so much? By watching the movie I can see, that Ephram was rough or hard on his sons but hard as they worked they still seemed to be a disappointment to him as well. Ephram’s main goal was to have a son that was strong and that he could be proud of, this was his purpose of having a baby boy with Abby. Last but not least, the article discusses how people can lose focus. The most obvious case of this in the story is Eben because he loses focus of what’s important when he falls in love with Abby. My question is about Ephram. He loses focus when he returns home with Abby. The only thing that he thinks about is not being alone. He never thinks about how his sons will adapt to Abby nor does he even think about does Abby really love him or is she just using him. It is obvious that Ephram loses focus of the ownership of the farm, he just wants somebody to be with in life so that he will not end up alone.