Eugene O’Neill – Desire Under the Elms
Tragic/Mythic elements in the play
Why does O’Neill use those elements?
On one hand, using myths was an ongoing trend in literature of the 20 th century. A
new world was formed at that time, so the writers looked back onto the mythical just
to see how perfect and harmonious it was. They would compare two worlds in order
to show something about the present one and the people living in it (like Eliot and
Joyce).
There were many influences to the drama of that time, one being Nietzsche. He was
famous for many things, including his quote “God is dead. God remains dead. And we
have killed him.” It was not just his personal feeling, but the feeling of many people in
those years. People drifting apart and feeling separation and loss of old values in the
world cause the new literature (modernism) to turn back and find inspiration and
ideals in the old ancient myths.
Miller’s impact on the view of the tragedy in America at that time was big. He
published an essay in 1949 in which he stood behind his belief “that the common man
is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as kings were.” And Desire Under
the Elms is just that kind of tragedy, even though it was written 25 years before
Miller’s essay. By presenting lives of a simple everyday family, he presents a life of a
common Everyman of the 20th century. His heroes are not kings, princes or noble
men at all, but nor is the present world the same as the one from old tragedies.
People have changed with that world, so O’Neill accepts them as they are and writes
about them despite their ordinary existence. Eben is not Hamlet, “nor are our
concepts of justice what they were to the mind of an Elizabethan king”, but the
Cabots still deserve this tragedy and are able to be its heroes, thus showing the
readers how a common man can be a king.
The tragic elements
The drama follows some rules of the dramas written in the centuries before it, so it
has exposition, conflict and catastrophe, which were the three parts of Shakespeare’s
dramas, according to A. C. Bradley. The other elements connect this drama to the old
ones written in ancient Greece and Rome and its theatre. Influences of old myths are
inevitable here just like they were in the times of Sophocles and Seneca.
Haunting past is a strong element present in O’Neill’s drama, crucial while
determining and controlling the present and the future actions. The two most
important events are the death of Eben’s mother induced by his father and the bad
relationship the boys have with Ephraim. Eben’s whole personality derives from his
relationship with the mother and the fact that he still blames his father for her death.
He is a vivid example of an Oedipus complex on more than one level, as his troubles
with mother figures start with his own mother, but end with Abbie. His mother is
omnipresent in the play even though not present on the stage; a force very powerful,
like gods were in the Greek dramas.
One characteristic tragic element is the conflict of the main hero, Eben. His problem
derives from his Oedipus complex and builds on it as he sees Abbie as both a
maternal and a sexual figure and is unable to distinguish her role in his life. He seeks
replacement for his mother, and finds it in Abbie, but also wants to feel loved by her.
Greek model of incest is present in that part and seen through their relationship. His
inner struggle grows as the play progresses and culminates in the end in his
determination to stay with Abbie and share her sins. It can be said that his hubris
(cause for tragic flaw) is his Oedipus complex and inability to separate his feelings for
his mother and Abbie, as well as his massive wish to own the farm, while his hamartia
(tragic flaw, a mistake that he performs) may be the act of love he does with Abbie.
A structural connection to the Greek drama is a group of people from neighbouring
farms who have the role of a chorus, with Fiddler as their coryphaeus. They are
present in the third part of the play during a celebration and, following their original
Greek role, they express something the hero cannot (in this case, the fact that the
baby is not actually Ephraim’s, but Eben’s).
Also, there are a number of so-called “Dyonisian” elements in the play. Those
elements in Greek tragedies were always connected to passion, disorder, chaos, wild
desire, sensuality etc. In O’Neill’s drama, they are present a lot, as most of the actions
in the drama are driven by passion and either lead to or are products of it. Desire is
present on many levels and in more than one pair of heroes (Eben and Abbie,
Ephraim and Abbie etc.) and is a force that is included in the plot until the very end.
The Shakespearean elements
There are some traces of the ideas of William Shakespeare in this drama, all due to
the fact that he was one of the greatest playwrights in the history and influenced
many later generations of writers. Those traces are not very obvious, but can be
spotted.
First similarity is between Eben’s mother and Hamlet’s father. It maybe is not seen at
the first glance, but both of them are obviously vital to the play even though they are
not present on the stage, due to the fact that they are both dead. Both of them
influence their children onto a sort of revenge and are forces that drive Eben and
Hamlet forward. Both heroes are troubled by their relationship with their parents
and that constructs a problem and a complex in each of them, which later results in
the outcomes of the plays.
Another similarity that connects characters is the determination shared by Abbie and
Lady Macbeth. Both are strong characters who are trying to live in the world of men
and manage to do so due to their determination. Just like Lady Macbeth is consistent
in trying to make her husband the king, Abbie is determined to do the things her own
way and does not mind the obstructions. Even though she kills her own son and later
realizes her mistakes, she is willing to face the consequences and stays strong even
when going away to face the justice.
The ending of the play is similar to a few endings written by Shakespeare. The final
line is spoken by Sheriff who serves as closure, despite the fact that he is someone not
directly involved in the actions. Such development is present in Hamlet, Othello,
Macbeth and King Lear. Before closure in all plays, one or more of the main
characters die and the plays are closed by someone who has small amount of impact
on the actions (Fortinbras, Lodovico, Malcolm, Edgar and Kent), thus restoring the
order that was present before the tragic events took place.
Dramatic irony is present in Desire Under the Elms, just like it is present in Othello,
when the audience knows that Desdemona is faithful to Othello and that Iago’s words
are mostly lies. All of that is skillfully hidden from the main characters, but reveled to
the audience through Iago’s inner monologues. O’Neill uses dramatic irony in the
scene of the celebration when everybody besides Ephraim knows that Abbie’s baby is
not his.
The mythological elements
Out of many mythological influences in this drama, the three are major and they are
another reference O’Neill’s work has to Greek tragedies. All of those myths were
inspirations for classical plays, which connects the elements of the mythical and the
tragic.
Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex serves as an introduction to the themes of incest and
Oedipal complex in this drama. Oedipus was left at his birth by his parents due to
their fear that he will kill his father Laius and marry his mother Jocasta. After an
unfortunate series of events, that did happen, thus making Oedipus the king after his
father. His story is a classical representation of the fight a father and a son have for
mother’s love and the son’s rebellion against a father. This drama complicates the
Oedipal complex in the sense that Eben has problems with it on more levels, due to
the fact that he has more than one maternal figures in his life, each dominant in her
own time. Those include his mother, Abbie and the prostitute Min. The last one is not
that active during the course of the play, but is important to see Eben’s inner
struggles on yet another level. She is the one to whom he goes when he needs to
spend time with a woman and she, in a way, serves as a replacement for his maternal
and sexual need until Abbie arrives. Eben “shares” Min with his brothers and his
father, since all of them were once her lovers before him. He says that “She may've
been his'n--an' your'n, too--but she's mine now!” His complex derives from the
unconscious rivalry with his father for the love of his mother and is enlarged by
arrival of Abbie. Both men strive for her, influencing Eben’s inner conflict and his
outer conflict, presented by the hostile treatment of the father figure. He sees
Ephraim as a rival and wants to eliminate him, ultimately rejecting him as a father (“I
meant--I hain't his'n--I hain't like him--he hain't me! […] I'm Maw--every drop o'
blood!”). Eben’s inferiority to the mother and her strong influence over his life is
what moves him on and shapes him into a man he is.
O’Neill’s drama is analogous to the mythical connection Phaedra has with Hippolytus
and his father, Theseus. This myth has inspired many authors to write dramas, two of
them being a Greek, Euripides, while the other Seneca, a Roman. There are some
slight differences between them. In Seneca’s version, named Phaedra, Phaedra is
Theseus’ second wife and soon after she meets his son, she falls in love with him.
However, Hippolytus rejects her love, making her seek her revenge after him. She
accuses him of raping her and Theseus, after hearing that, curses his son, who later
dies. There are a few variations of Hippolytus’ death, but they all come from one
source – Phaedra. In the Euripides’ play, Hippolytus, the plot is triggered by
Hippolytus’ refusal to honour the Goddess of love, Aphrodite, in order to honour the
Goddess of hunt, Artemis. As a way to get her revenge, Aphrodite inspired
Hippolytus’ stepmother, Phaedra, to fall in love with him, which is eventually causing
his death. In Seneca’s version, Phaedra is presented as a more cunning and deceiving
character, as she even makes her nurse an accomplice, thus making this version of
her closer to Abbie. There is also another, more modern version of the myth, known
as Phèdre and written by a French dramatist, Jean Racin. The names of the
characters are slightly altered to convey modern background and situation and it
starts with Theseus’ absence from the place of the action. But, other than that, it
mostly follows previous dramas in plot and characters. Moreover, it is including
Hippolytus’ love interest, Aricia, and a more detailed account of his travels and
Phèdre’s family background is given. It states that she comes from the family in
which the women often have sexual desires for those they are not allowed to. Her
mother was cursed by Aphrodite to mate with a bull and give birth to a creature
Minotaur; Phèdre actually meets her husband Theseus when he comes to kill her
half-brother. By following the accounts of mythical heroes, O’Neill portrays the Cabot
family in a similar way. The roles of Hippolytus, Phaedra and Theseus are taken by
Eben, Abbie and Ephraim. Abbie is passionate about Eben who firstly rejects her
(but, unlike Hippolytus, enjoys the affair) and is unaware that their love marks the
end of their previous life. Opening of the plot is mythical, as both stepmothers find
their stepsons a threat for the fathers’ property and they both hide their true
emotions by hatred. Both developments are swift and cannot be stopped. The
drama’s epilogue is similar to the myth: Ephraim is left alone, but not before Eben’s
curse falls on his and Abbie’s son. Differences are rare and mark only their
willingness to share love and the fact that it was Eben, not Ephraim, who cursed his
son.
Another myth used is the one of Medea, later made into a play by Euripides. It builds
on the previous ones that, combined, influenced Abbie and Eben to have a child.
Medea is infamous for murdering her children in order to get revenge on her
husband Jason who left her for another. She had the choice whether or not she would
murder them and she choose to do so, committing one of the greatest sins in the
Greek tragedy – killing someone of one’s own blood. Just like her, Abbie deliberately
decided to make an innocent victim while ending her son’s life. What is more, it is
that same son who was supposed to secure her position on the farm and in the family.
Later, Eben curses her and their boy for being born in a similar way that Theseus
cursed Hippolytus. The baby remains unnamed during the play, showing how
unimportant it is.
Other myths include the one of Procne, who, like Medea, murders her own son
merely to hurt her husband, and of Prometheus, due to his rejection of Zeus as the
father figure. The American myths are present as well, since Westward movement to
pursue gold is shown through Peter and Simeon. The ideas of the American Dream
and the idea of America as a promised land are mentioned, as the age of the play is
the age of the Gold rush (1849/1850).
The conclusion
Many critics agree that this drama follows the actions of the classical Greek dramas
and is a revival of that drama in the modern world. O’Neill takes a lot of inspiration of
the Greek myths, including many parts of a classical drama, such as partners in sin
who go on a redemption, tragic and strong love, forbidden desire, rebellion against a
father figure, complex love and hate, sacrifice of a child, the haunting past,
determinism of the characters and their inner struggle. All these are incorporated
into a modern setting and a modern world, building on an idea of a common man as a
hero and taking this drama on a new level. That way, this is a classical tragedy in a
modern sense and setting, which combines two major influences (Miller’s idea and
the myths) and produces a whole new excitement that evokes echoes of a Greek
tragedy.