Ready Reference Treatise: Desire Under the Elms

By Raja Sharma

“Desire Under the Elms” by Eugene O’Neill was written in 1924. It is now considered one of the classic plays written by the playwright.

Just like “Mourning Becomes Electra,” the present play happens to be an attempt by the playwright to adapt plot elements and themes of Greek tragedy to a rural setting in New England.

Ready Reference Treatise: Desire Under the Elms
Copyright
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Plot Overview
Chapter Three: Major Characters
Chapter Four: Complete Summary
Act I
Act II
Act III
Chapter Five: Critical Analysis

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raja Sharma
• Release date: Dec 20, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310207136

Raja Sharma

Raja Sharma is a retired college lecturer.He has taught English Literature to University students for more than two decades.His students are scattered all over the world, and it is noticeable that he is in contact with more than ninety thousand of his students.

Book preview

Ready Reference Treatise: Desire Under the Elms

Copyright

Ready Reference Treatise: Desire Under the Elms

Raja Sharma

Copyright@2015 Raja Sharma

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved

Chapter One: Introduction

Desire Under the Elms by Eugene O’Neill was written in 1924. It is now considered one of the classic plays written by the playwright.

Just like Mourning Becomes Electra, the present play happens to be an attempt by the playwright to adapt plot elements and themes of Greek tragedy to a rural setting in New England.

Desire Under the Elms is said to have been inspired by the myth of Phaedra, Hippolytus, and Theseus.

The play was adapted into a movie in 1958. It was a highly successful film that was admired by both reviewers and critics.

The present play is considered one of the playwright’s most intriguing early works. The desire to unite the modern and the ancient Greek is quite evident throughout the play. The play was first performed the same year, 1924, it was written.

The playwright has very successfully used the language of the New England that was prevalent in the antebellum period. It instantly became a hallmark of the naturalistic theatre.

The play also uses some points from Freud and Nietzsche. It is said that the playwright was quite familiar with theses philosophers and thinkers.

According to the playwright, Desire Under the Elms is a tragedy of the possessive. The plot presents the pitiful desire of a man to create his own heaven here on earth by glutting his senses of power with the ownership of land, people, and money.

It is said that O’Neill had composed the play in one night between Christmas Eve and New Year of 1923, however, he resumed work on the play in 1924 and completed it in the same year. By the month of June, 1924, he had completed the script of the movie as well.

The play was first launched on 11th of November, 1924, at the Greenwich Village Theatre in New York City.

The city authorities immediately paid attention to that production of the play. Since the play was said to have obscene sex and violent scenes, the authorities tried to shut it down.

The same happened in Boston, Los Angeles, and London, where the authorities tried to prevent the staging of the play. The play, however, was shown in New York for 208 times. It was highly acclaimed by the critics of the time.

Since the play became an instant hit, it brought both name and fame, with a lot of money, to the playwright. The play was later revived in 1952 and 2009.

Chapter Two: Plot Overview

The first