A study guide for Eugene O'Neill's "Desire Under the Elms"

By Gale and Cengage

A study guide for Eugene O'Neill's "Desire Under the Elms", excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Drama for Students series. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Drama for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: May 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535822848

Book preview

10

Desire under the Elms

Eugene O'Neill

1924

Introduction

Eugene O'Neill's Desire under the Elms is considered a classic play by one of the twentieth century's leading dramatists. Indeed, no study of American playwrights is complete without the inclusion of O'Neill and his work. Desire under the Elms premiered in New York City at the Greenwich Village Theatre on November 11, 1924, shocking critics and censors alike. (The plot features an affair between stepmother and stepson, as well as the murder of their infant son.) The play was nevertheless a popular success, enjoying a run of 208 performances upon its initial production. In 1925, Desire under the Elms first appeared in print in The Complete Works of Eugene O'Neill. The play itself portrays the highly dysfunctional Cabot family, pitting father and son against one another as they battle not only for possession of the land they farm together, but also for the love of Abbie, the Cabot patriarch's third wife. The small cast of characters is largely isolated on their New England farm, thus heightening the drama and urgency of their situation as each character in turn betrays the other. A thematically rich drama that explores the nature of love, desire, and greed, Desire under the Elms remains a popular performance piece almost a century after its initial premiere. The play is also widely available in book form; as of 2009, the 1995 edition of Three Plays (which includes Desire under the Elms, Strange Interlude, and Mourning Becomes Electra) remained in print.

Author Biography

O'Neill was born in New York, New York, on October 16, 1888, the third son of Ella Quinlan O'Neill and famed actor James O'Neill. He was their only child to survive infancy. O'Neill's parents provided only an unstable home life, and many of his plays reflect this, as they explore the workings of dysfunctional families. The only stability O'Neill experienced in his young life was found at the family's summer cottage in New London, Connecticut. The O'Neill family was devoutly Catholic, and they traveled in support of James's acting career. Notably, O'Neill was raised predominantly by the nurse who traveled with them; his own mother developed an addiction to morphine and was thus largely unable to care for him. At the age of seven, O'Neill was sent to boarding school.

As a teenager, O'Neill renounced his family's faith and forever after viewed religion with suspicion and disgust. In fact, themes of men who fight against fate or God appear in several of his works. In 1906, O'Neill began attending Princeton University, but he failed most of his freshman classes and then dropped out. For the next six years, he worked as a sailor and traveled the world. In 1909, he married Kathleen Jenkins. The couple had a son, Eugene