Eugene O'Neill's "Desire under the Elms"

Paper Summary:

This paper briefly examines Eugene O'Neill's use of various types of realism in several of his plays. The paper points out that, in general, O'Neill did not deal with the preoccupations of the external world but rather with his own preoccupations, which were derived not from these personal demons but from his religious treatment of them. The paper then relates that the realism in "Desire under the Elms" involves aspects of Freudian psychology, as seen in the character Eben's Oedipal complex. The author concludes that the realism of the setting and of the speech patterns of the play makes the action seem all the more universal and a mirror of human psychology more than anything separate and unique to the characters in the play.

From the Paper:

"As O'Neill became more famous in his early years as a playwright, he also became increasingly conscious of his public position and increasingly articulate about his ideals and hopes for American drama. As often happens, after his initial success he achieved notoriety as critics questioned some of his work, such as "All God's Chillun" for its racial theme or "Desire Under the Elms" for its supposed immorality. His reputation then reached new heights with the production of "Strange Interlude" in 1928, a play that took more than five hours to present."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Carpenter, Frederic I. Eugene O'Neill. Boston: Twayne, 1979.
• Chabrowe, Leonard. Ritual and Pathos--the Theater of O'Neill. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 1976.
• Falk, Doris V. Eugene O'Neill and the Tragic Tension. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1958.
• Madran, Cumhur Yilmaz. "The Ambivalence of Love and Hate I Desire Under the Elms: A Psychological and Mythological Approach." http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:WybYn6CiJcIJ:www.sosyalbil.selcuk.edu.tr/sos_mak/makaleler%255CCumhur%2520Y%C4%B1lmaz%2520MADRAN%255CMADRAN,%2520Cumhur.pdf+%22desire+under+the+elms%22+realism&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6&gl=us.
• O'Neill, Eugene. Eugene O'Neill's Greatest Plays. New York: Vintage, 1952.

More papers on Eugene O'Neill's "Desire under the Elms":

• Analytical Essay # 25227 : "Greek Mythology in Eugene O'Neill's "Desire Under the Elms"
• Essay # 32216 : "Realism in the American Theater"
• Analytical Essay # 29380 : "Long Day's Journey Into Night"

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