Desire Under the Elms

Several different modernist attributes are encompassed in Desire Under the Elms, written by Eugene O’Neill. The most evident attribute is the experimentation in form.

Traditionally, stories, plays, and other works of writing go by a specific structure that begins with exposition, progresses with rising action, hits a climax, reaches a falling action, and ends with a resolution.

However, in Desire Under the Elms, a small exposition is provided and there is no falling action nor a resolution to correspond with the climax of the play. Another attribute that ties in with this experimentation of form is the open ending of the play. The reader is left with countless unanswered questions.

The transformation in form is evident in Desire Under the Elms. The play begins right in the middle of a conversation.

Eben– God! Purty!

Simeon–Purty.

Peter–Ay-eh.

Simeon– Eighteen years ago.

Peter–What?

Simeon–Jenn. My woman. She died.

Evidently, a small exposition is provided when the Peter, Simeon, and Eben start talking about their father. The boys make it quite clear that their father left them in control of the farm while he took a trip.

Simeon– Mebbe–fur all we knows–he’s dead now.

Peter–Ye’d need proof

Simeon–He’s been gone two months–with no word.

Peter–Left us in the fields an evenin’ like this. Hitched up an’ druv off into the West. That’s plumb onnateral. He hain’t never been off this farm ‘ceptin’ t’ the village in thirty year or more, not since he married Eben’s maw. I calc’late we might git him declared crazy by the court.

No descriptions of characters or their conditions are explained, leaving the reader with a responsibility to discover all of the information in the rising action of the play. The action in the play keeps rising as Eben falls in love with his step-mother, Abbie.

Abbie–Vengeance o’ God on the hull o’ us! What d’we give a durn? I love ye, Eben! God knows I love ye!

Eben–An’ I love yew, Abbie!–now I kin say it! I been dyin’ fur want o’ ye–every hour since ye come! I love ye!

Abbie vows that she will bear the child of her husband, Cabot:

Cabot–The farm needs a son.

Abbie–I need a son.

Abbie then goes on to say:

Abbie–Ye’ll have a son out o’ me, I promise ye.

Instead, Eben and Abbie have a baby together and, suddenly, a misunderstanding comes between their love. Abigail believes the only way she can redeem herself and rejuvenate their love is by murdering her child:

Abbie–If I could make it–’s if he’d never come up between us–if I could prove t’ ye I wa’n't schemin’ t’ steal from ye–so’s everythin’ could be jest the same with us, lovin each other jest the same, kissin’ an’ happy the same’s we’ve been happy afore he come–if I could do it–ye’d love me agen, wouldn’t ye? Ye’d kiss me agen? Ye wouldn’t never leave me, would ye?

Eben–I calc’late not. But ye hain’t God, be ye?

Abbie–Remember ye’ve promised! Mebbe I kin take back one thin’ God does!

Eben–Ye’re gittin cracked, hain’t ye? I’m a-goin’ t’ dance.

Abbie–I’ll prove t’ ye! I’ll prove I love ye better’n. . . . Better’n everythin’ else in the world!

The play ends as the sheriff confronts Abbie and Eben, and Cabot orders the sheriff to take them away:

Sheriff–Open in the name o’ the law!

Cabot–They’ve come fur ye. Jest a minit, Jim. I got ‘em safe here.

Eben–I lied this mornin’, Jim. I helped her do it. Ye kin take me, too.

Abbie–No!

Cabot–Take ‘em both.

The end of this story is also the climax of the story. No resolution or conclusion is made. What happens to Cabot in the end? Does he stay on the farm alone? Do Abbie and Eben ever get released?