International Journal of English and Literature (IJEL) ISSN 2249-6912 Vol. 3, Issue 2, Jun 2013, 41-52 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.

LOVE AND EROTIC SENTIMENTS: A STUDY OF EUGENE O’NEILL’S

“DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS”

GUNJAN KAPIL Research Scholar, Maharishi Markandeshwar University, Ambala, Haryana, India

ABSTRACT

Eugene O‟Neill is recognized to be the most renowned of the group of dramatists who created the serious American drama. His plays have been admired and influential at home, equally on the stage and in book form; they stand the test of reading, as good plays must. His foremost subject matter was man‟s uncertainty, man‟s bedevilment from within and from without. The present research study explores some of the aspects of existence which causes this uncertainty and disorientation in life. The romantic illusions become the cause of destruction on the part of the characters who follow them blindly. Among all the trivial desires, passions and obsessions, love establishes its dominance and importance. The spiritual union and amalgamation of the lovers strengthens their vision of love. Thus, the present research study focuses on the relevance and predominance of positive thoughts and sentiments in the life of men through the expedition of desires, grief, vengeance, lust and repentance.

KEYWORDS: Desire, Love, Passion, Grief, Amalgamation.

INTRODUCTION

Eugene Gladstone O‟Neill is regarded as one of the greatest dramatists of America, the creator of serious American drama, one to whom goes the credit of securing international recognition and fame for the American drama. Eugene O‟Neill is not only the initiator of the serious American drama, but he is also ranked with the greatest European dramatists of the 20th century. Eugene O‟Neill has left behind him five unquestioned masterworks; Desire Under the Elms, , , , and Long Days Journey into Night. And there are many more which stand high in any long list of plays of our time: , , , All God’s Chillun Got Wings, and . Though drama is objective of all the arts, Eugene has made his own experiences the basis of his plays. The third of the realistic plays was Desire Under the Elms, which O‟Neill said he wrote “at Ridgefield, Connecticut, in the winter and spring of 1924” (qtd. in Bogard 199) and finished in June. The thematic issues of the play have been discussed in Steve F. Bloom‟s book entitled Student Companion to Eugene O’Neill as:

Desire under the elms raises questions of moral relativism. Whereas Cabot‟s

references to God and scripture assume a traditional Judeo-Christian value

system, the behaviour of Eben and Abbie challenges that system. The December-

may marriage of Cabot and Abbie seems to be unnatural, which is emphasized

when Abbie and Eben are immediately “naturally” attracted to each other, more

so than are Abbie and Cabbot, as indicated in the stage directions and dialogue.

(qtd. in Bloom 94) 42 Gunjan Kapil

Commenting on the play, Clifford Leech writes, “This is the first of O‟Neill‟s play to which one returns with a sense of making fresh discoveries” (qtd. in Tilak 13). A New York psychiatrist, Dr. Philip Weissman, who has made a psychoanalytical study of O'Neill's plays, recently concluded that “Desire” was O'Neill's “unconscious autobiography”, and a number of O'Neill's close friends were aware, during its writing and production, that the play's conflicts echoed O'Neill's own emotional problems with his parents and brother. Though there are several themes which run throughout the play but the element of love and eroticism has been explored in the present research study. According to Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary eroticism is “the fact of expressing or describing sexual feelings” (514). So far as O‟Neill‟s art of describing the sexual desires is concerned, he has achieved the magnificence in this sphere. Clifford Leech also describes the essential subject matter of the play and denies it to accept as a problem play only. He explores in it the desire for the companionable affection which Abbie and Eben find in each other. As he asserts, “Their desire for possession-of land, of home, of body-go along with a profounder, barely recognised, desire for companionable warmth-which for a time Abbie and Eben find in each other, which Ephraim has known only with his farm animals” (Leech 55). Doris Alexander also asserts that, “Most of O‟Neill‟s really pleasant characters are his conventional, unthinking bourgeois, for at least they are capable of affection for others, and have some sort of social ethic in personal relationships, however ruthless they may be in pursuit of their highest value-money” (qtd. in Cargill 407). It would be quite helpful to introduce the terms love and eroticism as Mike Featherstone discusses in his book Love and Eroticism for the support of the present study. He says that, “Eroticism is this infinite variety of forms based upon constant invention, elaboration, taming and regulation of the sexual impulse. Sexuality, then, makes eroticism possible, but eroticism transcends reproduction through its capacity to elaborate sexual experience and invent a separate realm of associated pleasures” (Featherstone 1).

The ebb and flow of the element of love and erotic sentiments has been discussed in the play. Some characters in the play seem to have realized the sentiment of love while others contrive to get love. But the case is different with the protagonist, Eben, thinks it to be futile until Abbie, the heroine of the play, goes to the extent of finishing their child, to prove her love for Eben. At the very beginning of the play the sense of love and appreciation is witnessed, when Eben, the hero of the play, exclaims about the surrounding and the atmosphere as well, “God! Purty!” (4; pa. 1, sc. 1). Further, while conversing with his younger brother Peter, Simeon reveals his sense of love for his dead wife, Jenn. During the discourse Simeon reveals the beauty of his wife and expresses how lonely he feels in her absence. As Simeon says abruptly that, “I rec‟lect- now an‟ agin. Makes it lonesome. She‟d hair long‟s a hoss‟s tail-an‟ yaller like gold!” (4; pa. 1, sc. 1). After the discourse with his step brothers, Eben gets frustrated and decides to leave the place for some time. His elder brothers Simeon and Peter presume that he would go to see the prostitute, Minnie. Simeon makes him acquaint with the fact that it is a lust that is growing in him. As their discourse reveals:

PETER [jeeringly]. The Scarlet Woman!

SIMEON. Lust that‟s what‟s growin‟ in ye!

EBEN. Waal- she‟s purty! (10; pa. 1, sc. 2)

And when Eben returns from the village, he fetches the news of their father who got married for the third time. The same time Eben rejects the assumption of his brothers who think of Eben to be fallen in love. Eben apparently says that he does not consume his feelings in such kind of sentiment and thus shows his absolute indifference towards love. But he makes them aware that Minnie belongs to him now and thus shows a sense of possession over her. As the Mexican poet, Octavio Paz, reminds that “human beings have woven around this act a wide range of practices, institutions, rites and representations” (qtd. in Featherstone 1). Love and Erotic Sentiments: A Study of Eugene O’Neill’s “Desire under the Elms” 43

SIMEON [dryly]. In love, air yew?

EBEN [with lofty scorn]. Love! I don‟t take no stock in sech slop!

PETER [winking at SIMEON]. Mebbe Eben‟s aimin‟ t‟ marry, too.

SIMEON. Min‟d make a true faithful he‟pmeet- fur the army! [They snicker.]

EBEN. What do I care fur her- ‟ceptin‟ she‟s round an‟ wa‟m? The p‟int is she

was his‟n- an‟ now she belongs to me! [He goes to the door- then turns-

rebelliously.] An‟ Min hain‟t sech a bad un. They‟s worse‟n Min in the world, I‟ll

bet ye! Wait‟ll we see this cow the Old Mam‟s hitched t‟! She‟ll beat Min, I got a

notion! [He starts to go out.] (14; pa. 1, sc. 3)

Mike Featherstone, in his book entitled Love & Eroticism, uses the illustration of the Mexican poet and Nobel Prize winner, Octavio Paz, who says that, “When we speak of love and eroticism we cannot but be aware of their association with the absent third term, sexuality” (qtd. in Featherstone 1). The poet goes on to argue that “sexuality is clearly the primordial source with eroticism and love the derivative forms” (qtd. in Featherstone 1). So the element of sexuality cannot be detached from these terms as well. Further it is observed that the new wife of Ephraim Cabot, Abbie, desires for a home of her own. But Abbie‟s this desire of having her own home is extinguished by the advent of Eben who turns her desire of having a home into a passion for him. As the play proceeds Abbie tries to make Eben understand that she cannot pretend playing the role of mother with him as he is adult now. But this kind of relation between them provides Abbie a chance to raise proximity with Eben. As is described in Featherstone‟s book entitled Love & Eroticism, “the socioerotic realm as indispensable for social life, as it provides modes of social inclusion, the rites and rituals which provide solidarity and closeness which bind people together” (Featherstone 9). So is discernible in the following dialogue of Abbie, when she tries to make Eben understand what actually she wants:

ABBIE. Ye mustn‟t mind him. He‟s an old man. [A long pause. They stare at

each other.] I don‟t want t‟ pretend playin‟ Maw t‟ ye, Eben. [Admiringly] Ye‟re

too big an‟ too strong fur that. I want t‟ be fren‟s with ye. . . . (25; pa. 1, sc. 4)

But Eben sardonically laughs and rejects the proposal saying that she must go to that „devil‟. On the other hand, Abbie tries to the utmost to arouse sympathy and attraction of Eben towards her and therefore continues her conversation with him. She thus goes on to tell Eben how gloomy and full of anguish was her past life. She lost her mother in childhood, later married a person who turned to be a drunkard and this made her to do work in other folks‟ homes. Therefore she could not take care of her baby and thus she lost her baby also.

This thing clearly reveals the intention of Abbie who wants to arouse the sympathy in Eben‟s heart for her so that he could be her companion in love. Thus the past life of Abbie aroused in her several desires which she was resolute to fulfil as soon as possible. As she says to Eben, “Let‟s yew ‟n‟ me be fren‟s, Eben” (26; pa. 1, sc. 4). As Paz also asserts that, “This amatory feeling, according to Paz, requires two contradictory conditions: in the first place, the mysterious attraction that the lovers experience is perceived as an involuntary force that can overcome the reason and will; yet, on the other hand, the other person must be freely chosen and must themselves be in a position to decide otherwise” (qtd. in Featherstone 1).

44 Gunjan Kapil

Eben does not believe Abbie and says that she would never be successful in her wiles of seizing the farm. Advancing the study, the psychological state of Abbie has also been discussed as she was quite amazed by the bodily attractions of Eben. As Featherstone illustrates in his book that, “the „amatory feeling‟, the mysterious and passionate attraction towards a particular person, is something which is more exceptional, but nevertheless it too can be found in all societies and historical periods” (qtd. in Featherstone 1). Thus it can be added that tough every person has his own desires but the physical appearance plays an important role in the arousal of love. Mike Featherstone, in his book entitled Love & Eroticism, also has said that the look of the body becomes the source for arousing the emotions and love. He goes on to assert that love is born the particular moment when one sees an attractive person. He illustrates:

In a world of strangers the look of the body becomes an important passport to

participate in the symbolic exchange and market of free emotions which

Luhmann (1986) speaks of in which public life is seen as both a sphere of

communication and excitement. This participation may be purely on the level of

sexual attraction and erotic desire, but it also contains the promise of something

more: the passionate affair and even love. „Love is born the moment one sees a

beautiful person. Even though desire is universal and spurs everyone on, each

desires something different.‟ (Featherstone 8)

But Abbie is irrepressible in her ways towards Eben and does not leave any chance to arouse the amatory sentiment of him. After watching Eben she starts praising him but Eben responds in a discourteous manner to Abbie. In spite of being insulted by Eben she cannot help inciting him and remarks thus:

ABBIE. Ye look all slicked up like a prize a bull.

EBEN [with a sneer]. Waal- ye hain‟t so durned purty yerself, be ye? [They stare

into each other‟s eyes, his held by hers in spite of himself, hers glowingly

possessive. Their physical attraction becomes a palpable force quivering in the

hot air.] (28; pa. 2, sc. 1)

The above quoted conversation between Abbie and Eben shows how keenly she is trying to entangle Eben and allures him this way. She makes Eben understand about his growing warmth for her but he is trying to cease his inner attraction towards Abbie. Anyhow Eben controls his budding attraction for Abbie and makes the things very clear and says that he is fighting back for the rights of his mother, which she had on the farm and home as well. He does not believe Abbie and says that she would never be successful in her wiles of seizing the farm. As is clear in the following remark of Eben:

EBEN (defiantly) No. I'm fightin' him--fightin' yew--fightin' fur Maw's rights t'

her hum! (This breaks her spell for him. He glowers at her.) An' I'm onto ye. Ye

hain't foolin' me a mite. Ye're aimin' t' swaller up everythin' an' make it your'n.

Waal, you'll find I'm a heap sight bigger hunk nor yew kin chew! (He turns from Love and Erotic Sentiments: A Study of Eugene O’Neill’s “Desire under the Elms” 45

her with a sneer.)

ABBIE [trying to regain her ascendancy—seductively]. Eben! (28; pa. 2, sc. 1)

At this situation Eben tries to leave the place and a kind of argumentation takes place between them. Abbie comes to know that Eben is going to see Minnie and therefore Abbie gets annoyed with him. She makes him to realise that the farm belongs to her and he will be discarded from the home and the farm. After quarrelling with her, Eben leaves the place and thereafter Abbie discusses with Cabot. Thus she tries every wile to make Eben her own and she continues in alluring him at times. In the book of Mike Featherstone the kinds and nature of eroticism has been discussed elaborately:

Erotic reality is seen as set off in time (evenings, nights, weekends, vacations)

and space (home, bedrooms, hotel, beach, car) from everyday life. It is a sphere in

which the body is central, in which partners seek to reduce themselves to their

bodies, to enjoy pleasure and sensation; in disrobing they effectively discard their

social roles. (qtd. in Featherstone 9)

She recurrently enforces him to get indulged in love with her, as is discernible in the following dialogue where O‟Neill has superseded the erotic feelings of the heroine, Abbie:

ABBIE [quite confident now]. I hain‟t a mite afeerd. Ye want me, don‟t ye? Yes,

ye do! An‟ yer Paw‟s son‟ll never kill what he wants! Look at yer eyes! They‟s

lust fur me in ‟em, burnin‟ ‟em up! Look at yer lips now! They‟re tremblin‟ an‟

longin‟ t‟ kiss me, an‟ yer teeth t‟ bite! [He is watching her now with a horrible

fascination. She laughs a crazy triumphant laugh.] I‟m a- goin‟ t‟ make all o‟ this

hum my hum! They‟s one room hain‟t mine yet, but it‟s a- goin‟ t‟ be tonight.

I‟m a- goin‟ down now an‟ light up! [She makes him a mocking bow.] Won‟t ye

come courtin‟ me in the best parlour, Mister Cabot? (38; pa. 2, sc. 2)

Though Abbie is Eben‟s step mother but she tries to allure him in the name of his dead mother. She promises him to be his mother and states that she will accomplish many feats for him. Her love for him will be pure but later her love for him turns into lust. The passionate feeling overcomes both of them and thus both the characters indulge in making love to each other. As is discernible in the following discourse of Abbie with Eben:

ABBIE [both her arms around him- with wild passion]. I‟ll sing fur ye! I‟ll die fur

ye! [In spite of her overwhelming desire for him, there is a sincere maternal love

in her manner and voice- a horribly frank mixture of lust and mother- love.]

Don‟t cry, Eben! I‟ll take yer Maw‟s place! I‟ll be everythin‟ she was t‟ ye! Let

me kiss ye, Eben! [she pulls his head around. He makes a bewildered pretence of

resistance. She is tender.] Don‟t be affeered! I‟ll kiss ye pure, Eben- same‟s if I

was a Maw t‟ ye- an‟ ye kin kiss me back‟s if yew was my son- my boy- sayin‟

46 Gunjan Kapil

good night t‟ me! Kiss me, Eben. [They kiss in restrained fashion. Then suddenly

wild passion overcomes her. She kisses him lustfully again and again and he

flings his arms about her and returns her kisses. (148; pa. 2, sc. 3)

Abbie reveals her dual attitude towards Eben as for the first time she shows her motherly love and on the other her essential desire of lust springs up for him. As well as, she says that his dead mother also knows that she loved her. She cunningly simplified the vengeance of Eben‟s mother and describes the disposition and attitude of every person towards the other as vengeance and thus gets success in attracting him. Here again the element of love and the arousal of erotic desires can be easily seen, when Abbie says:

ABBIE [wildly]. Vengeance o‟ her on him! Vengeance o‟ her on me- an‟ mine on

yew- an‟ yourn on me- an‟ ourn on him! Vengeance o‟ God on the hull of us!

What d‟ we give a durn? I love ye, Eben! God knows i love ye! [She stretches out

her arms for him.]

EBEN [throws himself on his knees beside the sofa and grabs her in his arms-

releasing all his pent-up passion]. An‟ I love yew, Abbie! - now I kin say it! been

dyin‟ fur want o‟ ye- every hour- since ye come! I love ye! [Their lips meet in a

fierce, bruising kiss.] (150; pa. 2, sc. 3)

The passion and erotic feelings plunge in both the hearts incessantly. Finally Abbie gets success in appealing Eben and thus he also admits his personal desirability for Abbie and indulges in making love with her. As Eugene has described the condition of both the lovers:

ABBIE. Eben. [As he returns- playfully] Jest one more kiss afore ye go. I‟m

goin‟ t‟ miss ye fearful all day.

EBEN. An me yew, ye kin bet! [He goes to her. They kiss several times. He

draws away, laughingly.] Thar. That‟s enuf, hain‟t it? Ye won‟t hev none left fur

next time. (150; pa. 2, sc. 4)

This intellectual and rational condition of the two lovers can best be described in terms as are depicted in Featherstone‟s book entitled Love & Eroticism as he says that, “A form of bonding which generates its own set of rites and rituals, a scaled-down version of the sacred, which acts as a „battery‟ to be charged up and sustains people when they return to the routine colourless world of everyday life” (qtd. in Featherstone 9). Clifford Leech describes this situation of attraction of both the lovers in the following words:

Slowly she breaks down Eben‟s resistance, and they become lovers in the parlour

which was Eben‟s mother special room and which has not been used since her

death. In this setting Eben thinks of, and sorrows for, his mother. Abbie asserts

that his mother blesses their union, and this is no pretence; in his mother‟s room, Love and Erotic Sentiments: A Study of Eugene O’Neill’s “Desire under the Elms” 47

this “new Maw” can identify herself with the dead woman, can love this lost son

as a mother would, can love him, too, as a lover. (qtd. in Tilak 66)

And love comes with all its aspects of doubts, possessiveness. So is with Eben when he finds himself in conflict when he comes to know that Abbie has borne a son only to steal the farm from him. As Eben knows that the son would bear the name of his old father Ephraim Cabot. But she states that her love for Eben is greater than that of the newly born child and assures him that the child would not be able to possess what belongs to Eben. And therefore she gets ready to kill her son in order to prove her love for him.

EBEN [bitterly]. Lies! Ye love him! He‟ll steal the farm fur ye! [Brokenly] But

‟tain‟t the farm so much- not no more- it‟s yew foolin‟ me- gittin‟ me t‟ love ye-

lyin‟ yew loved me- jest t‟ steal...!

ABBIE [distractedly]. He won‟t steal! I‟d kill him fust! I do love ye! I‟ll prove t‟

ye- (53; pa. 3, sc. 2)

When Abbie makes him to be acquainted with the fact that she has killed the child, Eben gets extremely infuriated by Abbie‟s offence. But Abbie makes the things apparent and says that her love for Eben is greater and to prove the supremacy of her love she killed the newly born child. As she asserts:

ABBIE [piteously, sinking on her knees]. Eben, don‟t ye look at me like that-

hatin‟ me- not after what I done fur ye- fur us- so‟s we could be happy agen-

EBEN [furiously now]. Shut up, or I‟ll kill ye! I see yer game now- the same old

sneakin‟ trick- ye‟re aimin‟ t‟ blame me fur the murder ye done! (56; pa. 3, sc. 3)

Now Eben gets provoked by Abbie‟s misdeeds and feels himself completely incapable to bear that pain of losing his son. He now decides to take vengeance on Abbie and states that he would call the sheriff and tell him everything. She is the murderer as well as she attempted to steal the farm from him. Later he will go to California and thus she would be absent from his life. But Abbie goes on pleading to him:

ABBIE [struggling to her feet, runs to the door, calling after him]. I love ye,

Eben! I love ye! [She stops at door weakly, swaying, about to fall.] I don‟t care

what ye do- if ye‟ll on‟y love me agen! [She falls limply to the floor in a faint.] (57; pa. 3, sc. 3)

And when Cabot asks her furiously as to why she smothered the baby, she responds him in a furious manner and declares her love for Eben ultimately. She reveals the name of the father of that baby before the old Cabot and asserts that she has always loved Eben and she hates the sight of the old Cabot from the very beginning. S.K. Winther remarks that “From the early one-act plays to Mourning Becomes Electra, O‟Neill deals with romantic illusions that destroy the possibility of happiness” (Winther 26). In the opinion of Winther, “It is not man as an individual alone that concerns O‟Neill; it is man in a social order, tortured, starved, disillusioned, thwarted and driven to disaster by the forces of a system which cares nothing for the general welfare of society” (qtd. in Tilak 4). Though Eben‟s love for Abbie is elevated but he loves his son too and this time his love and affection for his son surpasses all his other feelings for Abbie. He is on the side

48 Gunjan Kapil of truth and judgement, like all earthly lovers he does not hesitate in accepting the reality and goes with the truth only. Here Eben shows his courage and informs the police about the death of his baby.

ABBIE. I kin b‟ar what happens t‟ me-now!

EBEN. I woke him up. I told him. He says, „Wait ‟til I git dressed.‟ I was waiting.

I got to thinkin‟ o‟ yew. I got to thinkin‟ how I‟d loved ye. It hurt like somethin‟

was bustin‟ in my chest an‟ head. I got t‟ cryin‟. I knowed sudden I loved ye yet,

an‟ allus would love ye! (184; pa. 3, sc. 4)

Abbie persuades Eben several times but he does not want Abbie to suffer alone as he himself was equally responsible for the murder of that baby. Both the lovers confess their love before each other in a dignified manner. It is only their love which enables them to bear that pain of losing their child. Eben shows manliness as he does not accept Abbie‟s proposal to remain aloof from the crime. The feeling of love becomes predominant of all the feelings of Abbie and Eben. Here the love of Eben and Abbie achieves its elevation. And the French philosopher Georges Bataille‟s argument can be summed up here as is asserted by him that, “Eroticism performs a function of dissolving boundaries between human subjectivity and humanity, a transgression that dissolves the rational world but is always temporary, as well as that, „Desire in eroticism is the desire that triumphs over the taboo. It presupposes man in conflict with himself‟” (Bataille 256). Though Eben has informed the police, he also gets ready to be arrested. And the above situation can best be summed up in the words of S.K. Winther:

O‟Neill is not concerned about man‟s ultimate destiny, he is not disturbed by the

fact that man and all his works may some day drift into the darkness of space, a

frozen and unseen monument to the vagaries of the creative process. His

pessimism is of man in this world in which he must live and justify himself, if life

is to have a meaning. His pessimism is born of man, not of God or the Universe.

It is a pessimism that has in it some gleam of hope, for it holds that man‟s

greatest tragedies are of his own making, and thus it is a fair presumption to hope

that man may unmake them. (Winther 213)

Not only Eben and Abbie are found in love with each other, the other characters of the play also get indulged in love. As Eben‟s step brothers as well as his father have their own idea of love. They sought love in the worldly belongings and in hoarding the money. It has also been perceived by Octavio Paz‟s conception that, “While this amatory sentiment is the rudimentary form of love, love itself goes further: as Paz puts it, „love goes beyond the desired body and seeks the soul in the body and the body in the soul. The whole person” (qtd. in Featherstone 1).

After being acquainted with the substance of death of the infant, Ephraim Cabot curses both the lovers and asks the police to take them away. A kind of frustration overcomes him as he finds himself deceived by his own son and wife. But Cabot‟s love for his farm is above all his feelings and emotions as he is ready to destroy his farm and the barn so that it cannot be touched by anyone. He does not want his farm and all his other possessions to be used. Along with it he threatens Eben by saying that only his mother‟s apparition would haunt there. He states: Love and Erotic Sentiments: A Study of Eugene O’Neill’s “Desire under the Elms” 49

CABOT. T‟ hell with the farm! I‟m leavin‟

it! I‟ve turned the cows an‟ other stock loose! I‟ve druv ‟em into the

woods whar they kin be free! By freein‟ ‟em, I‟m freein‟ myself! I‟m

quittin‟ here today! I‟ll set fire t‟ house an‟ barn an‟ watch ‟em

burn, an‟ I‟ll leave yer Maw t‟ haunt the ashes, an‟ I‟ll give the

fields back t‟ God, so that nothin‟ human kin never touch ‟em! (61; pa. 3, sc. 4)

Thus it has been observed in the play Desire Under the Elms that the element of love is not apart from the aspect of destructivity and devastation. Here we find Cabot struggling against the love of both Eben and Abbie. He gets furious after knowing the amalgamation of the two loving souls of Eben and Abbie. Therefore he proclaims to let the cattle free from the place and destroy the farm completely place and therefore her mother‟s spirit would haunt in that devastated and desolated place. And no human being would be able to use his possession ever that way. S. K. Winther also remarks in this connection:

No single idea has made so deep and abiding an impression on the mind of

O‟Neill as that of the destructive power of the romantic ideal, or the power of

illusion to lead man to deny the reality which lies about him at every hand, and

in the strength of his denial to create a world of fantastic dreams as a substitute

for that reality. If O‟Neill has any affirmative philosophy, it is to accept reality

and to deny the illusion. (Winther n.p.)

But Murray Hartman asserts predominance of love and rightly says that it is only love which has transformed the earthly lovers, Abbie and Eben into the transcendental lovers. In his own point of view, “Abbie, the mother- mistress, redeems Abbie, the ambitious strumpet and murderess; and an anthropoid like Eben can be transfigured into an human being by the terrible power of her love. . . . With Abbie and Eben the agony of love and birth leads to the agony of death and expiation, but then still greater love” (qtd. in Tilak 245).

He also adds that, “In the young couple‟s fulfilment of their desire and in the transmutation of sex to love, reality has finally asserted itself, has struck through the illusory mask of pride” (qtd. in Tilak 245). S.K. Winther remarks about the clarity of vision of O‟Neill that, “To O‟Neill belongs the credit of seeing life more clearly and firmly than did many of those who were his spiritual forefathers. He deals with man‟s life here and now. Within the limits of this world he finds his justification for life” (Winther 215). For Bataille, as well as many French theorists, “Eroticism, unlike simple sexual activity, is a psychological quest...eroticism is assenting to life even in death” (Bataille 256). The result of the present research study can be given in the words of Roger Asselinean, as he says:

This is a combination of Nietzsche‟s Dionysian philosophy and Freudianism and

in Desire Under the Elms it leads- in spite of the Dostoevskiann quality of the

Crime and Punishment situation at the end of the play- to an optimistic

conclusion, the couple Eben-Abbie is not crushed by adverse circumstances.

They have fulfilled themselves, they have fully lived and, far from being driven

50 Gunjan Kapil

to despair by their trials, they are full of a strange “hopeless hope” when the

curtain falls. (qtd. in Tilak 256)

And Asselinean‟s remark can be proved by instance of the discourse of the two lovers at the end of the play when they were taken by the police. They have loved and lived their life to the fullest and in spite of all the humiliation and contempt; they are not suppressed by the unfavourable circumstances at all. As Roger Asselinean says that, „they are full of a strange “hopeless hope” when the curtain falls‟. The following discourse maintains the feature:

ABBIE. Wait. [Turns to Eben.] I love ye, Eben.

EBEN. I love ye, Abbie. [They kiss. The three men grin and shuffle

embarrassedly.]

EBEN [to the sheriff]. Now. [He takes ABBIE‟S hand] Come. [They go out the

door in rear, the men following, and come from the house, walking hand-in-hand

to the gate.

EBEN [stops there and points to the sunrise sky.] Sun‟s a- risin‟. Purty, hain‟t it?

ABBIE. Ay-eh. [They both stand for a moment looking up raptly in attitude

strangely aloof and devout.] (62; pa. 3, sc. 4)

CONCLUSIONS

About the exposition of Eben and Abbie‟s behaviour towards each other Barret H. Clark says that, “Of sin they have no consciousness: victims of the puritanical repressions, of unrestrained passion and of the mighty current of life, they have fashioned their romance apart from the sordidness of their surroundings. Though they have broken through into the light of day, there among the rocks and the hard soil where they yearned for beauty, they have at last found it” (Clark 151). Conclusively it can be said that O‟Neill has been very successful in depicting the essential erotic aspect in the play. As Doris V. Falk also says that, “The lovers find their integration in sacrifice; Ephraim finds his in its opposite, pride. Through the lovers, reality has found its paradoxical destructive-affirmative expression; in their death they have found life” (Falk 99). It can also be said that his characters seem indeed to be the prisoners of their own destiny, and a hostile first principle broods over their acts, forever forbidding happiness in this life. Only at the end, in a spiritual union, a renunciation of life through love that is unselfish, do the central characters gain a glimmer of something better as they look up at the sunrise. On the other hand critics like Wood-bridge cannot help appraising O‟Neill and remarks him thus, “O‟Neill has always, I think, been faithful to his vision, such as it is; and this is the root of all good writing. In the second place, O‟Neill has at its best a fine sense of dramatic values, and a penetrating insight into emotion. . . . Finally, he has always shown a splendid artistic courage. He has dared to try new things, and to do old things in new ways. He has greatly widened the range of our theatre” (qtd. in Cargill 320).

REFERENCES

1. Bloom, Harold. (1986). Twentieth-century American Literature. Vol 5. New York: Chelsea House Publishers

2. Bloom, Steven F. (2007). Student companion to Eugene O‟Neill. Connecticut: Greenwood Press

3. Bataille, George. (1962). Eroticism : Death and Sensuality. New York: Walker & Company Love and Erotic Sentiments: A Study of Eugene O’Neill’s “Desire under the Elms” 51

4. Cargill, Oscar. (1961). O'Neill and His Plays, Four Decades of Criticism. New York: New York University Press

5. Chenetier, Marc, ed. Critical Angels. (1986). European Views of Contemporary American Literature. Carbonadale:Southern lllinois University Press

6. Clark, Barret H. (1936). Eugene O‟Neill: the man and his plays. New York: R.M. McBride & company Falk, Doris V. (1982). Eugene O‟Neill and the tragic tension: an interpretive study of the plays. New York: Gordian Press

7. Featherstone, Mike. Love & Eroticism. Nottingham: Trent University, 1999. Google Books

8. Leech, Clifford. (1963). Eugene O‟Neill. New York: Grove Press,

9. Oppenheimer, George. (1958). The Passionate Playgoer. New York: Viking Press

10. Tilak, Raghukul. (2011).Eugene O‟Neill: Desire Under the Elms. New Delhi: Rama Brothers Pvt. Ltd.

11. Winther, Sophus Keith. (1961). Eugene o‟neill: a critical study. New York: Random House