Analyze the Relationship Between the Father and His Sons in O’Neill’s “Desire Under the Elms”.

Answer

Analyze the relationship between the father and his sons in O’Neill’s “Desire Under the Elms.”

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In Eugene O’Neill’s play “Desire Under the Elms” (1924), the relationship between the father, Ephraim Cabot, and his sons, Simeon and Peter, is one of the central conflicts driving the plot. The relationship between the three characters is fraught with tension, resentment, and competition, reflecting the play’s broader themes of inheritance, power, and control. Let us discuss it.

Tolerable Relationship: At the outset of the play, we know that the relationship between Cabot and his sons, Simeon, Peter, and Eben, is not good. Simeon and Peter wait for the death of their father to get the property and get rid of the tendency to work hard. Besides, Eben, first to last, thinks that his father killed his mother. But when Eben prays to God for the death of his father, Simeon and Peter say to him in the following manner:

Simeon: Look here, Eben. You should not have spoken like that.

Peter: After all, he is our father.

These comments from them allow the tolerable relationship between Simeon, Peter, and Cabot, their father.

Complete Loss of Faith: After scanning the play, when Cabot marries Abbie Putnam, we find out that the sons completely lose faith in their father. After coming here, she claims that she owns the farmhouse. They wish that their father would remain unmarried. So, this is not their expectation. Eben starts to hate his stepmother with his father. Simeon and Peter decide to go to California.

Domination Over the Sons: The relationship between father and son is unsuitable for a dominating attitude. Cabot always wants to dominate his family members. Eben claims that his father kills his mother by hard work tendency. Cabot makes all the members of the farmhouse hard workers.

Lack of Responsibility: Simeon is 39 years old, and his wife, Jenny, died eighteen years ago. But there