Consider Desire Under the Elms as the Tragedy of Passion.

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Consider Desire Under the Elms as a tragedy of passions Or Comment on Desire under the Elms as a tragedy of passions Eugene O Neill in his play Desire Under the Elms presents a powerful tragedy born from human passions The play shows how love greed lust and revenge destroy the peace of the Cabot family Each character is controlled by strong emotions rather than reason These passions lead them to sin guilt and sorrow O Neill combines deep emotion with tragic beauty Through these passionate characters he shows how desire becomes the cause of their downfall and tragedy Passion for Love and Possession The play begins with Eben s desire to claim the farm and to take revenge on his father His passion mixes love and hatred When Abbie comes his heart burns with both attraction and anger He says She may ve been his n but she s

mine now His words show lust mixed with revenge Abbie too is full of strong desire She wants love home and power Their passion becomes sinful and destructive It shows how love turns into tragic obsession Abbie s Passionate Nature Abbie s passion is stronger than her reason At first she marries Cabot for his farm but soon she is drawn to Eben She says Let me kiss ye Eben I ll be everythin she was t ye Her words show burning desire Her love becomes blind and uncontrolled To prove her love she kills her baby This act of passion brings her tragedy Her emotions lead her from love to madness and death Eben s Passion and Guilt Eben s heart is full of mixed feelings He loves Abbie but also hates her as his father s wife He is torn between love and revenge His passion for Abbie begins as revenge but turns into real love When Abbie kills their baby he says I ll tell the Sheriff Then guilt overcomes him and he accepts punishment His passion brings him no joy only suffering O Neill shows how passion destroys peace and creates guilt in the human soul Cabot s Passion for Power and Faith Ephraim Cabot s passion is different but equally strong His love is for his land and power He says God s hard not easy He believes that hard work and control make him close to God His passion for power makes him cruel and lonely He loses his sons wife and love Even his money is gone Cabot s pride and desire for control destroy him O Neill shows that every kind of passion whether love or pride can bring tragedy Tragic End of Passionate Lives Ultimately all the characters suffer due to their passion Abbie loses her child and freedom Eben loses his peace and future Cabot loses his family and pride The elms above the farmhouse seem to watch over their sorrow The stage direction says They brood oppressively over the house These lines reflect the heavy air of tragedy The passions of the heart bring ruin instead of happiness O Neill turns their burning emotions into a dark tragedy In conclusion we can say that Desire Under the Elms is truly a tragedy of passions Love becomes lust faith becomes pride and revenge becomes guilt Every character follows emotion instead of reason and faces destruction O Neill shows how uncontrolled passion leads to suffering and loss Through Eben Abbie and Cabot he presents human hearts burning with desire sorrow and regret

Desire Under the Elms

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Consider Desire Under the Elms as the Tragedy of Passion.

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Eugene O'Neill

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