Desire Under the Elms Characters
EC
Ephraim Cabot
Antagonist
Also known as: Cabot
Hard and stubborn
Strict and proud
Selfish
Obsessed with land ownership
Ephraim Cabot is an old, hardened farmer who owns a rocky New England farm. He believes that hard work and land ownership are the sole sources of power and meaning. He is deeply selfish and proud, never showing love or warmth to his sons. His cruelty and rigidity set the tragic events of the story in motion.
AP
Abbie Putnam
Protagonist
Calculating and opportunistic
Passionate
Guilt-ridden
Determined
Abbie Putnam is Ephraim Cabot's third and much younger wife, who initially marries him out of a desire to secure his farm. Her motivations shift dramatically when she falls in love with Eben, Ephraim's youngest son. Her intense passion leads her through guilt and ultimately to a devastating act of tragedy. She is a complex figure driven by both ambition and genuine emotion.
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Eben
Protagonist
Young and passionate
Deeply devoted to his mother's memory
Hateful toward his father
Impulsive
Eben is the 25-year-old son of Ephraim and his second wife, Maw, and half-brother to Simeon and Peter. He harbors deep hatred for his father, whom he blames for his mother's suffering. Though he initially resents Abbie, he falls deeply in love with her, and their forbidden relationship becomes the central cause of the play's tragedy.
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Simeon
Supporting
Resentful
Weary
Oppressed
Determined to escape
Simeon is Ephraim Cabot's oldest son at 39, born of his first wife. He has spent his life in exhausting labor on the unyielding stony farmland, breeding deep resentment toward his father. Seeking freedom and opportunity, he sells his share of the farm to Eben and departs for California in search of gold.
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Peter
Supporting
Resentful
Weary
Oppressed
Eager for a new life
Peter is Ephraim Cabot's second-oldest son at 37, also born of the first wife. Like his brother Simeon, he has endured a lifetime of hard labor on the farm and harbors strong resentment toward his father. He too abandons the farm alongside Simeon, seeking a fresh start elsewhere.
TB
The Baby
Symbolic
Innocent
Symbolic of forbidden love
Symbolic of sin
Catalyst for tragedy
The baby is the child born of Abbie and Eben's forbidden union. It serves as a powerful symbol of both their love and their transgression. Abbie kills the baby in a desperate attempt to prove the depth of her love for Eben, an act that precipitates the play's final and most devastating tragedy.
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Maw
Symbolic
Haunting presence
Maternal
Oppressive
Silently influential
Maw was Ephraim Cabot's second wife and Eben's beloved mother, who died before the events of the play unfold. Though absent in life, her presence looms heavily over the farm and over Eben, who is unable to escape her shadow. She is symbolically represented by the elm trees that cast a constant, suffocating shade over the farmhouse.