Comment on the significance of the elms trees and the farm in Desire Under the Elms Desire Under the Elms is a modern tragedy written by Eugene O Neill The title of the play is significant The Elms are used symbolically here The dominance of female characters Two giant elm trees are beside the farm They resemble exhausted women resting their sagging breasts hands and hair on their roof They represent Cabot s two dead wives Fertility The green hue of the elms stands for fertility which has been denied in the house since the death of Eben s mother Symbol of nature Abbie tells Eben that nature will beat him Abbie s seduction is a retributive act In this sense nature beats him When Abbie depicts the sexual desire for the growth of elm trees she draws attention to them as symbols of nature To sum up it is