lives and emotions of the characters, and some sort of catharsis is achieved. Racine reaches his goal of writing, what can most closely be called, a Greek tragedy.In the case of Desire Under the Elms, O’Neill seems only to subscribe to Greek myths for the ideas that form the foundation of this play. His approach in this play is very modern in approach. He sets the play in modern New England, using the common working man, Ephraim, as his Theseus. The play does not revolve around the fall of some noble character; instead it shows the pains of the average man. The play is complex in plot and takes place over an extended period of time. The only real links between Phedre and Desire Under the Elms is the incestuous love between mother and stepson and the characters that make up both plays. Theseus is paralleled by Ephraim, Abbie plays the role of Phedre, Eben takes the position of Hippolytus, Minnie seems to parallel Aricia, and the second wife takes the role of Aphrodite, but places the curse on Ephraim rather than Abbie. While Racine keeps the love between Phedre and Hippolytus unrequited, O’Neill permits them to have a love that is mutual and very real. O’Neill adds other sub-plots which strengthen the effect of the tragedy as a whole. By shedding light on Ephraim’s past and the struggles he has gone through, the audience can better understand why he acts the way he does and feel some sort of sympathy for him. By having Abbie kill their child to prove her love to Eben, O’Neill accentuates the anguish that they both suffer which heightens the emotions the audience feels in watching them. Bringing the conflict between son, father, and claim on the farm allows for the initial conflict that is the driving force at the start of the play and that gives motivation for Eben’s initial actions. It also heightens the irony at the end of the play because no one got what they originally wanted. While O...
