Oedipus Complex in Eugene O'Neil's

Desire Under the Elms

Presented by PhD student:

Wasan Hashim Ibrahim

Oedipus Complex in Eugene O'Neil's Desire Under the Elms

Introduction
Desire under the Elms is produced in 1924 and published in 1925. The last
of O'Neill's naturalistic plays and the first in which he re-created the starkness of
Greek tragedy, Desire under the Elms draws from Euripides' Hippolytus and Jean
Racine's Phdre, both of which feature a father returning home with a new wife
who falls in love with her stepson.
In psychoanalytic theory, the term Oedipus complex denotes the emotions
and ideas that the mind keeps in the unconscious, via dynamic repression, that
concentrate upon a boys desire to sexually possess his mother, and kill his
father. Sigmund Freud, who coined the term "Oedipus complex", believed that the
Oedipus complex is a desire for the mother in both sexes (he believed that girls
have a homosexual attraction towards their mother); Freud deprecated the term
"Electra Complex", a term which was introduced by Carl Gustav Jung, although
some books still erroneously attribute the term to Freud. Oedipus complex
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus_complex
In ONeills play, Desire Under the Elms, the central character, Eben, suffers
from Freuds Oedipus complex. It derives from Ebens unconscious rivalry with
his father for the love of his step-mother, Abbie. Ephraim and his son, Eben, strive
for Abbie. In The Ego and the Id, Freud describes the complex as follows:
The boy deals with his father by identifying himself with him. For a
time these two relationships proceed side by side, until the boys sexual
wishes in regard to his mother become more intense and his father is
perceived as an obstacle to them; from this the Oedipus complex
originates. His identification with his father then takes on a hostile
colouring and changes into a wish to get rid of his father in order to take
his place with his mother. Henceforward his relation to his father is
ambivalent; it seems as if the ambivalence inherent in the identification
from the beginning had become manifest. An ambivalent attitude to his
father and an object-object relation of a solely affectionate kind to his
mother make up the content of the simple positive Oedipus complex in a
boy. (Freud, 1962, 21-22)

Desire Under the Elms

I woke him up. I told him. He says, wait till I git dressed. I was
waiting. I got to thinkin' o' yew. I got to thinkin' how I'd loved ye. It hurt
like somethin' was bustin' in my chest an' head. I got t' cryin'. I knowed
sudden I loved ye yet, an' allus would love ye! Part Three, Scene
IV
Eben, according to Mick Campbell, comes from the word Ebenezer, which in
Hebrew means stone of help and it was the name of a monument erected by
Samuel in the Old Testament. Eben, very ironically, is "neither the stone of help
nor the stone of hope but in the constant strife and rivalry with his father (Mitra
Sabet Mehrjardi, 1987:3). Eben feels it. The existence of the mother is sensed most
strongly at the moment of Ebens sin. Mother hangs over the play like a curse. The
mysterious presence of the mother is best felt in the parlor in which the passionate
sexual desires of Eben and Abbie are fulfilled. It is the mothers parlor: When she
has died, she is laid there. It is a repressed room like a tomb (ONeill, 1957,
382). One of the Abbies desires is to have that room which is the only part of the
house not belonging to her. When she enters the room she is frightened and ready
to run away. (Cumhur Yilmaz, 455) Eben, at first, views his step-mother as an
insult to his mother and thus becomes more determined to possess the farm. He
buys his brothers shares, commits incest with his stepmother, and is finally forced
into asserting responsibility and accepting the destiny predetermined for him
(Mitra Sabet Mehrjardi, 1987:3). Eben, in a great anger and confusion, rejects
Abbie who attempts to express her love for him. However, Eben utters: I wish he
never was born! I wish hed die this minit1 I wish Id never sot eyes on him! Its
him-yew havin him-a purpose t steal-Thats changed everythin! (ONeill, 1957,
395)
Here in Scene IV, Eben confessed his love to his stepmother. At first, he was
furious because he could not face the reality that Abbie only made use of him for
inheriting the farm. As far as I am concerned, he was a bit childish. He did not
experience love from his father, so his mother is the only one that gave the
experience of love. But unfortunately, his mother died early. In such an
environment, he became a mother complex. He actually wanted to be loved just
like we wanted to be hugged by our mother. So in the beginning, Eben was fond of
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women elder than him who could give the feeling of mother and wife combined.
Here he expressed loudly his love to his stepmother, which was the manifestation
of his Oedipus Complex.
PETER: (after a pause-judicially) she was good even t' him.
EBEN: (fiercely) An' fur thanks he killed her!
SIMEON: (after a pause) No one never kills nobody. It's allus something'.
That's the murderer.
EBEN: Didnt he slave Maw t' death?
PETER: He's slaved himself t' death. He's slaved Sim 'n' me 'n' yew t'
death-on'y o' us hain't died-yit (Part One. Scene Two)
Eben resembles Sophocles Oedipus and represents Freudian Oedipus complex
in many ways.
First, he is involved with oedipal conflict of wanting to murder his father and
to save his mother. He is resentful because of the way his father has treated his
mother and now is treating him (Mitra Sabet Mehrjardi, 1987:8).
And like Oedipus, Eben participates in his punishment by submitting himself to
the police. Later, he decides to share the blame with Abbie for the murder of their
son (Mitra Sabet Mehrjardi, 1987:8).
Then we see through his very actions the reflection of Oedipus complex:
Eben runs in, panting exhaustedly, wild-eyed and mad looking. He
lurches through the gate. Cabot grabs him by the shoulder. Eben
stares at him dumbly. Part Three, Scene IV
After went for the Sherif, Eben was in a state of guilty. He runs in, panting
exhaustedly, wild-eyed and mad looking. In the depth of his heart, he did not want
to reveal what Abbie did because he thought of her as his mother and lover. So
after he did that, he realized the truth that he was in love with his stepmother. If he
did not do that, he perhaps would never face the truth that he is a mother complex.
In fact, Ebens action is childlike, what he did equaled to our childhood activity, we
would be guilty in front of our mothers if we did something wrong. And mothers
kiss could cure everything and give us courage.
They kiss. The three men grin and shuffle embarrassedly. Eben
takes Abbie's hand. They go out the door in rear, the men following, and
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come from the house, walking hand in hand to the gate. Eben stops
there and points to the sunrise sky. Part Three, Scene IV
This is the last scene of the play. Here, Ebens action is very obvious. He kissed
his beloved one, and he courageously faced the sentence with his lover. He learned
from his Oedipus complex to become a truly man. Eben takes Abbie's hand.
Maybe he will always live in the mind of mother complex, but here he is brave
enough to take his responsibility, which maybe he learned from his beloved Abbie.
Freud sketches a picture of the earliest social grouping in which a dominant primal
father excluded the sons from sexual access to the females in the group, developing
what he calls the Darwinian concept of the primal horde. (Cumhur Yilmaz, 451)
ONeill formed a story in a typical tragic pattern: his characters follow a course
of sin and redemption in recognition of error and the assumption of responsibility
(Shaughnessy, 1996, 97).
Conclusion

In Desire under the Elms, we see the most extensive explorations of ONeills
view of the ambivalence of love and hate of Eben, the incest theme, the
relationship between stepmother and stepson, all of which showed Ebens Oedipus
complex in his character. In fact, he is childlike and lack of love. Though the
character analysis of Eben, we can see in the depth of his heart the reality of his
love for his lover and mother and the Oedipus complex. The revolt of a son against
father, the love for mother, the haunting past, and the mother suffocating his child
in the classical tragedies make Desire Under the Elms a classical tragedy in a
modern sense. ONeill successfully adopts the classical traits of tragedy portrayed
in the Greek tragedy into the modern tragedy. (Cumhur Yilmaz, 457)
.

References
eOneill.com, http://www.eoneill.com/biography.htm
Desire Under the Elms, http://www.douban.com/group/topic/1112340/
Oedipus complex http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus_complex
Mitra Sabet Mehrjardi, The Analysis of Archetypal Characters in Eugene
O'Neill's Desire under the Elms: Mythological Approach, Islamic Azad
University Roudehen Branch, 1987
Freud, Sigmund. Totem and Taboo: Resemblances Between the Psychic
Lives of Savages and Neurotics, New York: Vintage Books, 1962.
Cumhur Yilmaz, The Ambivalence Of Love And Hate In Desire Under
The Elms: A Psychological And Mythological Approach,1983.
Shaughnessy, Edward L. Down the Night and Down the Days: Eugene
ONeills Catholic Sensibility, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press,
1996.
ONeill, Eugene. Desire Under the Elms in Sylvan Barnet, Morton
Berman, William Burto. (Edt.), New York: Mentor Books, 1957