Like Mourning Becomes Electra, Desire Under the Elms signifies an attempt by O'Neill to adapt plot elements and themes of Greek tragedy to a rural New England setting.
He rings a bell to call in his half-brothers, Simeon and Peter, who emerge soon after Eben goes back inside.
Eben sticks his head out the window as the two brothers speculate over their father's disappearance to the west, saying that he hasn't left the farm in 30 years or more.
As the three brothers eat dinner, Simeon and Peter reprimand Eben for speaking ill of their father.
Ephraim tells the story of how he made the farm when he was only 20 years old and the terrible loneliness he has experienced with his wives.
Act 3, Scene 3 It is the morning after the party and Eben sits in the kitchen with his bag packed.
Act 3, Scene 4 Ephraim wakes up, and Abbie tells him she has murdered the baby and that it wasn't his.
Desire Under the Elms was inspired by plot elements and characters from the Euripides play Hippolytus.
[1] In it, Phaedra, Theseus' wife, attempts to seduce his son, chaste Hippolytus.
Enraged, Theseus (using one of three wishes that his father Poseidon promised him) curses his son with banishment or death.
The characters Eben, Abbie, and Ephraim roughly correspond with Hippolytus, Phaedra, and Theseus respectively.
O'Neill takes this one step further in Desire Under the Elms and makes Abbie's misguided actions the begetting and murder of her child.
He details several elements of O'Neill and Strindberg's biographies that are similar, and how they manifest in Desire Under the Elms, in addition to naming several specific works of Strindberg's, such as The People of Hemsö, The Bridal Crown, and The Son of a Servant.
This can be seen in Desire under the Elms through Eben's opinion that Ephraim worked his mother to death and largely drives the plot.
Broadway (1952) – Directed by Harold Clurman, produced by The American National Theater and Academy.
Academy Festival Theatre (Lake Forest, Illinois, 1974) – Directed by Vinette Carrol, produced by William T. Gardner.
Asmita Theatre (India, 1995) – Directed by Arvind Gaur, translated by Nadira Babbar, starring Deepak Dobriyal, Manu Rishi, Deepak Ochani and Arachana Shintre Joshii, 14 performances.
Sri Ram Centre Theatre (Mandi House, New Delhi, India, 2010) – A RAS production.
Broadway (2009) – Transfer of the Goodman production; opened April 27, 2009 at the St. James Theater, 32 performances.
Lyric Hammersmith (2012) – Directed by Sean Holmes and designed by Ian MacNeil, starring Morgan Watkins as Eben Cabot, Denise Gough as Anna Putnam and Finbar Lynch as Ephraim Cabot.
This play was adapted by Balwant Gargi (under the name "Balde Tibbe") in Punjabi for the Department of Drama and Dramatics at Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh, as the second-year final production of 2015.
Directed by Tim Carroll, set by Judith Bowden, lighting by Kevin Lamotte, and costumes by Joyce Padua.