Eugene O’neill’s desire under the elms : the quest for self-assertion

Abstract EN

This paper seeks to examine the characters' attempts to assert themselves.

These attempts take the form of their endeavours to possess the farm which they regard as an imaginative domain within which they feel a sense of security and repose.

And it is in terms of their incessant quest for security and repose that we would best appreciate their recourse to violence.

It is this quest for security and self-assertion which adds every poignancy to their actions and enables them to attain a heroic tragic stature.