In 1918, Eugene O’Neill advocated a life within reality. Living outside reality, he sees as destructive. With this in mind, he wrote Beyond the Horizon. One of his later plays, Desire under the Elms, reverts in character to Beyond the Horizon, though it exhibits a fine progress in solidity and finish. Desire under the Elms is the last of O’Neill’s naturalistic plays and the first in which he re-created the starkness of Greek tragedy. The play involves O’Neill’s own family conflicts and Freudian treatment of sexual themes.Beyond the Horizon is O’Neill’s first major statement of the theme of self-deception, pipe dreams and life-lies, resulting out of passion and desire. At this point of his career, O’Neill believed that one must engage in the quest to find the ultimate meaning of life, to discover the mysterious behind-life force that lies just beyond the horizon. To his mind this was in fact the pursuit of a goal. Further in his career as a playwright, he begins to believe that just having a dream that can survive through time is more important than having a dream that is attainable or the pursuit of a dream.
In Beyond the Horizon, Eugene O’Neill dramatizes the conflict of the opposing ideals of adventure and security, emotion and ratio, embodied in the two brothers, Robert and Andrew. O’Neill identifies himself with the lead character, Robert Mayo whereas he compares Roberts brother Andrew to his brother Jamie. Both brothers represent two parts, the poetic, emotional dreamer and the rational down-to-earth farmer. During the play, both brothers give up their desires and passions; one of them flees into materialism, the other into a world of pipe dreams. When O’Neill wrote Beyond the Horizon, he was only able to see and to tolerate the emotional level of behaving and acting; in other words: rationalism. That is, in his point of view, something negative, which must be prevented. But his opinion changes: in 1924, he tolerates that motif although he still neither likes it nor considers it as a good value. The emotional way of behaving still overweighs in Desire under the Elms but there can also be found a profound way of rationalism in the behaviour of his protagonists. This change of O’Neill’s opinion comes out clearly in the characterisation of Abbie Putnam, who changes from rationalism to emotionalism. The fact that O’Neill changes his point of view made him a child of his time. [...]
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Without desires, man could not exist
2.1. The motif of desire in Beyond the Horizon
2.2. The motif of desire in Desire under the Elms
3. Blinded by the force of passion
3.1 Passion in Beyond the Horizon
3.2 Passion in Desire under the Elms
4. The love triangle – the catalyst of failure
5. Love, desire and passion – an attempt of a final comparison
Objectives and Research Focus
This paper examines the interplay between desire, passion, and the tragic fate of characters in Eugene O’Neill's plays Beyond the Horizon and Desire under the Elms, investigating how the repression or pursuit of personal desires serves as a primary driver for the characters' downfalls.
- The role of desire as a life-sustaining force versus a source of self-deception.
- The impact of intense passions on the moral and rational behavior of the protagonists.
- A comparative analysis of the "love triangle" structure in both plays and its catalytic effect on tragedy.
- The influence of personal ideals versus societal pressures on character development.
- The evolution of O'Neill’s thematic treatment of rationalism versus emotionalism.
Excerpt from the Book
2. Without desires, man could not exist
In Beyond the Horizon, Eugene O’Neill reveals that desires are necessary to sustain life. Both of his main characters, Robert and Andrew Mayo, depend on their desires, as they feed their destiny. Denying their desires means denying their destiny, altering their lives forever. O’Neill also points out that following your desires brings you true happiness, something all of his characters do not experience. Robert Mayo’s brother Andrew succumbs to desires but for him they are old values like farm life and a happy marriage. Andrew has no desire to go anywhere beyond the farm because he feels he has everything he needs.
In the 1920’s, farm life meant wealth and an ensured lifestyle. Living on a farm signifies an idyllic life where human order meets natural order and becomes united. When Robert declares that he will stay on the farm and marry Ruth, Andrew flees in a world of rationalism and materialism seeing his desires disappear. Andrew never looks back. He never thinks about what would have happened if he had made different decisions. Andrew has been totally devoted to the farm but when he realizes that he cannot fulfill his desires he takes the role of the disappointed lover who leaves home to find his desires elsewhere and to be out of the happy couple’s way. When Andrew decides to leave the farm and to go to sea with his uncle he becomes separated from his spirit as a pragmatic, down-to-earth farmer.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: The introduction outlines Eugene O'Neill's perspective on reality, self-deception, and the conflict between adventure and security, setting the stage for an analysis of his naturalistic works.
2. Without desires, man could not exist: This chapter analyzes how the pursuit or neglect of deep-seated personal desires determines the destiny and ultimate happiness of the protagonists in both plays.
2.1. The motif of desire in Beyond the Horizon: Focuses on the Mayo brothers and how their inability to align their actions with their true inner desires leads to disillusionment and personal failure.
2.2. The motif of desire in Desire under the Elms: Examines how the characters' desires for land, love, and ownership drive them toward tragic outcomes and profound moral conflicts.
3. Blinded by the force of passion: Explores how intense, obsessive passions act as a distorting filter that blinds the protagonists to reality and limits their potential for fulfillment.
3.1 Passion in Beyond the Horizon: Investigates how Robert's emotional nature and Andrew's shift toward materialist rationalism isolate them from their spirits.
3.2 Passion in Desire under the Elms: Discusses the various forms of passion—ranging from land-hunger to sexual desire—that motivate the Cabot family members toward tragedy.
4. The love triangle – the catalyst of failure: This chapter categorizes the interpersonal relationships in both plays as triangles where the female protagonists (Ruth and Abbie) act as catalysts for the destruction of the men.
5. Love, desire and passion – an attempt of a final comparison: Provides a synthesizing conclusion that compares how the neglect of desire and the eruption of passion drive the tragedy of the main characters across both dramas.
Keywords
Eugene O'Neill, Beyond the Horizon, Desire under the Elms, desire, passion, love triangle, tragedy, rationalism, emotionalism, self-deception, Robert Mayo, Andrew Mayo, Eben Cabot, Abbie Putnam, American Dream.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary objective of this academic paper?
The paper aims to analyze the impact of desires and passions on the life trajectories of protagonists in two of Eugene O'Neill's plays and to illustrate how these factors contribute to the tragic outcomes within the narratives.
Which O'Neill plays are examined in this study?
The study provides a comparative analysis of Beyond the Horizon and Desire under the Elms.
What is the central research question?
The research investigates whether the characters’ failure to harmonize their actions with their genuine desires and the overwhelming force of their passions act as the catalyst for their ultimate physical or spiritual downfall.
What methodology is used to interpret the texts?
The author uses a thematic and character-based approach, focusing on the motif of the "love triangle" and the psychological development of the main characters to draw comparisons between the two works.
What are the core themes discussed in the main body?
The main body focuses on the essential nature of desires, the blinding force of passions like greed or forbidden love, and the role of women as catalysts for the shifts in the protagonists' lives.
How are the characters in the plays characterized?
The characters are typically categorized as dreamers or pragmatists, often struggling between intellectual ideals (romanticism) and the harsh demands of reality (materialism).
How does Robert Mayo's character development define the tragedy in Beyond the Horizon?
Robert is portrayed as a romantic dreamer who sacrifices his true desires for love and security, ultimately leading to his complete physical and spiritual decay when he fails to live the life he envisions.
What is the significance of the "love triangle" in these plays?
The love triangle serves as the structural framework for conflict, where the central character—Ruth in the first play and Abbie in the second—initiates a chain reaction that forces the other characters to make life-altering choices.
How does the motif of "possession" transform in Desire under the Elms?
The author argues that Abbie Putnam’s desire for possession shifts from a material ambition regarding the land to a genuine, destructive passion for Eben, which dictates the tragic arc of the play.
- Quote paper
- Nadine Kröschel (Author), 2003, Of desire and passion - A comparison between Beyond the Horizon and Desire under the Elms, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/56731
