Insatiable Desire As The Root Cause Of The Cabots’ Tragedy

As a masterpiece of Eugene O’Neill, Desire under the Elms is a tragedy ofdesire. Domestic and foreign literary critics have studied this play from differentperspectives, but it has never been studied from the perspective of Schopenhauer,though he has a close influence on the creation of the play. This thesis, from theperspective of Schopenhauer, argues that the insatiable desires of the Cabots are theroot of their tragedy. The Cabots’ tragedy is not only a miniature of American society,but also a tragedy of human beings. It shows the miserable life of human beings andthe root of their suffering lies in their insatiable desires, which has profoundsignificance for the modern people.In Desire under the Elms, the protagonists are like animals in captivity. Thoughthey continuously struggle for their existence, they can never find a way out. Everycharacter in the play is controlled by various desires, and their human nature isseriously distorted. Under the drive of insatiable desires for wealth and love, thefamily members intrigue with each other, and the desires finally lead to their tragedy.Schopenhauer considers that human’s desire is infinite. When the desire cannot besatisfied, people will be in suffering. In the face of a world filled with endless strife,he advocates that we ought to minimize our natural desires for the sake of achieving amore tranquil frame of mind and a disposition towards universal beneficence.Besides Introduction and Conclusion, the thesis consists of three chapters.Chapter One explores the Cabots’ continuous strife for their insatiable wealthseriously distorted their human nature. Chapter Two states that the abnormal trianglelove among Old Cabot, Eben and Abbie finally leads to their disillusion. ChapterThree focuses on analysis of the suffering of the Cabots, and points out that theirtragedy roots lie in their insatiable desires and death is the end of their suffering.