Desire under the Elms - The Cabot Farmhouse

The action of "Desire ..." takes place entirely in and around the farmhouse - appropriate because the house is the focus of the conflict between the characters. All of them - father Ephraim, older sons Simeon and Peter, younger son Eben, new wife Abbie - claim ownership of the house for their own reasons, and all go to varying lengths to secure that ownership. Like the Mannon estate in "...Electra," the farmhouse is a symbol of the entrapping emotional and spiritual tension at the core of the play - in this case, individual power, status, and security.

The Parlor

This room in the Cabot house is particularly significant, in that it represents the house's true identity - as a manifestation of Eben's mother/Ephraim's second wife, the original owner of the farm who brought it into her marriage to Ephraim and...