The Motive of Intrusion in Eugene O’Neill’s “Desire Under the Elms”

Abstract

An incredible interest is noticed during the last century, in modern drama, in the use of intrusion. Many modern playwrights
have used intrusion and the motive that initiates it as an element to present powerful family issues and significant triangular conflicts that
frustrate modern society and its individuals. The object of this paper is to explore how intrusion is used by Eugene O’Neill in his “Desire
Under the Elms” to account for and more profoundly explain the actions and behaviors of the intruder and intruded characters in this
astonishing play. The desire to possess is what turns these characters into victimizers and victims of their own faults and actions, thus at
the same time suffering the consequences of their intrusion in the other characters’ lives. Furthermore, this study is an attempt to
determine the nature, function, extent, and meaning of intrusion as it is found in this modern Nobel writer.