Desire under the Elms - Eben Cabot

Eben is the central character and protagonist of Desire under the Elms, the youngest son (by a second marriage) of crusty landowner Ephraim Cabot. Eben is impetuous, volatile, and emotional, determined to stay connected to the spirit of his dead mother and to retain control over the farm and land she brought into her marriage to Ephraim.

Eben is very different from his older half-brothers, Simeon and Peter. Where Eben is impulsive, his brothers are more measured. Where Eben is intelligent and curious, his brothers are mentally slower and more settled in their thinking process. Most importantly for the play and its story, where Eben is determined to hold onto the farm out of the loving memory of his mother, his brothers are determined to gain control solely for its own sake.

Eben's relationships with his father Ephraim and his stepmother Abbie...