The structure of the paper is as follows. In Chapter One, Introduction includes a brief introduction of the work and the author,and Sigmund Freud’s psychic analysis method; In Chapter Two, Literature Review presents the analysis of the researches on the work from home and abroad; In Chapter Three, Eben’s Oedipus Complex in Desire under the Elms involves Eben’s love for his mother, Eben’s hatred to his father and the mixed emotions between Eben and Abbie; In Chapter Four, the Tragic Result of Eben’s Oedipus Complex consists of the tragedy of the father-child relationship, the tragedy of brotherhood and the tragedy between Eben and Abbie; In Chapter Five, The causes of Eben’s Oedipus Complex studies Eben’s family background and experiences and the influence of social environment; In Chapter Six, Conclusion.

2. Literature Review

 Since the publication of the play, many critics and scholars studied it from different angles, for example,the roots of his stories and characters, the features of his langue, his opinions of Greek tragedy, as well as his relationship to other writers. Most of them concentrate on the comparative study on O’Neill and other writers. The western scholars mainly study the tragic root in this play, such as "Eugene O’Neill and the Tragic Tension: An Interpretive Study of the Plays" written by Doris V Falk. Agnes Boulton’s work Part of a Long Story, Doris Alexander’s The Tempering of Eugene O’Neill have studied O’Neill from the aspects of his life experiences. Other scholars have still stressed the apparent relationship between O’Neill and other writers. Edwin A. Engel’s The Haunted Heroes of Eugene O’Neill and the Tragic Tension(1958) studies the relationship between O’Neill, Freud, and Jung. Because of the women’s movement and feminist criticism, the scholars express an interest in Eugene O’Neill’s works, due to his attitude to women and his complex characterization of them. Among the excellent scholars working in this field are Trudy Drucker, Doris Nelson, Judith Barlow, Suzanne Burr, and so on; most of them hold negative views about O’Neill’s vision on the female, and only a few of them hold positive outlooks about it.

In China, many scholars have conducted researches on Desire under the Elms from different aspects. Some analyses its linguistic features from the aspect of drama language, while some analyses the symbolism in it. In addition, some focuses on the analysis of the tragic roots in Desire under the Elms, especially the tragic root of woman character, Abbie.