“Desire”Desire is one of the archetypal emotional conditions and motivating forces of human behavior. As the stage is an ideal place for social experiments, plays show us all sorts of characters, situations, and reactions to various forms of desireDesire. In this chapter, we look at the characteristics of desiresDesire in Lessing’s Emilia Galotti, Schiller’s Cabel and Love, Frank Wedekind’sWedekind, Frank Franziska, Tennessee Williams’Williams, Tennessee A Streetcar NamedDesire Desire, and his Orpheus Descending, Henrik Ibsen’sIbsen, Henrik Hedda Gabler, Ray Bradbury’sBradbury, Ray Fahrenheit 451, and Elfriede Jelinek’sJelinek, Elfriede Rechnitz (Der Würgeengel). The text distills very different types of desireDesire (fulfilled or frustrated, successful or failed desireDesire ending tragically or happily, and desireDesire to killDesire to kill) and prepares for a general discussion of desireDesire and its complexity.