The Plough and the Stars, Sean O'Casey, theatre play, Irish society, drama, political commitment
As Pagans' character John from Thomas MacDonagh's play quotes 'A man who is a mere author is nothing' in 1915, most of the Irish writers, especially playwriters of the period are not only talented dramatists but also national-convinced activists, politically committed and often opinion-leading artists. A part of their works is consequently closely related to their country's history as the fervent Irish spirit has always been alive in the Goidelic speakers' culture despite its historical submission to England all along the 19th century. As the rant above does, many Irish plays do depict some of the social conditions of a traditional and conservative society and they even betray the authors' burning opinions.
The Plough and the Stars of Sean O'Casey performed in 1926 perfectly embody that wish to convey personal observations above the close historical events.
[...] All these elements mostly convey the idea that the actions of the gender-defined characters are only linked to their social positions within the Irish traditions, according to the author. On top of that, he mostly condemns the patriot's vain objectives and unthinking nationalism around the Easter Rising through the Figure of the Window's speech from which only bloodshed comes out. The play deals with direct offensive criticism against blind patriotism and the title refers to the Starry Plough flag which represents the socialist movement and the Irish Citizen Army. [...]
[...] In another way, O'Casey takes the opportunity to bring on the stage some of most striking drawbacks of womanhood. The first act opens on Mrs. Gogan's gossips and later we'll have to deal with Rosie's noisy wheedling. We may also quote many girly quarrels and verbal attacks into the play. But the most critical point comes with the final act of the play in which Nora, who has had a stillbirth, alluding to a Christian punishment-like for her guilt, goes neurotic and is pushed through the window by her enemy, Bessie. [...]
[...] But O'Casey mostly turned his play into a pacifist drama. To put it in a nutshell, we may also refer to Mrs. Gogan's words, seduced and trapped into the rhetoric aspects of the Irish nationalist project, when she balances her answers in an attuned way 'It is, an' it isn't; it's both bad an' good.'. If the language here is considered in its simplicity but also social representation, it has a peculiar strength which is to authorize a leap in reality just as the fourth act which ends with Bessie's death shot by the window. [...]
[...] Nonetheless, each of the main characters, from Nora Clitheroe to Bessie through Rosie and Mrs. Gogan and her daughter, does stand for a given archetype of womanhood's typical attitudes of the period. We have to mention that they are all confined to traditional domestic settings or positions directly connected to their womanhood: Mrs. Gogan is a charwoman, while Nora is a housewife and Rosie a prostitute. O'Casey browses this way all the potentialities for women in this conservative society. Furthermore, they are mainly presented as powerless characters. [...]
[...] Deterred by the war reality, he wished to share this view with a concerned audience while people, too busy with their fight for independence and trapped into taking cultural distances with England were only perceiving the moral distinctions. As result and paradox, The Plough and the Stars was working on opening Irish people's eyes onto that reality whereas the play's riots were mostly due to a tricky historical context in which Ireland was fighting hard to maintain its identity. In spite of the violent reactions, this inspirational play has been presented more than 56 times since then and has gained a vocational role among the Irish drama culture. [...]
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