Cláudia Parra Imaginary Irishness: the Feminine In
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CLÁUDIA PARRA IMAGINARY IRISHNESS: THE FEMININE IN DRAMATISATIONS OF THE EASTER RISING IN SEAN O’CASEY’S THE PLOUGH AND THE STARS AND TOM MURPHY’S THE PATRIOT GAME Dissertação apresentada ao Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas de Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho”, Campus São José do Rio Preto, para a obtenção do título de Mestre em Letras (Área de concentração: Teoria e Estudos Literários). Orientador: Prof. Dr. Peter James Harris 2 Parra, Cláudia. Imaginary Irishness : The Feminine in Dramatisations of the Easter Rising in Sean O'Casey's The Plough and The Stars and Tom Murph's The Patriot Game / Cláudia Parra. -- São José do Rio Preto, 2016 181 f. Orientador: Peter James Harris Dissertação (mestrado) – Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho”, Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas 1. Literatura irlandesa – Séc. XX – História e crítica. 2. Teatro irlandês – História e crítica. 3. Mulheres - Identidade. 4. Mulheres na literatura. 5. Irlanda -História - Revolta da Páscoa, 1916. 6. O'Casey, Sean, 1880-1964 - Crítica e interpretação. 7. Murphy, Thomas, 1935- Crítica e interpretação. I. Harris, Peter James. II. Universidade Estadual Paulista "Júlio de Mesquita Filho". Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas. III. Título. CDU – 820(415)-2.09 Ficha catalográfica elaborada pela Biblioteca do IBILCE UNESP - Câmpus de São José do Rio Preto 3 4 São José do Rio Preto – SP 2016 COMISSÃO EXAMINADORA TITULARES Prof. Dr. Peter James Harris – Orientador Profa. Dra. Laura Patrícia Zuntini de Izarra Prof. Dr. Alvaro Luiz Hattnher SUPLENTES Profa. Dra. Giséle Manganelli Fernandes Profa. Dra. Mariana Bolfarine 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I thank my supervisor Professor Dr. Peter James Harris whose love for drama has inspired me to develop studies in the area. His guidance throughout this research and his demanding high in all my endeavours provided me with a rewarding experience and intellectual freedom. I gratefully thank Professors Dr. Giséle Manganelli Fernandes and Dr. Alvaro Luiz Hattnher for agreeing to be part of the qualification exam and of the oral defense. I am also profoundly grateful to Professors Dr. Laura Patrícia Zuntini de Izarra and Dr. Mariana Bolfarine, from USP, São Paulo, for accepting the invitation to participate in the public defense of this dissertation. Thanks also to Professor Dr. Munira Hamud Mutran for accepting me in the Grupo de Estudos Irlandeses (GEI) in 2012 and Professor Dr. Adriana Carvalho Capuchinho for kindly introducing me to the group and for further support. This dissertation is dedicated to my son, Lorenzo, who has taught me precious things about life, regardless of his ten years old, and for giving me the gift of becoming a mother. Words cannot express my gratitude and love to my parents, Eliana and Cláudio, for their support and unconditional love. I could not have done this without the support of other family members including my sister Karina and my brother-in-law Mateus. Especial thank goes to my beloved friends, Alexandre, André, Caroline and Elis, who supported me and encouraged me along the way. I would like to extend my gratitude to some Irish people who were part of my journey through the Irish world: Declan Mulligan, Eamonn Doyle, Garret Hurley, Paul O’Brien and, especially, Frances Mansfield for our cozy talk at Bewley's Café in a cold rainy afternoon in January 2012. A final and very special acknowledgement goes to Glen Hansard, Irish musician and songwriter, who was my first contact with the Irish culture and has inspired me to further discoveries about Irish people. Last but not least, I must also express my gratitude to CAPES, recognising that this research would not have been possible without its financial assistance. 6 Another mother's breakin' Heart is taking over When the violence causes silence We must be mistaken It's the same old theme since 1916 (‘Zombie’ - Dolores O'Riordan) 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction……………………………………………………………………….…p. 9 1. Theorising Irish Nationalism………………………………………………...….p. 18 1.1 Nation, Nationality, Nationalism…………………………………..…....p. 19 1.2 An Authentic Self-Image: The Irish Question……………………….....p. 29 1.3 A Particular Question: Woman’s Image and Nationalism in Ireland..p. 42 1.4 The Easter Rising 1916: The Irish Revolutionary Imagination…....…p. 57 1.5 The Irish National Theatre: The Rising on Stage……………………...p. 74 2. Sean O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars: Nationalism in Dublin Slums ..…p. 86 2.1 Sean O’Casey: Humanity above Nationalism ……………….……...…p. 87 2.2 The Plough and the Stars: 1916 and its Forgotten Women ………...…p. 97 3. Tom Murphy’s The Patriot Game: Retelling the Rising…………………..…p. 121 3.1 Tom Murphy: A Disillusioned Theatrical Imagination ……………..p. 122 3.2 The Patriot Game: Reviving and Revising 1916……………………....p. 133 4. Women in the House: Two Stage Representations of the Irish Woman…...p. 150 4.1 Women in Control …………………………………………………..…p. 154 4.2 Maternal Image………………………..…………………………….…p. 163 5. Final Considerations ……………………………………………………….….p. 169 6. Bibliographical References ………………………………………………....…p. 176 8 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. A Little Boy and British Soldiers ………………………………………p. 28 Figure 2. Ginger Boy………………………………………………..…...…………p. 41 Figure 3. Hanna Sheehy Skeffington and Mrs. Pearse…………...…...…………p. 55 Figure 4. Louie Bennett………………………………………………..……...……p. 55 Figure 5. Countess Constance Markievicz…………………………………......…p. 56 Figure 6. Margaret Pearse with her children. …………………………......……p. 56 Figure 7. The Seven Signatories …………………………………...……...………p. 72 Figure 8. O'Connell Street after the Easter Rising, ………………………...……p. 73 Figure 9. Old Abbey Theatre………………………………………………………p. 85 Figure 10. New Abbey Theatre……………………………………………………p. 85 Figure 11.Sean O’Casey ………………………………………………..….………p. 96 Figure 12. Nora and Jack Clitheroe…………………………………………...…p. 120 Figure 13. Nora Madness………………………………………………..…….….p. 120 Figure 14. Tom Murphy………………………………………………………..…p.132 Figure 15. The Narrator………………………………………………..….…..…p. 149 Figure 16. The Cast of The Patriot Game…………………………………..……p. 149 Figure 17. The Easter Proclamation …………………………………………….p. 175 9 ABSTRACT Ireland’s particular national culture has shaped an imaginary conception of identity which has also affected the image of women. Irish drama has contributed significantly to the debate on and revisionism of Irish identity and, in the twentieth century, the Easter Rising in 1916 was chosen by some Irish playwrights as a background to promote reflection on this question. Sean O’Casey and Tom Murphy presented versions of the Easter Rising on the Abbey stage which approached the identity of Irish women in a nationalistic context. A comparison of these two dramatic texts reveals that, although the playwrights used different strategies, they both reassessed the female image promoted by Irish nationalism. Keywords: Sean O’Casey; Tom Murphy; Easter Rising; Irish Drama; Female Identity. 10 RESUMO Uma vez que a cultura nacional irlandesa tem formado uma concepção imaginária de identidade, isso afeta também a imagem da mulher. O drama irlandês tem contribuído muito para o debate e revisionismo sobre a identidade irlandesa e, no século XX, a Revolta da Páscoa em 1916 foi escolhida como contexto por alguns dramaturgos irlandeses pra promover uma reflexão sobre essa questão. Sean O’Casey e Tom Murphy apresentaram versões da Revolta da Páscoa nos palcos do Abbey que abordaram a identidade da mulher irlandesa em um contexto nacionalista. Uma comparação desses dois textos dramáticos revela que, embora os dramaturgos tenham usado estratégias diferentes, ambos reavaliaram a imagem feminina promovida pelo nacionalismo irlandês. Palavras-chave: Sean O’Casey. Tom Murphy. Revolta da Páscoa. Teatro Irlandês. Identidade Feminina. 11 INTRODUCTION Ireland’s small geographical dimension is certainly out of proportion when it comes to its immeasurable literary and cultural history. In Ireland “[…] myth and history are intermixed. It is a landscape inscribed with thousands of years of culture.” (MURRAY, 2000a, p. 1). As a result of such cultural richness, the formation of an authentic Irish identity has been a problematical question for Irish people since an early age of its history, getting more intense in the nineteenth century, when the country was incorporated as an integral part of the imperial power and central political formation, but remained a colony of the British state. This dual, yet uncomfortable experience provided Ireland with the experience of an arduous and paradoxical relationship with England. Under British rule for about eight centuries, Irish people could easily be swallowed up by English culture and that was what the English wanted. They tried to eliminate the Irish language, to subdue the people, but the Irish, stubborn and obdurate, even under the most tragic circumstances, held on and Britain did not succeed. In face of this framework, in the twentieth century it seemed the Irish were ready for revolution. The twentieth century was one of the most important and decisive periods in Irish history. Battles, wars, revolutions, cultural and literary movements made the country experience things it had never experienced before. Nationalism flashed its power and due to that the revolutionary spirit swept across the country. Ireland was desperate to define itself and its conceptions of nationality and patriotism on the world stage, not as a colony of the British Empire, but as an authentic nation with its own singularities.