Hacettepe University Graduate School of Social Sciences Department of English Language and Literature THE REPRESENTATION OF RURAL IRISH CHARACTERS IN J.M. SYNGE’S RIDERS TO THE SEA, THE TINKER’S WEDDING, AND THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD Elif Özçeşmeci Master’s Thesis Ankara, 2013 THE REPRESENTATION OF RURAL IRISH CHARACTERS IN J.M. SYNGE’S RIDERS TO THE SEA, THE TINKER’S WEDDING, AND THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD Elif Özçeşmeci Hacettepe University Graduate School of Social Sciences Department of English Language and Literature Master’s Thesis Ankara, 2013 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my feelings of gratitude to Prof. Dr. A. Deniz Bozer, my supervisor, who provided me with invaluable advice, feedback and instruction with great patience at every stage of my thesis-writing period. Without her meticulous supervision and recommendations, I would not have been able to complete this study. My gratefulness must also be extended to all my lecturers in the Department of English Language and Literature at Ankara University and Hacettepe University. I am thankful to them for their contribution to my education. Finally, I also wish to thank my family for their support, care and tolerance. I owe special thanks to my sister, Esra Özçeşmeci, who stood by me during my difficult times. Without her support, I would not have managed to complete this thesis. iv ÖZET ÖZÇEŞMECİ, Elif. J.M. Synge’in Riders to the Sea, The Tinker’s Wedding ve The Playboy of the Western World Oyunlarında İrlandalı Kırsal Kesim Karakterlerinin Temsili. Yüksek Lisans Tezi, Ankara, 2013. Bu tezin amacı yöresel özelliklerin kullanımı bağlamında on dokuzuncu ve yirminci yüzyıllarda İrlanda’daki kırsal kesimin temsilini incelemektir. Bu doğrultuda, İrlandalılığı ortaya çıkarmak için Synge’in üç oyununda İrlanda halk kültürünü ve yerel renklerini canlandırması tartışılmıştır. Bunun yanı sıra, İrlanda’nın belirli kültürel özellikleri, siyasi ve sosyal olayları kırsal kesim halkının temsil edildiği bu üç oyun açısından gerekli arka planı sağladığı için örneklerle açıklanmıştır. Kültürel özellikler ışığında, kırsal kesime özgü İrlandalı karakterler Synge’in oyunlarında sırasıyla tartışılmıştır. Riders to the Sea (1904), bahsedilen çağdaki denizcilik ile ilgilenen bir halkın örneği olarak incelenmiştir. Dinsel, geleneksel, sosyal ve kültürel özelliklerin yanı sıra ada halkının yaşam koşulları ve Synge’in bunlar karşısındaki tutumu tartışılmıştır. The Tinker’s Wedding (1909), İrlanda toplumundaki etnik bir grup olan tenekeciler bağlamında incelenmiştir. Bu gezginci topluluk incelendikten sonra, tenekecilerin on dokuzuncu yüzyılın sonundaki konumları değerlendirilmiştir. Yerleşik halkın bu gruba uygulamış olduğu ayrımcılık, İrlandalıların İngilizler tarafından ikincil konuma getirilmesine benzer görüldüğü için üzerinde durulmuştur. The Playboy of the Western World (1907)’de modern çağın sosyal ve siyasi değişimlerinin gözlemlendiği İrlanda’nın kırsal kesimine özgü tipler incelenmiştir. Bu oyun, ayrıca on dokuzuncu ve yirminci yüzyıllar boyunca İrlanda toplumunda önemli ölçüde etkili olan milliyetçilik ve ulusal kimlik yaratma çabası ile bağlantılı olarak değerlendirilmiştir. Sonuç olarak, Synge’in yerel özellikler çerçevesinde kırsal İrlandalı halkı nasıl betimlediği yukarıda adı geçen oyunlarda tartışılmıştır. Synge’in oyunlarında yöresel özelliklere yer vermesi incelenerek, yazarın iddia ettiği gibi kırsal kesimin ve v yerleşimcilerinin gerçekçi fakat kendi tabiriyle “sevinç dolu” bir tasvirini yapıp yapmadığı sorgulanmaktadır. Anahtar Kelimeler: John Millington Synge, Riders to the Sea, The Tinker’s Wedding, The Playboy of the Western World, İrlanda tiyatrosu, İrlanda kırsal yaşamı, yerel özellikler, İrlanda milliyetçiliği vi ABSTRACT ÖZÇEŞMECİ, Elif. The Representation of Rural Irish Characters in J.M. Synge’s Riders to the Sea, The Tinker’s Wedding, and The Playboy of the Western World. Master’s Thesis, Ankara, 2013. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the representation of peasantry in Ireland during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries with regard to local colour. In this context, Synge’s reviving Irish folklore to assert Irishness is discussed in three of his plays. In addition to this, certain cultural, political and social aspects of Ireland are illustrated as they provide the context for the three plays representative of rural Ireland. In the light of cultural characteristics, representation of rural Irish characters is discussed in three plays. Riders to the Sea (1904) is analysed in terms of its representation of a seafaring community in the beginning of the twentieth century. The living conditions of the islanders as well as religious, traditional, social and cultural elements and Synge’s approach to them are discussed. The Tinker’s Wedding1 (1909) is examined with regard to the illustration of an ethnic group — the tinkers — in the Irish society. After this itinerant population is examined, the status of the tinkers during the end of the nineteenth century is analysed. Discrimination of the tinkers by the settled community is questioned since it is seen as an analogy to the subordination of the Irish by the English. The Playboy of the Western World (1907) is analysed as an exemplar of rural communities in which the effects of social and political shifts of the contemporary age can be observed. The play is also evaluated in relation to nationalism and the struggle of creating a national identity that operated significantly within Irish society throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In conclusion, how Synge depicts rural Irish people through the use of local colour is illustrated and discussed in the above-mentioned plays. Through analysing Synge’s employment of Irish folkloric elements in his plays, it is discussed whether the 1 The years given in parentheses for all plays referred to in this thesis are the years of their first productions. Despite being produced in 1909, The Tinker’s Wedding was actually written in about 1902. Thus, it is examined earlier — in the second chapter of the thesis—in accordance with Synge’s writing career. vii playwright draws a realistic yet, as he himself claims, “joyful” picture of the Irish countryside, country life and its inhabitants. Key Words: John Millington Synge, Riders to the Sea, The Tinker’s Wedding, The Playboy of the Western World, Irish drama, Irish rural life, local colour, Irish nationalism viii TABLE OF CONTENTS KABUL VE ONAY………………………………………………………………..........i BİLDİRİM………………………………………………………………………..…….ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………….…..iii ÖZET…………………………………………………………………………………...iv ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………...….vi TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………….....viii INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………………..…1 1. John Millington Synge and The Irish Literary Revival….…..………..……….…1 2. Some Elements of Irish Culture…….………..………………………..…………..30 CHAPTER I: RIDERS TO THE SEA AND THE FISHERMEN OF THE ARAN ISLANDS…………………………………………………………………...……..…...58 CHAPTER II: THE TINKER’S WEDDING AND THE VAGRANTS OF COUNTY WICKLOW....................................................................................................................89 CHAPTER III: THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD AND THE PEASANTS OF COUNTY MAYO………………………………………...….........122 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………...….....174 END NOTES………………………...……………………………………………….187 WORKS CITED………………………………………………………….………….200 1 INTRODUCTION 1. JOHN MILLINGTON SYNGE AND THE IRISH LITERARY REVIVAL And that enquiring man John Synge comes next, That dying chose the living world for text And never could have rested in the tomb But that, long travelling, he had come Towards nightfall upon certain set apart In a most desolate stony place, Towards nightfall upon a race Passionate and simple like his heart. (Yeats, Collected Poems 132) The above lines are from the celebrated Irish poet and playwright William Butler Yeats’s poem “In Memory of Major Robert Gregory” dedicated to Lady Gregory’s only son Robert Gregory who died in action in Italy. This poem is a kind of elegy in which Yeats devotes a stanza “to each of three other close friends who had died earlier — Lionel Johnson, John Synge, and [his] uncle George Pollexfen” (Ronsley 139). In the poem’s fourth stanza, Yeats eulogises his friend John Millington Synge. In the lines above, he acknowledges that the desolate landscape of Ireland and its inhabitants profoundly influenced Synge who has been considered as one of the most outstanding of Irish playwrights as well as one of the greatest dramatists associated with the Abbey Theatre. Of all the dramatists of the Irish Literary Revival, he is the one who is most associated with the development of modern Irish drama. Despite the fact that he wrote only six plays during his short life span, his drama has left an indelible impression on Irish literature, for he was also a prominent figure in the national struggle to form a new Irish identity throughout the nineteenth century. The period in which Synge wrote his plays coincides with the times when the Irish nation was recovering from the effects of colonisation, and nationalism was gaining momentum. In order to provide a sound analysis of nineteenth-century Ireland and the 2 Irish Literary Revival, it is necessary to begin with brief general background information. Seen as a colony within the United Kingdom, Ireland had gradually lost its cultural identity after a long period of English rule that stretches back to the twelfth century. It has always been stated that