Gender and Memory: Depictions of This paper compares depictions of the mythological personification of Ireland, Femininity in Irish Revolutionary 1 Kathleen ni Houlihan, with the true stories Art of female active combatants to investigate Pearl Joslyn where collective memory of the Easter Senior, History and Global Studies Rising diverged from the truth. By presenting these examples against the The popular narrative of the 1916 backdrop of traditional gender roles in the Easter Rising, which marked the start of the era of Irish state-building, this paper hopes Irish Revolution, reflected highly gendered to contribute to the study of gender in views of masculine and feminine roles in revolutionary Irish history. Additionally, this armed rebellion. In the gendered paper offers a critique of the over-reliance environment of British-ruled Ireland at the on romanticized versions of the past that end of the Victorian Era, women were derive from fiction in collective memory. frequently pushed out of active combat This paper will shed light on the women of roles. Instead, women were expected to aid the revolution, whose vita role in Irish the young men of Ireland, who were history is often overlooked. frequently sent to their deaths, a trope not uncommon in the history of revolution and When Lady Augusta Gregory and William Butler Yeats wrote Cathleen ni warfare. These gender roles were reflected ​ Houlihan in 1901, they did not expect it to in the Irish arts during the years surrounding ​ the 1916 Easter Rising. Depictions of become a rallying cry for revolution. The masculinity and femininity in Irish play, however, became a sort of call to arms Nationalist art often portrayed women as among young nationalists who saw a vision helpless victims of British oppression, who of renewal in the play’s conclusion. The needed young men to give their lives to play’s influence on society horrified Yeats protect their honor. The arts played a critical and Gregory, who feared that the outcome of role in Irish nationalism and codified the a violent revolution would not only be disastrous for Ireland, but also forthem as common perception of the role women 2 played in 1916 as passive and marginal. The members of the British aristocracy. For adoption of this vision into the collective Yeats and Gregory, there was something consciousness undermined the active role romantic in their vision of Irish rebirth, but women played in the Easter Rising and 1 subsequent war for independence, A number of spellings of the name Kathleen ni Houlihan exist. For the purposes of this paper, the effectively rewriting the history of women common spelling of Kathleen ni Houlihan is used. who took up arms against the British and All other spellings are retained from the use of the served as active combatants. authors. 2 William Butler Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory, Cathleen ni Houlihan, in Collaborative One-Act ​ ​ Plays, 1901-1903, Ed. James Pethica (Ithaca: Cornell ​ University Press, 2006), XXXV-XXXVI. both saw it as more of a symbolic and young men of Ireland are forced to take on gradual rebirth than a sudden one brought on violent roles to protect her youth, beauty, by revolution. In fact, Yeats saw the play in and purity. quite a different light, viewing the groom’s Cathleen ni Houlihan was based on abandonment of his bride as symbolic of ​ Yeats’ earlier poem “Kathleen the Daughter “the perpetual struggle of the cause of of Hoolihan and Hanrahan the Red.” The Ireland and every other ideal cause against poem, in contrast to the play, presents private hopes and dreams, against all that we 3 Kathleen ni Houlihan as the object of the mean when we say the world.” While Yeats protagonist’s desire, rather than the and Gregory may not have intended to spur distraction from love that she is presented as nationalists to action, their play helped 6 in the play. The evolution of the use of awaken a movement. Cathleen ni Houlihan ​ Kathleen ni Houlihan from the poem to the provided a highly gendered image of play is perhaps due to Lady Gregory’s revolution, wherein young men had to give influence, or the need for higher stakes and their lives to restore youth and beauty to the greater conflict in a stage play than in a elderly and helpless Ireland. In fact, when short poem. Regardless of the motivation for the young protagonist, Michael Gillane, asks the evolution, Kathleen ni Houlihan still Cathleen ni Houlihan what she wants from serves the same purpose as the his family she responds “If anyone would personification of Ireland, the object of love. give me help he must give me himself, he As such, she is used in both works to must give me all.” After Cathleen ni disguise nationalist sympathies under the Houlihan tells Michael that she wants him to 7 guise of romance. Yeats was somewhat give his life for her, he forgets everything self-conscious of being overtly nationalistic, from his old life, including his fiancé and 4 surely for personal reasons, but also for the parents. The play ends with Michael’s sake of his writing. He worried that more brother, when asked if he had seen the “Old frank allusions to nationalism weakened the Woman” Cathleen ni Houlihan, responding structure of a work. This is evidenced in “I did not; but I saw a young girl, and she 5 William Dall Hefernan’s poem about had the walk of a queen.” Despite the Kathleen ni Houlihan, which is much more passive role she takes in sending men to 8 overtly political and less romantic. By their deaths, their martyrdom is shown as presenting a highly romanticized version of bringing renewal to Cathleen ni Houlihan, this story, Yeats was able to avoid and thus to Ireland. This play depicts an accusations of nationalism by instead extremely gendered and rigid power structure. Cathleen ni Houlihan exhibits little agency over her own life, while the

6 Phillip L. Marcus, Yeats and Artistic Power (New ​ ​ 3 Yeats and Gregory, XXXVII. York: NYU, 1992), 56. ​ ​ 4 Yeats and Gregory, Cathleen ni Houlihan, 92-95. 7 Marcus, Artistic Power, 56. ​ ​ ​ ​ 5 Yeats and Gregory, Cathleen ni Houlihan, 95. 8 Marcus, Artistic Power, 56-57. ​ ​ ​ ​

10 presenting his work as carrying on the Nor was there fear in his mind. legacy of Irish myth through romanticism. In the poem, Kathleen ni Houlihan again A more overtly nationalist work, the takes on a passive role, with no action by her poem “Roger Casement” by Eva being depicted while the central figure of the Gore-Booth again presents a male martyr poem gives his life for her honor. who gave his life “For the sake of God and Gore-Booth’s refutation of Casement’s 9 Kathleen ni Houlighaun.” This poem, sexuality is especially interesting, given her written by Gore-Booth to her sister own queerness. Most viewed accusations Constance Markievicz following the 1916 against Casement as deliberate acts of Easter Rising, presents a particularly character assassination aimed at destroying interesting study because of the his legacy, and Gore-Booth was clearly no circumstances surrounding Roger exception. Casement’s death. Casement was born to a The painting “Eire” by Beatrice Protestant family, but was raised Catholic. Elvery, also known as Lady Glenavy, again After trips to the Congo Free State and the depicts the figure of Kathleen ni Houlihan as Putumayo region of the Amazon to the personification of Ireland. In the investigate atrocities being carried out under painting, Kathleen ni Houlihan sits in a imperialism, Casement become strongly traditional cloak in front of a Celtic cross. anti-imperialist. Following these Holding the infant Ireland in her lap, with experiences, Casement returned to Ireland saints behind her and the bodies of martyrs where he worked to gain German support at her feet, Kathleen ni Houlihan resembles for the Rising. After being caught, he was 11 the Virgin Mary. The painting plays on the executed for high treason by the British trope of the Virgin Mary as a bringer of government. Casement’s trial and renewal through the birth of Jesus, but again subsequent execution have remained a shows the figure of Kathleen ni Houlihan as controversial subject because of the a passive actor in the struggle for Irish accusations of homosexuality brought independence. Like Yeats and Gregory’s against him in his trial. In the poem, Cathleen ni Houlihan, this painting also Gore-Booth addresses and refutes these ​ inspired feeling of martyrdom amongst allegations, saying: young Irishmen, much to the shock of the I dream of the hatred of men, artist. In fact, Lady Glenavy was inspired by Yeats and Lady Gregory’s writings to create Their lies against him who knew nothing of 12 the painting. The painting was hung at St. lying, 10 Gore-Booth, 130. 11 Beatrice Elvery, Éire, 1907, Pearse Museum, ​ Dublin. 9 Eva Gore-Booth, “Roger Casement” in Prison 12 Ann Matthews, Renegades: Irish Republican ​ ​ Letters of Countess Markievicz, Ed. Esther Roper Women 1900-1922 (Cork, Ireland: Mercier Press, ​ ​ (New York: Krauss Reprint Company, 1970), 130. 2010), 26.

Enda’s College, and upon meeting a student O’Faoláin’s 1934 biography of the from the school, Lady Glenavy was Countess, which Esther Roper published her horrified to learn that the painting had Prison Letters of Countess Markievicz in ​ driven the young man to be willing to lay response to. Roper’s book was an attempt to down his life for Ireland. Like Yeats and shed light on the deep personal sacrifices Gregory, Lady Glenavy had thought her Markievicz made for the Rising, and to 16 work to be of little interest to Irish prove her significance in the revolution. nationalists, and was surprised to learn of its This book showcases what was a rare 13 impact. attempt at the time: Roper hoped to rewrite the popular narrative of Markievicz’s life by These works showcase a depiction of using primary sources to prove her gender roles and expectations that were in involvement in the Rising. keeping with the era. In reality, women played a much more direct role in the Like Constance Markievicz and Eva revolution. Countess Constance Markievicz, Gore-Booth, the women who dominated the sister of Eva Gore-Booth, was an active Irish politics were usually highly educated, combatant in the Rising, and was only especially compared withtheir rural spared from execution because of her counterparts. Many of the women leading 14 gender. This prevented Markievicz from the charge on issues of suffrage and being remembered as one of the martyrs of independence were educated in the arts and the Rising, which would help to explain her humanities in Dublin, and as a result were absence in the national memory of the very likely well-versed in Irish literature. In Rising, if not for the popularity of Michael comparison, most Irish women were Collins and Éamon de Valera, who also relegated to domestic roles and lived in 17 avoided the firing squad. Like Collins and devoutly Catholic rural areas. Because of de Valera, Markievicz took an active role in these factors, the views of the prominent early state formation in Ireland, even Irish women of this time were not becoming the first woman elected to the necessarily representative of the majority of 15 British Parliament. While Markievicz is, Irish women. Instead, these were the views without a doubt, the most widely known of a small class of elites who had the ability woman of the Easter Rising, her memory to dedicate their time to political causes. has been overshadowed by the legacies of Regardless, these women fought for the the men she fought beside, and by rights of all Irish women and many joined in overly-critical analyses of her life and role with the nationalist cause, often hoping that in the Rising. One such work was Seán 16 Salis. 13 Marcus, Artistic Power, 123-124. 17 Margaret Ward, "'Suffrage First-Above all Else!' an ​ ​ ​ ​ 14 Loredana Salis, “The Duty and Pleasure of Account of the Irish Suffrage Movement". Feminist ​ Memory: Constance Markievicz”, Studi Irlandesi. A Review 0, no. 10 (Spring, 1982): 21. ​ ​ ​ ​ Journal of Irish Studies, No. 8 (June, 2018). https://search-proquest-com.libproxy.temple.edu/doc ​ 15 Salis. view/1300471635?accountid=14270.

independence would afford more leeway for years later, the Irish Women’s Franchise women’s rights issues. League was created, followed by Fianna Na 19 h-Eireann a year later. The organizations Women were active in the nationalist formed the early basis for the participation movement for decades before the Easter of women in the Easter Rising. As Rising, and played an important role in nationalist activity increased, James merging Irish literary movements with Connolly and James Larkin formed the Irish nationalism. Alice Milligan, an author, poet, Citizen Army in 1913. The Irish Citizen and Gaeilgeoir (Irish speaker), became a Army offered full equality to women, and prominent figure in the Irish literary world drew upon members, including women, at the turn of the century. She befriended from the Irish Transport and General Yeats, along with other writers of the Irish 20 Workers’ Union. These early groups literary revival. As editors of the nationalist encouraged women to be politically engaged literary publication The Northern Patriot, ​ ​ and work alongside men to further the cause and later The Shan Van Vocht, she and ​ ​ of Irish independence. Additionally, the writer Anna Johnson gave a voice to some groups attracted women who had already of the rising figures in the nationalist been engaged in the suffrage movement. movement, most notably James Connolly. These women could bring powerful Milligan and Johnson published Connolly’s organizing skills to the nationalist early socialist writings under the Irish movement. The results of women’s Socialist Republican Party. Milligan’s participation through separate organizations, upper-middle class Methodist roots afforded however, were usually not so evenly her the opportunity to create The Shan Van ​ balanced. Vocht and further the merging of Irish ​ 18 artistic society with the nationalist cause. It is worth further investigating In these ways, the nationalist movement was Maud Gonne’s relationship with the more inclusive of women than traditional revolution, and with nationalist works. society, however, female participation was Gonne, an heiress and member of the Irish still greatly limited within some nationalist aristocracy, seemingly developed deep organizations and circles. nationalist sympathies, or was at least very good at pretending she had. It was observed The Inghean A na h-Eireann that she used charm to gain the trust of (meaning the Daughters of Ireland) was nationalist men who were initially founded in 1900 by Maud Gonne and suspicious of the ethnically English heiress Helana Maloney, and was the predecessor to suddenly appearing in nationalist circles. As Cumann Na mBan. This occurred at the a result, Gonne was able to work her way same time as the circulation of the Bean na into what had until then been male-only h-Eireann, a pamphlet for women. Eight

19 Gore-Booth, 14. 18 Matthews, Renegades, 27-28. 20 Gore-Booth, 14-15. ​ ​

areas. Gonne’s sympathies were reflected in were relegated to the secondary role of her participation in organizing the centenary collecting funds and excluded from events commemorating the 1798 rebellion. It decision-making processes, despite the was during this period of event planning that centrality of equality to the movement. This Gonne and Yeats grew close and began a was in part caused by the unwillingness of 21 relationship. This close relationship the leadership of the Irish Volunteers to risk between Yeats and Gonne is somewhat alienating members by giving women a surprising, given Yeats’ hesitance toward more active role in the organization. radical nationalism and concerns over Because of these factors, despite being the maintaining his position in society. Yeats’ Cumann na mBan President, Constance relationship with Gonne lasted for several Markievicz focused much more effort on the years, however, and it was ultimately Gonne Citizen Army, which allowed the 23 who inspired Cathleen ni Houlihan, participation of women. Simultaneously, ​ according to Yeats. Trying to avoid the play many of the women in the organization being viewed as a work of nationalist agreed that women should take on a propaganda, Yeats let the public know that subsidiary role. At a 1914 Cumann na mBan the idea for the play came to him in a dream. meeting, member Alice Stopford Green The connections between Kathleen ni expressed a desire “that the women of Houlihan in the play and Gonne are obvious, Ireland would band themselves into a real and it was unsurprising that Gonne was cast body of volunteers,” but clarified this role, 22 in the lead role. Gonne’s relationship with by explaining that she meant for women to Yeats highlights the important ways in take on the task of collecting money for the 24 which these nationalist works were really Irish Volunteers. It was not until after the thinly veiled depictions of real events, which 1916 Easter Rising that Cumann Na mBan in retrospect hinted at the looming Easter gained a more active role in the Rising. independence movement. Even then, the sentiment was in response to the need for In the case of Cumann na mBan, the more fighters during the war for women’s branch of the armed independence 25 independence rather than a shift in values. movement, the highly gendered nature of These views on women’s participation were Irish society in the early twentieth century influenced by mainstream views of was replicated within the independence appropriate conduct by women, even though movement. In the years leading up to the these views undermined the goals of the revolution, the women of Cumann na mBan revolution.

21 Adrian Frazier, "Cathleen ni Houlihan, Yeats's ​ ​ Dream, and the Double Life of Maud Gonne", Sewanee Review 121, no. 2 (2013): 225-233, 23 Ward, “Irish Suffrage”. ​ ​ https://muse-jhu-edu.libproxy.temple.edu/article/506 24 Cal McCarthy, Cumann na mBan and the Irish ​ 240 (accessed December 7, 2018). Revolution (Cork: The Collins Press, 2007), 23. ​ 22 Frazier, “Yeats’ Dream”. 25 Ward, “Irish Suffrage”.

Even Markievicz grew tired of the earlier depiction of Kathleen ni Houlihan constant uphill battle to be recognized as an presents Ireland as a young, attractive equal in the revolution. Spared from woman, but still reinforces this lack of execution because of her gender, Markievicz agency. In her painting, Éire, Lady Glenavy ​ ​ aired some of her frustrations in letters sent depicts Kathleen ni Houlihan as a maternal from prison to her sister. She recalled, “It is figure, but again her presence is secondary such years since we served on committees to the main, male figure. Finally, in her together: not since we went out to force a poem “Roger Casement”, Eva Gore-Booth suffrage bill through Parliament. I have no constructs a rigid gender landscape, where a ambition to vote for an English Parliament, dominant male figure gives his life for the and don’t suppose I would use it,” and then virtue of Kathleen ni Houlihan. conjectured, “I think I am beginning to When juxtaposed with the actual believe in anarchy. Laws work out as 26 roles women played in the revolution and injustice, legalized by red tape.” the trials they faced because of their gender, Markievicz seemed to have grown tired of it is clear that these works were not an the barriers she faced in her activism, accurate reflection of the roles women took enough that she at least ruminated on the on during the revolutionary period. benefits of anarchy. These feelings were no Constance Markievicz took an active doubt inspired by the sexism she faced in the enough role in the combat surrounding the revolutionary movement, evidenced by her Rising to warrant her imprisonment. While discussion of her work as a suffragette, and she was spared the same fate as her male her difficulty asserting women’s rights in the counterparts, this wasonly because of republican movement. societal standards of the era. When The literature of the period compared to the passive roles artists surrounding the Easter Rising reflects the portrayed Kathleen ni Houlihan in, it is clear general attitudes of the era toward women’s that the popularity of these works is more role in the nationalist movement. Yeats and based in the popularity of romanticism and Gregory’s Cathleen ni Houlihan presents reflections of traditional gender roles than in ​ ​ femininity as being based in youth. historical accuracy. It is the unfortunate Additionally, the play presents a feminized nature of these works, mostly created by depiction of Ireland that has lost its purity. women, that they are reflective of the ideals The male figures in the play are tasked with of the time and projecting a simplified regaining Ireland’s purity, by giving their narrative of national history. As a result, lives in an act of violence. As such, the these works overshadow the stories of the figure of Kathleen ni Houlihan exhibits real women of the Rising, and steer the almost no agency over her own life, creating national narrative toward the stories of male a highly unbalanced power structure. Yeats’ participants.

26 Markievicz, Prison Letters, 174. ​ ​

The impacts of these artistic works have carried over into the popular narrative of the Easter Rising, which centers on the martyrs and male figures of the Rising while overlooking the stories of the women involved. These artistic works compose an important segment of Irish history by highlighting the importance of romantic art to the national narrative. At the same time, they need to exist alongside a greater awareness of the contributions real women made to the revolution. Unless these two stories can exist in the national consciousness simultaneously, an important aspect of the story of Irish revolution will continue to be overlooked.

REFERENCES

Elvery, Beatrice. Éire, 1907. Pearse .edu/docview/1300471635?accountid=1427 ​ Museum, Dublin. 0. ​ ​ http://pearsemuseum.ie/online-tour/tour-of-t he-house/ and Yeats, William Butler and Lady Augusta ​ Gregory. Cathleen ni Houlihan in http://www.askaboutireland.ie/learning-zone ​ ​ /secondary-students/art/art-in-ireland/theme Collaborative One-Act Plays, 1901-1903. s-in-irish-art/. Accessed December 3, 2018. Ed. James Pethica. Ithaca: Cornell ​ ​ University Press, 2006. Frazier, Adrian. "Cathleen ni Houlihan, ​ ​ Yeats's Dream, and the Double Life of Maud Gonne". Sewanee Review 121, no. 2 ​ ​ (2013): 225-233. https://muse-jhu-edu.libproxy.temple.edu/art icle/506240 (accessed December 7, 2018).

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Matthews, Ann. Renegades: Irish ​ Republican Women 1900-1922. Cork, ​ Ireland: Mercier Press, 2010.

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Ward, Margaret. "'Suffrage First-Above all Else!' an Account of the Irish Suffrage Movement". Feminist Review 0, no. 10 ​ ​ (Spring, 1982): 21. https://search-proquest-com.libproxy.temple