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The Plough and The Stars

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Act Summaries

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Summary Act IV starts off in the living room of Bessie Burgess apartment a few days after Easter Monday. The Covey and Fluther and Peter are taking cover in Bessie’s living room from the firing outside. Bessie insists that the boys stay quiet because Nora Clithroe is asleep recovering with chloroform from the miscarriage in the other room. Captain Brenna enters with a message for Nora that her husband was killed. In the background gun shots and riots can be heard from the streets. Nora wakes up from the noise and enters the living room and begins to call for her husband and questions why she cannot be with him. Nora keeps calling for her husband and baby. Corporal Stoddart enters the room they all drop to the ground and act as if nothing happening. Mrs. Gogan now enters the room, both Fluther and Bessie say their condolences because her daughter Mollser passed away and is now in the coffin on the kitchen chairs. Everyone helps to take out the coffin, while Bessie falls asleep in the armchair. Everyone re-enters the room and Corporal Stoddart informs the men that they’ll be rounded up. Sergeant Tinley arrives, and the men leave. While Bessie is asleep Nora wakes and enters the living room and begins to prep the house for Jacks arrival, not knowing exactly where she is, she feels confused but continues anyways. The bullets and the chants can be heard again from outside and Nora immediately runs to the window, opens it and cries out for her husband. Bessie awakens, and she rushes over pull Nora away because it’s dangerous to be by the window. Bessie finally pulls her from the window and pushes her away, Bessie falls back onto the window. Stuck there in awe of getting Nora away Bessie gets shot twice. Nora continues to call for her husband while Bessie tries to get help. Mrs. Gogan enters the room and immediately rushes over to Nora thinking there is something wrong with her. When she asks Nora what’s wrong and doesn’t receive an answer, she notices Bessie lying shot on the floor, she goes to her side and tries to wake her. Sergeant Tinley and Corporal Stoddart arrive with their guns out ready for action, thinking they’ve found the sniper. Corporal Stoddart and Sergeant Tinley stay with the body and notice the tea that was being prepared. They take a seat with their tea and both join in signing with the crowds that can be heard in the street.

Themes Through Characterization

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For O’Casey to create his plays he wanted to base them from real events, but “O’Casey refused to be swept away by their Nationalistic enthusiasm of the Risings leaders. His sympathy remained steadfastly with the slum dwellers of Dublin, whose sufferings were not to be cured by getting rid of the English”[1] This is where O’Casey set himself apart from other playwrights of his time. “O’Casey’s plays are not plot driven, but character driven.”[2] He didn’t want the actions of a single theme of a hero to ruin the main goal of his play. He wanted “his characters to exist to show something rather than do something.”[3] O’Casey allows the readers to understand the characters and attempt to connect with them to the bone because he wants you to “see their helplessness”[3]It is often seen as a “pacifistic.”[4]

-Rosie Redmond: a woman who is portrayed as a prostitute, but past that is “a defenceless woman who is dependant on mean and who the rising will not gain anything for her.”[3]

-Peter Flynn: an add on character who “will settle into a performance of the invented role rather than actually do anything which changes the situation.”[3]

-Mrs. Gogan: a woman who is intrigued in everyone business and of death of other people but is “ignorant”[5] when her daughter Mollser is in the stages of passing of consumption.

-Captain Brennan: a man who is staged in the play to show the exaggeration of a man’s death in battle. To portray that a war is never what someone really tells us.

-The Covey: another character “exaggerated for amusement”[5]to fill the play.

-Jack Clithroe: is seen as a man with no happy ending, the feelings of suffering are shown through Jack.

-Nora Clithroe: shown as two completely different people; “on one hand she is ambitious, a woman with drive and energy, to get out of her tenements” and on the other hand “Nora is portrayed as “hysterical and to become excessive in her feelings against the rising.”[6]

-Bessie Burges: A “loyalist, Protestant unionist”[6]widow “in a predominantly Roman Catholic and separatist community.”[6]though the husband was never mentioned, “her son fighting the Germans in Flanders and about to return home with a shattered arm.”[7]

In conclusion he wanted to “theme his characters as a group”[8] and by doing his he was able to make the play “realistic”[7] “The ambivalences and contradictions O’Casey introduces into his characterisation in The Plough provides just the sort of distancing which allows the reader/spectator to see the play critically.”[9]

Later Criticism

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The Plough and The Stars was criticized immediately upon its release causing riots and havoc in the streets of Ireland. Many deemed the play as “lacking”[10] such as Brigid O’Higgins did in 1926. The telling’s of The Easter Rising were in good vain but not portrayed in the way which the people wanted it to be heard. O’Casey stuck to the telling’s of one side of the rising. He “has missed the soul of the insurrection a simple people’s sublime act of faith in themselves and in their right to nationhood. There was a courage and a quality about it, which left him untouched.”[11] While on the other hand Gabriel Fallon only criticism was for a scene which was cut out, as if would’ve made the play too long. “It was a scene in which a Catholic priest tried to cajole two male characters into attending the Mission which was being help at a neighbouring church.”[12] But even throughout all the different sides of criticism O’Casey’s main argument for The Easter Rising was that “we should have won freedom by degrees with them.”[13] Implying that a violent revolution was not needed, even though O’Casey did not take part in the actual Rising. He deemed his common sense as his arguments in consequence of the play. Criticism came in all form; “producers and players”[14] imposed that “parts must be rewritten”[14] but O’Casey knew that his portrayal of the Rising was one that tells it best.  

Changes/Adaptations

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Changes that I would make to "The Plough and the Stars" Wikipedia page would be to add a longer plot of the play. In order to focus more on what the play is telling us than listening all the characters. I would also eliminate some of the minor characters that do not need to be listed in the play. Add a section just on Seán O'Casey and his early life. So that the readers can understand where this play was writing from.

Also check with the Talk page and figure out other peoples opinions.

Article Review

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"The Plough and the Stars"[15] article assessment.

Content
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  • The content of the play is somewhat lacking, in the sense that it’s the bare minimum that’s presented. The plot itself is non-existent, one should be added into any future upgrade of the page. For the readers/viewers to be able to understand what they about to read and to be able to understand the everyday life of people living in Dublin at this time. It’s easy to envision the play in your head, but very briefly because the author of this Wikipedia page is focusing more on listing the characters than detailing the play itself. The character list is astonishing and should not be changed at all, maybe perhaps remove the characters that aren't a necessity to the play.
Tone/Viewpoint/Biases
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  • The writing of the play is as neutral as neutral can be, the author seems to quickly explain the play and that's it. The same circumstances apply to the authors viewpoint.
  • In the section dedicated to "reactions" the author inserts a quote from Y.B.Yeats insulting the play. This could be viewed as a negative comment to the play that maybe the author agrees to, or just an insert to someone else's opinion back in the day. To make this comment neutral other references should be made to other people's opinion of the play during this time.
Sources
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  • For this article there are only a total of five sources and none of them being academic. The first link takes you to a universal teacher organization, but the page doesn’t open at all, meaning you cannot retrieve any information from that source.
  • The second link takes you to a Communist new paper, this source being completely bias to the topic.
  • The final three sources from “The Times, BBC and American composers are all referencing the adaptations and not the play itself.
Talk page/Rate
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  • There is not much listed on the talk page regarding this article except for two comments. One of them being that someone has removed a section of the article because it was mentioning a section from the movie and not the play itself. The second one being a remark from someone questioning if a quote was said or no. Other than that's the article is listed as a “Start-class” and “mid-importance”[16] meaning that more work is needed to be done in order for the article to be taken seriously.

Relevance to the course

  • This article is very relevant to the topic because the play was enacted at the Abbey Theater in Ireland

[17]

  1. ^ Malone, Maureen (1969). The Plays of Sean O'Casey. Carbondale and Edwardsville: SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY PRESS. p. 6.
  2. ^ Murray, Christopher (2000). Faber Critical Guides. London New York: Faber and Faber Limited. p. 103. ISBN 0-571-19780-9.
  3. ^ a b c d Murray, Christopher (2000). Faber Critical Guides. London New York: Faber and Faber Limited. p. 104. ISBN 0-571-19780-9.
  4. ^ Murray, Christopher (2000). Faber Critical Guides. London New York: Faber and Faber Limited. p. 107. ISBN 0-571-19780-9.
  5. ^ a b Murray, Christopher (2000). Faber Critical Guide. London New York: Faber and Faber Limited. p. 105. ISBN 0-571-19780-9.
  6. ^ a b c Murray, Christopher (2000). Faber Critical Guide. London New York: Faber and Faber Limited. p. 109. ISBN 0-571-19780-9.
  7. ^ a b Murray, Christopher (2000). Faber Critical Guides. London New York: Faber and Faber Limited. p. 112. ISBN 0-571-19780-9.
  8. ^ Murray, Christopher (2000). Faber Critical Guides. London New York: Faber and faber Limited. p. 111. ISBN 0-571-19780-9.
  9. ^ Murray, Christopher (2000). Faber Critical Guides. London New York: Faber and Faber Limited. p. 113. ISBN 0-571-19780-9.
  10. ^ Ayling, Ronald (1985). The Dublin Trilogy. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London: MACMILLAN PUBLISHERS LTD. p. 142. ISBN 0-333-27964-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  11. ^ Ayling, Ronald (1985). The Dublin Trilogy. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London: MACMILLAN PUBLISHERS LTD. p. 143. ISBN 0-333-27964-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  12. ^ Ayling, Ronald (1985). The Dublin Trilogy. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London: MACMILLAN PUBLISHERS LTD. p. 133. ISBN 0-333-27964-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  13. ^ Ayling, Ronald (1985). The Dublin Trilogy. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London: MACMILLAN PUBLISHERS LTD. p. 135. ISBN 0-333-27964-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  14. ^ a b Ayling, Ronald (1985). The Dublin Trilogy. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London: MACMILLAN PUBLISHERS LTD. p. 137. ISBN 0-333-27964-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  15. ^ "The Plough and the Stars", Wikipedia, 2018-02-09, retrieved 2018-09-20
  16. ^ "Talk:The Plough and the Stars", Wikipedia, 2018-09-18, retrieved 2018-09-20
  17. ^ "The Plough and the Stars", Wikipedia, 2018-02-09, retrieved 2018-09-18
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