Cathleen ni Houlihan is a mythological female figure who represents Irish nationalism in literature and art. In the play Cathleen ni Houlihan written by William Butler Yeats and Lady August Gregory, she is personified as an old, suffering woman, representing Ireland’s oppression by the English. Cathleen and the martyred Saint Joan of Arc, as represented in George Bernard Shaw’s play Saint Joan, share strong similarities. Significantly, Maud Gonne, the original Irish actress chosen to portray Cathleen on stage, has been heralded by scholars and historians as “Ireland’s Joan of Arc” (McCormack) for her nationalistic political efforts. Although Shaw’s Saint Joan and Yeats and Gregory’s Cathleen ni Houlihan come from different eras and exhibit contrasting personalities, they are both female figureheads who represent
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However, in Yeats and Gregory’s play, she serves as a different kind of female figure, “She is a lady in distress, not a superior creature who condescends to favor mortals, as she was in the medieval allegorical tales. She is sorrowful and in need” (Clark, 33).
Joan of Arc’s bravery and religious martyrdom led to her eventual sainthood, and she remains one of the most honored and beloved saints for many French Protestants, serving as an eternal symbol of courage and strength. Saint Joan’s historical rise to religious and political symbolism came from numerous prophecies of 1400s France which “promised the rise of a virgin savior, and these were greedily received by the literate and illiterate alike” (Warner, 24).
Female icons are worshipped throughout various religions and cultures because they are something to honor and protect in a way that men are not. They become symbols of nationalism, patriotism, hope, and
However, in Yeats and Gregory’s play, she serves as a different kind of female figure, “She is a lady in distress, not a superior creature who condescends to favor mortals, as she was in the medieval allegorical tales. She is sorrowful and in need” (Clark, 33).
Joan of Arc’s bravery and religious martyrdom led to her eventual sainthood, and she remains one of the most honored and beloved saints for many French Protestants, serving as an eternal symbol of courage and strength. Saint Joan’s historical rise to religious and political symbolism came from numerous prophecies of 1400s France which “promised the rise of a virgin savior, and these were greedily received by the literate and illiterate alike” (Warner, 24).
Female icons are worshipped throughout various religions and cultures because they are something to honor and protect in a way that men are not. They become symbols of nationalism, patriotism, hope, and