The Representation of Women in Katie Roche and Kathleen Ni Houlihan
‘There can be no free nation without free women’ (Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington)
Discuss the representation of women in two plays on your course in relation to this statement. Women are represented in a poor manner in Katie Roche and Kathleen Ni Houlihan. Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington states, “There can be no free nation without free women”. (Kiberd) This statement is true and it also has a relation to the two Irish plays Katie Roche and Kathleen Ni Houlihan. There has been a period of male domination from the 1916 rising to the 1930’s in Ireland, this is evident through the two plays. Both plays have similar themes and relatable characters. Kathleen Ni Houlihan was written by Lady …show more content…
Both their combinations worked well together for this play. Yeats wrote, "Lady Gregory helped me ... in every play of mine where there is dialect, and sometimes where there is not." (Gregory). This play is centred on Ireland’s fight for independence, and ironically, Irish women were looking for their independence. Femininity is not a good trait to have in this era of Irish play writing. Femininity is passive, a definite weakness and needs to be controlled by a strong and rational male figure. These ideologies are the main reasons why women are represented in such a poor way. Furthermore, Ireland is used as a subject to these feminine labels that are brought up in this society. Maud Gonne is personified as ‘Mother Ireland’ in this play, while Kathleen Ni Houlihan is an image of nationalism in Ireland. There is a poor depiction of women in this play from the beginning. Firstly women are treated as objects instead of subjects. Delia, who is about to marry Michael is treated as an object rather than a subject. She is being used in exchange for financial benefit for the Gillane family to keep them stable. Women in this case are being used for a dowry which is ‘an amount of property or money brought by a bride to her husband on their marriage’. (Oxforddictionaries.com). This is an extremely poor way in which women are represented, women should be respected and be allowed to marry a husband of their choice. Additionally, this was quite common in 1798 Ireland. Delia is not a free women, as Michael’s parents are only interested in receiving the fee of the dowry to help them work on their land. There is also the depiction of the dominant male figure willing to fight for their country, just like Michael has done. Here this illustrates how Michael puts his marriage on hold in order to fight for his country. There is a lack of respect shown towards his wife to
‘There can be no free nation without free women’ (Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington)
Discuss the representation of women in two plays on your course in relation to this statement. Women are represented in a poor manner in Katie Roche and Kathleen Ni Houlihan. Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington states, “There can be no free nation without free women”. (Kiberd) This statement is true and it also has a relation to the two Irish plays Katie Roche and Kathleen Ni Houlihan. There has been a period of male domination from the 1916 rising to the 1930’s in Ireland, this is evident through the two plays. Both plays have similar themes and relatable characters. Kathleen Ni Houlihan was written by Lady …show more content…
Both their combinations worked well together for this play. Yeats wrote, "Lady Gregory helped me ... in every play of mine where there is dialect, and sometimes where there is not." (Gregory). This play is centred on Ireland’s fight for independence, and ironically, Irish women were looking for their independence. Femininity is not a good trait to have in this era of Irish play writing. Femininity is passive, a definite weakness and needs to be controlled by a strong and rational male figure. These ideologies are the main reasons why women are represented in such a poor way. Furthermore, Ireland is used as a subject to these feminine labels that are brought up in this society. Maud Gonne is personified as ‘Mother Ireland’ in this play, while Kathleen Ni Houlihan is an image of nationalism in Ireland. There is a poor depiction of women in this play from the beginning. Firstly women are treated as objects instead of subjects. Delia, who is about to marry Michael is treated as an object rather than a subject. She is being used in exchange for financial benefit for the Gillane family to keep them stable. Women in this case are being used for a dowry which is ‘an amount of property or money brought by a bride to her husband on their marriage’. (Oxforddictionaries.com). This is an extremely poor way in which women are represented, women should be respected and be allowed to marry a husband of their choice. Additionally, this was quite common in 1798 Ireland. Delia is not a free women, as Michael’s parents are only interested in receiving the fee of the dowry to help them work on their land. There is also the depiction of the dominant male figure willing to fight for their country, just like Michael has done. Here this illustrates how Michael puts his marriage on hold in order to fight for his country. There is a lack of respect shown towards his wife to