Research On Female Images In Irish Renaissance Drama

Ireland,as an island country with an area of only eighty thousand square kilometers and a population of about four million,is even smaller than many states in the United States.However,Ireland has produced many excellent poets,writers and playwrights such as: W.B.Yeats,J.Singh,Lady Gregory,S.O’Casey,J.Joyce,G.B.Shaw,O.Wilde and so on,especially in the Irish Renaissance.Works of these artists became classics worldwide,and the theater in this period of time could be deemed to represent the highest achievements in the field of Irish literature.The author would put importance on the scripts of four most important play writers in the Irish Renaissance.They are Yeats,Lady Gregory,Singh and O’Casey.By researching the Irish Renaissance background,the author would analysis the representative female images in their scripts and would sum up the unique styles and overall particularities of the female characters in the Irish Renaissance,to show the unique history,cultural heritage and social value of Irish Theater during this period of time.The first part mainly emphasizes on the twisted cultural and historical background between the United Kingdom and the Ireland.The second,third,fourth and fifth parts respectively discuss the female images in the masterpieces of these playwrights.Four different styles of playwrights created a variety of different types of female images: Yeats are good at finding themes for his poems from the myths and legends.Many women in his works own the particularities of the prototype characters.Although the female characters in Lady Gregory’s play are mostly lack of rational thinking,but there is a small part of them full of the spirit of independence.They played a decisive role in the plot of the play.This faintly reveals the feminist tendencies of Lady Gregory.Singh’s works have a color of symbolism.He created both traditional women and those individuals with a strong spirit of rebellion who challenged tradition.O’Casey created characters which are more realistic than other playwrights in the same period.O’Casey is more focused on the portrait of female characters and he praised those with a strong will who suffered in the Irish Renaissance.Although different writers of this period have different means of shaping female characters,their works express similar themes: They advocated the return and recovery of Irish traditional culture to awake the Irish with ‘Nationality’,to strengthen national identity,to establish their own national identity,finally to resist the British colonial culture.With these female images,we can find out the general state of the national identity shaping by the entire Irish writers group in this period of time.The study of female image is only a tributary of the study of Irish theater,but with this we could give a glimpse of the theater of the Irish Renaissance,and then to achieve a deep understanding of the Irish theater movements and their influence during the Irish Renaissance.