The Ritualization Of W.B.Yeats’s On Baile’s Strand

William Butler Yeats is not only one of the greatest English poets of the twentieth century but also an outstanding playwright whose theatrical practice has a far-reaching influence.As the first of the five Cuchulain plays,On Baile’s Strand is a vital play created during Yeats’s dramatic experimentation.Different from most playwrights of his time,Yeats in this play combines various ritual elements to create a kind of“ritual drama”so as to evoke the intellectual excitement.The apparent studies on Yeats’s ritual drama mainly focus on his Noh-inspired works which were written after 1913.There have been few in-depth explorations over the ritualization of his specific plays written before 1913,which generates the topic of this study.The theatrical aesthetics of Yeats himself and the ritual theory of the famous contemporary American anthropologist Catherine Bell provide a theoretical framework for this research.Deeply influenced by esoteric rituals,Yeats firmly believes that magic can reveal the inherent memory of symbols and incidents and connect individuals with the“great memory”.He argues that drama and ritual are similar and regards his drama as mysterious ritual.Consequently,he emphasizes the communication between actors and audiences,and attempts to open the audience’s mind’s eye in the vision created by telepathy and the inherent energy of dramatic symbols.Yeats hopes in this way there will be a spiritual upgrading.Catherine Bell proposes three attributes of ritual-like activities:Firstly,derived from the sacrifice rite and natural worship,rituals are often highly symbolic.Secondly,with stylized actions,performance is key to what makes rituals.Thirdly,containing“collective unconscious”,most rituals appeal to tradition.Integrated organically,the three attributes supplement each other,and together with Yeats’s dramatic theory they construct the theoretical cornerstone of this research.The main body of this thesis is composed of three parts.The first chapter discusses Yeats’s ritualization of the characters in this play.With the help of the esoteric symbols such as the Tarot card and the Four Elements,and following the balance principle of occultism,Yeats shapes highly symbolized characters and makes impersonal masks for them.Also,the actions performed in the oath rite are rather symbolic and mysterious,becoming a medium dance that connects humans with supernatural forces.Cuchulain’s passionate fighting with the sea also turns into stylized body movements embodied with ritual characteristics.The second chapter focuses on the language.The interaction between the temporal and spiritual world is manifested in the integration of verse and prose.Cuchulain’s mixed use of verse and prose reveals the character’s intense emotion and has a strong appeal to the audience.In addition,with the change of voice,the songs and the scene cooperate with each other to create a hypnotic effect on both characters and audiences,making the audience feel the strong emotion and step into the subconscious field.Chapter Three discusses the ritualization of the structure.As the well of the collective subconscious,primitive rites are directly related to the“great memory”.The play takes the ritual of the Vegetation God as archetype,and applies the life-death-rebirth model—Cuchulain’s son functions as the“temporal king”whose death leads to Cuchulain’s spiritual resurrection in the sea.Moreover,Yeats follows the ritual form in ancient Greek tragedy—Agon,Pathos,Messenger,Threnos,and Theophany all can be found in this play,which further manifests its traditionalism and ritualism.Through the ritualization of characters,language and structure,Yeats has integrated performance,symbolism and traditionalism in On Baile’s Strand revealing his view of drama as a ritual performance.Yeats’s pursuit of ritual drama on the one hand reflects the influence of the esoteric ritual on his theatrical practice,and on the other hand,it shows Yeats’s unique cultural nationalism.After the failure of Home Rule in the late19^thcentury,Yeats lost faith in political movements,and he therefore tried to stimulate the imagination of the Irish people through ritual drama and help them communicate with the“great mind”and re-experience the pure belief of ancient times,thus restoring the noble national spirit.