Universität Trier, Anglistik, Literaturwissenschaft
Hauptseminar: Sean O’Casey
Wintersemester 2004/2005

False heroism in Sean O′Casey′s "The Shadow of a Gunman"

by: Kristina Müller

1. Heroism and the Irish in times of trouble

1.1. The historical background
1.2. Definition(s) of heroism

2. The Shadow of a Gunman: about poltroons and shadow gunmen

2.1. The male characters

2.1.1. Donal Davoren
2.1.2. Seumas Shields
2.1.3. Mr Maguire
2.1.4. Others

2.2. The female characters

2.2.1. Minnie Powell
2.2.2. Others

3. Conclusion

4. Bibliography

1. Heroism and the Irish in times of trouble

1.1. The historical background¹

“The Shadow or a Gunman“ was written in 1922 and first performed in 1923 when the Irish civil war that concluded the Anglo-Irish War was still raging between the Irregulars and Sinn Féin (“we ourselves”). The “Shadow” was performed in the Abbey Theatre, the only theatre that was still open, in the middle of April 1923. It was performed near the end of the theatre season to make sure that the Abbey would not lose much money if it flopped (Murray 44). But it did not, in fact it became one of the most popular Irish anti-war plays in the 1920s.

“The Shadow of a Gunman” was O’Casey’s first play to be accepted by the Abbey. His earlier attempts to find the balance in his art between politics and entertainment failed (like “The Harvest Festival”) (Murray 5), but with the “Shadow” he finally managed to write “a mixture of comedy and political commentary” (Murray 5) or “A tragedy in two acts” as he called it himself.

After the Easter Rising of 1916 when some “Volunteers” and members of the “Irish Citizen Army” tried to rise an armed rebellion against the British forces, a guerrilla war began in 1917 between the Irish Republican Army, a successor of the banned nationalist movements, and the “Black and Tans”, British special force troops sent to support the Royal Irish Constabulary that consisted mainly of veterans of Worl d War I. The “Black and Tans” got their name from their famous black and khaki uniform. Until July 11th 1921 both parties fought each other in armed attacks. The British sent more and more soldiers (overall several tens of thousands were sent) until the Irish gave up when the activists ran out of weapons and people. The “Shadow of a Gunman” is set in May 1920, the climax of the terror which consisted of house raids, street fights, attacks, curfews and many other actions that made life in Ireland difficu lt and bloody. The fighters had to hide and to move constantly. They were “on the run” so nobody of British could find them.

The Anglo-Irish war ended in July 1921, just 2 years before O’Casey’s debutante play was first performed in the Abbey. In the days of “The Terror”, as the Anglo-Irish War is also called, from 1919 until 1921, the separatist movement “Sinn Féin” proclaimed the constitution of the first Irish Parliament (January 1919) in Dublin which lasted for 10 days. After an attack on a police convoy in Tipperary in which two policemen were killed, “An tOglach” published an article which declared war on Britain. Every Irish Volunteer was told to treat armed British as invaders. So the Anglo-Irish war started.

1.2. Definition(s) of heroism

The hero of a play is usually a character that embodies heroic deeds and virtues through brave actions in an exemplary manner and arouses admiration. In antique literature the hero is often a half-god and brings culture to the people. Later on, until the 18th century, the literary hero had to be of noble blood but during the bourgeois times the hero changes from a noble character to an ordinary fallible character. Finally the term hero becomes a generic concept which one still uses today to describe the main character of a drama or an epic poem without consideration of social status, gender or special character trades. A consequence of this is that characters that are unheroic, passive and problematic, so-call anti-heroes or negative heroes, are today called heroes when they are the main character of a play. Especially in modern literature, with the exception of light novels and socialist realism, heroes are often described as sufferers or victims who replace the glorious hero of the old days. (Wilpert 332f)

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1 See Connolly, S.J. (ed.): Companion to Irish History. Oxford 2004, and Elvert, J.: Geschichte Irlands. München 1993.