Response to Cathleen ni Houlihan (1902), Purgatory (1938), by W.B. Yeats, and Spreading the News (1904), by Lady Gregory

  On Cathleen ni Houlihan

The Primitive Passion

1) On Cathleen ni Houlihan

謝昇佑

     “To symbolize rather than to represent life,” said W. B. Yeats. This idea of writing can easily be perceived in the play Cathleen ni Houlihan, especially the end of the play presents a magical and dramatic change of the old woman from a crone to a young girl with the walk of a queen. This serves similarly to Oscar Wilde's short story “The Young King,” in which the end presents a gift given by God like a miracle. However, Yeats and Wilde, having their aesthetic idea in mind, coincides their writing techniques in these texts. In this short essay I want to focus on the comparison of the magic and miracle in the two texts.

     Both Cathleen ni Houlihan and “The Young King” give a lesson and light a way for readers or audience to know right and wrong. Cathleen ni Houlihan, a highly political and rather avant-garde play, raises the question of English colonialism that people should obtain their Irish nationality instead of being exploited. The woman symbolizing Ireland contrasts to Bridget and Delia who represent domestic business. Therefore the dichotomy of these women gives the protagonist Michael a chance to choose between devoting his body to Irish nationality or staying at home to be married.

     On the other hand, “The Young King” as a sarcastic story targets the lavish and luxurious enjoyment of aristocracy. The story begins with a young king indulges himself in rare and costly materials, which cost enormous labors to procure. Moreover, he wants a well-made crown, a robe and a scepter on the day of coronation. At that night three dreams come to him, showing his people and slaves suffering painfully, for they have to work extremely hard to gain what the young king wants. The next morning the people feel shocked when the young king tells them that he does not want the well-made clothes and scepter for his coronation anymore. They feel a king should wear gorgeously to be like a king, as every king does. After debate, they decide to execute him if the young king, refusing to wear the luxurious clothes, is not worthy being their king. At this point the young king faces the choice between feeling people suffering from procuring materials or making them march a riot of execution.

     However, both texts provide an “oracle” to substantiate the idea of their choice. In Cathleen ni Houlihan, after Michael runs out of the door, leaving Delia in the house, Patrick does not see the old woman anymore, but only a young girl, who “had the walk of a queen. (11)” The rejuvenation of the old woman symbolizes the revival of Irish pursuit of its nationality. The queen, rather than being political, represents elegance and respectfulness, which people should adore and follow. This powerful symbol, as F. S.L Lyons describes, is that Yeats wants his play containing an “aesthetic judgment,” which “should be important even to those who are not especially interested in the Theatre… (62)” The magical change of the old woman is not only exhortatory but aesthetic, justifying Michael's choice of righteousness.

     The same aesthetic beauty can be perceived at the end of “The Young King.” When the young king chooses to wear peasant clothes for his coronation, people riot, and rush toward the church when the king is praying inside. When praying, a miracle makes the sun weave a tissued robe for him, which is “fairer than the robe that had been fashioned for [the young king's] pleasure. (233)” Then people break through the door, but kneel down after they see the king, not daring to see his face, for “it was like the face of an angel. (233)” The justification of the young king's choice to be plain is given by a miracle. In addition, the symbol of an angel also substantiates the image of respectfulness, kind, and elegance, which is highly similar to the queen in Cathleen ni Houlihan.

     The young king at last is respected and adored by people who kneel down in front of him while the queen is followed by the people who want to devote their life to nationality. The similarity of writing technique Yeats and Wilde use shows the similarity of their idea of aesthetic beauty they want to convey in the texts, on different purpose. However, do Yeats and Wilde share the same background of aesthetic beauty? Since they are both Irish, does this type of aesthetic beauty conveyed by this writing technique relate to any Irish quality?

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2) The Primitive Passion: Love, Violence, and Patriotism in Cathleen Ni Houlihan, Purgatory, and Spreading the News

潘建維

     To correlate the three plays with merely a unitary theme would be a hard work; however, even performed with different thematic approaches, these three plays indeed can be correlated with a higher and an even abstract thinking: that is, there is what I call “the primitive passion” in interpreting the three plays. In the three plays, the different focuses, from love, violence, to the doomed patriotism, proceed in sequence, sometimes jump up without reason, and are sometime foolishly blurred by conscious manipulation because of the emphasis of pure patriotism. However, it is passion that forces these characters to transcend their limitation and to break the seemly boundaries when they have to deal with all kinds of difficulties; it is also passion for which these people recklessly pursue their ideal goals without thinking any consequence. However, what I call “the primitive passion” is indeed referring to the bloody cruelty that these people have in pursuing their dreams. Such passion is primitive because it is free from rules and is always unethical.

     If people have to love their country in the cause of abandoning their family members, they turn their love to the country into the violence to the family. For example, in “Cathleen Ni Houlihan,” Michael leaves his family members and also his bride to join the French for nothing but his love for his country, exemplified in the form of Cathleen. If patriotism can glorify Michael eternally, will the guilt of abandoning his family members torture him relentlessly? However, according to Yeats, patriotism transcends everything; therefore, Cathleen says,

They shall be remembered for ever,
They shall be alive for ever,
They shall be speaking for ever,
The people shall hear them for ever (10).

     Speaking of the effect of National theatres, Michael and other male audience should alter their original life goals to join the military services. Hence, it turns out to be reasonable for Cathleen to convince the young Irish men that they should love their country and join the army immediately.

     If that Michael abandons his family members is cruel, then that the Old Man kills his heir is almost monstrous and unethical. It is people's nature to love and to adorn their heirs, but for the Boy and the Old Man such nature is replaced by their miscommunication. Moreover, the Old Man in “Purgatory” kills his son in the end of the play in order to stop the regeneration of the polluted blood for his mother, which is connotative to the polluted Ireland. To justify himself, the Old Man says,

I killed that lad because had he grown up
He would have stuck a woman's fancy,
Begot, and passed pollution on.
I am a wretched foul old man
And therefore harmless. When I have stuck
This old jack-knife into a sod
And pulled it out all bright again,
And picked up all the money that he dropped,
I'll to a distance place, and there
Tell my old jokes among new men (34).

The Old Man's bloody deeds culminate my notion of primitive passion, which often is related to bloody killings. It seems that the playwright implicates that devastating act is indeed proper to solve the political problem currently. Therefore, the Old Man's love for his country outweighs his moral concerns, and he turns his love to his country into the violence to his son just for his patriotism in the end.

     If “Cathleen Ni Houlihan” and “Purgatory” show my notion of primitive passion ostensibly, “Spreading the News” then show another totally different aspect that people blindly spread the false news out of foolish passion. The hearsay that Bartley kills John Smith can be peeled into different layers. In the outer layer, peasants like Tim Casey and James Ryan can only see truth from the surface level. And then, Mrs. Tully and Mrs. Fallon use their sense to analyze the ridiculous crime, but they still have to believe such crime because of the public sayings. In the layer near the core, John Smith and Bartley Fallon are convinced after hearing the repetitive rumors; therefore, Bartley confesses that he kills John Smith out of his affection towards John Smith's wife, and John smith himself wants to kills Bartley without confirming such saying. However, in the core of the play, it is the magistrate who decides and determines justice, and obviously that the magistrate sentences both two innocent people into jail is not out of justice but is out of what I call the primitive passion, which in this case symbolizes the British control, shackling Ireland eternally. Isn't the Magistrate love to his country turns into the violence on the peasants in Ireland?

     There is a fine line between love and hate; therefore, it is violence that transgresses the line between love and hate tantalizingly. However, such deed is indeed manipulated by the blind patriotism which triggers the primitive passion. In the three plays, patriotism is polymorphous but also is conducted by exceeding prices, and each individual's love finally becomes violence to other people.

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