J. M. Synge and Gender: Vigorous Female Characters against Traditional Concepts of Womanhood

• Thesis title in Czech: J. M. Synge a Gender: Rázné ženské postavy proti tradičním představám o ženství
• Thesis title in English: J. M. Synge and Gender: Vigorous Female Characters against Traditional Concepts of Womanhood
• Key words: Synge, gender, stereotyp, Irsko, irské ženy, nacionalismus, katolictví
• English key words: Synge, gender, stereotype, Ireland, Irish women, nationalism, Catholicism
• Academic year of topic announcement: 2013/2014
• Thesis type: diploma thesis
• Thesis language: angličtina
• Department: Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures (21-UALK)
• Supervisor: Mgr. Radvan Markus, Ph.D.
• Author: hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept.
• Date of registration: 15.09.2014
• Date of assignment: 22.09.2014
• Administrator's approval: not processed yet
• Confirmed by Study dept. on: 01.10.2014
• Submitted/finalized: no

Guidelines

John Millington Synge, a significant figure of the Irish Literary Revival, is known for his deep interest in rural Ireland. Having spent a few summers on the Aran Islands, this area became a great source of inspiration for most of his plays in spite of the fact that they are usually set in other areas. Although close reading of Synge’s The Aran Islands reveals his depiction of the specific, “wild” life-style of the islanders too idealized, it is interesting how huge impact this environment had on his work. However, most of his plays, despite being often based on stories heard on the islands, are far from this kind of idealization. This contributed to the vitriolic reaction of critics such as Arthur Griffith, the editor of the nationalist newspaper United Irishman (and the founder of Sinn Féin), as well as the notorious riots during the performances of The Playboy of the Western World. There are several reasons why the nationalist audience was not satisfied with Synge’s dramatic work. In most of his plays, there is a possibility to find a number of cases where what is happening on the stage does not fit into the traditional view of Ireland, Irish life, Irish Catholicism, and significantly, Irish womanhood.
In her essay “Synge and Gender”, Susan C. Harris describes two stereotypical views of the Irish woman. The first is the idealized symbol of Ireland closely related to the second concept of the Irish woman as a devoted mother, obedient wife and homemaker faithful to her Irish man, Irish tradition and Ireland in general. My thesis will deal with the theme of gender in Synge´s work with the main focus on how his female characters violate the role models offered by the dominant discourses of the time, such as nationalism and Catholicism. First of all I would like to discuss the problem in a cultural-historical perspective, mentioning key period facts related to gender and ideal womanhood. The analysis will necessarily touch upon the development of the female symbol of Ireland, epitomized during the Revival by W. B. Yeats’s play Cathleen Ni Houlihan (1902). Nevertheless, the symbol has a long history reaching into Irish medieval tales, familiar to Synge. Therefore the influence of vigorous female characters of Old Irish literature on Synge’s portrayal of gender should be considered. The preliminary discussion will necessarily include also the position of Synge as such in the context of the Irish Literary Revival.
Secondly, I would like to focus on Synge’s travel writing as it in many respects provides a key to his drama. The Aran Islands is the most important work to be discussed – in keeping with the theme of the thesis, I would like to analyse Synge’s observations of Irish women in that area and explore whether they could rather stand for the Irish mother, wife and homemaker or the reversed, masculinized woman of Synge’s plays. The depiction of the islands, in many respects idealized, will be then contrasted with the series of essays In Connemara and In Wicklow, which are much more critical of the social situation in rural Ireland. The tension between The Aran Islands and Synge’s other travel essays is reflected in a similar tension present in his plays.
The main part of the thesis will consist of in-depth analysis of J. M. Synge´s plays The Playboy of the Western World, In the Shadow of the Glen, and Riders to the Sea. In all of the plays I will focus on the main female characters and discuss how they violate and transform the traditional stereotypes. I include Riders to the Sea although it is the only play which conforms to the role models of the period as all the female characters prove to be good Irish homemakers. Nevertheless, the tragic tone of the play suggests that obeying the rules does not guarantee happiness in life, as Susan C. Harris has observed.
The expected result of the thesis is a detailed map of the variegated interactions between J. M. Synge and the issue of gender.

References

Harris, Susan C. Gender and Modern Irish Drama. Bloomington: Indiana University press, c2002
Howes, Marjorie Elizabeth. Yeats's Nations: Gender, Class, and Irishness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Harrington, John P., ed. Modern Irish Drama. New York: Norton, 1991.
Kiberd, Declan. Synge and the Irish language. London: Macmillan, 1993.
Kinsella, Thomas. The Tain. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.
Mathews, P. J., ed. The Cambridge Companion to J. M. Synge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Murray, Christopher. Twentieth-Century Irish Drama: Mirror up to Nation. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2000.
Pilný, Ondřej. Irony and Identity in Modern Irish Drama. Prague: Litteraria Pragensia, 2006.
Richards, Shaun. The Cambridge Companion to Twentieth-Century Irish Drama. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Synge, John Millington. The Aran Islands. London: Penguin Books, 1992.
Synge, John Millington. The Complete Plays. London: Methuen, 1993.
Synge, John Millington. In Wicklow and West Kerry. Dublin: Maunsell and Company, 1912.