A Brief Understanding of The Countess Cathleen

UNDERSTANDING OF THE TEXT
BACKGROUND
The first performed at Irish national theatre in 1899, soon after, in 1902, the abbey theatre took the role of
the main national theatrical institution due to a small group of enthusiasts who believed that Irish drama
could achieve European prominence. The main innovator of this institution was W.B. Yeats with his
poetic and highly symbolic plays. In his plays, he depicted historical events, the celtic myths and legends
from the folk past, and he also advised the other young irish playwrights (Synge, O’ casey and others) to
do the same.
In the play, The Countess Cathleen, Yeats focuses on national legend that he read about in the Irish
newspaper. Surrounded by musical atmosphere, full of lyrical parts and short speeches that are beautiful
but outside the dramatic dialogue, convincing characters and thrilling dramatic action.
This play is quite nationalistic specially at the beginning when peasants are portrayed as typically Irish,
humble family oriented with their superstition and quite rich imaginations. They believe strongly in
anumal instincts that are considered as premonitions and all were premonitions of something bad in this
play:-
“Mary: What can have made the grey hen flutter so?”
And I’m half certain they’ve a human face.”
(W.B. Yeats, The Countess Cathleen)
Aside from these pagan elements the play offers us a deep and pure Christian faith perpetuated in the
character of Mary. She expected the salvation until the end of the play, therefore she even died rather than
to offend god by selling her soul. Mary is a true representative of the Christian spirit but pagan beliefs
were not so foreign to here as well. She confronts Sheamus not to recall the pagan beliefs since that is the
way to summon the devil she even dies strongly convinced that her soul must not be sold and food bought
with gold out of the demons must not be eaten, because she believes that god has never forsaken them.
Sheamus and Tiag even expresses doubt that soul exists at all. They become more violent and greedy
helping the demons not only to buy souls but also to convince countess Cathleen to seal the deal with
demons.
Even demons talk in a Christian manner:
“Second Merchant: away now- they are in the passage……….. with holy water”
(W.B. Yeats, The Countess Cathleen)
Another Christian element is introduced through the vison of the angels who came down on earth to
reprove peasants and happy news about countess Cathleen being forgiven for her sin and accepted in
heaven. The peasants understood their sin, they mourned deeply for the death of the countess so they
naturally rejoiced upon hearing the news.
Although many disagreed with Yeats portrayal of the Irish people in this play: their blunt imagination,
strong belief in premonition and weak spirit in the face of the temptation not all the peasants are depicted
in the same way “Mary is the representative of an ideal Irishwoman” exactly how Yeats wanted them to-
she has strong belief in the god and behaves kindly, compassionately and similarly to countess Cathleen.
CONCLUSION
As paradoxical as it may seem, the least autobiographical of literary works are often the most personally
revealing. A change in circumstance, the adoption of a mask, allows emotion to flow freely, to be more
precisely transformed into truth. So it is with William Butler Yeats’ The Countess Cathleen (1912).
Based on what Yeats believed was an Irish folktale, The Countess Cathleen tells of an Irish noblewoman
who, during a time of famine, sells her soul to devils so that her people might have bread. The play is pro-
nationalist, of course, and anti-landlord too (the merchants, buyers of souls, seem a lot like the landlords),
but above all it is an expression of love and concern for the beautiful, self-denying countess, who
represented for Yeats’ his great unrequited love Maud Gonne. who frequently exhausted her energies in
devotion to Ireland’s cause.
It is not a great play, but a good play, and it has many passages of good poetry in it. The ones that stand
out most, however, are the utterances of the poet Aleel, who worries continually about the Countess'
health and fate, and the Countess' tender—though reserved--replies to his concerns.

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UNDERSTANDING OF THE TEXT

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