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SP Publications
International Journal Of English and Studies (IJOES)
An International Peer-Reviewed Journal ; Volume-3, Issue-6, 2021
www.ijoes.in ISSN: 2581-8333; Impact Factor: 5.421(SJIF)
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Critiquing the polarisation of Irish women as “Madonna vis-a-vis whore” in the
nationalist texts of W.B. Yeats’s “Easter 1916” and Neil Jordan’s film Michael Collins
Ms. Debadrita Saha*
1 MA Candidate in English Literature, Presidency University, Kolkata, India
Postal address: E/16, Lake View Park, Bonhooghly, Kolkata-700108.
____________________________________________________________________________
Abstract: portrayal of Kitty Kiernan as the seductive
The narrative of Irish history has been Irishwoman who becomes a site of
perceived in a masculine right, relegating conquest for Harry Boland and Michel
the women to the conventionally feminine Collins, is an implication that women have
space of domesticity. The women who always been passive receptacles of male
resisted submission to masculine norms action and the dominant narrative of Irish
were labelled as “wild Irish girl”- seductive, history, as portrayed in nationalist literature
promiscuous independent “whore”. Pitted and films, through the conflicted perception
against them was the idealised archetype of of Cathleen ni Houlihan, would never
“suffering mother”- whose role was to acknowledge their participation in gaining
nurture her children ultimately to sacrifice sovereignty.
them for the nation, parallel to Virgin
Mary’s sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The
critique of such compartmentalized
representation of Irish women, and the
erasure of their contribution to Ireland’s Keywords: Irish female, Madonna,
freedom, is analysed with respect to W.B. Cathleen ni Houilhan, sacrificial,
Yeats’s poem “Easter 1916” and Neil seductress, nationalism.
Jordan’s film Michael Collins. The reason
for such polarised depiction is traced to the
Irish stereotype of the sacrificial old mother Introduction
figure of Cathleen ni Houlihan- who William Butler Yeats’s criticism of
rejuvenates into a lively young maid once Constance Markievicz’s rebellion in
the young blood of the country is shed for “Easter 1916” is encapsulated in the
her sake. Both Yeats and Jordan choose to following lines:
celebrate the masculine narrative of Irish
freedom struggle, making the women That woman’s days were spent
marginal characters in their texts. The paper In ignorant good-will
will establish that Yeats’s criticism of Her nights in argument
Constance Markievicz; and Jordan’s Until her voice grew shrill.
ISSN: 2581-8333 Copyright © 2021 SP Publications Page 167SP Publications
International Journal Of English and Studies (IJOES)
An International Peer-Reviewed Journal ; Volume-3, Issue-6, 2021
www.ijoes.in ISSN: 2581-8333; Impact Factor: 5.421(SJIF)
RESEARCH ARTICLE
What voice sweeter than hers spirits of the Irish revolutionaries and was
When young and beautiful she rode to the even awarded a death penalty for her role in
harriers? the rebellion; however, Yeats harps on her
(Yeats, “Easter 1916” lines 17-23) immaturity of political statements and not-
so-feminine behaviour. The poet's
It is interesting to note that Yeats uncompromising stance against Constance
chides Markievicz, not for her ideology, but Markievicz, therefore raises the question-
for railing against the British Empire. He what role did Yeats expect women to play
seems concerned that her voice does not in the revolution?
entice him anymore due to shrillness caused
by the constant Parliamentary debates. Terry Eagleton, in his essay,
Calling her political stance naive and "Politics and Sexuality in W.B. Yeats",
uninformed, he comments that he prefers argued that the refrain of "a terrible beauty
the woman in her youth and beauty, when is born" reveals the contradictory existence
she sounded the most mellifluous, spending of women-as the "angel" embodying the
her time riding “to the harriers”. To the "beast", the devil lurking underneath the
harriers, that is, riding a horse to the saint and the “whore” who is concealed by
harriers implies that she hunted rabbits the innocence and chastity of the
while being seated on the horseback. In "Madonna" (138). Therefore, when
contrast, he praises the men, like Pearse, confronted with women, the male writer
Connolly, MacDonaugh or even the had to hit an impasse in his phallocentric
“vainglorious lout” MacBride he so thoughts, since the woman both reassures
despised, for sacrificing their dreams and his status as the patriarch but also threatens
aspirations to achieve the Irish dream of to castrate him symbolically, usurping the
freedom (Yeats, “Easter 1916” line 32). hegemonic power he wields in society. In
“That woman” is accorded no the vein of Eagleton's argument, we can
acknowledgement for her contribution (l. then discern Yeats's anxiety about the
17). The final stanza which celebrates the revolutionary women of Ireland-who were a
patriots who “dreamed and were dead”, force powerful enough to destabilise the
ironically erases the presence of Constance heroic masculine tradition of Irish
Markievicz from the text (Yeats, “Easter nationalism. Unable to categorise them into
1916” line 72). For her, there is no any of the either polarisations between the
redemption or honour-only catechism for “chaste” and submissive Madonna and the
trying to take her place among the “promiscuous” and sexually voracious
masculine heroes of Irish 1916. She had “whores” who defied male monopoly over
composed the Battle Hymn that roused the gender relations, he expressed conflict
ISSN: 2581-8333 Copyright © 2021 SP Publications Page 168SP Publications
International Journal Of English and Studies (IJOES)
An International Peer-Reviewed Journal ; Volume-3, Issue-6, 2021
www.ijoes.in ISSN: 2581-8333; Impact Factor: 5.421(SJIF)
RESEARCH ARTICLE
about how to portray the women the post of a qualified officer in the
revolutionaries in his works. regiment of the Irish Citizen Army. Due to
her active participation in the battle of St.
Similar anxiety about the sexuality Stephen's Green, she was given the same
of Irish women revolutionaries of the Irish death sentence as her fellow fighters but
War of Independence is evinced in the work was spared for her sex. And yet, all that is
of Neil Jordan, particularly in his film reserved for her is some castigation for her
Michael Collins which centres around the political activity, her rousing protests, and
life of a male freedom fighter of the War, her championing of a free Ireland founded
but almost relegates the primary woman by Socialism. In another poem, “On a
figure, Kitty Kiernan to the background, Political Prisoner”, Yeats is more scathing
making her seem like a prop who only about the female nationalist activist in his
serves to highlight the homosocial bonding reflection, almost as if he is chastising her
of Collins and his friend, and fellow for not being patient, for being single-
comrade, Harry Boland. In the light of mindedly dedicated to the cause of
Eagleton’s theory, the paper will therefore nationalism. In the lines, "Did she in
analyse the dominant strand of portrayal of touching that lone wing/Recall the years
Irish women in nationalist Irish literature before her mind/Became a bitter, an
and films, with respect to Yeats’s Easter abstract thing,/", it seems he is ruefully
1916 and Neil Jordan’s Michael Collins. lamenting her condition as a prisoner in
After individual analysis of both texts and solitary confinement, and wishes if
their respective representations of Irish Markievicz could be transported back to the
women, the paper will make a comparative days of her youth when she was not a grey,
study of both, highlighting the similarities, despondent seagull, but, "With all youth's
and the differences in their depiction of lonely wildness stirred/ She seemed to have
women. grown clean and sweet/ Like any rock-bred,
sea-borne bird:” (Yeats lines 7-9, 16-18).
IRISH NATIONALISM AND THE The usage of the transferred epithet in
CONVENTIONAL REPRESENTATION “youth’s lonely wildness” is a powerful
OF FEMALE REVOLUTIONARIES evocation of the wild Irish girl trope that is
Indeed, if we probe into the history a recurring image in Yeats’s works. The
of twentieth-century Ireland prior to poem is a clear advocating of the gender
independence, Constance Markievicz, née dichotomy that was prevalent in Yeats’s
Gore-Booth emerges as a revolutionary no Ireland, where women were expected to
less heroic than her male compatriots. At revel in the insouciance of tender age, and
the time of the uprising, she had acquired to perform their duties as the loyal pillar of
ISSN: 2581-8333 Copyright © 2021 SP Publications Page 169SP Publications
International Journal Of English and Studies (IJOES)
An International Peer-Reviewed Journal ; Volume-3, Issue-6, 2021
www.ijoes.in ISSN: 2581-8333; Impact Factor: 5.421(SJIF)
RESEARCH ARTICLE
support to the usually aggressive man who Easter 1916, Irish women had won the adult
is more physically extroverted, and prone to franchise rights. Yeats, who was of the
die at the battlefield. Elizabeth Cullingford view that women’s dedication to a singular
conjectures that Yeats viewed the opinion ultimately stripped them of their
dichotomy of assigned gender roles to men human essence, had strongly advocated
and women as a given legal code which against the intermingling of political with
was to be obeyed and not modified- men the sexual, and even sent a prayer to the
could indulge in multifarious pursuits while Almighty to save his daughter from
women dedicated their lives to the service developing an intellectual frame of mind,
of others (224). In “A Prayer for My one that will lead her to form informed
Daughter”, therefore, his archetype of opinions – “An intellectual hatred is the
flawless Irish female constitutes women worst/So let her think opinions are
devoid of any opinions as such, and they accursed” (Yeats qtd. in Cullingford 223).
protect those principles which are based on In all probability, Yeats is expressing his
respite and the prioritisation of familial and anxiety about women who venture out from
conventional norms over the individual’s the private domain of the sacred to the
needs and requirements (Yeats lines 48, 77- public domain of the profane, thus making
78). In other words, a woman's beauty for themselves available for public scrutiny and
Keats possesses enough threat to castrate consumption, like the despised harlot.
him symbolically and to subjugate him to Equating the revolutionary intellectual
their power, just like he was enchanted by women’s sexual identity with that of
Maud Gonne's personality. Such urge for dehumanisation and disintegration might
containment of female sexuality and beauty also indicate a far gruesome perception of a
finds its reverberations in Yeats’s play prostitute figure in common impression-
Cathleen ni Houlihan – where Mother one who fritters away her youth too soon,
Ireland seduces young men to their death and serves others with no hope for
with her charm and pleas. redemption from misery. In all the poems
of the poet discussed here, the lamentation
The emergence of women as active for loss of the women's youthfulness is an
agents of their will in the larger socio- ever-recurring image. Such threnodic
political sphere of Ireland, especially with strains have a deeper connotation in their
rousing demands for suffrage had posed a striking similarity to Yeats’s perception of
considerable threat to the traditional Ireland as a woman. In Cathleen ni
heteronormative monopoly of the Irishmen Houlihan, he paints a picture of Ireland as
in the nationalist discourse-both in the dilapidated sacrificial mother, whose
parliament and war front. Two years after youth has been lost due to the ravages
ISSN: 2581-8333 Copyright © 2021 SP Publications Page 170SP Publications
International Journal Of English and Studies (IJOES)
An International Peer-Reviewed Journal ; Volume-3, Issue-6, 2021
www.ijoes.in ISSN: 2581-8333; Impact Factor: 5.421(SJIF)
RESEARCH ARTICLE
caused by political struggles and foreign found its full development in the Gaelic
invasion. legend of "Caitlín ní Houlihán" (Kearney
211). Yeats and Gregory dramatised the
A product of the collaboration of fable in their one-act play and consolidated
Lady Augusta Gregory and William Butler its impact as an inspiration for future
Yeats, Cathleen ni Houlihan is a play that generations of Irish revolutionaries. The old
draws upon Irish folk mythology to instil Cathleen ni Houlihan’s call to Michael
patriotic fervour in the hearts of the Irish Gillane to act in her service, as well as her
masses. The titular character's personality is promise of bounty- remembrance as patriots
an allusion to the mythical figure of in national history, had inspired many of
Kathleen Ni Houlihan, implying, Yeats’s contemporaries, including
"Kathleen, daughter of Houlihan". The Constance Markievicz, who revered it as a
character of Kathleen had been frequently “gospel” in a letter to her sister, Eva Gore-
invoked in the discourse of Irish cultural Booth:
nationalism, as an old woman personified
who can regain her youth and glory only “OLD WOMAN: It is a hard service they
when her Irish sons will shed their blood take that help me. [...] many a child will be
for her against the enemy, the British. As born and there will be no father at its
Richard Kearney theorises, the 1916 christening to give it a name. They that
Proclamation of the “Provisional have red cheeks will have pale cheeks for
Government of Irish Republic” was largely my sake, and for all that, they will think
influenced by the mythic representation of they are well paid.
Ireland in the general population’s [She goes out; her voice is heard outside
cognisance as a wronged woman, which singing
was invoked deliberately in the rallying call They shall be remembered
of ‘Ireland, through us, summons her for ever,
children to her flag and strikes for freedom’ They shall be alive for ever,
(“Proclamation” qtd. in Kearney 210). The They shall be speaking for
stimulation of the nationalist spirit was ever,
made possible by channelizing the appeal The people shall hear them
for independence through the image of forever.
Ireland as mother (Kearney 210, 211). The (Yeats, Cathleen ni Houlihan 50)
perennial trope of Ireland being identified
as the mother-nation who has been rousing Ironically, what Constance failed to
and offering her children to the altar of see was the relegation of women to
freedom by invoking the name of God domesticity in the text of the play. Yeats
ISSN: 2581-8333 Copyright © 2021 SP Publications Page 171SP Publications
International Journal Of English and Studies (IJOES)
An International Peer-Reviewed Journal ; Volume-3, Issue-6, 2021
www.ijoes.in ISSN: 2581-8333; Impact Factor: 5.421(SJIF)
RESEARCH ARTICLE
could afford to let Maud Gonne dress up as of Cathleen ni Houlihan as the national
Mother Ireland and bring her to life, but he mother figure would only help to strengthen
didn’t advocate that women could also the male monopoly in the freedom struggle.
respond to the call in a manner that Hence, we can sense Yeats’s adverse
involves them participating in frontal response to the militant nationalism of
combats or direct action. Indeed, the old Constance Markievicz. He tried to uphold a
woman in the play addresses her plea only troupe of Irish female which was signified
to Michael, the eldest son, in the prime of by sexual chastity, passivity, and close with
his youth, and not any of the women, not nature as opposed to the largely urban,
even Delia, Michael’s fiancée. Furthermore, sexually ambiguous, and politically
the depiction of Cathleen as an old woman powerful English seductress. Through
making frequent allusions to pastoral Cathleen, he also propagated the role of the
landscape and activities in her speeches mother's sacrifice as the ideal for
could be seen as an attempt to juxtapose Irishwomen. However, the ambivalence
Ireland as the anti-industrialist, primeval regarding women's sexuality is also evident
land against the heartland of Industrial in the transformation of old Cathleen to a
Revolution-England, which had exploited young woman at the end of the play- "a
the resources of the former to augment their young girl, and she had the walk of a
empire: “The hopes of getting my beautiful queen" (Yeats, Cathleen ni Houlihan 53).
fields back; the hope of putting strangers
out of my house” (Yeats, Cathleen ni That Cathleen's youth is restored
Houlihan 48). utilizing sacrificing the lives of young men
for her sake, and the bloodshed can pose
Thus, the image of the passive, her as a dangerous seductress whose
pastoral femininity constructed through the intentions are fatalistic for others. Cathleen,
persona of Cathleen ni Houlihan was therefore, and by extension, Constance
massively propagated in the twentieth- Markievicz in Easter 1916, is an epitome of
century discourse of nationhood. The the “terrible beauty”- they embody both the
formation of women's radically political Madonna and the seductress, and have the
organisations such as the Inghinidhe na power to both stabilise and threaten
hÉireann (1900), and the Cumann na mBan masculinity. The assertion of the feminine
(1914) had been a menacing presence for will, or the woman’s voice and wish over
the political hierarchy of their traditionally the man is viewed as an attempt to
male-dominated counterparts. Given the symbolically castrate the heterosexual male.
emergence of the Irish suffragette Both sexual seduction and radical
movement around this time, the idealisation aggression in the female can destabilise the
ISSN: 2581-8333 Copyright © 2021 SP Publications Page 172SP Publications
International Journal Of English and Studies (IJOES)
An International Peer-Reviewed Journal ; Volume-3, Issue-6, 2021
www.ijoes.in ISSN: 2581-8333; Impact Factor: 5.421(SJIF)
RESEARCH ARTICLE
heteronormative structure of society, and the gunfire, and they surrender to the
consequently, the conventional politics. As British army (Jordan 00:03:12-00:03:28).
Eagleton explains, “the psychoanalytic The audience gets the first glimpse of
mechanisms of that famous oxymoron Michael Collins in person, putting down his
‘terrible beauty’ are thus particularly firearms, and retracing his steps along with
complex. As an image, it condenses his friend Harry Boland. Ironically, it is a
together anxiety, sadistic aggression, scene that involves all-male rebels, and no
idealisation and defence” (Eagleton138). women are visible on sight. The G Division
By employing this trope within the larger of the section of Dublin Metropolitan
locale of Easter 1916, Yeats both idealised Police identify the main leaders of the
and criticised the uprising. Through the uprising, calling out the last names of
invocation of myth, he tried to contain its Padraic Pearse, James Connolly, Thomas
disruption of the existing socio-political MacDonagh and Tom Clarke, however,
order. Indeed, Yeats's anxiety regarding the they do not spot or mention any of the
characterization of Cathleen ni Houlihan, female revolutionaries like Constance
and its effect on the general populace was Markievicz (Jordan 00:04:21-00:04:45).
openly expressed in "Man and Echo", a Like Yeats’s poem, her presence too is
poem Yeats wrote in 1930: Did that play of erased from Jordan’s depiction of Easter
mine send out/ Certain men the English 1916. However, it was not only Markievicz,
shot?” (Yeats, “Man and Echo” lines 11- whose presence was “airbrushed from
12). The popularity of a mythical mother- history”, but another notable member of the
seductress figure in the national Cumann na mBan- Elizabeth O’Farrell. She
consciousness was threatening enough for had been instrumental in setting the terms
Yeats’s heteronormative ideals. Such of the surrender of the rebels to Brigadier
antinomy surrounding the representation of General and bringing an end to the Easter
women in Irish nationalism is also present 1916 week. The re-examination of a
in Neil Jordan's film, Michael Collins, popular photo depicting Pearse’s surrender
which hagiographies the life of Michael to O’Lowe reveals that O’Farrell was
Collins-one of the key figures of the Irish present by his side, negotiating the terms of
struggle for independence from the British the surrender, but in the earlier publications
Empire. of the photo, her feet were concealed with
an airbrush (Cox). Neither Yeats nor
After the expository scene, the film Jordan accords a space to mention the
transports the audience back to the time of contributions of O'Farrell, who dispatched
the Easter Rising, when the key rebels who necessary items like food and ammunition
took part in Easter Rising are defeated in for the other rebels and nursed them. The
ISSN: 2581-8333 Copyright © 2021 SP Publications Page 173SP Publications
International Journal Of English and Studies (IJOES)
An International Peer-Reviewed Journal ; Volume-3, Issue-6, 2021
www.ijoes.in ISSN: 2581-8333; Impact Factor: 5.421(SJIF)
RESEARCH ARTICLE
status of the national hero is accorded in except being the daughter of her father
both reproductions of Easter 1916 to the (Jordan 00:11:18-00:11:55). It is probably
hypermasculine leaders of the rebellion, an accusation, an indictment of the standard
and Eamon de Valera, who advocates a rhetoric propagated by the historiographers,
more moderate line of action, is portrayed chroniclers of heteronormative nationalism-
in a negative light, as a person more that women are meant to embody the
concerned in jeopardizing Michael Collins's private sphere, the realm of domesticity,
rise to fame than seeking the ultimate good nurturance and care of the sons of Ireland,
of his country. Jordan upholds the radical the ones who will grow up to sacrifice their
form of nationalism in his film, inextricably lives for their country. The countryside
linked with the display of aggressive setting of Kitty's father's inn, where she is
masculinity, one that was proclaimed by seen catering to tenants and entertaining
Pearse himself, “bloodshed is a cleansing them with songs, in the homely atmosphere
and sanctifying thing, and the nation which of a family gathering, maps the image of
regards it as the final horror has lost its the ideal Irish woman as intimately
manhood” (Pearse 99). The loss of connected to nature and familial bonds, one
masculine identity or the adoption of who is sharply contrasted to the vocal,
feminine or womanly traits is therefore urbanized, suffragette rebels who
conceived as undesirable in the nationalist prioritized their rights and aspirations. One
struggle, for women are relegated to the can sense an evocation of the Cathleen ni
roles of the sacrificing relatives of the male Houlihan trope here, by drawing a parallel
martyrs or the seductive supporters of the to the setting of Kitty and Michael's first
movement who encourage the men to shed meet to that of the first encounter between
blood for their motherland. The shift of Kathleen and Michael Gillane. Not only are
Kitty Kiernan to a background character, the names almost identical (Kitty Kiernan’s
who serves as a plot device to drive apart real name was Catherine) but the fact that
Collins and Boland is typical of the male- both Michael and Harry Boland are enticed
dominated patriarchal narratives of by her shows that they are willing to
nationalism where women’s voices are sacrifice their friendship for her sake. The
suppressed. love triangle that ensues once both friends
are acquainted with Kitty, carries the
The first encounter between Kitty premonition that the conclusion will not be
and Michael on-screen happens in an idyllic too amicable for any of the three. At
pastoral setting, where she nurses his Dublin, Michael playfully professes to
wounds. To Collins's enquiry, if she's a “wrestle with” Boland for her affection,
nurse, she retorts that she has no identity
ISSN: 2581-8333 Copyright © 2021 SP Publications Page 174SP Publications
International Journal Of English and Studies (IJOES)
An International Peer-Reviewed Journal ; Volume-3, Issue-6, 2021
www.ijoes.in ISSN: 2581-8333; Impact Factor: 5.421(SJIF)
RESEARCH ARTICLE
although his feelings were not as playful as who "whored for Ireland" (Jordan 00:43:40-
he tries to make them appear. 00:43:47). His stature, unlike the physically
sturdy Michael and Boland, makes him
When Harry leaves Ireland with De more suited to dress up as a woman. In both
Valera, keeping Kitty in Michael's custody, cases, the cynosure of conflict is two
the two bond, leading to Kitty ultimately persons who are typically aligned with the
rejecting Boland's marriage proposal and moderate course of politics-one, a woman,
getting engaged to Collins. The feeling of the other, dressed like one. Furthermore, a
betrayal that Boland experiences parallel can be drawn showing how Collins
irrevocably changes the dynamics of his and Boland try to ensure both Kitty and
relationship with Michael Collins, and in a Valera's safety, in potentially fatal
scene in the Vaughn Hotel, after the De situations, thus hinting at Kitty and Eamon
Valera and his supporters walk out on the being the representations of the seductive
popular support for the Dali vote of Peace side of Mother Ireland, who lures the young
Treaty, Boland says that he is trying to be Irish men into protecting her and ultimately
happy over the news of their engagement ending their lives. Jordan’s subtle
and that he misses the old days. Collins too implications that the rivalry between the
wistfully reiterates Boland's wish. The two friends-turned-suitors was sown by the
personal becomes the political as we see the presence of Kitty, and exacerbated by
macro-rift of the political line of action that Eamon de Valera indicates that he, too,
is caused by De Valera between Collins and views non-hyper masculine, non-radical
Boland being mirrored in the micro-rift of characters as a threat to the existence of
the gender dynamics caused by Kitty's patriarchal nationalism that formed the
decision. Kitty is portrayed in somewhat of majoritarian narrative of Irish struggle.
an unfavourable light here, making her the Towards the end, both Harry and Michael
dangerous seductress or the modern Irish are assassinated by their rival factions,
femme fatale whose sexuality can be a representing two parties to the Civil War,
threat to the homosocial bonding between and thus Jordan emphasises that De Valera,
two hyper masculine men. Ironically, and on a minor scale, Kitty Kiernan are the
Eamon De Valera, who is portrayed to be ones responsible for the untimely death of
pitting Boland against Michael due to his these young men, who are not even married
ulterior motives of preventing Michael before they meet their ends, another hint at
overshadowing him, is shown clad in the the play Cathleen ni Houlihan, where
dress of a prostitute when escaping from Michael Gillane is dissuaded from getting
Lincoln Jail with the help of the two married to die for the old Cathleen-Mother
comrades and is referred to as "Kathleen"
ISSN: 2581-8333 Copyright © 2021 SP Publications Page 175SP Publications
International Journal Of English and Studies (IJOES)
An International Peer-Reviewed Journal ; Volume-3, Issue-6, 2021
www.ijoes.in ISSN: 2581-8333; Impact Factor: 5.421(SJIF)
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Ireland figure, the country who lures young marginal characters in their text. Yeats's
patriots to a violent death. criticism of Constance Markievicz, and
Jordan's portrayal of Kitty Kiernan as the
Yeats’s ideal role for women seductive Irishwoman who becomes a site
partaking in the Irish revolution is reflected of conquest for Harry Boland and Michel
in Jordan’s depiction of a minor female Collins, shows that women have always
character, Rosie. She is a washerwoman, been passive receptacles of the male action,
and an attendant to Mr.Soames, a British and the dominant narrative of Irish history,
intelligence officer sent to investigate the as portrayed in nationalist literature and
guerrilla Irish warriors. She gives films would never acknowledge their
information to Collins about Soames’s participation in gaining sovereignty.
daily routine and gives him a few pieces of Gerardine Meaney asserts that such
paper she retrieved from his linen, from tradition began from the twentieth century,
which Collins finds valuable information in the 1940s, when “a series of Irish or Irish
about the British (Jordan 00:55:52- American actresses, or actresses who
00:56:51). Rosie’s role is minimal, and her played Irish roles, played this wild Irish girl
duty is to practically supply information to figure with varying emphasis on her
the Irish freedom fighters, but not rebelliousness, seductiveness, tragic
participate in the actual fight. Her potential, moral ambiguity and red, or very
profession is washing clothes, a domestic dark hair” (Meaney 240). Jordan, keeping
chore usually assigned to women. She is faithful to that tradition of Irish depiction
passive, and does not question her situation, on screen, and without questioning its
nor does she show any curiosity about the impact, portrays Kitty Kiernan, that is, Julia
information she retrieved from Soames. She Roberts’ character will all the
is also subservient to her partner, who characteristics mentioned above. Kitty
chaperones her meeting with Collins. rebels against being dragged by Michael
Hence, Rosie is the ideal Irish female for out of Vaughn Hotel or being guarded by
nationalist writers and filmmakers, who Michael, as per the request of Harry, Kitty’s
think a woman’s active participation in the former lover and Michael’s best friend. She
freedom struggle costs not only her youth, also expresses her indignation at being
but the lives of others. asked to choose any one of the men in the
very beginning of their first encounter in
Conclusion the film. Her moral dilemma, much later, of
Both Yeats and Jordan choose to falling in love with Michael, despite being
celebrate the masculine narrative of the betrothed to Harry, shows that she values
Irish freedom struggle, making the women her own happiness. However, Jordan paints
ISSN: 2581-8333 Copyright © 2021 SP Publications Page 176SP Publications
International Journal Of English and Studies (IJOES)
An International Peer-Reviewed Journal ; Volume-3, Issue-6, 2021
www.ijoes.in ISSN: 2581-8333; Impact Factor: 5.421(SJIF)
RESEARCH ARTICLE
her moral confusion in a light of deliberate Madonna/whore irrespective of whichever
seduction of both men and then vying for role they play, and even men, who cannot
the man who is conventionally more live up to the ideal of the alpha male, are
masculine, and therefore, attractive. She is considered effeminate, and relegated to the
perceived in the film as symbol of the aforementioned binary, as in the case of de
nationalist women of Ireland, who are Valera. Hence, the need of the hour is to
depicted either in terms of a lack or absence construct alternative historiography of
of physical prowess, which makes them Irishwomen, where their voices will not get
seduce or plead with masculine, valiant stifled and they will be able to challenge a
men to be their guardians of honour, in narrative that forces them into binaries and
accordance with the tradition set by fetishises them.
Cathleen ni Houlihan. Even if they don’t,
the robust Irish man considers it his duty to
protect the “weak” female, who becomes a References
commodity to be safeguarded or to be
transacted in a betting game, as Michael Cox, Catherine. “Elizabeth O’Farrell: The
Collins playfully proposes to bet for Kitty’s woman airbrushed from history.”
affection with Harry. Independent.ie, 4 Feb.2016,
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And for the woman who has adopted the and-file/elizabeth-ofarrell-the-
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