Parker Panich
Mr. Kearney
Irish Literature/7th
16 December 2016
Symbolism in “The Shadow of a Gunman”
In Sean O’Casey’s play “The Shadow of a Gunman”, many themes arise that become apparent to the reader as the story plays out. Sean O’Casey does a great job by portraying these themes through the characters and the setting of the play. With the play set in Dublin during the Irish War of Independence, which takes place through the years 1919-1921, the reader obtains the thoughts and emotions the characters have throughout by empathizing with the characters and what they are going through. Today’s society consists of many people faking their way through life to receive the attention they want from the people around them. Some themes that Sean O’Casey are present in his play include despair, dishonesty, and deception. When one performs despair, dishonesty, or deception, one will inflict pain on the ones around them, and alter their life, often times negatively. Other themes existing in the play are poverty, religion, war, and the role of men and women in society. In this play by Sean O’Casey specifically, he assigns a role to each character in order to help the reader truly understand the times of Dublin at that time and how people acted in society when they were in a state of misery. Sean O’Casey’s dramatic intent, in the end, was to convey a romantic relationship between two characters with the conflicts of Northern Ireland of the 1980s and 90s carrying on in the background. O’Casey decided to reveal the real conditions of the Irish people during the War of Independence. In this case, the play should be looked at in terms of the political implications it has on social life.
The play opens in the room of Seamus Shields and Donal Davoren in their tenement in Dublin. Their room is poorly furnished and soon become aware of a few symbolic objects in the room. The religious statues, in particular, emphasize the centrality of Religion to the lives of the people at the time and the reader knows this by “on the mantelshelf to the right is a statue of the Virgin, to the left a statue of the Sacred Heart, and in the centre a crucifix” (Seamus 3). Although both Seamus Shields and Donal Davoren go through hard times and do not have much going for themselves, they still keep their moral beliefs strong along with their strong nationalist beliefs. This is a case where the characters of the play act as themselves. The poverty that the Irish experience, which becomes known by the lack of furniture in their tenement, at these troubled times proves that the characters still have what it takes to love and believe. Some may think the characters are showing pity for their own country, but this play shows the reader the real-life conditions of the people of Dublin during the War of Independence. The Black and Tans only take a bottle of whiskey when they raid the residents of the tenements’ houses because they suggest that nothing else is worth anything of value. The Black and Tans are literally taking away the lives of the people as whiskey in Irish translates to uisce beatha, meaning water of life. The Irish people are strong believers that good will come to those who wait, while the people of modern society have no patience and need what they want as soon as they have the chance to get their hands on it. O’Casey resembles the struggles of the Irish during the War of Independence through the characters of this play in order to bring this to the surface. Many people struggled to get by in society and the fight for Irish independence lasted for many years.
Another theme that is drawn out in this play is war. This is symbolic of the fight for independence and the war between self. O’Casey says:
An expression that seems to indicate an eternal war between weakness and strength; there is in the lines of the brow and chin an indication of a desire for activity, while in his eyes there is a visible an unquenchable tendency towards rest. (3)
Many people living in poverty have to make decisions that best suit them. These decisions include sacrifices to better those around oneself and to better themselves. In this particular case, people are willing to claim anything they can to receive attention and feel as if they are important. Although these people are in poverty, they are often still willing to fight for their country because of how important it is to them. As the war goes on in the background, those involved who are struggling also fight with themselves as they live in constant fear that all the characters have about a raid by the Black and Tans.
Donal Davoren develops a false reputation as a gunman from the people’s paranoia about the Irish War of Independence. This happens because the people are willing to see anyone who is different as a hero because they need change. According to Joseph Campbell’s cosmogonic cycle, a hero could be seen as a warrior, lover, world redeemer, or a saint. A hero is to journey to renew the arrival of spiritual energy into the world and gradually turn the cosmogonic cycle toward its destiny. The hero must not be static and change often throughout their journey, which is why Donal Davoren could not be a hero in this story. In the cosmogonic cycle, Donal Davoren would best represent a failed hero or an anti-hero as he had many opportunities to change the mind the of the people around him, instead of the war hero the residents of the tenement view him as. Davoren fails to display any archetypally heroic qualities, such as boldness, courage, confidence, or honor. As the title suggests, Donal Davoren is indeed the “shadow” of the gunman walking in the gunman’s footsteps. Davoren cannot and will not be the gunman because he tries to be someone he is not.
Furthermore, Sean O’Casey explores the Irish obsession with the concept of heroism and its fairytale nature. For one to be a hero, they have to accept the fact of death and be able to still live their life to the fullest. The closest person to a hero in this play would be Minnie Powell, as she changes throughout the play and dies for what she loves. It is through their death that the hero is able to come back spiritually and help fix the world. As Joseph Campbell explains:
“the universal doctrine teaches that all the visible structures of the world – all things and beings – are the effects of a ubiquitous power out of which they rise, which supports and fills them during the period of their manifestation, and back into which they must ultimately dissolve.” (The Hero with a Thousand Faces)
“A ubiquitous power” meaning “the power known to science as energy,… and the Christians as the power of God” (Campbell).
In the beginning of the play, Donal Davoren is considered nothing more than a dreamy, idealistic poet who is harmless to those around him, but as the storyline continues, it becomes apparent to the reader that he is more hurtful than one imagined him to be. This play focuses on the theme of deception as it is the basis for all actions throughout the play. Davoren’s main weakness of his character is exposed through his acceptance of his mistaken identity as a gunman. He doesn’t mind the attention he receives from the other people of the tenement, especially the attention Minnie Powell gives him. Davoren never has to admit that he is not the war hero everybody thinks he is and this leads to the death of Minnie as she takes the bombs from his room as a sign of her love for him. Ironically, by saving him she dies herself.
Since Donal Davoren is considered the center of all action in this play, this makes his role and actions very important to how the story plays out in the end. Because Davoren is the most deceptive character in the play, he could be viewed as the devil or someone who has fallen to the devil. The devil is well known for temptation and deception. The devil’s intent in the world is to let people believe that he does not exist, which is why he is so good at what he does. This relates to Davoren because he never comes clean. Davoren lets the people believe that he is indeed the gunman by never denying it. The unawareness of Davoren’s real character harms many around him because he does not know how to control these powers. When Davoren finally receives some recognition from his fellow residents, he is delighted. This encourages his extension of his falsified identity. He especially enjoys the attention brought onto him by Minnie Powell who develops a romantic interest in him, which he in the end takes for granted. She is especially attracted to the excitement associated with being around an IRA gunman as he is attracted the excitement of acting as an IRA gunman.
Deception and dishonesty do not necessarily stop at Donal Davoren because of both Tommy Owens and Maguire and relate. Tommy Owens deceived people as well as Davoren, but in a different way. Davoren’s character came to him, but Owens took on a persona claiming to do great things for Ireland to get them out of the rough times. Instead, Owens does nothing for his country. Besides his hardcore nationalist thoughts, he has nothing to show for his loyalty to his country. Tommy Owens also is very dishonest towards Davoren because he told Davoren of how he wouldn’t tell a soul about Davoren being in the house, but instead he has the biggest mouth about it. He spreads the word more than any other character that Davoren is a gunman. Another key character who lives a life filled with dishonesty is Mr. Maguire. He says that the bag contains nothing important when really it is full of IRA bombs meant to kill Davoren. In the end, Maguire dies in the play, most likely because of his dishonesty.
Deception is a key theme in many pieces of literature. For example, in the Odyssey, we find both Penelope and Odysseus engaging in deception to drive the plot. After seventeen years, Penelope agrees to consider remarrying Odysseus until her plan is discovered. After Odysseus returns to his home on Ithaca after nearly twenty years, he disguises himself as a beggar, which allows him to evaluate what has changed in his absence. In this case, Odysseus is making other people believe that he is not Odysseus, but instead someone else. This gives a sense of deception alone. His true identity is revealed to each character in different ways, but his dog, a man’s best friend, recognizes him immediately. The local men who have been eating his food and trying to persuade his wife to remarry him, and he reveals himself to them just before he brutally slaughters them. Odysseus realized what was going on while he was gone, so he did what he felt needed to be done. When Odysseus is revealed to her, she is reluctant to accept it, thinking perhaps one of the gods is playing a trick, deception, and she orders her maid to move their bed outside the bedroom for him to sleep on. This brings out the true Odysseus, which finally convinces Penelope that it is truly her husband. Deception is a key part in many stories to build up the plot.
The role of men and women in “The Shadow of a Gunman” is very relevant. In 1912-1922 the political and social structures of Ireland were contested, altered, and re-formed. According to the University of Limerick, “in recent years, historians have begun to explore not only the role and experiences of women at such an influential time in Irish history but also women’s contribution to the shaping of Ireland” because women, such as Minnie Powell, were treated poorly. Women in this time period we neglected because men mostly were in power of politics, making it harder for women to contribute to society as much as they would like to. Specifically, in “The Shadow of a Gunman”, Minnie Powell tried her best to help Davoren by taking the bombs out of his room, but she was killed in doing so. Furthermore, the University of Limerick also states:
Women were undoubtedly in the wings and in some instances at the forefront of the many key events of this decade. Yet an element of this period that was particularly transformative and revolutionary was the campaign for female suffrage. Moreover, it was a campaign in which women were at the very centre, were the driving force and were taking their future into their own hands.
What is meant by this is women were more important to society than many think, but all women struggled to be noticed in this time period.
Throughout a majority of the play, each of the characters prove there to be many forms of evil and the reader can easily pick up on these signs. Although religion is a very important part of the lives of the Irish, the attention gets to their heads very easily. The people in Dublin are willing to forget what their life was about in exchange for a little bit of fame. This is what one who is willing to sell their soul to the devil would do. “And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer” (Revelation 6:2). Jesus described that the white horse symbolizes false religion, including those who falsely claim to come in Christ’s name.
There is a romantic dream that exists which contains the idea of patriotism for Ireland, but there is a reality of the world around them. The politics overtake the romanticism everyone strives for. O’Casey does a good job of portraying the real-life situation of the people who struggled during these times. Steven H. Gale says:
Some see it as an English imperial invention, the creation of an underclass that need not be taken seriously; others see it as partially an Irish screen erected to distract the foreigner from real Irish motives. Like most stereotypes, the image is an oversimplified exaggeration of real traits. (Gale 789)
to help the reader understand why O’Casey has included the real situation in Dublin at the time. As the title suggests, we know that Donal Davoren is living in the shadow of a gunman, but all these people living in poverty are living in a shadow. Nobody knows the real reason of why they stay where they are, but O’Casey tries to explain that.
In society, today, people would run as soon as they start to fear what is to come, but the Irish in times of misery stick around because they understand that it can only get better. Today’s society accepts the light casted upon them to get what they want, and in the end, feel better about themselves. The real question is “are they actually better?”. No. The people in today’s society put on a mask to hide from their true problems that lay in front of them, while those in the Irish societies of the early 1900s would embrace what they have and fight for better. Sean O’Casey is hinting at the fact that the world has become too sensitive to consider themselves patriotic. Patriots do not turn on their country when they are down and come back when they are up. This all relates back to Davoren turning on his fellow residents of the tenements because he feels as if he is up. Joseph Campbell says:
The world now exists and supports life of its own, and the focus of the cosmogonic cycle shifts to human life. We are now, also, firmly in the realm of duality: male-female, light-dark, high-low, good-evil, life-death. In this stage the universal round is moved forward by the succession of human generations in the world.
Once all focuses are shifted to the real world, the romanticism of being a hero no longer exists and life may come to an end. For example, once Minnie Powell tried saving Davoren, she dies. It is ironic because she dies trying to save someone she loves, but not ironic in that she can move onto the afterlife in peace because she completed the cosmogonic cycle.
Works Cited
Campbell, Joseph. The hero with a thousand faces. Princeton, NJ: Princeton U Press, 1972. Print.
Donohoe, Sinéad. “Sinéad Donohoe.” The Reverse Gear. N.p., 01 Sept. 2015. Web. 15 Dec. 2016.
Gale, Steven H. Encyclopedia of British humorists: Geoffrey Chaucer to John Cleese. New York: Garland, 1996. Print.
O’Casey, Sean, and Christopher Murray. Three Dublin Plays: The Shadow of a Gunman, Juno and the Paycock, the Plough and the Stars. “The Shadow of a Gunman”. London: Faber and Faber, 1998. Print.
“Sean O’Casey and the Irish “Troubles” – pennsylvaniajournal.” Google Sites. N.p., Winter 2009. Web. 16 Dec. 2016.
“Women and History 1912-1922 – University of Limerick.” N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2016.