THE CHARACTERISTICS OF LADY GREGORY'S COMEDIES

Abstract

Between the late period of nineteenth century and the early twentieth century Ireland produced a considerable group of playwrights who not only enriched the playhouse but also had provided a new tendency for drama. Among them Lady Gregory is undoubtedly the dramatist who should be counted as one of the foremost playwrights in the literary history of Irish literature. She contributed to Irish literature not only through the works for the Abbey audience but also by the financial support to the establishment of Irish Dramatic Movement. This literary activity is remarkable and through it Irish people could revive their own literature. Because of it, Irish people became aware of their folk-literature, and this was the motive that Irish could give birth to the well-known dramatists such as Yeats, Synge, and Sean O'Casey. When Lady Gregory recognized what her duty for Ireland through the literary activity was, she started to write the plays that Ireland people wished to see. Finally her enthusiasm for Ireland made her to write plays with patriotic mind. Her plays are full of mysteriousness which was originated from Irish folk legends, and Irish people's everyday life. She depicted the life of the unsophisticated, and the very common people. Consequently the general styles of her plays are so simple and there lies the humour and pathos of peasants. These peasants are usually uneducated, who love to listen to the rumours. Here the comic scenes are evolved. They listen to the happenings of their neighbours so devotedly and their judgement for the truth is often weakened and they take the rumours as they are told. Therefore, the study in this thesis will depend upon Lady Gregory's contribution to Irish Literary Movement and the characteristics of her comedies.