Rewriting Trauma: The Legacy of W.B. Yeats in Marina Carr’s By the Bog of Cats . . .

Chu He

doi:10.1515/jcde-2020-0021

Article

Rewriting Trauma: The Legacy of W.B. Yeats in Marina Carr’s By the Bog of Cats . . .

Chu He

Published/Copyright: November 12, 2020

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From the journal Journal of Contemporary Drama in English Volume 8 Issue 2

Abstract

While a most original and creative playwright in contemporary Ireland, Marina Carr is still unmistakably influenced by her male predecessors. This article will argue that her most renowned work By the Bog of Cats . . . (1998) is a bold rewriting of W. B. Yeats’s Purgatory (1938). Like Yeats’s play, BytheBogofCats . . . focuses on abandonment, betrayal, and murder as its main sources of trauma. While Carr’s play is a direct descendant from Purgatory in terms of its theme, plot, and symbolism, Carr rewrites Yeats’s pathetic, shiftless Old Man into a daring, strong, and responsible woman who may be embittered by her domestic trauma, but instead of escaping, she eventually faces up to her own guilt and crime. Hester is not a flat, helpless victim but a complex, well-rounded woman full of agency, passion, and honesty as well as vices. This way, Carr rewrites both the stereotypical stage image of Irish women and the unredeemable Old Man.

Keywords: Marina Carr; By the Bog of Cats . . .; W.B. Yeats; Purgatory; trauma; infanticide

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Published Online: 2020-11-12

Published in Print: 2020-11-03

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/jcde-2020-0021

Keywords for this article

Marina Carr; By the Bog of Cats . . .; W.B. Yeats; Purgatory; trauma; infanticide