Critiquing the polarisation of Irish women as 'Madonna vis-a-vis whore' in the nationalist texts of W.B. Yeats's poem 'Easter 1916' and Neil Jordan's film Michael Collins
Abstract:
The narrative of Irish history has been perceived from a masculine outlook, relegating the women to the conventionally feminine space of domesticity. The women who resisted submission to masculine
norms were labelled as 'wild Irish girl' seductive, promiscuous
independent 'whore'. Pitted against them was the idealised archetype
of 'suffering mother' whose role was to nurture her children
ultimately to sacrifice them for the nation, parallel to Virgin Mary's
sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The critique of such compartmentalised
representation of Irish women, and the erasure of their contribution
to Ireland's freedom, is analysed with respect to W.B. Yeats's poem
'Easter 1916' and Neil Jordan's film Michael Collins. The reason for
such polarised depiction is traced to the Irish stereotype of the
sacrificial old Mother Ireland figure of Cathleen ni Houlihan who
rejuvenates into a lively young maid once the young blood of the
country is shed for her sake. Both Yeats and Jordan choose to
celebrate the masculine narrative of Irish freedom struggle, making
the women marginal characters in their texts. The paper attempts to
establish that Yeats's criticism of Constance Markievicz and Jordan's
portrayal of Kitty Kiernan as the seductive Irish woman who
becomes a site of conquest for Harry Boland and Michel Collins, is
an implication that women have always been passive receptacles of
male action I argue that the dominant narrative of Irish history, as
portrayed in nationalist literature and films, through the conflicted
perception of Cathleen ni Houlihan, would never acknowledge their
participation in gaining sovereignty.
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