DRAMA II
LECTURE 9
1
SYNOPSIS
PART I
Dramatic Structure of A Doll's House
A Conclusive Talk on The Doll’s House
PART II
An Introductory Talk: An Overview of Juno and the Paycock
Play’s Background
Settings
Plot
Characters
 Writer’s Life and Work
 The Play and its Social Significance
2
PART I
Thematic Structure of A Doll's House
3
IBSEN’S WORK
WHAT WRITER’S HAVE SAID ABOUT HENRIK IBSEN:
“All of Ibsen is visionary drama… His mastery of
inwardness is second only to Shakespeare’s.” —
Harold Bloom
“Had the gospel of Ibsen been understood and
heeded, these fifteen millions might have been
alive now.” — George Bernard Shaw (Discussing the
loss of life during World War I)
“His characters may hate one another or be happy
together, but they will generate nobility or charm.”
— E. M. Forster
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A CONCLUSIVE TALK ON THE DOLL’S
HOUSE
LECTURE 1
Course orientation
Agenda of the Talk:
Drama?
Types of drama
Elements of drama
Conventions of drama
A brief history of drama
Dramatic terminology
Introduction to Modern Drama, how
modern Drama is different from
Classical Drama
LECTURE 2
I. A general historical introduction about
Modernism as a literary movement/
II. The Social Significance of the Modern
Drama:
Discussion of the causes that lead to
Modernism/themes/functions of modern
playwrights/
Characteristics of the Modern theater
Contemporary social significance
Native Drama
Functions and Characteristics of Modern
Drama
The Role of Scandinavian Drama
Four cardinal sins of Modern Society
5
Ibsen’s Work
A CONCLUSIVE TALK ON THE DOLL’S HOUSE
LECTURE 3
LECTURE 4
PART I: Some Ground Rules to Study I. Plot Overview continued…
Drama
II. Characters and characterization
What Is Drama, Conflict, Rising and
III. Analysis of Major Characters
falling action , Plot – denouement,
Catharsis
Going Deeper- Meaning Making:
Themes, Subtext, Imagery, Symbol,
Metaphor, Allegory, Ambiguity,
Irony, Allusion, Archetypes
Analysis – Comprehension: 7-stages
Drawing Conclusion
PART II: Contextual Understanding
of The Doll’s House
Writer’s Background
A Doll’s House: Themes and
Structure
Plot Overview: A Doll’s House
6
A CONCLUSIVE TALK ON THE DOLL’S HOUSE
LECTURE 5
LECTURE 6
1. Critical Analysis of Major
Characters (continues…)
Torvald Helmer
Krogstad
Dr. Rank
Mrs. Kristine Linde
1. Analysis of Major Characters
(continues…)
Dr. Rank
Mrs. Kristine Linde
2. Themes
The Sacrificial Role of
Women
Parental and Filial
Obligations
The Unreliability of
Appearances
Nora’s Definition of Freedom
3. Motifs
Letters
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A CONCLUSIVE TALK ON THE DOLL’S HOUSE
LECTURE 7
LECTURE 8
1. Symbolism in The Doll’s House
2. Ibsen’s view about symbolism
The Christmas tree
Skylark
Toys
New Year
Door
Macrons
Title
3.Critical Analysis
social attitudes toward money
gender related attitudes in
relationships
Thought provoking aspects…
1. Critical Analysis (continues…)
Do we find characters’
development during the play due
to their life experiences they go
through…
Do you think Ibsen’s Doll’s
House is anther return to his
favorite subject, “the Social Lie
and Duty”?
II. Critical Analysis of Language
(Dialogues)
8
SEAN O’CASEY
‘Juno and the Paycock’
9
PART II
An Introductory Talk: An Overview of Juno and the
Paycock
Play’s Background
Settings
Plot
Characters
 Writer’s Life and Work
 The Play and its Social Significance
10
BACKGROUND TO THE PLAY
‘Juno and the Paycock’ is set in the 1920’s
during the Irish Civil War between
•the Republicans (Diehards), who wanted a
united Ireland, and
•the Free Staters, who were happy with Ireland
being split in two.
•The Free Staters accepted the Government of
Ireland Act of 1920, which established the Free
State of the 26 counties. Six counties remained
under British rule and this was known as
Northern Ireland.
11
BACKGROUND TO THE PLAY
This Civil War lasted until 1923 and was bloody
and terrible.
Families and neighbours fought against each
other and many lost their lives.
This situation is reflected in the play and its
pointlessness is highlighted through the
characters.
This futility is made all the more poignant
through references to past romantic heroes and
glorious episodes in Ireland’s past.
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(They all share just
two rooms)
SETTING
Johnny: ’Can’t you
do it then, without
letting the whole
house know you’re
taking off your
trousers.’
Mrs Boyle: He wore
out the Health
Insurance long ago,
he’s afther wearin’
out the
unemployment dole,
From the opening sentence of the
‘The living-room of
play, an impression
is formed of
a two-room
Poverty
the family’s
living
conditions.
tenancy
occupied
by the Boyle family
These
ideas
are supported further
Cramped living
in a tenement
conditions
house
in Dublin’
on in Act 1
Scene
1
Irish historical
background
Lacks privacy
Johnny: ‘Oul’ Simon
Mackay is Thrampin’
about like a horse
over me head,’
Various
references to the
fighting,
Diehards, the 13
Free State etc.
SETTING
‘Between the window and the dresser is a picture of the
virgin; below the picture, on a bracket, is a crimson bowl in
which a floating light is burning’
Idea of religion introduced
Mary: “The full details are in it this mornin’; seven
wounds he had-one entherin’ the neck, with an exit
wound beneath the left shoulder blade; another in the
left breast penethratin’ the heart, an’..”
Idea of Violence introduced
14
Rundown
house
Hanging
clothes
Anchor
Old sofa
15
PLOT
Four main strands are introduced in Act 1 and
develop throughout the play
16
PLOT DEVELOPMENT STRANDS
Johnny and his
involvements
with the diehards
Mary and
her
relationship
with
Bentham
Juno and
Boyle’s
relationship
The Will
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CHARACTERS
Juno
 Boyle
 Mary
 Johnny

 Minor




characters
Bentham
Joxer
Jerry
Mrs Tancred
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‘CAPTAIN’ BOYLE
A
Actor: Sean
Connery
lot of energy
 Light-hearted tone
 You think you know
it all
 Act as though you
have to explain
everything to Mrs.
Boyle
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 Avoid conflict in
scene at all costs
MRS. JUNO BOYLE
Smart woman with
strong opinions; act like
your opinion matters
 Let Mr. Boyle talk,
accept that he’ll say
something stupid
 Caring towards children
(Be concerned with
Mary’s flirtatiousness
and Johnny’s
hallucination)

Actress: Susan20
Sarandon
CHARLES BENTHAM
Embody the player/lady’s
man persona
 Have sneaky eyes
 Be well spoken and
confident
 Dress well
 You are refined and
seemingly above these
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people

Actor: Chris
Evans
MARY BOYLE
Shallow, vain way of
speaking
 Judgmental looks
towards everyone
 Be completely absorbed
in flirting with Bentham,
uninterested in political
and religious talk

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Actress: Lily Collins
JOHNNY BOYLE
Act uneasy, pace often,
shifty eyes
 When topic of ghosts
comes up, get defensive
and stutter through lines
 Pure horror at “sight” of
Tancred; you see it, no
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one else does

Actor: Joseph
Gordon-Levitt
WRITER’S LIFE AND
WORKS
24
Sean O’Casey (1880-1964)
•
•
•
1880 — 30 March: Born John Casey in Dublin, the
youngest child of a respectable Protestant clerk.
1886 — His father died, he became deeply devoted to
his mother.
1894 — Sent to work at fourteen
25
Sean O’Casey (1880-1964)
•
•
•
•
1906— Involved himself with Nationalist movements, as
Secretary of the Irish-speaking Gaelic League and a
member of the Irish Republican brotherhood.
1920—At forty, left home for the first time, disgusted by
his brother's drinking.
1919—His mother died. The Abbey rejected his first play
1924— Juno and the Paycock was an unprecedented
success at the Abbey. O'Casey was still a labourer, mixing
concrete.
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•
•
1927 –Married actress Eileen
Carey Reynolds (who played Nora
in The Plough and the Stars in
London).
1930 –Film of Juno and the
Paycock, directed by Alfred
Hitchcock, released. Copy of the
film burned in the street by Irish
nationalists in Limerick.
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Sean O’Casey (1880-1964)
•
1964
Lifted ban on Irish productions so that
The Abbey could present Juno and the
Paycock in the World Theatre Season in
London.
 18 September: died in Torbay.
 In his later years, O'Casey ceased
writing for the stage and put all his
creative energy into his highly
entertaining and interesting six-volume
Autobiography.

28
•
•
•
•
•
13th child in a Protestant family
Grim childhood, poor eye sight, and ill
health
Father—a clerk
Mother—raised her children alone
after O’Casey’s father died
Two of his most appealing characters
are created by his mother’s image.
The first Irish playwright to write
about the Dublin working classes.
29
Sean O’Casey’s Plays and Works
30
SEAN O’CASEY’S PLAYS
•
•
Early in his adult life — Gaelic
League and the amateur theatre
movement
Early forties — quick succession of
three realistic plays about the slums
of Dublin: The Shadow of a Gunman,
Juno and the Paycock, and The
Plough and the Stars.
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These three plays provoked public outcry mainly
because of O'Casey's consistent refusal to glorify
the violence of the nationalist movement, instead
mocking the heroics of war and presenting the
theme that dead heroes were far outnumbered by
dead innocent people.
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"All the world's a stage and most of us are
desperately unrehearsed." --Sean O’Casey
33
SEAN O’CASEY’S WORKS
•
•
•
Juno and the Paycock (1924) and The Plough
and the Stars (1926), probably O'Casey's two
finest plays. Both deal with the impact of the
Irish Civil War on the working class poor of
the city.
Juno and the Paycock was successfully filmed
by Alfred Hitchcock.
In 1959 O'Casey gave his blessing to a
musical adaptation of the play by American
composer Marc Blitzstein. The musical,
retitled Juno.
34
THE PLAY AND IT’S SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE
Society
Women
Men
Mothers
Relations
35
Juno and the Paycock
•
•
•
The paycock, or peacock represents the chaos that
Juno endures during the play.
In mythology, the name Juno is the Roman name for
Hera, the goddess of marriage, and the peacock is her
symbol.
The Boyle family:
- a working class family in their attempt to escape
their dilemmas
- alienated from each other
36
WOMEN IN JUNO
AND THE
PAYCOCK
Juno Boyle
- Breadwinner
- Realist in the family
- Showing her strength in adversity
Mary Boyle
-
On strike for her principle
Blinded by appearances
37
MEN IN JUNO
AND THE
PAYCOCK
Jack Boyle
- Idleness, a real cripple in life
“Mary is always readin’ lately –
nothing but trash, too..” (440)
“I’m hardly able to crawl with the
pains in me legs!” (440)
38
MEN IN JUNO
AND THE
PAYCOCK
Jack Boyle
-
Self-deception, talking with a
commanding and complacent gesture
e.g. “Chselurs don’t care a damn now
about their parents, they’re bringin’
their fathers’ gray hairs down with
sorra to the grave, an’ laughin’ at it,
laughin’ at it.” (440)
e.g. “Captain’s able to take care of
himself…” (441)
39
MEN IN JUNO
AND THE
Johnny Boyle
- Suffering from his
betrayal to his
comrade
- Showing no sympathy
to his sister
Joxer Daly
- Parasite
- Crawler
PAYCOCK
Jerry Devine
- Judging love from
material things
- Turing his back on
Mary when knowing
she’s having
Bentham’s baby
Charlie Bentham
- Bring fantasy and
disillusion to the Boyle
family
40
MOTHERS IN JUNO
AND THE
PAYCOCK
while facing the death of their sons:
Mrs. Tancred - despairing and anticipates her own
death
“O Blessed Virgin where were you when me darlin’ son
was riddled with bullets,…” (449)
Juno Boyle - hardy and resolute
“Ah, what can God do agen the stupidity o’ men!” (457)
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REVIEW LECTURE 9
PART I
A Conclusive Talk on The Doll’s House
PART II
An Introductory Talk: An Overview of Juno and the Paycock
Play’s Background
Settings
Plot
Characters
 Writer’s Life and Work
 The Play and its Social Significance
42
AGENDA LECTURE 10
1. Plot Overview
2. Genre
3. General Vision
4. Cultural Context
5. The play as reflection of social and personal
influences
6. The Play’s Title vs. context :reference and
relevance
7. Themes/Issues
Poverty
 Religion
 Reality and fantasy

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