The Plough and the stars - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

The Plough and the stars

IntroductionSlide2

Characters

Jack

Clitheroe: (a bricklayer), Commandant in the Irish Citizen Army

Nora Clitheroe: his wife Peter Flynn: (a labourer), Nora’s uncle The Young Covey: (a fitter or person who assembles machinery), Clitheroe’s cousin and a socialist Mrs. Gogan: (a charwoman or cleaning lady)Slide3

Characters

Bessie Burgess: (a Protestant and a street fruit-vendor)

Mollser

: Mrs. Gogan’s child who suffers from pulmonary tuberculosis or, as it was known then, consumption. She struggles to breathe and is dying of her illness. Fluther Good: (a carpenter) Lieut. Langon: (a Civil Servant), of the Irish Volunteers

Corporal

Stoddart

: (a corporal in the British army – in the Wiltshire regiment) Sergeant Tinley: (a sergeant of the British army – in the Wiltshire regiment) Rosie Redmond: (a prostitute)Slide4

The Action of the Play

Act I: The living-room of the Clitheroe flat in a Dublin tenement

Act

II: A public-house (pub), outside of which a meeting is being held Act III: The street outside the Clitheroe tenement Act IV: The room of Bessie Burgess Time: Acts I and 2, November 1915; Acts III and IV, Easter week 1916. A few days elapse between Acts III and IVSlide5

SETTING

The

home of Jack and Nora Clitheroe.

It consists of two rooms of what was once a fine old Georgian house and is now a tenement building. It is obvious that someone has taken some trouble to try to make this humble home look a little elegant and refined. There are pictures on the wall and a bowl of flowers on the chest of drawers. Slide6

Dublin tenements: early 1900’s

Worst

Housing Conditions in Europe

There were extensive slums. The wealthy moved from city centre to suburbs and huge, red-brick Georgian houses in previously fashionable areas were taken over by the rent-paying poorSlide7

Poverty, Overcrowding and

Unemplyoment

In Henrietta Street, 835 people lived in only 15 houses

Dozens of families could live in a single house, most were lucky to have one room. Disease, malnutrition and filthy conditions prevailed.Most families depended on casual labour Unemployment was rife Families lived in extreme povertySlide8
Slide9

Sean

o’casey

: 1880 - 1964

Youngest of thirteen children, of whom only five survived Lower-class Protestant Father died and family had to move to a tenementThis is arguably O’Casey’s most famous play and is written as a criticism of the 1916 Rising. Slide10

Sean O’Casey

The play takes place during the 1916 rising

It actually includes looting from shops on O’Connell Street which is based on real events

In the play O’Casey is showing that most working class people in Dublin were more interested in surviving than unattainable political ideasSlide11

Controversy

The play was met by riots when it was first performed at the Abbey Theatre

Republicans saw the play as a great offence to those who fought and died in the 1916 rising

O’Casey refused to rewrite history to venerate the leadersJames Connolly had ordered his men to fire at looters during the

risingSlide12

controversy

Those who took part in the Easter Rising did not have the support of the people in the beginning. The fighting closed down the city and food became scarce. Many civilians were killed and buildings were destroyed. A lot of looting took place immediately after the Rising as well. In many cases, the Rising left people worse off than they were before. 

However, public opinion changed. When fifteen of the leaders were executed people changed their minds and started to support the idea of independence from Britain. O'Casey's play is quite critical of the Rising and this is why it caused riots when it was first performed, ten years after the Rising. Slide13

The plough and the stars flag

The Plough and the Stars was the banner of the Irish Citizens Army. James Connolly, co-founder of the Irish Citizen Army, said the significance of the banner was that a free Ireland would control its own destiny from the plough to the stars. The flag depicts the constellation of

Ursa

Major, known as The Plough and the Stars in Ireland and Britain. Ursa Major is one of the most prominent features of the night sky over Ireland throughout the year.Slide14

What was life like then?

For

the unskilled workers, Dublin in the early 1900s was a city of extreme poverty, unemployment, poor housing conditions and a high mortality rate. The fact that the population was increasing at the time only made the situation worse. A family like the

Clitheroes, with three earners and no children, would have been very unusual at the time. Slide15

What was life like then?

By 1914, Dublin’s death rate was the fifth highest in the world. The main causes of death were: poor clothing leading to exposure in bad weather, insufficient food for children, overcrowding,

tuberculosis

and malnutrition. Slide16

What was life like then?

Acts I and II of the play are set in late 1915. At this time World War I was been fought in Europe. This affected Ireland greatly. Firstly, over 150,000 men went to fight in the British army. Secondly, Home Rule was put on hold, which meant that Ireland now had to wait for its own government.  Slide17

What was life like then?

Acts III and IV are set during the week of the Easter Rising in 1916. There was a minority of people in Ireland who wanted complete separation from Britain. They saw World War I as an opportunity to attack Britain and gain independence for Ireland. Patrick

Pearse

was the leader of these people. He appears in Act II as “the figure in the window.” He believed that Irish people should make a “blood sacrifice” to win freedom for Ireland. Slide18

A Love Story

Though this play is politically charged it is important to remember

that "The Plough and the Stars" is not just a political play. It is also the story of Nora's love for her husband, Jack Clitheroe, and how the Rising separates

them.Slide19

The Sleeping

venus

: Nora’s paintingSlide20

Jack’s Song: Norah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9QXll1kwxshttps://www.youtube.com /

watch?v

=B9QXll1kwxs