The Shadow of a Gunman: Class Struggle, Revolution and its Dimensions ظل حامل البندقية: الصراع الطبقي، الثورة وأبعادها

أبو جوده, عيسى خليل يوسف (2019) The Shadow of a Gunman: Class Struggle, Revolution and its Dimensions ظل حامل البندقية: الصراع الطبقي، الثورة وأبعادها. Masters thesis, جامعة الشرق الاوسط.

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Abstract

Much has been written about the interplay between authority and the use of dystopian drama and novels. The mechanism of power and the way it is employed are a perfect recipe for the brewing of the spirit of rebellion in case man, the legitimate target of power loses his rights. Freedom and the pursuit of it make the rightful alternative to the suppressing policies especially when foreign powers are involved as the custodians of oppression, as is the case with Sean O'Casey, the Irish playwright who, like his fellow citizens, at the turn of the twentieth century, felt the full weight of the time-old conflict with the British Government. The Shadow of a Gunman, O'Casey's play and the subject of this study looks into the concept of identity in the labyrinth of power, interests, values and their legitimate offspring, resistance and eventually class and ethnic conflicts. The play gives a dystopian image by focusing on a profile of the Irish events and Easter uprising in 1923. The study aims to investigate the multi-integrated concepts of identity. The sample of the study is the first play of Sean O'Casey's most known as Dublin Trilogy which is The Shadow of a Gunman (1923) an absurd, dystopian and tragic - like play. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, two methods have been conducted, namely: the descriptive and the qualitative method. Characters, incidents and symbols of The Shadow of a Gunman that represent resistance and power have been analyzed. This research has classified the concept of authority (power) and man who embodies the idea of (resistance) in Ireland, the country that was stricken by political and social turmoil as a result of the religious, ethnic and sectarian conflict against the British presence. The thesis shows how the unjust coercive power of the British Empire and how it uses such disciplinary political attitude like surveillance and street executions intimidate people into submission. On the other hand, the research exposes the nationalist characters like IX Donal Davoren the poet who represents the negative behavioral forms and dark side of resistance. In addition, this research sheds the light on such concepts of resistance approached by the revolution in general and the Irish the uprising occurred in the form of uproars and rebellion which was intensified due class-struggle. Casey's The Shadow of a Gunman, in this respect, is a form of literary resistance to help document an important period of Irish history. Keywords: Dystopian drama, class struggle, Irish Revolution, resistance, tragic drama, Irish War of Independence.

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