Throughout Marina Carr’s Portia Coughlan it is clear that Portia is a woman who is infatuated by the events and misfortunes of her past. When we first meet her in the opening scene it is clear that she is a distressed and deeply haunted woman “whose legacy is rich only in horror” (Dean, 1997). Her past is haunting her marriage, her relationship with her children and her day to day life. The continuing ghostly presence of her long departed brother immerses her back into the past rendering her present life unimportant and somewhat of a burden. Throughout the play events from the past rear their heads and it is clear that “Portia is fighting blind against a past kept hidden from her” (King, 1997).
Throughout the play the Belmont River plays a central role in connecting Portia to Gabriel and the harrowing events of the past that consume her. The river flows through the characters’ lives and is the location of Gabriel throughout the entire play. Portia regularly seeks solace at the riverside, “land she fiercely claims as her family's own and the scene of Gabriel's suicide fifteen years ago” (Fitzpatrick, 1997). When she meets Damus Halion by the banks of the river she tells him “I come here because I’ve always come here and I reckon I’ll be comin’ here long after I’m gone. I’ll lie here when I’m a ghost and smoke ghost cigarettes and watch ye earthlin’s goin’ about yeer pointless days” (1.3). The river and drowning are regularly talked about by not only Portia but other characters in the play. Portia’s mother, Marianne makes reference to both when she visits Portia “And where’s your children? Playin’ round the Belmont River, I suppose. You be lucky they don’t fall in and drown themselves one of these days” (1.5). It is clear that it ...
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...it has been destroyed by the twins past actions and Portia’s inability to let the past be the past.
“Her twin, the murky depths of the river, the past, all conspire to claim her. And they do” (Gardner, 2004).
Works Cited
Carr, Marina. Portia Coughlan. Meath: Gallery Press, 1998.
Dean, Joan Fitzpatrick. "Portia Coughlan, and: The Steward of Christendom (review)." Theatre Journal 49.2 (1997): 233-236.
Dunne, Stephen. Portia Coughlan. The Sydney Morning Herald, 2010. (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/09/1047144866696.html)
Gardner, Lyn. Death becomes her. The Guardian, 2004. http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2004/nov/29/theatre
King, Robert L. Premieres and Adaptations. The North American Review 282.2 (1997): 48-52.
Maxwell, Margaret. ‘The Claim of Eternity': Language and Death in Marina Carr's" Portia Coughlan. Irish University Review (2007): 413-429
In Sandra Benitez’s novel, A Place Where the Sea Remembers, we get to know the lives and struggles of the residents of a small town in Mexico. Each character faces a conflict that affects the course of his or her life. The conflict I chose was the conflict that Marta was with her child and how her anger about the child made her do things she wished she could take back. It all starts with Marta and her sister. Marta is pregnant and thinks she can't take care of the kid so she wants an abortion. Then once Choyo Marta’s sister husband found out he insisted to take the kid once he is born. So then Marta decided to take care of the baby until it was born but then after time went by the husband of Choyo said that he wouldn't be able to take the kid because he was already going to have a child with Choyo. Once Marta was told this she let her anger get the best of her which then lead her to
James Joyce is praised for his distinct stylistic purpose and furthermore for his writings in the art of free direct discourse. Though at times his language may seem muddled and incoherent, Joyce adds a single fixture to his narratives that conveys unity and creates meaning in the otherwise arbitrary dialogue. Within the story “The Dead”, the final and most recognizable piece in the collection Dubliners, the symbol of snow expresses a correlation with the central character and shows the drastic transformation of such a dynamic character in Gabriel Conroy. The symbol of snow serves as the catalyst that unifies mankind through the flawed essence of human nature, and shows progression in the narrow mind of Gabriel. Snow conveys the emission of the otherwise superficial thoughts of Gabriel and furthermore allows for the realization of the imperfections encompassed by mankind. Riquelme’s deconstruction of the text allows for the understanding that the story cannot be read in any specific way, but the variance in meaning, as well as understanding depends solely upon the readers’ perspective. Following a personal deconstruction of the text, it is reasonable to agree with Riquelme’s notions, while correspondingly proposing that the symbol of snow represents the flaws, and strengths of Gabriel, as well as the other characters as it effects all equally.
Pellegrini, Ann. “The Plays of Paula Vogel.” A Companion to Twentieth-Century American Drama. Ed. David Krasner. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2005. 473-84.
In reading this story we find a woman tired of being a mother, a wife and of her life in general. "The sight of them made her so sad and sick she did not want to ever see them again" (35). Do you not see what she is thinking? They are sucking the life out of me. Why did I choose to get married? I could have been anything, instead I am the mother of this child and the wife of this man and am here to take care of their needs. Who will take care of my needs? She feels that she is some how letting herself ease away and needs to regain her identity. She soon isolates herself even more by moving into another room maybe thinking she will be able to find the part of herself she has lost. "She was a young queen, a virgin in a tower, she was the previous inhabitant, the girl with all the energies. She tried these personalities on like costumes" (38).
“In place of the real mother, Enright had observed that Irish Writing traditionally either appointed ‘the iconised mother figure’, or posited an absence” (Mulhall, 2011, p. 69). Secondly, Enright uses the Irish motherhood as a very significant role in the story and the readers could relate to...
Rose, Mary Beth. The Expense of Spirit: Love and Sexuality in English Renaissance Drama. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1988.
"One day he caught a fish, a beautiful big big fish, and the man in the hotel boiled it for their dinner" (p.191). Little did Mrs. Malins know that those words issued from her feeble old lips so poignantly described the insensibility of the characters in James Joyce's The Dead toward their barren lives. The people portrayed in this novelette represented a wealthy Irish class in the early twentieth century, gathered at the house of the Morkan sisters for an annual tradition of feast and dance. Although all of the personages had, at one point, a potential for a beautiful life, sad memories of the past and the despair that invaded Ireland had eventually boiled all true senses and desires into a dull stew, destined to rot. Of particular interest is Gabriel Conroy, whom Joyce singularly bestowed a gift of introspection, though that did not save him from becoming yet another of the living dead.
"Ricorso: A Knowledge of Irish Literature." Ricorso: A Knowledge of Irish Literature. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 May 2014.
...reversals that question the validity of that assumption. She believes that it is more important to recognize the fact that twins and other multiplies try to find ways to distinguish themselves from each other (p. 124).
His lack of education has deprived him of good manners as well as good sense. The scene itself initially seemed inconsistent with the rest of the play. The prejudice the women tolerate is evidenced by their tendency to dress in men’s clothing in order to be heard or considered (Olson). As women, their voices are inhibited or disregarded; they are overshadowed and overlooked by society. Portia, for example, has little choice but to consent to being the prize in her “loving” late father’s lottery.
She grew up alone, as her brothers ran away, living each day tormented by her thoughts and her family’s past. Her family’s past haunted her
Throughout the Merchant of Venice, while Portia is being courted. the reader can see that she does not like any of the suitors, except Bassanio. She finds a flaw in all the suitors and readers, as well, can see. the flaws in each as they present themselves to her. Her true love however, is for Bassanio
Everyone is deceived and believes Portia is truly a man therefore showing that she has the capabilities to exert the traits of a man. Portia is described as the “wise young judge” (IV, I, 228) and an “excellent young man” (IV, I, 252) by Shylock showing that he believes in the gender identity of Balthazar. Bassanio, Portia’s husband, is also fooled as he states that Antonio’s life is more valuable to him than Portia. Her credibility in turn gives her power over the men in the scene. She is able to use the balances of justice along with her knowledge in order to save Antonio. The turn in this scene is when she repeats, “A pound of flesh” (IV, I, 315) and states the specific words used in the document as no blood can be dropped from Antonio or else Shylock will be punished and strikes fear into Shylock. This shows that it is possible for a woman to obtain the masculine qualities of being powerful and intellectual. If Portia were to have not dressed as a man, but merely a woman, due to the social constructs of the time she would not have had any power in this situation. Portia tells Bassanio “I pray you, know me when we meet again” (IV, I, 432) which shows her feelings towards Bassanio not knowing her true identity, even through her disguise. Her actions were that of her individual, but due to her altering her appearance of gender it changed the way others viewed her
Keane, Patrick J. Yeats, Joyce, Ireland, and the Myth of the Devouring Female. MO: University of Missouri Press, 1988.
Logan, Thad Jenkins. "Twelfth Night: The Limits of Festivity." Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama. N.p.: Rice University, 1982. 223-38. Vol. 22 of Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. Rpt. in Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print.