In The Shadow of the Glen Essay

In the shadow of the Glen was written by J M Synge in 1914. Even before it was sh stimulate to any luggage compartment it ca determinationd arguments within the Irish Society because some people thought the play was shocking and disloyal and was an insult against Irish wo patchhood. The main calculate of the play was to celebrate Irish culture and Irish writers but it contactmed to turn against Synge.In the shadow of the Glen hire four main founts in it. Nora Burke is the only female in the play and is very(prenominal) seductive and flirtatious. He is the wife of Dan Burke who was a farmer and a shepherd. There is Michael Dara whom has a small part in the play yet has an important voice. He comes crosswise to the hearing as young and naive. And the last is the pluck that represents the au lose itnce and bes of Dans plot and similarly knows of secondary characters like Darcy. He is shown as a good character that takes to help people.Nora is a character that has a affinity with every ace. She has a relationship with her husband, a relationship with the meander whom she invites in her dwelling house and talks to pole-to-end the play and she has a relationship with Michael Dara, a young shepherd whom she wants to marry. She too has relationships with the secondary characters such as Darcy a man that was in her emotional state and had made her happy when she was only(a). She has a relationship with Mary Brien and Peggy Cavanagh, whom she refers to near the end of the play and they probably spent their childhood together.In the beginning Nora is presented as a lonely character whose husband has just died. She is middle cured and has had a bad marriage with her husband. She has had an affair with a man called Darcy and never loved Dan. What way would I live, and I an old woman, if I didnt marry a man with a bit of a farm, and kine on it, and sheep on the back hills? in this quote you can see that she only got married to Dan for land and security .In the play when the scene is set, Nora is pitiable or so the kitchen lighting candles on the table which sets a romantic style for when Michael comes when a knock is heard on the door. It makes her jump and she looks at the un readyed body of her husband uneasily. She thus opens the door. This opening scene pulls you into the story, as you want to know why she has candles on the table and why she looks at the body uneasily and why there is a dead body in the kitchen. You want to find out the answers to your questions. In this part of the play Nora comes across to the sense of hearing as suspicious as she is continually looking at the body with troubled looks.Nora invites the tramp that is knocking at the door into her house and gives him whisky and tobacco. She comes across as being flirtatious towards the tramp and as if she is trying to get something from him.The tramp sees the body and comments on Dans sissy look, which Nora then jokes astir(predicate) He was always qu eer, stranger, and I suppose them thats queer and they living men will be queer bodies afterward. She isnt vicious about his ending and treats it as a joke. This unsettles the audience and the tramp. In this situation Nora should be sad and maybe tearful. She would non baffle let the tramp in, or if she did then she wouldnt have utter to him much, and just given him what he asked for. Nora then tells the tramp that she cant move or impact the body as he has tramp a black curse on her. This also comes across as suspicious and raises questions in the audiences senses.It comes across that they have been having problems for he lay a black curse on me this morning if Id touch his body the time hed die sudden, or let anyone touch it except his sister only one question in the audiences mind at this point would be why would he only let his sister touch him and non his own wife? This fits in with why Nora is not very sad about Dans death. Nora then supports this thought by commen ting on Dan being cold towards her and that he was a horrible person that complained with this quote, mayhap cold would be no sign of death with the like of him, for he was always cold, every day since I knew him and every nightIt seems to the audience and the tramp that she is sad that they were never loving towards each other and it raises some other question in the audiences mind that maybe she was regretting it. She then lightens the mood and offers the tramp the whisky and Dans pipe. The tramp and Nora get public lecture and Nora tells the tramp that she is sacred of being completely, Im esteeming many would be afeard, but I never knew what way Id be afeard of beggar or bishop or of any man of you at all Its other things than the like of you, stranger as if you were easily afeard. The question then in the audiences mind is does she want something? or is she indicating something?The tramp then talks about Darcy, and Nora, who we know later has an affair with Darcy, is intere sted in what the tramp has to say about him, and enquires about him. The tramp then describes when and where he met Darcy and how he got to know him. When he tramp talks about Darcys death Nora shows some sad emotion and speaks sorrowfully. This shows she is sadder about Darcys death then her own husbands. She looks at the bed and speaks more quietly to the tramp about after Darcy died she got happy again. This indicates she is having another affair and that she cannot talk about Darcy well-nigh Dan, even if he is dead. This portrays Nora as being an unfaithful wife to Dan as she was having an affair with Darcy whilst he was animated and having one in his last a couple of(prenominal) days or months.She changes the subject and asks if there was anyone else on the road. When the tramp tells her a young man was running after his sheep Nora gives a half pull a face and is intrigued. She asks about how far he was as if she wanted to support him. She fills a kettle and puts it in fire to make some tea as if she is expecting someone. We know she is not making tea for the tramp as he has his whisky. So this proves she is expecting someone. She asks the tramp to interference with Dan. We now know this was why she was coquette with him and giving him their best whisky and cigars. In line 42 Nora speaks in constraint as if she was holding back some enthusiasm to meet the young man but the tramp is uneased and wants to go himself. He doesnt want to be left alone with the dead body. He continually looks at the dead body after Nora has gone and when she goes he tries to sop up his mind with sewing.After Dan jumps up we know that Dan is trying to trick Nora and that he is very bitter about Noras affair with Darcy. We know this as in line 57, the stage instructions tell us that Dan should bitterly say Darcys name. In the stage directions it is said you hear a long whistle from outside. This is Nora attracting the young mans attention. Dab hears this and speaks feroci ously in an ashamed way about his wife. He then takes a stick and then goes back to being dead. In this scene where Dan is alive the audience sympathise with Dan, as Nora is not sad about his death and very excited about meeting Michael.When Nora enters the house with Michael, Nora asks about Dan and if he made any sign of being alive. This may be because she suspects Dan of not being dead or just because she is being polite. The tramp lies, as he wants to see what will happen next. Nora then tries to get the tramp to leave the 2 alone and flirts with him a little by inviting him to use the bed, which could indicate something, will you go into the little room and stretch yourself a short while on the bed. But the tramp pretends to go to sleep nearby so he can hear. Michael is jealous of this and challenges the tramp a little.Once the tramp is asleep, Nora teases Michael and asks him why she should marry him. She is playing catchy to get and in line 88 when she says, Its a solid w oman I am to please this day, Michael Dara, and its no lie I am telling you. She tells him about not wanting to be alone and that she wants to be secure and safe. During this time Michael is counting out money. This can be for two reasons one to get more money or two to have an rationalise for marrying Dan. This may be because she feels ashamed of herself and tries to find an excuse to make herself feel better. She aimlessly talks about money and not wanting to end up like a tramp roaming around streets and Michael is trying to console her. She is tempting him with whisky when Dan wakes up. Michael puts arm around her as if he is trying to prove himself when Dan sneezes.Michael is then very scared and begs for forgiveness. When Dan wants to blur Nora out he can only offer a haunt but not at his house. At this Nora is very scared a she would be alone and starts to flirt with Dan. This could be because she thinks if she flirts with him and shows him that she loves him the he would let her stay with him. But when this doesnt work she curses him. This shows that she is using him and that she doesnt love him. At the end the tramp to help Nora and they walk out.Nora does not enjoy the idea of not living in a house with no jacket over her head as she explains to the tramp, Im thinking its myself will be wheezing that time with lying down chthonic the Heavens when the night is cold, and that she does not appreciate the tramps rendering of the magic of a grand morning when she describes to the tramp What good is a grand morning when Im destroyed surely, and I pass out to get my death walking on the roads. Nora obviously found her punishment unfair as she thought Dan was dead. She did not to be lonely and financially unstable so she acted on this thought alone.I think the writer presented her character well as it was a hard role to write. She had a lot of emotions, which were hard to display, but the point was clear.