The next character to enter is Maire. She is a strong-minded, strong-bodied woman in her twenties and has curly hair. She has a small can of milk; this is the way that she would pay for the tutoring. Straight away you feel that there is something between Manus and Maire as it says that, ‘Manus stands awkwardly, having been caught kissing Sarah and with the flowers almost formally at his chest’. Sarah also feels intimidated by Maire and because of this she closes up to the people around her. Maire ignores Manus when he asks her a question and goes over to Jimmy. They have a conversation that has comical flirtations. Maire tells Jimmy the one phrase that she knows in English, ‘In Norfolk we besport ourselves around the maypoll.’ This is the first point in the play that the audience realise what is happening, that the characters are speaking Irish but the audience are hearing it translated. Manus tells Maire that it is Maypole instead of maypoll. She ignores him again; you can see that there is tension between them from the way that she is acting towards him. Jimmy then goes on to say that the word he knows is ‘bo-som’.
Maire finally talks to Manus when he gives her a bowl of milk. Manus talks to her about Biddy Hanna, this speech that he makes is a representation of Irelands ignorance, they are not aware of political implications. He says what the letter had in it, what Biddy Hanna writes in the letter expresses her mind and attitude towards Ireland and England. ‘The aul drunken schoolmaster and that lame son of his are still footering about in the hedge-school, wasting people’s good time and money.’ Maire laughs at this even thought it would be harsh to Manus as what was in the letter was an insult towards him.
There is more friction between Manus and Maire when they are talking to each other. Doalty and Bridget enter noisily, both of them are in their twenties. Doalty is holding a surveyor’s pole. He is open-minded, openhearted, generous and a slightly thick young man. Bridget is a plump, fresh young girl and has a countrywoman’s instinctive cunning. They represent young Ireland that needs preserving and is very loving. When Doalty enters he does an imitation of the master, ‘Vesperal salutations to you all.’ He is a practical joker and brings comedy to the play. Bridget and him keep doing impressions of the master and how he speaks, they are mocking him. Doalty turns things that are serious into jokes, ‘They took the bloody machine apart!’ Manus is against the English and he is expressing approval in what he thinks the Donnelly twins did, maybe he understands terrorists. Also when he says, ‘Just to indicate…a presence.’ Shows that maybe it is hard for the Irish to be noticed.
When Manus feels that the master is not going to turn up he tells everyone to move to their seats so they can begin the lesson. Doalty goes to the bucket of water and washes his hands and Bridget sets up a hand-mirror and combs her hair. She asks if anyone knows what the name of Nellie Ruadh’s baby was as it was christened this morning. The significance of this is that a giving a child an identity gives it a place in the community. The whole play is about names and identities so this is significant.
Doalty changes the subject of what everyone is talking about to tease Jimmy as he says, ‘He heard you know the first book of the Satires of Horace off by heart…’ Jimmy’s knowledge of Greek and Latin is very good, even thought he is always relating his Greek to everyday matters. He is using ancient literature to live his life.
Manus asks if the Donnelly twins are coming, this is important as they are referred to throughout the play. They have sinister characters and they are subversion against the British government and British rule. Doalty says that he hasn’t seen them about these days. After he says this he begins whistling and the atmosphere suddenly goes silent and alert. It goes silent because of the mention of the Donnelly twins. When Doalty goes silent it is unlike his character and he starts giving short uninformative sentences afterwards. The Donnelly twins are the most serious characters we have met, as they are early political terrorists.
Maire tells Manus that she has a map of America and that the passage money came last Friday. This shows that she wants to leave Ireland and move to America where she thinks she will have a better life and will escape poverty. Manus reacts in a way that shows he cares about Maire; he doesn’t want her to leave. She asks if he had applied for the new job yet in a new national school. He says no, maybe he says this because he wants to preserve the identity of Ireland. He stops talking as he sees that Sarah is listening into the conversation they are having, he obviously has feelings for her. Maire starts the conversation up again; this is the first time in the play that a conversation has hit personal level. Maire does not know why Manus would not want to apply for this job as it pays £56 a year. Both Manus and Maire are very close to one another; however there seems to be a lot of friction. He says that his father applied for the job; Manus should go for the job but he is afraid of humiliating his father, this shows that he is very respectful to him.
Maire drops the subject and starts talking to Bridget, she says ‘the sweet smell was everywhere.’ They believed that this was what they smelt before the potatoes went stale. They are talking about the potatoes that are in season. The potato blight hasn’t taken place yet however potato famine may be on the way, they are aware of this.
Doalty changes the subject back onto the new national school and how he could be the new boss of it, ‘do you fancy my chances of boss of the new national school.’ He then goes on to mock Jimmy’s intelligence, ‘Agh, g’way back home to Greece, son.’ When they are talking about the new national schools Bridget says that every subject will be taught in English, this means that the new national schools will kill out old Ireland. The English will replace old Irish and ancient languages, hence the Irish community will die out.
Sarah makes a grunting noise that tells everyone that the master is coming. The atmosphere changes that suggests that Hugh is much harsher than Manus. They all start to run about to get in the right place and make it look like they have been working. Hugh is a large man, with a residual dignity, shabbily dressed, carrying a stick. He has drunk a large amount of alcohol but is not drunk. He is in his early sixties. Hugh represents the bankrupt state of Ireland and he represents the past. Like him Ireland has fallen into disrepair. After taking the register he apologies for his lateness as he was at a christening. He hands his stick to Manus as if he were a footman; this shows that he takes Manus for granted. He tells them that the babies name was Eamon; this shows you who the father is.
Hugh starts asking questions and expects the answers to be answered rapidly, but when they are not he gives a response of ‘too slow.’ This gives the impression that he is intelligent but very pompous. He then asks the pupils for translations of Irish words into Latin. Hugh is being derogatory about English; he says that it’s only good for doing business.
Maire believes that they should all be learning to speak English instead of Latin or Greek; this creates confusion between the characters. Maire knows it is better to embrace modern society as opposed to the masters clinging to antiquity. Maire then tells everyone that she needs to learn English as she is moving to America as soon as the harvest is all saved. Hugh ignores Maire saying this and just carries on teaching as he was before.
Owen is the next character that we meet. He is the youngest son of Hugh, a handsome, attractive young man in his twenties. He is dressed smartly as a city man. His manner is easy and charming; everything he does is invested with consideration and enthusiasm. Everyone knows Owen when he enters the school. They all hug him and kiss him. He is very genuine towards all of them, he goes up to his father and puts his two hands on his shoulders and asks how he is. He hugs him warmly and genuinely. Hugh’s eyes are moist – party joy, partly the drink. He then sees Manus and walks up to him with his arms outstretched. He says how nothing has changed, ‘I come back after six years and everything’s just as it was! Nothings changed! Not a thing!’ Owen is representing something different. Owen then talks about the ‘Big day.’ As no one knows what the big day is this creates suspense as the audience will want to know what he means and he quickly changes the subject.
Owen asks his father if he had seen the British soldiers working in this area, one called Lancey. He says that he is a cartographer; he starts to play a game to get everyone involved in what he is talking about. Owen is asking questions like Hugh does, saying that people are ‘too slow’ in answering the questions. In a way this shows that Owen is like his father and can take charge. By asking all these question Owen has made everyone feel that the strangers that he is about to bring in are welcome.
When Owen is about to leave to bring the people in he tells his father that he is ‘on their pay-roll’. Manus ignores what Sarah says as he wants to know if Owen had enlisted. Owen says no and explains that his job is to translate the Irish names into English. Manus talks to Maire about her leaving for definite. She says that she does not want to talk about it now, but then goes on about how Manus was talking to her about getting married without even having a good, steady job. Maire sounds like this has been inside her for along time and just wants to tell Manus how she feels. It sounds like she really does want to marry Manus but too much is going on for her to. You can feel that the tension has been building towards them for a while.
Maire moves away from Manus and Owen enters with Lancey and Yolland. Lancey is a middle-aged, small and crisp officer. He is an expert in his field as cartographer but uneasy with people, especially civilians. Yolland is in his late twenties; he is tall and thin and has an awkward manner, a soldier by accident. Hugh greets the soldiers as he has already met them before.
When Lancey goes to speak he has a very arrogant English attitude and thinks that the Irish should understand the English. ‘He speaks as if he were addressing children.’ This is because he thinks the Irish life is more primitive as they are less intellectual than the English. He has to talk down to them; this is very patronizing, as he makes no attempt to speak in Irish. When Owen translates what Lancey is saying he does not translate it word for word but simplifies it, as it would be useless to translate it fully as it would not appeal to them, he is making it sound better.
Maire speaks in Irish so the English soldiers cannot understand her; Owen once again translates what she says wrong to make it sound better than it is. He is part of misleading the locals like the English are doing. This makes you wonder where his loyalties are. Yolland wants to learn Irish and thinks that their countryside is very beautiful. He is a very romantic character and is falling in love with Ireland; he is very different to Lancey. The British soldiers call Owen Roland. He is happy to be called this, to the British he is Roland and to the locals he is Owen. This shows that he is very two faced.
Hugh is now drunk and is holding onto the edge of the table so he does not fall over. He is acting very forward and kind towards the soldiers saying that he is happy to offer friendship to them. Manus asks why Owen is not translating what Lancey is saying properly. Manus knows Owen is relying on defense of ambiguity to justify his deliberate falsification of Lancey’s words.
Owen does not see that there is anything wrong with Lancey and Yolland both calling him Roland. It is ironic because they want to change the Irish place names into English, ‘Easy, man, easy. Owen – Roland – what the hell. It’s only a name. It’s the same me, isn’t it? Well, isn’t it?’ This shows that Owen does not care about what he is called and about Ireland as he does not mind changing the names into English.
