Similarly, Hugh O’Neill in ‘Making History’ does not know he is. He is influenced by others about who he should be, but in fact, he does not know who he is, or who he should be. This is reflected in how O’Neill uses two accents. The use of two different accents indicates that his loyalties are split between two opposing countries, as well as the idea that he is split internally with who he should side with.
Biff’s father influences him in many ways - one of which is by encouraging him to focus on his sporting aspirations as opposed to his academic education. His father’s ideology of focusing on things that one is good at lives on through Biff. However, Biff, who is only partly influenced by his father’s ideas, is also influenced by his father’s actions. When Biff encounters the Woman and his father together in the motel, his world turns upside down and he realises that his father is not the man he thought he was. This then shows Biff’s struggle for his identity because everything his father – whom he was influenced by – was false. Meaning that the troubled teen has been living life so carelessly not knowing who to look up to and not knowing what he wants.
Even though Biff is angry with his father and tries to repel his father, he finds it hard not to allow his father’s expectations to get the better of him. Throughout the play, and particularly towards the end, Biff is beginning to cushion his father and lie to him. Biff’s prior defiance was fuelled by his anger, but the compliance is fuelled by his duty to be a good son. The struggle that Biff has is not with what his father wants, though that is strongly influencing him, it is to do with what he wants, and knowing himself. By the end of the play, his father has died and Biff can theoretically be free from the pressures. However, Biff’s epiphany, showing that following the ‘American Dream’ is not all it is cut out to be, implies that his struggle is still ongoing. Biff never really found himself with his father’s pressure, and still has not found who he is – therefore showing his struggle for identity.
On the other hand, O'Neill from 'Making History' is struggling to launch the Irish rebellion against the English. The character is torn through politics, his mind and his heritage. In the first scene, O'Neill's questions illustrate his mediation between opposing factions – he listens to both sides of the story. O'Neill's political adaptability is also illustrated by his two accents, his 'upper-class English accent' and his 'Tyrone accent'. However, O'Neill's questions also indicate his irresolution, and his susceptibility to influence and therefore making his struggle to define himself greater.
He speaks in a Tyrone accent when he is trying to assert his Gaelic identity, that Ireland 'is my country', and when he is expressing his strong feelings. O'Neill speaks in 'an upper-class English accent' in his public role, and when he wants to keep his feelings under control. O'Neill's two accents demonstrate his refusal to commit to both cultures, and his 'treachery' of both. The influence from his upbringing are present for O’Neill. His loyalty to his English education coincided with his loyalty to the Irish people. O’Neill expresses great emotion to his English upbringing by reminiscing about the land and saying how Sir Henry was ‘the only father I ever knew’, and that he was ‘closer to him and to Lady Mary than I was to O’Hagan who fostered me’. This monologue shows that deep down, O’Neill respects the English and feels obliged to be good to them. He also seems much closer to them than the Irish, showing an even greater struggle in defining which nation he should be loyal to.
O'Neill's marriage is a union of two people as well as two nations – England and Ireland: a political union. O'Donnell, an outside influence, sees this as a betrayal of Irish interests, as acquiescence to English tyranny. He describes the marriage as 'a class of treachery'. This provides O’Neill with a more induced struggle in that he now has to prove to the Irish that he is no more loyal to England than he is to Ireland.
Peter Lombard is the main influence on O’Neill’s struggle for identity. From the very beginning, Lombard enforces a task upon O’Neill to actually make history. This pressurises O’Neill into believing he has to become something that he is not. O’Neill, who is already torn through allegiances, is thrown into a new battle against what it means to be a hero. With Lombard, writing what he sees fit – meaning he is prepared to write a story about the truth instead of the real truth. This pressurises O’Neill to an extent that leads to his downfall by creating a hero that doesn’t exist.
Mabel is also an influence on O’Neill in that she is his main link to the English. He feels somewhat obliged by her to cooperate with them. His struggle comes from the way he feels obliged to do what his love (Mabel) wants, as well as what his country needs. By the end of the play, after Mabel has died, O’Neill has lost his connection with the English. Mabel could not only be seen as a symbol of unity between the two, but as a union between the two countries. As well as this it could be seen as a resolve for O’Neill’s struggle to obtain an identity containing both cultures. The fact she died, could be a metaphor for him losing any chance of gaining any identity that is related to both.
Overall, both plays have a struggle for identity, but Hugh O’Neill has a much greater struggle because Biff is somewhat resolved at the end and he can move on beginning to create a sort of identity for himself. Whereas O’Neill can never become anything other than a drunk – who doesn’t know who or what he is. O’Neill has the greatest struggle for identity and did throughout ‘Making History’.
