What is the importance of Harry Hoveden

What is the importance of Harry Hoveden in Brian Friel's Making History? In making history, Brian Friel uses Hugh O'Neill to define the characters in the play, and the way in which his actions affect them gives the audience some characteristics to decide on the personality of particular characters. Harry Hoveden is obviously an important character in the play because he plays a major part in the play, and appears in most of the major scenes. It is also clear that he is important to O'Neill because he is often the one person he turns to in times of crisis. Harry is presented as a very loyal and sober character by, he serves to balance out some of the other characters almost like a buffer. His calm nature in times of distress or excitement contrasts with the brash and aloof persona's of other characters like O'Neill. As well as stabilizing the mood in the play as presented, if the play was reality, he would act as a soothing and calming presence to help particularly O'Neill. There is a direct link to his calmness and soothing nature in the comparison of him to dill. Every character in the play has a named link to a different herb or flower, an important concept in the play. And this acknowledgement of his nature by the other characters gives a reinforced idea of likeability. This calming and soothing effect also reflects on the audience because if he was not included,

  • Word count: 535
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Characters in the play Translations.

While Friel's small group of characters in the play Translations, hold stereotypical qualities and are all citizens of the rural Irish-speaking village of Baile Beag being affected culturally and personally by the Ordance Survey. Each character is carefully delineated with his or her own particular traits as well as being different representatives of particular views and beliefs. At first Sarah who is mute is seen as the stereotypical silent woman. Her loss of tongue and hence loss of identity is symbolic of the powerless, submissive female. "Which should I take Sarah" highlights the patronising, denigrating, and belittling attitudes towards females. Sarah is very much plays the role of society's expected female, "maybe you'd set out the stools," females are merely servants and slaves. However as the play precedes the audiences sees Sarah's developing individuality through her gestures, dress and actions. The name Sarah, maybe deliberately chose by Friel, refers to the Hebrew Sarah - mother of the nation, in this play's case the nation being Ireland. She is not just a mute village folk but also a representation of Ireland as a silenced voice, as it is a nation that does not speak the language of the colonisers. 'You were lovely last night, Sarah is that the dress you got from Boston, Green suits you." This further highlights Sarah's symbolism of Ireland seeing as green is

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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In Act One Mabel says 'I don't really understand the overall thing'. What contribution does she make to this 'overall thing' and do you think O'Neill is right in insisting that she has a central part in Lombard's history?

9/12/04 In Act One Mabel says 'I don't really understand the overall thing'. What contribution does she make to this 'overall thing' and do you think O'Neill is right in insisting that she has a central part in Lombard's history? When Mabel says 'I don't really understand the overall thing' she is referring to the ongoing disagreements between catholic Irish and English Protestants; and more specifically, Spain's contribution to the feud. Mabel makes a fairly smart and opinionated comment and then seems to retract it, playing down her comment as if she is worried of offending O'Neill and attempting to portray that she knows and understands less than she actually does. She speaks with a blatant purpose, using a blatantly honest statement and then retracts and plays down her comment, making herself appear an insignificant and stupid female. Perhaps Mabel does this to undermine her opinion in relation to O'Neill's; responding sensitively to the fact that both the characters know O'Neill is in a really difficult position and not wishing to seem to opinionated and nagging. Mabel had contributed considerably to 'the overall thing' that she speaks of in Act One; she has been the closest female character to O'Neill that he had ever known, this in itself is quite an accomplishment because, as Earl Of Tyronne O'Neill has a wide social circle and knows many people. For Mabel to

  • Word count: 1602
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Philadelphia here I come

Is the play 'Philadelphia, Here I Come' a comedy or a tragedy? The play 'Philadelphia, here I come' focuses on Gareth O'Donnell on the night before he is due to leave Donegal for America. There are two Gars; the Public Gar and the Private Gar. Public Gar is the one that he shows to the world; the Private Gar is the man within. The two converse freely, yet Public Gar is never able to see or look at Private. Throughout the play, there is much evidence to support the claim that the play is a tragedy. The running theme of the bad relationship between Gar and his father is undoubtedly tragic, and this is made worse by the fact that their problems are never resolved. Towards the end of the play we are brought tantalisingly close a reconciliation of feelings when Gar, clutching to the only good memory he has of his father, hopes that he holds the same memory of them fishing together. However, when he asks him about it, his father has no recollection and Gar rushes off. Had his father remembered, then Gar could have left in the knowledge that he and his father shared at least one good memory. The absence of this comfort would undoubtedly make it more difficult to leave, and the fact that his father had his own memory of Gar in the sailor outfit, and failed to share this, makes it more tragic. Even more painful for Gar, and a possible contributory factor for the bad relationship he

  • Word count: 1462
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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REVIEW OF ACT 1 OF BRIAN FRIELS MAKING HISTORY

REVIEW OF ACT 1 OF BRIAN FRIEL'S MAKING HISTORY The play Making History was set in a period when there was a visible culture clash between the Gaelic and English traditions. Brian Friel uses the characters of Hugh O'Neill and Mabel to portray this theme in Act 1. Both of them have experienced both sides of the ethnic war between the two seemingly diametrically opposed cultures. Act I was a build-up to the 'overall thing' and both characters had a part to play in the unfolding of events before the Battle of Kinsale. The first act portrays the different sides of O'Neill; there is the part where he is being portrayed as the powerful, influential Irish and European figure. This is clearly visible when both O'Donnell and Archbishop Lombard both contest for his attention when they visited. Both of them seemed to try to make it look like O'Neill taking sides with either of them was good for Ireland. In this case he was being projected by Brian Friel as the prominent Irish figure. There is also the part where he's portrayed as confused and distorted between the two cultures. His culture conflict is highlighted in Act 1 pg 34 when he shows how shaky his belief is about the 'overall thing'. It showed the side of O'Neill that still had a soft spot for the English. The presence of Mabel also helped Friel to expose this part of O'Neill. In his argument with Mabel over going to war

  • Word count: 811
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Account for the popularity of the play 'Translations' by Brian Friel.

Task: Account for the popularity of the play 'Translations' by Brian Friel. The play Translations was written by Brian Friel an Irish playwright and a founder of the 'Field Day Theatre Company' who, for their first production, presented 'Translations' in 1980. The popularity of the play was so that productions were the staged regularly within England and Ireland through out the 1980's but what was it that made the play so popular. Within the 1980's troubles had sparked within Northern Ireland, the horrific 'Bloody Sunday', civil rights marches and the formation of the terrorist group calling themselves 'The Provisional IRA' created a deeply divided nation. These political troubles echoed those of Irelands past when the divide between the protestant landlords and the Catholics who worked the land and were heavily taxed, like the occupants of Baile Beag in 1833, for this reason the play would have been of interest to audiences in the 1980's as a historic background to the current events. But the play was not historically correct although it was based loosely around historic fact there were major deviances for which the play was criticised. For instance the Sappers Yolland and Lancey who are mapping Ireland using English place names, although they may have been employed by the army to map the landscape they were not soldiers and would never have had the man power to destroy the

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  • Level: GCSE
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Explore how effectively the first six pages of 'making history' prepare the audience for an understanding of the character of O'Neill. To the audience the opening scenes, portray different sides of O'Neill's persona

Explore how effectively the first six pages of 'making history' prepare the audience for an understanding of the character of O'Neill. To the audience the opening scenes, portray different sides of O'Neill's persona which later become important, e.g. his preoccupation with the truth and the way he phlegmatically deals with certain issues. These aspects of his character are varied and although crucial at the end not so influential on the audiences perception of O'Neill. Hugh O'Neill, the main character, is introduced immediately to the audience as the high status leader of the Gaelic Irish. We of his importance because 'The archbishop Lombard' had to wait three days to see him and that many other high status characters would have his attention, for example 'The lord Deputy' or 'The Lord Chief Justice.' His importance is further later when we find that by the Irish he is referred to as 'The O'Neill' and that he was 'crowned upon the crowning stone at Tully-Hogue(later destroyed by the English to erase the Irish royal heritage) . In these opening moments we see O'Neill as a laid-back person who would rather tend to his flowers than attend to his duties as leader, although later we see how seriously he has taken his role, for example when talking to Mabel he says 'I have spent my life trying to do two things.... Holding together a harassed and confused people...maintaining a

  • Word count: 1037
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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