What is the importance of Harry Hoveden

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, the play would be a lot more negative and the audience would be more likely to feel insecure about the flow of the play. His character contrasts so much with most of the other characters that it adds diversity to making history. It makes some scenes more interesting because of the presence of this calm and obviously intelligent character and his political soundness can mock characters like O’Donnell. When compared to characters like O’Donnell Harry is a very likeable character and appears as someone to be trusted and relied upon.

Brian Friel also uses him and his overwhelming loyalty towards O’Neill to show a weakness in O’Neill’s character. O’Neill uses Harry to portray certain characters via contrast and particularly O’Neill by the way he treats Harry. It often appears that O’Neill takes Harry for granted showing another side to his character that can be thought of as weakness. Also the fact that whenever O’Neill puts Harry down he regrets it almost immediately shows that O’Neill is insecure and sometimes does not think before he speaks, so Brian Friel uses Harry to show a very important side to O’Neill that could have affected his judgment during the wars he fought and led.

Harry is also an expositional character, and Brian uses him to expose different parts of the storyline as well as his own past and other characters past’s. For example Harry is the character that introduces O’Neill’s English background, and the fact that it was Harry and not O’Neill that exposed this shows a certain integrity about Harry and a lack of it in his ‘master’ O’Neill.