Sean O'Casey, Juno and the Paycock

- 1880: Born in Dublin slums to a Protestant family

- 1883: Father dies; self-educated at home owing to an eye disorder

- 1913: General strike

- 1916: Easter Rising; Nationalists occupy strategic points in Dublin to protest British rule; main leaders are executed

- 1919: Irish Volunteers (now IRA) begins “War of Independence”

- 1920: “Bloody Sunday”--The Black and Tans (decommissioned Brit. [and Irish] WWI officers sent to police) open fire at a Dublin crowd watching a Gaelic football match

- 1922: Ireland becomes a Free State

- 1922: Civil War (now known as the "Troubles") between Republicans and Free State supporters

- 1923: Works as a laborer; The Shadow of a Gunman at the Abbey Theatre

- 1924: Juno and the Paycock at the Abbey Theatre

- 1926: The Plough and the Stars at the Abbey Theatre; Juno performed in NYC

- 1927: The Silver Tassie rejected by Abbey Theatre, and O’Casey permanently emigrates to England after a row with Yeats

- 1929: Juno produced as Hitchcock’s first “talkie”

- 1937-49: Free State abolished and Eire founded; Ireland remains neutral in WWII

- 1949: Republic of Ireland

- Through 1950s: Lesser acclaimed plays and poetry

- 1964: Dies in England

- 1972: Escalation of the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland

(North) Dublin Slang and British Isles-speak in O’Casey

Angelus: call to prayer twice a day (noon and 6 pm)

aw rewaeawr (96): au revoir

beyant: beyond

chiselurs (83): children, young people

Co.: County (similar to an American ‘state’; our counties are more akin to Irish parishes)

Easter Week (71): Easter Rising 1916

Fenians: Irish nationalists

Free Staters: Compromised to have an Irish “Free State” by seceding Northern Ireland to Britain (currently: Fine Gael)

gawn (111): go on (and do it)

O’Connell Street: Major street in Dublin and site of many uprisings

Novena: Virgin Mary festival lasting a month

Parnell (87): Irish political leader brought down by the Church in a sex scandal

Paycock: peacock

Republicans: Refused to compromise Nothern Ireland and insisted on having Ireland’s 32 counties in one country (currently: Fianna Fáil, Sinn Fein)

snug: Booth at a bar

Soggart (100): priest

Wicklow (87): county north of Dublin

Whisht (144): be quiet

1. How is death represented?

2. Some critics, such as J. L. Styan, have suggested that O’Casey made a “fatal miscalculation” in ending the tragedy as he did (174-75, 263); the Boyle’s actions supposedly undermine the emotional impact of Juno’s final prayer. Do you agree or disagree? Is the ending of the tragedy a “fatal miscalculation” or not? Why or why not? 

3. What is the role of education and literature in the play? How does it shape characters?

4. What is O’Casey’s message about war and violence? How do people manage to ‘rationalize’ and live through civil war?

Styan, J. L. The Dark Comedy: the Development of Modern Comic Tragedy. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1968.