HISTORICAL RELATIONS BETWEEN IRELAND AND GREAT BRITAIN.

IRISH AUTHORS:
SEAN O´CASEY AND JAMES JOYCE

The present theme aims to provide an account of the historical relations between Ireland and
Great Britain. Particularly, we shall concentrate on the late Victorian period and the first half
of the twentieth century since it was the period in which Sean O’Casey and James Joyce
produced their works. This is reflected in the organization of the unit, which is divided into
three chapters: (1) a historical account of the relations between Ireland and Great Britain
throughout history; (2) the literary background of the time, that is, the late Victorian literature,
the birth of modern literature, and also the inter-War years; and finally, an analysis of (3) the
two Irish authors, Casey and Joyce. Then, we will be devoted to the main educational
implications regarding the introduction of this issue in the classroom setting. Finally, we will
offer a conclusion to overview our present study, as well as include all the bibliographical
references used to develop this issue.

We will start by providing an account of the historical relations between Ireland and Great
Britain, focusing on the late Victorian period and the first half of the twentieth century. As
seen in themes 50 and 51, under Victoria, a Britain transformed by the Industrial Revolution
became the world’s leading imperial power whereas under the following reigns Britain saw
the dismantling of its empire and, therefore, its decadence together with a period of
European conflicts, including the Irish question and the two World Wars.

The English have been in Ireland, both as peaceful settlers and conquerors since the 12th
century. By the sixth century B.C., Celtic invaders had established a cultural and linguistic
unity on the island. The introduction of Christianity, traditionally credited to St. Patrick,
occurred in the fifth century. Viking incursions in the ninth and tenth centuries influenced the
development of trade. The twelfth century witnessed the arrival of the Normans, who had
earlier settled in England and Wales. They quickly gained control over large parts of Ireland,
which then came under the political authority of the King of England. Before the arrival of
Henry II, Anglo-Norman adventurers had conquered a substantial part of eastern Ireland.
Under the Norman rule between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Norman invasion of
Ireland was very different from that of England a century before in three aspects: first, that
Ireland was not overwhelmed in just a few years as Britain was; that the newcomers
conquered the former Viking settlements and seized fertile lowlands; and finally, that
Normans did not conquer all the territory and left the mountainous regions and Ulster west of
the River Bann to the native Irish. Partly to avert any chance of Ireland's becoming a rival
Norman state, Henry took action to impose his rule. During subsequent years the
Anglo-Norman sphere in Ireland was extended. King John, his son, established there a civil
government independent of the feudal lords, and during the thirteenth century it became
more fully organized. The country was divided into counties for administrative purposes,
English law was introduced, and serious attempts were made to reduce the feudal liberties
of the Anglo-Norman baronage.

Already in the fourteenth century, the political history of England is characterized by a period
of violence and revolution, the fact that England’s sovereignty is nominal whereas Ireland is
left to herself, and the development of two different Irish societies as religion is concerned.
In the fifteenth century, Henry Tudor defeated and killed Richard III. A new phase began in
Irish history, as from this time English royal power began to recover. Unlike his father, Henry
VIII was determined to make himself the ruler of all of Ireland and therefore, named a lord
deputy to rule over Ireland who stayed there as a chief governor. Almost until the end of the
sixteenth century the Tudor monarchy vacillated between conciliation and conquest. Under
Elisabeth´s rule the complete conquest of Ireland became a strategic necessity when Spain
threatened to use the island as a means of challenging England from the west.

From the mid-16th to the early 17th century, crown governments had carried out a policy of
land confiscation and colonisation known as Plantations. Scottish and English Protestant
colonists were sent to the provinces of Munster, Ulster and the counties of Laois and Offaly.
These Protestant settlers replaced the Irish Catholic landowners who were removed from
their lands. In the seventeenth century, the government of James I was really interested in
the success of the Plantation of Ulster, not only as a way of paying debts acquired by
Elizabeth during her Irish Wars, but also to spread Protestantism and to secure the province
for the Crown. The departure of lords opened the way for the plantation of Ulster by a new
landowning class, which included Scots as well as Englishmen. The newcomers were mainly
from the Scottish Lowlands, and at first the English feared them almost more than they
feared the Irish. A general rising of the Irish in Ulster was almost inevitable. It took place in
October 1641, and thousands of colonists were murdered or fled.

The Catholic gentry briefly ruled the country as Confederate Ireland (1642–1649) against the
background of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms until Oliver Cromwell reconquered Ireland on
behalf of the English Commonwealth. Cromwell's conquest was the most brutal phase of the
war. By its close, around half of Ireland's pre-war population was killed or exiled as slaves,
where many died due to harsh conditions. As retribution for the rebellion of 1641, the
better-quality remaining lands owned by Irish Catholics were confiscated and given to British
settlers. Moreover, events such as the Reformation and fear of Ireland’s Catholic majority
made Charles I be more concerned to assert his royal prerogatives and to ensure allegiance
to the Established church, since most of Ireland was Protestant. Conflicts and rebellions
continued in the Ulster Plantation since it proved difficult for the British government to find
enough British to colonise Ireland, and the native Irish outnumbered the planters
everywhere, resentful at their losses and reduction in status. However, the English were not
successful in converting the Catholic Irish to the Protestant religion and the brutal methods
used by crown authority to bring the country under English control heightened resentment of
English rule. In addition, Irish exports were reduced by the Navigation Acts from the 1660s,
which placed tariffs on Irish products entering England, but exempted English goods from
tariffs on entering Ireland.

The eighteenth century coincided with the emergence of the Industrial Revolution in England
and all over Europe and the expansion of the British empire. With respect to Ireland, in the
late eighteenth century the cotton industry was established there with the help of protective
duties, and for a time there were successful large enterprises in the counties of Cork, Kildare
and Dublin. In the same period the first mills began in Belfast in the 1770s and this city
became the centre of the power production of yarn.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century things became worse since agricultural prices fell
steadily, the Irish countryside destitution increased and, on top of that, the domestic
industries in wool and linen declined in the face of competition from those of England, thus
Manchester, Leeds, Bradford and Belfast. Hence Dublin also failed to industrialise, though it
was once the second largest city in the British Empire, and could not therefore absorb
enough of the poor from the countryside. By then, Belfast had become the fastest-growing
urban centre in the United Kingdom but it too was incapable of taking in enough of the
destitute from central and southern Ulster, then the most densely populated rural area in the
British Isles. By the first half of the century, it was estimated that one half of the population
was dependent on the potato for survival. Belfast became the fastest-growing urban centre
but it was unable to take in enough population from central and southern Ulster. However, a
microscopic fungus affected the potato crops and caused a wave of famine, sweeping most
of the island. In addition, the country was hit by snow storms, and thousands of people died
of starvation. Eventually, it is estimated that about a million people died during the famine
and that another million emigrated to North America.

The early twentieth century and the Irish question are to be politically related to the
accession of Victoria’s son, Edward VII to the crown. He was replaced on his death by King
George V. During this period, Irish nationalism spread outwards and downwards and, as a
result, the majority of the population demanded some form of self-government. The
Protestants, a majority in the north-east, viewed this development with alarm, and when
Westminster agreed to a form of independence, the Protestants insisted on remaining in the
United Kingdom. When the census revealed the effects of famine and most emigrants
wanted to leave the country, some landlords charged money for assisted passages as a
rapid way of reducing poor rates and clearing scrap holders from their estates. As a result,
families were permanently dispossessed in the post-Famine clearances. The movement in
Ireland, now officially called the Irish Republican Brotherhood but better known as the
Fenians, spread rapidly amongst labourers, shopkeepers and others hard hit by the
successive harvest failures. The pressure on the land and living standards rose considerably
due to the effects of the earlier Great Famine and steady emigration. Rents failed to keep
pace with farm profits and Catholic churches erected. Invisible frontiers between ghettos
were constantly shifting due to the rapid growth of Belfast, and it was along these frontiers
that intense rioting occurred.

An umbrella separatist political party was created, called Sinn Fein, which means
‘ourselves’. Until 1917 Sinn Féin advocated a monarchy where Ireland and Great Britain
shared the same king, in the style of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. However, due to dissent
between monarchists and republicans, the party decided to promote the cause of
independence, leaving the Irish to choose, once this was obtained, to vote for the republic or
for the monarchy. Sinn Féin and the Irish Parliamentary Party were involved in an
inconclusive electoral battle, as they alternated winning some elections and losing others.
The balance finally tipped in favor of Sinn Féin when the British government tried to impose
a military conscription law, without considering the voluntary contribution that Ireland had
made to the British army. In a general election, Sinn Féin won 73 of Ireland's 105 seats.
However, the new MPs refused to sit in the British Parliament. Instead they met at the
Mansion House in Dublin establishing the Dáil Éireann or Irish revolutionary parliament.
They then proclaimed the Irish Republic and attempted to establish a system of government.
Sinn Fein rejected the scheme out of hand and continued to support the IRA in its military
campaign for a united Irish republic. The civil war was waged between the Provisional
Government of Ireland and the anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army (IRA) over the Anglo-Irish
Treaty. The Provisional Government (which became the Free State) supported the terms of
the treaty, while the anti-Treaty opposition saw it as a betrayal of the Irish Republic that had
been proclaimed during the Easter Rising. Eventually, the Unionists accepted the Act: the six
counties of Northern Ireland comprised the largest area that they could control without fear
that nationalists would gain a majority; and a home rule assembly in Belfast would give them
some protection if a future Westminster government sought to reunite the island. Other
events followed such as riots, campaigns and conflicts between the police and IRA, who
defended Catholic ghettos in Belfast and Derry and the Civil War. Finally, the period between
1939 and 1967 is one of war and peace as welfare reforms improved the quality of life.
Today, the three largest political parties in the Republic of Ireland, Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil,
and Sinn Féin are direct descendants of the opposing sides of the war; Fine Gael from the
supporters of the pro-Treaty side, Fianna Fáil the party formed from the bulk of the
anti-Treaty, and Sinn Féin, descended from the rump anti-Treaty and irredentist republican.

Now that we have provided the historical background of the period, we shall offer a literary
background for the Irish literary Renaissance in the interwar period. The periods are
characterized by the dominance of the novel as a vehicle for the sociological studies which
attracted most of the great artists of the period, and the rebirth of drama. Like the novelists,
most of the important dramatists were mainly concerned with the contemporary social scene,
and though, there are signs of a revival of poetic drama, and prose continues as the normal
medium. Spiritually the period saw the immediate post-War mood of doubt, uncertainty of
aim, and a deeper self-question. The main features of the inter-war periods are summed up
in five key concepts: the breakdown of established values because of the perplexity and
uncertainty which sprang from the post-War situation; the resurgence of poetry; the variety of
technical experiments in most literary genres thanks to the influence of radio and cinema
from the application of film techniques; and the speed of life, which demanded “for more and
faster action, stronger and more violent stimulus, and the general atmosphere thus created
which demanded calmness.

Broadly speaking, the hopes for a new world quickly disappeared in people’s minds after
World War I, which caused a general feeling of disillusionment and despair. Writers
witnessed how culture disintegrated with no positive values to replace it and soon they felt
the need for a new world, for a new outlook on life. The developments in poetic technique to
show a more realistic way to face the difficult years; the difficulty of modern poetry, the
combination of psychology and politics, the rise of surrealism and new traditionalism, and the
quest for stability being the main features.

As for drama, the situation of the inter-War years was deeply felt in the English theatre, and
therefore, in Ireland within the Irish Literary Revival Drama due to the conditions in the
theatre, the decline of realism, the development of comedy, the popularity of the history play,
the revival of poetic drama and the experiments abroad and at home. The decline of realism
takes place after the 1920s, that is, after realism and naturalism had dominated the work of
most English dramatists. Yet, the movement from realism is the keynote of the inter-War
period and is reflected in the greatest new inter- War dramatist, O’Casey. The development
of comedy caught the atmosphere of the late twenties and therefore was quite popular. The
revival of poetic drama is another development of the inter-War period which illustrates the
dissatisfaction with realism and the tradition of naturalistic prose dialogue. Expressionism
was the most influential experiment since drama was concerned not only with society but
also with man. It aimed to offer a deep, subjective, psychological analysis. In addition, the
expressionists threw the conventional structure in favour of an unrestricted freedom, full of a
mix between verse and prose, symbolic figures, embodiments of inner, secret impulses so
as to make clear the psychological complexities of character.

There is no doubt that the Victorian era was the age of the English novel. By the end of the
period, the novel was considered not only the premier form of entertainment but also a
primary means of analyzing and offering solutions to social and political problems. The novel
was regarded as an interpreter of life since it reflected the disillusionment, cynicism, despair,
and bewilderment in face of the crumbling of established moral values which characterize
the post-War world. There were novelists who attempted to replace the old values for new
ones; second, those who portrayed the complexities of inter-War life; and finally, those who
focused attention on the impact of life on the individual consciousness and on characters
rather than action. The most representative technique of this period is drawn from the
influence of psychology so as to present the mind of the characters: the stream of
consciousness, the use of the interior monologue, the detailed tracing of the association of
ideas, and an allusive style.

Moving on to the most outstanding authors, Sean O’Casey and James Joyce. Sean O’Casey
was born in Dublin, and worked as a labourer, living in the crowded tenements of Dublin’s
slums, which he describes so vividly in his early plays. With only three years of formal
schooling, he educated himself by reading. Its setting is the slum tenements of Dublin and it
is an unflinching study of the Anglo-Irish War of 1920, capturing well all the bloodiness and
violence of the struggle and the dangerous intensity of the lives of the participants, his
characters. The chief heroic character is a woman, as in Juno and the Paycock, an
infinitely more mature play, and his masterpiece. Again the setting is the Dublin slums: the
time now the civil disturbances. It is a vivid and intensely powerful play, in which rich, almost
grotesque humour covers yet emphasizes the underlying bitter tragedy.The resulting ironic
juxtapositions of the comic and tragic reveal the waste of war and the corrosive effects of
poverty. O'Casey's gifts were vivid characterization and working-class language, and though
he portrayed war and poverty, he wrote some of the funniest scenes in modern drama.
The Plough and the Stars, a tragic chronicle play dealing with the Easter rising, is equally
realistic in its exposure of the futility and horror of war. There is the same blend of grotesque
humour and deep tragedy. The word "paycock" is the Irish pronunciation of "peacock", which
is what Juno accuses her husband of being. The Silver Tassie, was refused by the Abbey
Theatre and failed on the boards, though some have described it as the most powerful
tragedy of our day. He gives an impassioned and bitter picture of the footballer hero
returning paralyzed from the trenches. It is of particular interest because here O’Casey
experiments with the mingling of the realistic and expressionistic types of drama. The
blending of prose and rhythmic chanted verse, gives tremendous power to the second act in
particular. His own experience enabled him to study the life of the Dublin slums with warm
understanding. His dialogue is vivid, racy, and packed with metaphor, and his prose is
rhythmical and imaginative. Comedy is seldom long absent, yet one can never forget the
grim, underlying sadness. He draws what he sees with a ruthless objectivity and an
impressionistic vividness of detail.

James Joyce was born in Dublin and was the son of middle - class Irish parents. In Paris he
studied medicine and thought of becoming a professional singer. During the War he taught
languages in Switzerland, and afterward returned to Paris, where he settled down to a
literary life, struggling continually against ill-health and public opposition to his work. Joyce's
attitude toward Catholicism has been described as an enigma in which there are two Joyces:
a modern one who resisted the power of Catholicism and another who maintained his
allegiance to its traditions.

Regarding his literary contribution, he used a straightforward narrative technique in his first
work, Dubliners, so as to achieve an objective, short story study of the sordid Dublin slums
though short stories depicting Irish middle-class life in and around the city in the early 20th
century. The result was a powerful written prose which, though simple, has a distinct
individual flavour. It is an account of a developing writer torn between the standards of an
ascetic, religious upbringing and his desire for sensuousness. Though the work is largely
autobiographical, the writer preserves a cool detachment in the precise analysis of his hero’s
spiritual life. The collection skillfully captures the everyday struggles and aspirations of its
characters and infuses the mundane with profound insights. Joyce holds up a mirror to that
identity as a first step in the spiritual liberation of Ireland. The stories centre on Joyce's idea
of an epiphany: a moment when a character experiences a life-changing self-understanding
or illumination. The initial stories are narrated by child protagonists. Later stories deal with
the lives and concerns of progressively older people.

The protagonist appears again in Ulysses, a study of the life and mind of Leopold and Mrs
Bloom during a single day. It is modelled on the Odyssey of Homer, but it is set in the
squalor of Dublin’s slums. Joyce claimed that if Dublin were to be destroyed in some
catastrophe, it could be rebuilt using his work as a model. There are parallel characters in
the two works, and the structure is in each case the same; these likenesses are deliberately
invoked to stress the sordid meanness of modern life as contrasted with life in the heroic
age. The ‘stream of consciousness’ technique and the internal monologue are used with
great power, and Bloom has been described as the most complete character in fiction. Joyce
claimed that if Dublin were to be destroyed in some catastrophe, it could be rebuilt using his
work as a model. The material is handled objectively and with a frankness that caused the
book to be banned as obscene: the style clearly shows Joyce’s mastery of language, his
ingenuity, brilliance, and power. Joyce's last work, Finnegans Wake, is a universal dream
about an Irish family, composed in a multilingual style and aiming at a multiplicity of
meanings; but although seemingly unintelligible at first reading, the book is full of poetry and
wit.

Among his novels’ features we shall examine his subjects, his technique and his style.
Joyce´s concern is human relationships –man in relation to himself, to society, and to the
whole race. Aware of the pettiness and meanness of modern society, and of the evils which
spring from it, he is unsurpassed in his knowledge of the seamy side of life. He is a keen and
subtle analyst of man’s inner consciousness, and, in common with the psycho-analysis of his
day, he is much preoccupied with sex. He was a ceaseless experimenter, ever anxious to
explore the potentialities of a method once it was evolved, and in his use of the ‘stream of
consciousness’ technique, and in his handling of the internal monologue. His sensitivity, his
depth of penetration into the human consciousness, give to his character-study subtlety.
Finally, his style has been defined as a change from an early straightforward and simple
writing to a complex, allusive and original one. In this latter, Joyce uses a broken narrative,
with abrupt transitions, the omission of logical sentence links and a new vocabulary. This
produces a pure writing which is often private in significance, that is, a writing in which words
are coined by the breaking up of one word and the joining of its parts to parts of other words.
His writing is often of great imaginative power and has a musical quality which enables even
his incomprehensible passages to be read aloud.

Now we have explored the main figures of this period, we will move on to the educational
implications. Nowadays there is a focus on literary production because of its consideration
as part of learning. Yet, what do students know about Irish literature and its main authors? It
may be approached in linguistic terms, regarding form and function and also from a
cross-curricular perspective. One of the objectives of teaching the English language is to
provide good models of literary productions, as reflected in the Spanish Educational System
(Organic Law 3/2020 and Royal Decree 217/2022). Moreover, nowadays new technologies
and the media may provide a new direction to language teaching as they set more
appropriate context for students to experience the target culture. Actually, O’Casey and
Joyce’s influence upon 20th-century literature was wide since most of their works have been
approached in terms of literature, plays or films. Therefore, in my lessons I teach the works
of these authors with the help of film adaptations such as James Joyce's Dubliners or
Ulysses through activities such as writing an alternative ending, representing a film scene
orally or reading comprehension activities using apps like Kahoot or Quizlet. The main aim is
to facilitate the study of cultural themes, as our students must be aware of their current
social reality within the English speaking countries.

So, on examining all this information we have addressed the historical relations between
Ireland and Great Britain so as to provide an overall view of the context in which these
authors lived and produced their works together with a literary background with the aim of
going further into the main literary features of the period. In doing so, we have established
an appropriate context for the two Irish authors, Sean O’Casey and James Joyce, where we
have linked their lives to history so as to understand the themes and style of their most
outstanding works. As we have seen, understanding how literature developed and is
reflected in our world today is important to students, who are expected to be aware of the
richness of English literature, not only in Great Britain but also in other English-speaking
countries.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alexander, M. 2000. A History of English Literature. Macmillan Press. London.
Albert, E. 1990. A History of English Literature. Walto-on-Thames. Nelson.
Sanders, A. 1996. The Short Oxford History of English Literature . Oxford University Press