Unity of Theme, Image, and Diction in The Silver Tassie

Unity of Theme, Image, and Diction in The Silver Tassie NAOMI s. PASACHOFF When, in 1928, Yeats rejected O'Casey's manuscript of The Silver Tassie for use by the Abbey Theatre, among his unfavorable comments on the play were the following:'There is no dominating character, no dominating action, neither psychological unity nor unity of action ...", and "there should be no room in a play for anything that does not belong to it. ...'" While the succeeding years have discredited much of Yeats's argument, I shall use the two criticisms I have quoted as my point of departure, for contrary to Yeats, unity and lack of irrelevancy are the most striking features of The Silver Tassie. Despite the fact that the play is part realistic and part expressionistic, its scenes and actions are interrelated. Even those scenes seemingly present for their comic relief alone sound echoes of earlier scenes. On the verbal and imagistic levels, the idiom of the play, though varied, is never haphazard. Image groups and speech patterns can be traced which bridge the gap between the realistic and the expressionistic. Recurrent themes fuse the two dramatic styles. The most important recurring theme is a concern with various aspects of and interrelationships among religion, violence, love and prayer. The most striking group of recurring images refers to the animal world. I shall discuss each of these, and then tum briefly to a consideration of other recurring themes and images, as well as to recurring patterns of speech.2 The first act presents a vision of religion and love perverted. Violence and destruction are juxtaposed with religion time and again, particularly in and around the figure of Susie. While chanting on the theme of man's vanity, she polishes a rifle (p. 267); while lamenting the failure of men to stand up to the Devil by prostrating themselves before God, she polishes a bayonet (p. 269); while rhapsodizing on "the miserableness of them that don't know the things that belong unto their peace," she polishes a soldier's helmet (p. 270). Ignoring her sermonizing in his eager retelling ofHarry's epic deeds, Sylvester recounts the manner in which his son "punched the rear of God into the heart of Police Constable 63 C ..." (p. 268). In the next breath, however, he deplores Susie's Unity in The Silver Tassie 59 manner of violently instilling the fear of God into others: "People ought to be forcibly restrained from constantly cannonadin' you with the name of the Deity" (p. 269), "You can't batter religion into a man like that" (p. 274). Simon agrees: "Violence won't gather people to God. It only ingenders hostility to what you're trying to do .... Religion is love, but that sort of thing is simply a nullification of religion" (p. 274). But the types of love which this act reveals are themselves nullifications of love. For all her violent religious expression, Susie fails to act when a chance presents itself to love her neighbor as herself. Despite the insistent odor of something burning. no one moves a muscle to remove Mrs. Foran's steak and onions from the fire, and the annoyed housewife notes: "Even the gospelgunner couldn't do a little target practice by helpin' the necessity of a neighbor" (p. 277). To Mrs. Foran's embanassment, Susie somewhat vulgarly distinguishes between physical and spiritual love. But Mrs. Foran is unable to treat reverentially either sort of love: ''I'll be in a doxological mood to-night, not because the kingdom of heaven'II be near me, but because my husband'lI be far away ..... (p. 271). And despite Susie's declared preference for "the kiss of righteousness and peace" over "the honey-pot kiss of a lover ..... (p. 271), it is obvious to others that her fevered spiritual bent comes about as the result of fleshly love thwarted. Her true "adoration" is not divinely oriented at all, but directed toward Harry. "She fancied Harry and Harry fancied Jessie, so she hides her rage an' loss in the love of a scorchin' Gospel" (p. 276). Indeed, until Jessie interferes, Susie encourages Harry to play with her (p. 290). If religion is...