Sean O’Casey’s Feminist Vein: Empowered Female Representations in Juno and the Paycock

Abstract

In a period when the stereotype of womanhood in Irish drama was determined by political influences, and the male figure was the sole representation of the active force of humanity, Sean O’Casey’s women were a type of subject which was apparently non-existent, even though they demonstrated the real significance of the power they withheld among their families and communities. In Juno and the Paycock (1924), the playwright surprises the audience by staging representations of Dublin tenement women which subvert the prevailing image of powerless females in Irish drama. O’Casey’s female characters, Juno and Mary, undergo a process of strengthening which enables them to surpass domineering structural forces and challenge conservative and oppressive gender expectations about power. They are depicted as being imperfect, just as men are, but they are also representations of autonomous individuals who embody characteristics that lead us to envisage female empowerment. This article seeks to demonstrate that when applying notions of personal empowerment, O’Casey’s play confers visibility and appropriate representation to those strong marginalised women.