The Irish Oedipus: Yeats’s and McGuiness’s Adaptations of The Oedipal Myth

Abstract

This paper draws on contemporary theories of adaptation, especially those of Linda Hutcheon and Margherita Laera, to provide a historically contextualized analysis of the motivations of W. B. Yeats and Frank McGuinness in adapting Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. It reveals the ways in which the different times and agendas of the respective authors led them to produce very different productions in terms of theme and pathos. Critical attention is also given to the strategies of their adaptation of the Greek text. It argues that, given the paucity of their knowledge of Greek, the writers were effectively more engaged in an intra-lingual than inter-lingual translation. This paper will also discuss the alterations and variations that Yeats and McGuinness undertook in their adaptations/translations/rewritings to find out how they contribute to the Oedipal myth and to the modern and contemporary Irish theatre.