THE PROBLEM OF NATIONAL IDENTITY IN MARTIN MCDONAGH’S THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE

Abstract

The end of the nineteenth century was a turning point for Irish theatre with the establishment of the Irish Literary Theatre as playwrights attempted to write national plays disengaging from the British theatre. This period is known as the Celtic Revival, a period of building a national identity both by political and cultural action, during which the playwrights contributed to the rejuvenation of the old Irish myths and traditions. However, at the end of the twentieth century when Ireland became a multicultural country with multiple identities, and opened to the outer world politically and economically, the Irish theatre, too, started to change its outlook by problematizing the nationalistic elements of Irishness instead of glorifying the national and cultural values. The Irish playwright, Martin McDonagh has also maintained a pluralist approach challenging the traditional and national elements in his plays. Instead of adhering to a national identity, McDonagh believes in cultural pluralism to adapt to the new century. McDonagh’s pluralist approach will be discussed with Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of ‘nomadic identity’ and ‘rhizome’. Thus, this paper aims to analyze how McDonagh problematizes the national identity in The Beauty Queen of Leenane by portraying characters, who are incarcerated by meaningless national values and norms.