GENERAL VISION AND VIEWPOINT OF ‘SIVE’ Ive only done Sive ... these are just notes ive done out !!
Opening –
• Opening moments create a dark pessimistic atmosphere - this atmosphere is created because of the oppressive poverty and the negative atmosphere and antagonist relationship felt between Mena and Nanna - you discuss one - don’t waste both on this one pt because you can’t repeat the pt later!
• John B. Keane’s stage directions indicate that the kitchen in which most of the action takes place is ‘poorly furnished’ with what might be termed ‘traditional’ Irish furniture: six sugan chairs, a dresser, buckets of water, an open hearth with a black skillet hanging from a crane. The women’s costumes also suggest traditional Irish setting. Nanna wears a black shawl with a red petticoat. Sive, when she appears, wear a coat ‘a little too small for her.’ - gives a sense of a world where survival is the most important thing and there is no room for embellishment or luxury - not an easy lifestyle
• The Opening words of the play also show us a realistic world that makes people harsh and behave harshly
• From the outset, then, the atmosphere of the play is depressing - look at the opening words/conversation - the gloom is not alleviated as the play progresses.
Relationships –
• The type of relationships characters have with other people indicate the mood and vision of the play for the characters - Majority of the relationships are poor, cynical and uncaring
• Mena and Nana exemplify the mutual hatred of human beings in the play
• Neither Mena nor Nanna have a good word to say to one another. Insults are traded back and forth. Nanna cruelly derides Mena for her lack of children and her poor background. Mena takes pleasure in reminding Nanna that she is now mistress of the house, and that she has ‘nothing’. When Sive arrives in from school, she rudely asks her, ‘is it for ornament you think we are keeping you?’ Clearly she resents her very presence in the house.
•Long ago you should have been put in your place.’ She threatens to send her out of the house. Thomasheen also knows who has the power in the house. He joins in with Mena, tormenting Nanna with talk of the ‘Country Home’ and all the old people in it. He appears to enjoy the idea of the old people suffering there, ‘Tis the sport of Cork to see the way they do be haggling and scraping over the few potatoes and the forkful of meat’.
• Mike and Mena also have no positive interaction – for a married couple, they show no affection
• She mocks him – prove
• The relationship between the characters is full of bitterness and conflict, as we see. Keane’s stage directions offer a guide to the negative feelings expressed throughout. Characters speak ‘suspiciously’, ‘threateningly’, ‘guilefully’, ‘indignantly’ and ‘harshly’, to give but a few examples.
Human Nature –
• The portrayal of human nature indicates the general vision adopted by the author towards life and humanity / the depiction of human nature indicates the author’s attitude towards humanity in the play - We see both good and bad aspects of humanity in the play.
• Mena, Tomasheen, Mike all represent the morally corrupt aspects of life - selfish and immoral
• Their scheming over the fate of Sive is repulsive
• Show no concern for her – motivated only by selfishness
• Mena has no redeeming features. Money is her god. She has no sympathy for Sive (she even cheats her of money meant for her wedding clothes). Clearly, she has no love for husband, Mike, or respect for Mike’s mother, Nanna. Mena’s description of her father’s home as a place where she and her four sisters had ‘no corner of a bed we could call our own’ explains (but does not excuse) her greed - thinks only of herself throughout the play (as do many of the characters) - what makes it even more despicable is the fact that Mena attempts to justify her actions by claiming that it is the best for Sive - in reality, she wants only to be free of Sive and Nanna - even admits at one point that ‘I would finally be rid of her’ - even when she was given £50 for purchasing wedding clothes for Sive, we see how Mena keeps the majority of the sum for herself - Thomasheen cunningly points this out when he says ‘the two of us know that Mena will have forty out of the fifty pound for herself’ - It is difficult to disagree when Liam calls her a ‘horrible, filthy bitch’ at the end of the play.
• Mike is a weak man. Any qualm he had about marrying Sive off to an old man are easily crushed by the prospect of the £200 they will gain. Mena and Thomasheen Rua both despise him. He has not got the gumption to stand up to Mena when she bullies his elderly mother.
•Sive, Liam Scuab and the travelers represent the kinder, caring aspects of humanity
• Sive’s love for Liam is pure and uncorrupted and one of the few uplifting things in the play
• The traveler’s simple concern for the lovers in offering to set up a secret meeting so they may elope is a sign of their kindness and decency
• Ultimately, we see at the end, the negative aspects of humanity dominate the world of the play.
Moral Choices –
• The moral choices that characters make in a text indicate the view of life offered by the author - ‘The moral choices made by the main characters are destructive. They imply a pessimistic view of human nature. Mena is quite aware of the damage she is causing to Sive’s life, but this does not stop her single-mindedly going ahead with her schemes. When Nanna tries to point out how immoral her behavior is (‘there is a hatchery of sin in this house’) she responds by insulting and threatening the old woman. She is impervious to any pleas. She manages to convince her husband, against his better judgement, that the match with Sean Dota is in their best interests. She is utterly devoid of any moral sense of remorse.
•Mike too is left in no doubt of the evil of his actions, yet he chooses to side with Mena and Thomasheen Rua rather than defend the happiness of his niece or the view of his mother - what makes it worse is the fact that he had promised his sister on her death bed that he would look after Sive - Nanna bitterly reminds him of this at the end when she she asks, ‘Where is the promise you made to your sister?’ - Liam Scuab puts it to him clearly: ‘Surely if ye know God ye must think of this terrible auction. Ye must know that a day will dawn for all of us when an account must be given.’ But even an appeal to their religion (‘sin’, ‘an account’ to God) fails.
• – she cares only for 200 pounds she will receive – no consideration for Sive’s feelings and how it will blight Sive’s future
• Unlike the other texts, these characters have no moral qualms about behaving selfishly
• Whereas Rick chooses to help the Laszlos escape at some cost to himself, Mena and Mike are callously ready to destroy the life of another human being.
Ending –
• Ending is tragic – rounds off the despair and bleak outlook of the entire play
• Sive’s dreams have been crushed – Liam Scuab’s plan has failed
• Thinking Liam Scuab has abandoned her, and in despair at the thought of marrying Sean Dota, she commits suicide by drowning in a bog-hole. Her decision is almost inevitable, given the intolerable situation she is in. Unlike the decision is almost inevitable, given the intolerable situation she is in. Unlike the central characters of the novel or the film, she is a passive victim rather than an active agent of her own fate. This is another aspect of the gloomy vision of life that the play presents.
• At the end of the text…Speak of Sive???
• In the good is overcome by evil. This is ‘Sive’s’ tragic vision, and it contrasts with the general vision of the other two texts.
•The ending encapsulates the pessimistic vision.
