Sectarianism in the Countess Cathleen

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Peter Dentinger The play The Countess Cathleen is remembered as revolutionary for its time, but also as controversially sectarian. Written in 1899, it was the first play released by the Irish Literary Theatre. Soon after its release, however, The Countess Cathleen became the subject of controversy as it was perceived to be religiously sectarian by many. By analysing The Countess Cathleen in context of its time period, I found that the support for accusations of religious sectarianism to be merely subjective and sporadic. Historical evidence would suggest that Countess Cathleen is English, and therefore a protestant. At the beginning of the play, Countess Cathleen is away from her castle and is derided by her tenants for her indifference to their plight. Toward the end of the nineteenth Century in Ireland, the issue of absentee ownership became cataclysmic when the Irish National Land League organized the Land War to redistribute land owned largely by English nobles to tenant farmers. Countess Cathleen’s depiction as an absentee landlord implies that she is English. More support for idea that the Countess Cathleen is in fact English is the etymology of the name Cathleen itself. The name “Cathleen” is most commonly found in England. It is typically spelled as Kathleen or Caitlin in Ireland. This may have been a subtle hint to the audience that Countess Cathleen was an English protestant. While whether or not the play is meant to be anti-Protestant is still up for debate, it is decidedly anti-English. Historians today interpret Satan appearing to Shemus and Teigue as English merchants as a demonization of England. Also, the fact that Countess Cathleen began the play as an absentee land lord who was ignorant of her tenants’ struggles shows support for the Irish National Land League’s Land War. Because of its anti-English sentiment, it is often
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