‘The Plough and the Stars’

Abstract

In his third play O’Casey brings history on to the stage even more directly, and the occasion is the Easter Rising of 1916. This rebellion came as a surprise to the majority of Irishmen as well as to the British authorities. There were three poets among the leading rebels: Pearse, Plunkett and MacDonagh. Several key buildings were taken over, including the central Post Office in O’Connell Street, which were defended for several days until the big guns were brought to bear. When the rebels were marched through the streets after their surrender the people of Dublin threw rubbish at them. Pearse had not expected victory; but he believed that a blood sacrifice was necessary to renew the fighting spirit of the Irish people. It seems he was right: the English executed the ringleaders and turned them into martyrs. Public revulsion against these executions provided enough energy to maintain a guerrilla campaign that was concluded by the Treaty in 1921.