Ireland has, through the arts and its cultural heritage, often been perceived as a fantastic country; fantasy in the sense that it is often represented in a simplified and romanticized manner. This can be seen in the interpretation of Ireland by William Butler Yeats and Lady Gregory as the romantic heroine Cathleen Ni Houlihan, or in the predominance of Celtic culture, exemplified by organizations such as the Gaelic League. Eamon de Valera's St. Patrick's Day speech in 1943, "On the Irish Language and Nation", is another example of a romanticized, simplified and idyllic Ireland, this time used for purposes political rather than artistic or cultural. However, it is clear from much Irish literature, particularly the Abbey Theater drama, that the Ireland de Valera describes in this speech, a "happy, vigorous and spiritual" Ireland, never really existed in the past or present; de Valera exploited Ireland's romantic imagination to create political propaganda. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on 'Why violent video games should not be banned'?Get the original essay De Valera's speech created an image of Ireland that was inconsistent with realistic literary depictions of the country. In his speech, de Valera said his idyllic Ireland would "be home to people who valued material wealth only as a basis for the right to life, a people who, satisfied with frugal comfort, devoted their leisure to the things of the mind.” ". De Valera here attempts to portray Ireland as populated by economically healthy people, people who recognize the importance of the intangible over the material and are therefore content to experience the basic necessities of life. But what it actually does is hide Irish poverty behind a romantic image. In a multitude of texts written before the 1943 speech, Ireland is described as living in a difficult economic situation. In the early 20th century, the Abbey Theatre, Ireland's national theater founded by Yeats and Lady Gregory in 1904, produced several plays that were set in impoverished surroundings. The setting of Juno and the Paycock, by Sean O'Casey, is an example of the poverty in which working-class Dublin lived in the 1920s. The opening of Act 1 takes place in the "living room of a two-room apartment occupied by the Boyle family in a block of flats in Dublin”.[1] Dublin's rental properties were notorious for providing poor living conditions, designed to house as many workers as possible in as little space as possible. These urban slums clearly contrast with de Valera's ideal of "a land whose countryside is bright with comfortable farms", and thus suggest that de Valera actively aspired to a new form for Ireland; not one that necessarily has the majority of the population living in rural areas, but one that captures a nostalgic aesthetic of the past. This image of Ireland envisioned by de Valera can also be seen as not necessarily rural due to other dramatic depictions of Ireland's poor, such as JM Synge's The Playboy of the Western World. The entire play is set in a "very rough and disorderly country pub or shebeen" on a "wild coast of Mayo".[2] County Mayo, known for its harsh terrain, would have been recognized by Synge's audience as a difficult place to live, therefore already presenting the environment in a negative light. Furthermore, due to the inclusion of a "shebeen", an illegal pub, it is clear that there are none of the wholesome images evoked by the speech ofde Valera. In both of these pieces, there is clearly a lack of validity in the existence of what de Valera envisioned. The realistic settings and environments presented by O'Casey and Synge contrast directly with de Valera's idealizations. De Valera is clearly trying to cover up Ireland's endemic poverty, to present a bright and abundant Ireland which does not exist. So, content with these conditions as de Valera suggests by saying that the Irish were "satisfied with a comfort frugal”? Juno and the Paycock paints a difficult picture of the frugality of the Irish working class. Captain Jack Boyle, the anti-hero protagonist of the play, is portrayed as lazy and unwilling to work. Every time Boyle receives a job offer, he is suddenly overcome by an attack of leg cramps, with his wife, Mrs Boyle, saying: "It's miraculous that every time he smells a job in front of him, his legs are starting to fail him!” (O'Casey, pp. 205) O'Casey strongly implies that these leg cramps are less the product of an actual physical disability, but rather of idleness, with Boyle completely reluctant to find employment. Ms. Boyle goes on to say that “you [Mr. Boyle] can't climb a ladder, but you can jump like a goat in a comfortable place! (O'Casey, pp. 206) A snug, being a private room in a pub, implies that Boyle is much more eager to drink than to work, and therefore fakes leg cramps to avoid a job and go to a restaurant. pub. This is problematic when de Valera says that the Irish are “satisfied with frugal comfort.” In a sense, yes, Boyle is satisfied with his family's frugality, his wife being the main earner, and all the income she brings into the house he spends on drink, and so he is satisfied. However, it is doubtful whether this is the type of satisfaction envisioned by de Valera. Perhaps then O'Casey presents a selfish satisfaction, where the family suffers because of the father's selfishness, which is hardly the ideal presented by de Valera in his speech. It is more likely that de Valera envisioned something closer to the Gillane family. by Cathleen Ni Houlihan of Yeats and Gregory, a family living in a small 18th-century cottage preparing for a wedding. The satisfaction of their frugality can be seen when Peter and Bridget, husband and wife, discuss their son's wedding clothes: “PETER. …They are great clothes, indeed.BRIDGET. You didn't have clothes like that when you married me, and no coat to wear on a Sunday more than any other day. PIERRE It's true, indeed, we never thought that one of our sons would wear a suit of this kind to his wedding, nor that he would have such a good place to bring one. wife of. "The play is set in Killala, a village in County Mayo, and so it is insinuated that the Gillane family are rural peasants. It is clear from the dialogue above that they align themselves with the idyllic people of de Valera.” content with frugal comfort,” Peter and Bridget admiring their son’s basic necessities: clothes for a wedding and a sturdy roof for him and his wife to live under. However, it is impossible to consider this a realistic depiction of the working class like Yeats. and Gregory wrote the play as an act of cultural propaganda, hoping to encourage Irish men to rise up against British colonial rule. It is unlikely that Yeats and Gregory attempted to make the Gillane family a realistic portrait of the Irish peasantry, more likely by romanticizing them for artistic purposes. Therefore, it is clear that the Irish drama negates the Irish frugality envisioned by de Valera in his speech. If”.