The Countess Cathleen by William Butler Yeats
"The Countess Cathleen" is a play by William Butler Yeats that explores themes of sacrifice, despair, and the supernatural against the backdrop of a famine in Ireland. The narrative unfolds as the titular character, Countess Cathleen, encounters starving peasants and attempts to alleviate their suffering with her limited resources. Despite her charitable intentions, the peasants express dissatisfaction, highlighting the tension between wealth and poverty.
As the story progresses, Cathleen learns of merchants who ominously offer money in exchange for souls, prompting her to take drastic measures to save the souls of those suffering around her. In a poignant display of selflessness, she decides to sell her own soul to purchase the freedom of others, reflecting a deep moral and ethical struggle within the context of dire circumstances.
The play incorporates elements of folklore and mysticism, with supernatural beings influencing the characters' destinies. Ultimately, it presents a tragic vision where Cathleen's sacrifice leads her to redemption in the afterlife, despite the moral complexities of her actions. "The Countess Cathleen" serves as a compelling allegory about humanity's struggles, choices, and the interplay between good and evil, resonating in the cultural memory of Ireland's history.
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The Countess Cathleen by William Butler Yeats
First produced: 1899; first published, 1892
Type of work: Drama
Type of plot: Allegory
Time of plot: Indeterminate
Locale: Ireland
Principal characters
Countess Cathleen , an Irish noblewomanOona , her childhood nurse and present companionAleel , a visionary poet in love with CathleenShemus Rua , a peasantMary , his wifeTeigue , their sonTwo Demons , disguised as merchants
The Story:
During a famine, an Irish peasant family talks about strange creatures that appear, portents that evil supernatural forces are abroad in the land. The Countess Cathleen and her companions arrive, searching for the way to her castle. The peasants bitterly complain to her of their state, and she gives them what she is left in her purse after previous charity to other starving folk. She invites the family to her castle the next day to receive more.
After her departure, Shemus and Teigue complain at the meagerness of her charity, while Mary scolds them for ingratitude. Irked by his wife’s words, Shemus asserts his independence by rashly calling three times on the supernatural creatures of the woods to enter his house. Two traveling merchants appear, ostentatiously displaying their wealth. They offer money for souls and send Shemus and Teigue to broadcast their offer to the countryside. Cathleen arrives at her castle, where Aleel tries to distract her with a story about Queen Maeve of the fairies, who weeps for a mortal who died of love for her—not because she loved him, too, but because she forgot his name. Oona recalls her to the concerns of the day, earning a curse from Aleel for preventing him from relieving Cathleen of distress for ten minutes. The castle steward tells Cathleen that men broke into the castle to steal food; to Oona’s consternation, Cathleen declares the theft to be no sin, since the men must be starving. Shemus and Teigue then arrive with their tale of merchants buying souls; Cathleen, appalled, offers to buy their souls back. Father and son decline the offer, concluding that God turned his back on Ireland. Cathleen then instructs the steward to sell all her property, save only the house, and use the money to buy food for the starving, stating that she intends from that time forward to dedicate herself to others.
Aleel tries to get Cathleen to flee by telling her a dream he had of an angel who urges her to flee. She refuses, asserting that it was a pagan god, not an angel. She tenderly dismisses Aleel from her company to find the peace she cannot have herself and goes in to pray and sleep.
While she sleeps, the merchants enter and rob her treasury, then awaken Cathleen to tell her lies—that her relief efforts came to nothing—and to pass on rumors about their own appearance in the land. They explain men’s willingness to sell their souls as a kind of joy in despair and tell her her own soul would be worth half a million crowns. She begins to suspect their true identities, and they depart as their pursuers close in on them.
Cathleen bids peasants fleeing the evil times welcome to a place where they will be safe, but at that moment, Oona discovers the empty treasury. Although close to personal despair, Cathleen urges all with her to pray for the souls of the famine victims. Meanwhile, other peasants pass the castle, talking about the power and beauty of gold as the merchants follow in silence. They move on, and a forlorn Aleel passes by, singing in a vain attempt to soothe his love-stricken heart.
The merchants set up shop in the house of Shemus and begin dealing for souls, with Shemus and Teigue as their lieutenants. Mary Rua refuses food bought with the devil’s money and lies dead on her bed. Two peasants exchange their souls for money, finding themselves to be worth less than anticipated since the merchants have records of their darkest, most hidden secrets. Aleel, too, offers his soul—for free—since he has no need of it if it cannot help Cathleen. He is refused, since his soul already belongs to the countess. An old, nearly sinless woman sells her soul for a thousand crowns and wishes God’s blessing on the merchants, whereupon she screams as a burning pain passes through her. This frightens the other peasants, who begin to shrink from the merchants.
Cathleen comes to the cottage, offering her soul for the half million crowns on the condition that the other bartered souls be returned to their owners. After the sale, the merchants follow her out, vowing to watch over her until her impending death from a broken heart allows them to take her soul.
Aleel has a vision of the old gods and heroes returning, and Oona arrives at the hut to be told that her mistress already had sold her soul. As they both kneel, in prayer or in despair, Cathleen is carried in to die. Outside, a ferocious storm brews, terrifying the peasants, whose fear is increased by Aleel’s response to the storm: a curse on fate for leaving no hope. Aleel then describes a vision of angels and devils battling in the middle of the storm. He seizes one of the angels to demand word of Cathleen’s fate. The angel describes her arrival in heaven, redeemed by her sacrifice despite the sin of having sold her soul. Aleel kneels before this revelation, while Oona begs for her own death, bemoaning her separation from Cathleen.
Bibliography
Howes, Marjorie, and John Kelly, eds. The Cambridge Companion to W. B. Yeats. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Collection of essays providing an overview of Yeats’s work in all genres, including a discussion of Yeats and the drama.
Lucas, F. L. The Drama of Chekhov, Synge, Yeats, and Pirandello. New York: Phaeton Press, 1976. Places The Countess Cathleen in the context of European drama. Finds the play wanting.
Nathan, Leonard E. The Tragic Drama of William Butler Yeats: Figures in a Dance. New York: Columbia University Press, 1975. Examines Yeats’s failure to realize completely his goal of a metaphysical drama about the conflict between the natural and supernatural worlds.
O’Connor, Ulick. All the Olympians: A Biographical Portrait of the Irish Literary Renaissance. Dublin: Town House and Country House, 1999. The chapter on The Countess Cathleen provides unusual detail about the play’s first Dublin production in 1899 and its hostile reception by some segments of the Irish public.
Rajan, Balachandra. W. B. Yeats: A Critical Introduction. London: Hutchinson University Library, 1972. Includes a good, brief account of the play’s failure to achieve Yeats’s vision and places the work in the context of his later successes, arguing that these successes unfairly color critical vision of The Countess Cathleen.
Richman, David. Passionate Action: Yeats’s Mastery of Drama. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2000. Draws on Yeats’s correspondence and the many drafts of his plays to chronicle his work as a playwright and theatrical producer.
Yeats, W. B. The Countess Cathleen: Manuscript Materials. Edited by Michael J. Sidnell and Wayne K. Chapman. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1999. Yeats frequently revised The Countess Cathleen, and these revisions reflect his relations with critics and audiences, his changing ideas about drama, and the status of his relationship with actress Maud Gonne. This book contains extant manuscripts and other materials that chronicle the play’s writing and revision from 1889 through 1934.