Red Roses for Me: Analysis of Major Characters
"Red Roses for Me" is a play set in Dublin on the cusp of World War I, exploring themes of class struggle, idealism, and the tensions between different social and religious groups. The central character, Mrs. Breydon, represents the resilience of the working class as she navigates the challenges of raising her son, Ayamonn, amidst the socio-economic hardships of the time. Ayamonn is portrayed as an ambitious young man whose commitment to the labor movement and cultural awakening for the working class drives the narrative, but his idealism ultimately leads to tragic consequences.
Sheila Morneen, Ayamonn's love interest, embodies the conflict between personal desire and societal expectations, particularly given her devout Catholic upbringing and her family's disapproval of Ayamonn's Protestant background. Other key figures include Brennan O'The Moor, a conservative elder who fears change, and Inspector Tom Finglas, whose authority and jealousy contribute to the play's climactic tragedy. The contrasting views of characters like Tim Mullcanny, an iconoclast, and Roory O'Balacaun, a fervent nationalist, further illustrate the complex dynamics of belief and identity in a divided society.
Through a blend of dramatic interactions and socio-political commentary, "Red Roses for Me" offers a poignant reflection on the struggles of its characters, enhancing our understanding of the historical context and human experiences during a tumultuous era.
Red Roses for Me: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Sean O'Casey
First published: 1942
Genre: Play
Locale: Dublin, Ireland
Plot: Expressionism
Time: 1913
Mrs. Breydon, a woman of the working class, roughly fifty years old, whose face and hands show the marks of hard work and the bitter struggle to maintain dignity and respectability in the lower-middle-class world of Dublin on the eve of World War I. Despite patched clothes and some scars from the effort to make a living and rear her son, Mrs. Breydon is still a woman of spirit and shows some signs of the handsomeness that she once possessed. Her chief concern in life is her son, whom she has reared virtually on her own; where his interests are involved, she displays a surprising shrewdness. She supports his commitment to the labor movement but fears for his safety in the coming strike. She also displays skepticism about Sheila Morneen's willingness to make sacrifices for his causes.
Ayamonn Breydon, her son, a twenty-two-year-old idealist and visionary. Breydon, handsome and dramatic in his gestures, has talents in many areas: politics, the theater, writing, and painting. He aspires to be a Renaissance man, though some suggest that he may diffuse his energy by spending it on too many diverse enterprises. A railroad worker with high aspirations, Breydon hopes to awaken the working class to its cultural heritage while supporting efforts to better its economic condition. In the third act, Breydon's dream vision of a Dublin transformed from dispirited poverty into an enchanted realm of beauty and dance provides a key to his character. Breydon lacks the experience to understand how much jealousy his courtship of Sheila, a Catholic girl, arouses in Inspector Finglas, or how much resentment the workers' demand for an extra shilling increase in wages creates among their employers. As a result, Breydon's involvement in the strike and, in particular, his willingness to speak in support of it at a public meeting lead to his tragic death.
Sheila Morneen, Ayamonn's sweetheart, a beautiful but somewhat timid and conservative young lady who has been reared as a devout Roman Catholic. Because Breydon is a Protestant, his attraction for her is counterbalanced by a realization that he is not an acceptable suitor in the eyes of her parents. Although Sheila is fascinated by Breydon and considers his idealism attractive, she is frightened by his readiness to flout convention. She is also attracted to the fine uniform and authority of Inspector Finglas, and Mrs. Breydon shrewdly predicts that Sheila will never be content with a life of poverty. Sheila implores Breydon to disengage himself from the striking railroad workers and win the gratitude of his employers; she threatens to end their relationship if he refuses. After his tragic death, she has the spirit to denounce his murderers and those—like Inspector Finglas—whose indifference and neutrality allowed his murder to occur.
Brennan O' The Moor, an elderly man who is a friend of the Breydons, the owner of some old houses and tenements in their neighborhood. A retired working man of seventy-six, Brennan is conservative and full of anxiety about social change and unrest. A kindly man beneath a gruff exterior, Brennan has known the Breydons for years. He has misgivings about Ayamonn's participation in the strike, and he constantly wonders if even the Bank of Ireland is a stable institution. He looks forward to singing in Ayamonn's minstrel show, however, and despite a theological hostility to Catholics, he secretly removes the statue of Our Lady of Eblana, a neighborhood icon, and buys new clothes for it.
Tim Mullcanny, another friend of Ayamonn, known in the Breydons'neighborhood as a mocker of religion and an iconoclast in almost the literal meaning of the word because he ridicules the icons of the local Catholics. Ayamonn tolerates Mullcanny's opinions, though Mullcanny is on the level of the village atheist and Ayamonn is in his own way a believer in the Protestant faith in which he was reared. Mullcanny's lack of humor and his intensity come close to the fanaticism that he ridicules and make him unpopular. He manages to bring both Brennan and the Catholic Roory together against him in argument, and in the second act, he enters in flight from several men who have physically attacked him for his opinions.
The Reverend E. Clinton, a handsome man of forty, the Protestant rector of St. Burnupus and a sympathetic friend of the Breydons. Although Inspector Finglas is his churchwarden, he feels more respect and friendship for Ayamonn, and he comes to warn Ayamonn that it would be unwise to speak at the public meeting in support of the strike.
Roory O'Balacaun (oh-BAL-ah-kon), a fervent Catholic and a patriotic Irishman, a likable but quarrelsome fellow worker of Ayamonn. Roory believes in the strike, but he believes more strongly in the Fenians and Irish nationalism, and he voices an unswerving loyalty to the Roman Catholic church. Although he is a friend of Ayamonn, Roory would cheerfully burn books and suppress the free expression of opinion. Although he argues with Brennan over theology, his particular anathema is Mullcanny and the latter's espousal of evolution.
Dowzard and Foster, members of St. Burnupus' select vestry. They condemn the strikers as “papists” and pretend to be scandalized that their fellow vestryman, Ayamonn Breydon, is supporting the labor movement. During the rally, they are forced to flee from angry workers because they are considered “scabs.” After Breydon's death, they are angry that his body is taken to St. Burnupus.
Eeada (ay-AD-nah), Dympna (DIHM-nah), and Finoola (fa-NEW-lah), poor flower sellers and Mrs. Breydon's neighbors in the tenement. Eeada is old, Dympna middle-aged, and Finoola young, but they play their role as a stylized trio. Except in the third act, they display stiff looks of depression on their faces, and their dress is dark and somber. They embody the wan hopelessness of Dublin's poor, providing a type of background chorus to the conflict engendered by the strike. In the third act, their faces and their clothes are transformed miraculously in Breydon's vision, and they dance and sing songs of joy to celebrate a revitalized Dublin.
Inspector Tom Finglas, an officer of the Metropolitan Mounted Police, also the churchwarden of St. Burnupus. Proud of his authority and his blue uniform with silver braid, the inspector is an arrogant man who views the poor of Dublin as moral failures and a blot on the city's image. He sees the railroad workers' strike as a threat to the established order of titles and property owners, which it is his duty to protect. He also feels jealousy of Breydon because of the latter's relationship with Sheila, whom he longs to possess for himself. Finglas leads his mounted police in a charge to disperse the strikers at their rally and helps to create the violent conflict between workers and authority in which Breydon is killed by a soldier. Then he begins to console Sheila while Breydon's body is being brought to St. Burnupus.
Samuel, the elderly verger of St. Burnupus, who warns the Reverend Clinton that two of his vestrymen are plotting mischief against Breydon.