Vol. 16, Issue 1, Jul-Dec 2023

Page: 21-31

The Green Helmet (1910)

Asst. Prof. Kamal Almass Walee, Asst. Prof. Asmaa Mukaram Saeed

Received Date: 2021-07-02

Accepted Date: 2021-08-06

Published Date: 2021-08-17

The play begins with the hero offstage, a dramatic device yeats uses over and over again. The scene opens with conall and laegaire sitting in a little log house by the sea and speculating over their unemptied jugs of beer. The stage direction indicates : A house made of log . There are two windows at the back and a door …. Through the door one can see low rocks which make the ground outside higher than it is within, and beyond the rocks a misty moon-lit sea. Through the windows one can see nothing but the sea . (P.223) .

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References

• Birgit Bjersby, The Interpretation of the Cuchulain Legend in the works of W.B. Yeats (Upsula : A.B. Lundequista Bokhandeln, 1950) P.32 .
• Ibid. , P.33 .
• Lord Raglan, The Hero : A Study in Tradition, Myth and Drama (New York : Vintage Books, 1956), P.93 .
• Una Ellis-Fermor, The Irish Dramatic Movement (London : Me thuem and Co. Itd, 1965), P.10-11 .
• Birgit Bjersby, The Interpre tation of the Cuchulain Legend in the works of W.B. Yeats, P.31-32 . At great celtic festivals it was customary to bestow the so-called champion's portion on the foremost hero, and with this fact in mind Bricriu wrought his machinations-with flattering words and praise he asked the three most famous Ulster champions, Cuchulaim, Laegaier and Conall separately to demand the champion's portion …. The soge goes on to tell us the different trials the three heroes are put to-that which is of interest in Yeats's case, is the last and decisive trial invented by CuRoi .
• Ibid., P.32 . CuRoi in disguise went to Emain Macha to challenge the Ulster men. One of them was allowed to cut CuRoi's head off, if next day, on CuRoi's return, the same hero offered him his head in return …. Only Cuchulain, however, dares to accept the second condition of the agreement. CuRio reveals his identity, and instead of severing Cuchulain's head from the body, he declares him and nobody else worthy of the championship of Ulster.
• Boyd, The Contemporary Drama of Ireland, P.81 .
• Friedman, The Cuchulain Cycle of W.B. Yeats, P.77.
• Ibid., P.75 .
• W.B. Yeats, Essays and Introductions, P.523 .
• Boyd, The Contemporary Drama of Ireland, P.84.
• A Commentary, P. 97.
• Ibid., P. 104.
• Ibid., P.15
• Flannery, W.B. Yeats and the Idea of a Theatre, P. 94 .
• Moore, Masks of Love and Death, P. 158.
• Flannery, W.B. Yeats and the Idea of a Theatre, P.225
• Ellis-Fermor, The Irish Dramatic Movement, P.13-14.
• Skene, The Cuchulain plays of W.B. Yeats, P.80.
• Taylor, The Drama of W.B. Yeats : Irish Myth and Japanese No, P.139.
• Ibid., P.78 .