Talk:By the Bog of Cats
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Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Daneyer.
Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 18:25, 17 January 2022 (UTC)
Added paragraph about the parallels with the Medea myth
Marina Carr, the author of the play, has acknowledged that By the Bog of Cats was inspired by the myth of Medea. In Eurypides’s theatrical adaptation, as in the ancient Greek myth, Medea is a sorceress and wife to the hero Jason, with whom she bears two children. When her husband proves unfaithful and leaves her for the Greek princess of Corinth, Glauce, she decides to punish Jason by killing his lover and their two children.
The main parallel between Medea and By the Bog of Cats consists of Hester Swayne, the heroine, enacting her revenge on her disloyal husband, Carthage Kilbride. Her retaliation consists of setting fire to Carthage and his new wife Caroline’s home and killing her own daughter, Josie, just as Medea punished Jason by killing their children in the Greek myth. The significant difference between these two stories consists of the setting: while Medea is set in ancient Greece, By the Bog of Cats is transported to the bogs of Ireland.
A reviewer of the 2017 revival in Chicago noted that what makes the play distinct from Eurypides’s adaptation and distinctly Irish is the themes of displacement and disposition. However, the heightened emotions and broad, existential themes of “love and hate, hope and despair, [and] grief and revenge” justify the comparisons of these two tragedies.
→ I also deleted any uncited analysis about Medea from other sections.
Daneyer (talk) 00:02, 30 October 2018 (UTC)
Potential heading for supernatural elements
Supernatural elements
By the Bog of Cats is characterized by supernatural elements, such as ghosts, curses, and prophecies. Some of the characters manifest as ghosts, like the Ghost Fancier and Joseph Swane, Hester’s murdered brother. Furthermore, Hester has been cursed by her mother to live as long as the black swan residing in the bog, “not a day more, not a day less,” and this curse is fulfilled by Hester’s death at the end of the play. Finally, the Catwoman is acknowledged by the characters as a psychic: she speaks of the many visions she has had that came true, and during his wedding Carthage asks her for a prediction.
One scholar notes the presence of the Irish tradition of combining both Pagan and Christian elements and practicing them side-by-side, which is characteristic of Irish folktales.
Witchcraft
The character of Hester has been interpreted as a witch by scholars and critics alike, though she does not explicitly practice witchcraft in the play. Even her daughter calls her a “jezebel witch,” and the rest of the community uses it as a derogatory term with which to refer to her. Though she says she doesn’t know any “black art things,” her connection to the spiritual world is real, specifically marked with her ability to speak to ghosts. For this reason, the Catwoman can also be interpreted as witch, from her conversations with spirits and her psychic abilities.
Hester’s characterization as a witch also stems from her deep connection with the bog, as she claims to know “where the best bog rosemary grows and the sweetest wild bog rue.” This points to a knowledge of herbs and herbal medicine, which one scholar says points to a connection with folk tradition and the mystical.