The representation of split selves in contemporary Irish Drama: Schizoanalytical readings of Brian Friel's Philadelphia, Here I Come!, Frank McGuinness's Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme and Marina Carr's Woman and Scarecrow

While the Irish struggled to liberate themselves from the oppression of their colonizer, England, and claim their independence, Irish people found themselves entrapped within the social structures —institutions— of Irish society. These institutions such as family, church, state, gender and social class set the rules for proper conduct for Irish people. In the face of such impositions and societal assertiveness, Irish people experienced an 'identity crisis' splitting their selves into two as their true self, whom they reveal to no one but themselves; and their social self, who is conformist and submissive, in order to align with the salient social identities. However, all the characters dealt with in this thesis – Gareth O'Donnell, Kenneth Pyper and Woman – attempt to disavow the rules and laws of these institutions to preserve their identities. These characters, in Brian Friel's Philadelphia, Here I Come!, Frank McGuinness's Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme and Marina Carr's Woman and Scarecrow, experience a splitting of the self and appear on the stage with their defying the power wielded by the institutions so as not to be cornered by their rules and laws. This thesis, by dealing with taboo subjects such as family, nationalism, gender and social class in Irish society as reflected in Brian Friel's Philadelphia, Here I Come!, Frank McGuinness's Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme and Marina Carr's Woman and Scarecrow, will examine the split selves of the three main characters in these plays with regards to Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari's theory of schizoanalysis. The theory of schizoanalysis regards the notion of 'split self' into social and self-identity as an escape from social and political pressures rather than a mental illness. In addition, this theory considers 'split self', or 'schizophrenia' in a more general sense, as individuals' ability to escape from oppression and to externalise and realise their suppressed desires. In this thesis, the main characters' splitting and their appearance on the stage alongside their split selves that they cannot reveal in the society will be analysed independently of their psychiatric and clinical context, but as a result of the characters' defying the rules imposed on them by social, cultural and political institutions and their attempt to emancipate themselves from social oppression as Deleuze and Guattari put forward.