본 논문은 브라이언 프리엘의 작품세계에서 드러나거나 또는 숨겨져 있는 예이츠의 영향의 다층적 성격을 『케스 맥과이어의 사랑』, 『번역』, 『귀족들』의 텍스트 분석을 통해 규명한다. 예이츠와 프리엘의 관계는 이들의 문학이 시대적, 개인적 차이에도 불구하고 결국 당대의 첨예한 사회적 모순에 불가분하게 맞물려있는 자기모순적이고 분열된 자아의 정체성을 재구성하려는 작가적 시도라는 공통점에서 출발하고 또 그 공통점으로 귀결된다.

Brian Friel, who was born and raised in Northern Ireland, is called the best living Irish dramatist dealing with subjects focused on Ireland and its people in his plays. In Faith Healer(1979), one of his best plays, Friel dramatizes a faith healer's experiences. The three characters, Frank(faith healer), Grace(Frank's wife), Teddy(Frank's manager) recollect the experiences they shared while travelling to cure the sick in Scotland and Wales. Their monologues detail the same experiences but are very different, according to Friel, because each recalls their memories according to their own desires and needs. Memory is not always accurate and can be a fiction. Frank has the compulsion to transform all things around him into fiction. This ability is analogous to a writer's creative writing ability. Therefore, Frank is, in a sense, an artist. Frank performs his faith healing shows in front of the sick with anxiety as he is not sure whether a miracle will occur or not. Like a faith healer, a dramatist as an artist writes dramas with anxiety because he is not sure that he will be able to move his audience with a successful performance. Frank is not sure that he will be able to move his audience. Frank is not sure if he has an ability to cure with miracles or if he is a con man. Like a faith healer, an artist has the sense of being a con man because he is indebted from his predecessors' works. Only through his death can Frank stop the maddening questions such as "Am I a con man? or am I endowed with a unique gift?" Frank is like a metaphor for an artist. Friel, a dramatist, also has suffered from the agony of an artist and has been troubled by the scarcity of his creative works. Therefore Frank is a foil to Friel's autobiographical image.