본 논문은 􋺷캐스린 니 훌리한􋺸을 논의하며 부분적으로는 예이츠와 싱을 비교하기 위해 􋺷바다로 가는 기사들􋺸을 논의하는데, 두 가지 관점이 있다. 하나는 정치 적으로 활발한 모드 곤과의 관계를 맺고 있는 예이츠의 마음에 무엇이 있나 관찰하는 것이다. 예이츠는 이 극이 꿈을 꾸고 쓴 것이라고 주장하지만, 모드 곤에게 현혹되어 있던 점을 감안하면 이 극이 자신도 모르게 정치적 경향을 띄게 된 것이라고 필자는 주장한다. 이런 점에서, 이 논문은, 주인공 캐스린은 모드 곤, 예이츠가 투사된 이중적 동일화의 산물이라 주장한다. 논문의 후반부는 이 극의 기교를 분석한다. 초기의 노래 의 사용은 나중에 여러 작품에서 코러스의 사용으로 발전한다. 그리고 이 노래에는 셰 익스피어의 시를 번안한 점도 보인다. 예이츠는 이 극이 아주 좋은 것으로 간주하는 것 같다. 필자의 판단으로는 일부 이 극이 예이츠와 레이디 그레고리의 합작이라고 주 장하지만, 이 극이 이와 달리 예이츠의 초기의 최고의 작품으로 평가한다.

In the early twentieth century, Ireland was still under the colonial rule and the struggle for independence was at its height. Besides the political struggle, there were cultural movements and the Irish Dramatic Movement was one of those movements. W. B. Yeats was perhaps the most important leader in the Movement and his ideal was to create a national drama of Ireland and to have the Irish people recover their identity. Yeats wanted to create his own original dramatic form which was different from realistic dramas. In Yeats’s plays, imagery, symbols, style and plot are well organized and unified as an organic whole. Therefore, the characters usually have symbolic meanings. In Cathleen Ni Houlihan(1902), Cathleen is a symbol of Ireland. The setting of the play is a cottage of Killala in 1798. A young person named Michael is marrying Delia Cahel, a beautiful young girl. And a poor old woman enters the cottage and says that her land has been taken from her and many people have died for love of her. This is Cathleen ni Houlihan, a personification of Ireland. At the end of the play the poor old woman is transformed into a beautiful young girl. The woman can be a symbol of the sovereignty of Ireland and Michael can be a symbol of a king of Ireland. The transformation is the result of the symbolical marriage of land and king. Deirdre, the heroine of Deirdre(1907), is an important figure in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. In Yeats’s Deirdre, Deirdre comes back to Ireland from a long exile with her lover, Naoise with promises of King Conchubar’s forgiveness. However, the treachery of Conchubar is revealed and Naoise is killed. At last Deirdre commits suicide. In this play, Deirdre is an archetypal figure who symbolizes the exile and misfortune of Irish people under the colonial rule. Therefore, Deirdre can be considered as an apt symbol of Ireland. In the last scene, Deirdre does not lose her dignity and chooses her death. In the early twentieth century, Irish people felt a great sympathy for the tragic experience and misfortune of Cathleen Ni Houlihan and Deirdre in Yeats’s plays and they would consider them the symbols of Ireland. With the dramatization of those heroines, Yeats helped to encourage Irish people to recover national consciousness.