At The Hawk’s Well
AT The Hawk’s Well is a one-act play written by Y. B. Yeats. The play was
produced for the Abbey Theater along with other plays at the turn of the century to
try and promote a sense of nationalism within the Irish community, as well as
culture. This play is not only an example of Irish nationalist poetry but also is
unique to Yeats own artistic ambitions as a poet.
Yeats, a Catholic like many of his fellow Irishmen, has religious imagery
throughout the entire play. The first major example of this is the three musicians,
who function more as priests than narrators of action. Their movements at the
beginning of the play are very ritualistic and reminiscent of a catechism. The way
that the cloth is stretched out and repeatedly folded out suggests that these motions
are ritualistic and have been repeated for some time.
Another aspect of the play that suggests catechism is the cloth itself. The
black cloth has a pattern on it that resembles a hawk. This is very important
because the hawk can easily be seen as a substitute for a dove, the Holy Spirit. This
is important because of the ambiguity of the Trinity. By viewing the hawk as a
substitute for a dove, it gives the guardian of the well a more distinct role within the
play. The guardian is a combination of a hawk and a woman, and it is never clear
exactly which; similarly to the ambiguous connection between the Holy Spirit and
Jesus Christ.
Another ritualistic aspect appears while the old man is talking to the young
man about the power of the well. The old man has been waiting for fifty years to
drink from the well because it offers water that grants eternal life. The well is
supposed to fill up every so often but when the old man wakes up there is no water
left. He knows that there was water while he slept because some of the stones of the
well are still wet when he awakens. This is a process that has been going on for fifty
years and continues to go on even after the play ends.
The idea that the water from the well will grant eternal life to whoever
drinks it also shows the influence of catechism and ritual on Yeats writing. A central
aspect of catechism is consuming the Eucharist. According to Catholic doctrine, by
eating and drinking the body and blood of Christ, a person can receive everlasting
life after they die by going to Heaven. This is very interesting because Yeats chooses
to have his play take place during the Irish Heroic Age.
The idea that Ireland has a heroic age, an example of it’s own mythology,
suggests that Ireland is a separate entity from Britain, not only now but also a place
in history. This is important because it shows that there is some importance to
being Irish that shouldn’t be taken away from the country. The young man,
Cuchulain, is also an important aspect because he is a hero of Irish folklore. This
feeds into the idea of restoring Ireland to its initial self-generated culture by
including characters from Irish folklore.
This idea spills over into the direction of the play by involving the audience
as much as possible. Both the old man and the young man enter the stage by
passing through the audience. This gives the illusions that the audience as much a
part of the play as the actors themselves. Because these actors who are central to
the story emerge from the audience, it seems like they are not separated from the
audience but an extension of it.
The way that the young man enters the audience is also very important
because he enters while the old man is speaking. The young man is a symbol for the
audience by challenging the current authority. While not designed to have the
entire audience rise up onstage, the audience would certainly have some emotions
of rebellion building up from the young man, Cuchulain, because he rose from
among them. The old man can clearly be seen as a part of the old way of doing
things and since Cuchulain enters the stage while he is talking, he is directly
challenging the old order of doing things.
This is not the only time he challenges the old man. The old man warns him
about the waste that his previous fifty years of life has been because he spends all
his time waiting for the water to fill up the well. Despite these warnings, Cuchulain
believes he will be able to drink from the well eventually and earn immortality. The
argument escalates to the point where the old man and the young man fight about
who will get to drink the water first, before it even appears.
Another aspect of production that promotes nationalism is that the play,
while designed for the Abbey Theater, can easily be performed anywhere. The stage
is described as “any bare space”. This is stated at the beginning of the play and
starts the theme of nationalism early by saying the play can be produced anywhere.
There are significant differences between the young man and the old man,
the young and old generation, especially when they deal with the guardian of the
well. The guardian is able to protect the well with her dancing. While her dancing
puts the old man to sleep, the young man, the hero, chases her offstage.
Another interesting aspect to Yeats play is the use of masks by every one of
the characters. This use of masks is reminiscent of the Greek chorus of antiquity’s
plays. These masks were designed to give the chorus an otherworldly presence so
Yeats choice in using them in this play is striking.
The influence of Noh, Japanese theater, is also interesting in Yeats play. It is a
wonder that Yeats chose to adapt elements of Noh that he felt would create a better
piece of art. The reason this is important is because Yeats was using something
distinctly Japanese to build up the Irish nation. This implies that rather trying to
build up the Irish nation from the ground up, a global approach would be necessary
to achieve the type of success Yeats wanted.
This seems to be very contradictory considering Yeats tries so hard to
establish a sense of Irish nationalism throughout the play. However it is important
to remember that Noh was a type of traveling Japanese theater that would easily
serve Yeats want to establish an Irish identity. Rather than hindering the message
of the play, the incorporated elements of Noh bring the play a type of populist
atmosphere that would encourage the audience that they could be a part of bringing
about a new Irish culture.
Yeats also expressed in his introduction to his plays that movement was
becoming too much of an emphasis in the plays he had been watching. Instead he
wanted the motion of the people to matter as well as the dialogue to keep the
audience’s attention. This would explain why he had such an interest in giving a
large portion of the dialogue to the musicians who functioned as a Greek chorus.