Death of the Destitute in Brian Friel's Dancing at Lughnasa

Abstract

Contextualizing the miserable life of the poor Irish people during the 1930s, the time of industrial revolution and of the Second World War, Brian Friel, through the play Dancing at Lughnasa has depicted a pathetic life of the Mundy family especially of Agnes, Rose, and Father Jack. Though they are sincere, honest and hardworking, they are doomed to death in the overwhelming bourgeois society, that has been the socio-economic reality of the time. In order to maintain their livelihood as well as the lower social prestige idealized by the capitalist society, the Mundy family breaks up at the hands of economy that ultimately leads some of the members of the family to their death.