Preview

Miss

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
868 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Miss
How does Friel explore the concept of identity in Making History, looking at alternative viewpoints in your answer?
Identity is the individual characteristics by which a thing or a person is recognized or known with, http://www.thefreedictionary.com/identity These characteristics are exposed through factors such as a person’s image,personality,where they were brought up and their accent. All the characters in the play, making history are identified through where they came from and their accent. Here Friel is attempting to illustrate the difference between class and social status in Ireland during the time of play. Friel has also used the crucial times of Hugh O’Neill post and prior to the Battle of kinsale.One of the key ways in which Friel succeeds in doing this is by implementing the theme of identity and O’Neill’s struggles with this issue of identity throughout the play. Other characters are shown to have split identities, which reinforces Friel ideas of how history will portray them. Making history is a play by, playwright Brian Friel. The play is set in the Elizabethan era, during the renaissance period.
From the scenes of the play, Friel uses the events of O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone as his attempt to secure a deal with Spain that will drive the last of Elizabeth’s English forces out of Ireland. As this play is not exact history of Hugh O’Neill, Friel has used certain events and key characters, to explore the concept of identity in making history.
Act 1 scene 1 the play begins with the discussion of Christening, in which O’Neill has received an invitation, Friel has used to evidently represent the light heartedness of the rest of the act that follows, before events take a more sinister turn. This discussion is carried out between O’Neill and his personal secretary Harry Hoveden, the symbol of birth here present possibly indication of their relationship facing tough and strenuous times ahead, implying that Harry and O’Neill’s relationship goes further than

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    The Rez Sisters

    • 1362 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Identity is “how you view yourself and your life.” (p. 12 Knots in a String.) Your identity helps you determine where you think you fit in, in your life. It is “a rich complexity of images, ideas and associations.”(p. 12 Knots in a String.) It is given that as we go through our lives and encounter different experiences our identity of yourselves and where we belong may change. As this happens we may gain or relinquish new values and from this identity and image our influenced. “A bad self-image and low self-esteem may form part of identity…but often the cause is not a loss of identity itself so much as a loss of belonging.” Social psychologists suggest that identity is closely related to our culture. Native people today have been faced with this challenge against their identity as they are increasingly faced with a non-native society. I will prove that the play The Rez Sisters showed this loss of identity and loss of belonging. When a native person leaves the reservation to go and start a new life in a city they are forced to adapt…

    • 1362 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Looking for Alibrandi is a film that conveys the meaning of identity through the use of a variety of film techniques illustrated by the composers. The Outsiders, a novel by S.E. Hinton also has the meaning of identity hidden away somewhere between its pages, as does the poem The Road Not Taken but between its four stanzas. Poetic and language techniques give us a better idea of the meaning of identity.…

    • 1648 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Identity is the individual characteristic by which a thing or person is recognize or known as. To many people identity is everything to them its who they are as an individual and a person. Some people spent all their lives trying to figure out who they are , but what about the people who knew who they were since the day there was born. What if someone was to take their identity and destroy it.Tauting them with it slowly killing the person they thought they were into something unrecognizable and degrading. where if they see themselves in the mirror they wouldn’t even know who that image staring right back at them is. Elie Weisel develop the theme of identity in the book night in many ways.…

    • 254 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Identity is one of the main themes in the novel 'After the First Death' by Robert Cormier. Identity defined is the individual characteristics by which a thing or person is recognized or known by.…

    • 296 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Best Essays

    Miss

    • 1290 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Some questions must be answered with a cross in a box . If you change your mind about an…

    • 1290 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Identity, what is it? Is it a name? Is it defined by what we do, where we work or how hard we play? Is identity categorized by a moment from our past or is it defined by the present? Is identity of a person only one definite thing or is it dependent upon the observer? According to Nathaniel Hawthorne identity is definite, unchangeable, and can be defined by one single moment in a person’s life. To Hawthorne identity is more than just what your driver’s license says and what your social security number is, but is the thing you obsess over. This is why, in The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, characters’ lives effect their inescapable…

    • 789 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Part-Time Indian Essay

    • 525 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Identity shows a person’s individuality. A person’s individuality can include how they dress, their beliefs, their personality traits, the way they speak, their culture, their education, etc. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and in my own life, it is evident that when exploring identity, a character must leave and return to his/her roots before truly understanding him/herself.…

    • 525 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When dealing with complex historical topics, it is common for historians to develop systems of identity to impart a historical narrative. This system is developed independently from the various groups the historian wishes to discuss. Thus, each system of identity is largely alien to the historical group it seeks to describe. While this may seem contradictory to a historian’s effort to impart a sense of validity to their theses, it is necessary as a way for the modern reader to identify with the topic being related. In reality, the historian’s use of identity is crucial for the modern reader, especially for readers that are largely unfamiliar with a given topic.…

    • 1196 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Miss

    • 1330 Words
    • 6 Pages

    2.1 Equality is ensuring individuals are treated fairly and equally and no less favourably specific to their needs including areas of race, gender, disability, religion or beliefs, sexual orientation and age. Promoting equality should remove discrimination in all the affirmed areas.…

    • 1330 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Miss

    • 1715 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Beyond the Microsystems and the Mesosystems, Bronfenbrenner’s model expands to include those environmental contexts that are less direct and less concrete in the child’s life…but still have a powerful influence on the child’s socialization. We will continue to consider Sam, our child in the center of the drawing, as we examine the concepts of the Exosystems and the Macrosystem.…

    • 1715 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Family Identity

    • 578 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A person’s identity is often considered a trait that someone is born with, similar to physical traits such as eye color or face shape. In actuality, identity is not something that can be determined by a particular strand of DNA, rather it is something that must be formed throughout a lifetime. Thus, at birth, one’s identity is a blank canvas, ready to absorb knowledge from its immediate surroundings, more particularly family, as it is the first thing a fresh identity is exposed to. As evidenced by Grapes of Wrath, Abraham Lincoln, and The Great Gatsby, one’s identity is primarily determined by his or her family.…

    • 578 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Stuart Hall defines identity as an ‘already accomplished fact, which the new cultural practices then represent’. We should think instead of ‘identity as a ‘production’ which is never complete, always in process, and always constituted within, not outside, representation’ (Hall 1994 p.392). An individual’s sense of belonging to a particular group, thinking, feelings and behaviour can also be referred to as identity. One’s cultural image can construct identity; such features as hair, skin tone and height. History shapes our identity. Identity is very important in all societies, without identity we would not have culture. Identity in nature is a subliminal part of our subconscious and the events around us. The history and culture that shapes and models our society and the things of everyday life take over and gets embedded into the picture, most at times with no effort on our behalf. (Ipsos, 2006)…

    • 2107 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Subaltern

    • 1798 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The term identity as the dictionary defines it today is almost as new as the sciences devoted to studying it. The definition of the word identity has undergone several transformations since it was first used by European philosophers emerging from the Dark Ages. It wouldn’t be until 1950 that the word would undergo its final stage, the one seen used in psychology textbooks across the world. Erik Erikson’s eight stages of the life cycle gave us its modern meaning.…

    • 1798 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Miss

    • 3583 Words
    • 15 Pages

    IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF THE ROLE OF MICRO FINANCE BANKS IN PROMOTING SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES GROWTH IN NIGERIA Babagana, S. A.…

    • 3583 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Miss

    • 373 Words
    • 2 Pages

    I am ambitious person like to communicate with different people of different cultures, so that communication can be easily.…

    • 373 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays