Sylvia Plath begins her poem “Edge” with a juxtaposition: “The woman is perfected. / Her dead /Body wears the smile of accomplishment…” This haunting image of a smiling woman who has just murdered her children and committed suicide is an allusion to the classical Greek figure of Medea, and an ominous prelude to Plath’s own suicide. While Sylvia Plath captures the complexity and tragedy of this story in just 10 stanzas, it is also brilliantly reproduced in Marina Carr’s play By the Bog of Cats… The ellipsis following the title suggests there is something more that unfolds, a mystical beyond, or else something left behind. This tension drives the plot of the play, as Hester Swane is continually affected and distraught by her mother’s absence, waiting by the bog for her to return. Carr uses the bog as a mythical boundary, an indeterminate space that blends past and present, life and death. This liminal space is why Hester identifies with the land- she is seen as ‘the other’ in a community that rejects her and considers herself half-living because of her longing for her Mother’s return. Therefore, she is attached to the land itself, as her mother was, seemingly becoming an ethereal part of that landscape. As the mythical and real converge on the bog, Hester is haunted by a broken motherhood that recycles itself into her present maternal role, solidifying her ‘otherness’ in a community possessed by their own inescapable pasts. The connection to, and dispute over land, presence of ghosts and gothic undertones, and perversion of family work to reflect the cultural anxieties of Ireland- especially the prejudices against Irish travelers, consequences of urbanization, and women’s rights. Yet, Hester’s mystical connection to the land and perverted motherhood that comprises her ‘otherness’ serves as a refusal to submit to the patriarchal, industrial society that the community represents.  

Hester Swane is seen as an outsider from the beginning of the play, and her ‘otherness’ is reinforced by her mystical attachment to the bog. In the first scene, on mistakenly encountering Hester at dawn instead of dusk, the Ghost Fancier remarks “what’re you doin’ draggin’ the corpse of a swan behind ya like it was your shadow?” (Carr 265). Carr immediately establishes the connection between the Black Swan and Hester, therefore the land and Hester, later explaining that her mother’s ‘curse’ tied the two together until death (Carr 275). The supernatural quality of the connection between Hester and Black Wing is resembled in the descriptions of the bog as “always shiftin’ and changin’ and coddin’ the eye” (Carr 267). The bog itself becomes a “transitional stage in which Hester finds herself- lingering between this world and the next” (Martinovich 116). This liminal state becomes an important metaphor for Hester’s own position in society in addition to her attachment to the past. The presence of Black Wing’s death and Joseph Swane’s ghost later in the story suggests the bog as a subliminal place, a border between life and death, the past and present. To reinforce this idea, the Catwoman wishes the bird a “safe journey” when burying her and later tells Joseph’s ghost to “settle in to your new world” (Carr 272; 301). In context of the Catwoman’s ethereal powers, her gestures promote the idea of the bog as a border to another world, where Hester has waited her whole life for Josie Swane to appear from. While talking with the ghost of her brother about their Mother’s absence and his murder, Joseph tells Hester “If ya knew what it was like here ya’d never have done what ya done” to which she replies “Oh I think I know, Joseph, for a long time now I been thinkin’ I’m already a ghost” (Carr 321). Joseph is referencing the ‘other side’ of the bog, the ‘country’ of death where he still can’t find Josie, their mother. Hester’s response implies that she has one foot inside of this other world because of her dependence on the past- waiting for her mother by the Bog becomes equally as tormenting as death itself. Joseph’s experience as a ghost in the liminal territory between life and death, wishing to be resurrected, mirrors Hester’s obsession with her Mother’s return- both tragically waiting for something that will never happen. Hester may see herself as a part of Joseph’s landscape, therefore a ghost herself, inhabiting this indeterminate space defined by her separation from the community that rejects her and aching desire for her mother to return. In addition to her presence on and connection to the bog, the ‘ghost’ she refers to can be a metaphor for the rejection from her community, as she becomes a public menace and robbed of her home and family. Carr blends reality with the supernatural and gothic in order to stress Hester’s separation and displacement in a community focused on land and status, and her liminal, mournful state waiting for Josie to walk across the bog. 

Carr shows Hester’s community attributing her anger and mysterious connection to the land to her ‘Tinker blood’, but through Hester’s refusal to submit the land and house to Carthage, she dismisses the stereotype of a traveler and combats the increasingly patriarchal and urbanized rural Ireland. The gothic element of Hester’s connection to the bog relates back to her identity as a traveler. Kevin Kearns defines Travelers as “a traditionally nomadic population existing on the physical and social margins of Irish society” (538). Throughout the play Hester is called a “Tinker” by a multitude of characters which carries with it negative connotations of “economic scavengers and social pariahs” (Kearns 538). Scholar Domino Torres claims that Hester’s “unnatural ways are read as symptomatic of her Traveler blood, manifested both in her inclination to wander along the bog and her subsequent refusal to settle down in a home” (Torres 28). While she appears to exist on the “social margins of society,” Hester is also deeply connected to the land and refuses to be exiled, which challenges the existing stereotype of an Irish traveler who is constantly migrating. Additionally, in the end of the play, Hester burning the property and cattle stands as a refusal to sacrifice her life and property to Carthage, but rather by destroying it, she is dispossessing Carthage of his stable future with Caroline. He represents the effects of an industrialized, patriarchal community, deserting Hester for possession of land and superior status. Interestingly, Carr uses animalistic diction to represent Carthage, as Hester says: “you cut your teeth on me, Carthage Kilbride, gnawed and sucked till all that’s left is an auld bone ya think to fling on the dunghill, now you’ve no more use for me” (Carr 288). Carthage is a name that awfully resembles the word ‘carnage’ which is indicative of the multiple threads of irony and foreshadowing that run through the play, but also of the savage nature of capitalist values. Names appear to have their own significance, as Hester says: “what sourt of name is Hester? Hester’s after no wan” (Carr 320). Her name, which is an allusion to Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter, serves as another reminder of Hester’s status as an outsider (Torres 26). Hester’s ‘otherness’ is represented in the lack of significance in her name, while Carthage’s actions to pursue the young, wealthy daughter of a landowner, solidify the importance of name and ownership in a neo-colonial state. 

The deteriorating relationship between Hester and Carthage reflects the impact of industrialization invading midland farm life, where status and wealth become prioritized above familial connection. Terence Brown notes the economic shifts in the 1950’s in Ireland give rise to a shifting family dynamic in rural Ireland in the 60-70’s, which he labels “age of the nuclear family” defined by urbanization and consumerist values (Brown 248). Hester is betrayed by Carthage’s decision to marry Caroline, stating: “You’re sellin’ me and Josie down the river for a few lumpy auld acres and notions of respectability and I never thought ya would” (Carr 289). The tension between classes that arose out of urbanization is reflected in the betrayal Hester feels. Even more, their relationship to the land is further complicated by the murder of Joseph Swane and ‘blood money’ Carthage received from it, opening up the question of ownership and blood ties. Hester’s act of burning of the cattle reinforces her defiance of the monopolizing value on land and money as a result of modernization. At seeing the disaster, Xavier yells at Carthage: “There’s nothin’ besides land, boy, nothin’!” (Carr 332) illuminating the importance of land as a defining point of one’s identity in Ireland at the time, and also the anxiety over land ownership and status in one’s parish. Contradictory to the capitalist agenda of Xavier and Carthage, Hester asserts her right to the land through her mythic connection to the Bog, or nature, which runs deeper than status or money. 

Hester’s connection to the land, refusal to be exiled, and persistence in waiting for her mother to return, is a reaction against the industrialization and patriarchy of the rural community. When Carthage tells her the community wants her to move to “another haltin’ site” Hester asserts:

I was born on the Bog of Cats and on the Bog of Cats I’ll end me days. I’ve as much right to this place as any of yees, more, for it holds me to it in ways it has never held yees. And as for me tinker blood, I’m proud of it. It gives me an edge over all of yees around here, allows me see yees for the inbred, underbred, bog-brained shower yees are (Carr 289).

Melissa Sihra argues that the “physical terrains in Carr’s plays… resonate with meaning, preserving cultural memories and hidden histories” (Sihra 556). This is flushed out in Hester’s uncanny connection to the Bog- she utilizes her ‘tinker blood’ to illuminate the flaws in the community itself. She asserts her right to the land, where her connection supersedes the contract, disregarding the validity of legal ownership and status. Although Hester is seen as an outsider because of her tinker blood and supernatural associations, it is these qualities that resist the patriarchal, capitalist ideas of land ownership. Her resistance is solidified by admitting she went to industrial school but left to come back to the bog to wait for her mother- the mythical and tragic association of the bog with her mother’s return signifies the deeper ties to land and community than what Carthage and Xavier represent (Carr 324). Yet, multiple times throughout the play, Hester disowns her house, saying she “never felt at home” and it “should have never been built in the first place” (Carr 322). This illuminates her sense of displacement in an increasingly urbanized community, and her persistence in seeing the outdoors as her real home. After she burns the property, Hester disowns it herself and comments “Let the bog have it back” (Carr 322). This highlights the “new idea [that] moves on from the restrictive notion of indoors as a ‘natural space’ for women characters” (Cerquoni 138). Hester’s intimate connection to an outdoor space above the traditional place of ‘home’ for women acts as a dichotomy between traditional gender roles in a patriarchal community and the effects of urbanization- her connection to the Bog challenges the notions of women’s status in the home as well as authority or ownership of property. 

While Hester challenges traditional notions of femininity and urbanization through her mystical attachment to the bog, the supernatural element is also discursive of her ‘otherness’ in a time of political and territorial unsettlement in Ireland. As Enrica Cerquoni points out, the re-evaluation of space “points to the creation of a constructive dialogue between issues of ‘otherness’” (Cerquoni 174). After Hester burns the property, Monica comments: “That’s what Tinkers do, isn’t it, burn everythin’ after them?” (Carr 322). The attribution of the extreme actions to her ‘Tinker’ blood and subsequent “black art thing,” reinforces a long history of prejudices against travelers. On the surface level, her retribution is extreme enough to reinforce their perspective of her insanity and ‘savageness’ but by submitting to her rage, she is disregarding their ownership of what she is entitled to. Because the “striking topography of the play is psychological,” her refusal to submit the land to Carthage emphasizes her own psyche’s attachment to the land as well as her disobedience to the rules of a capitalist society (Wallace 438). The bog becomes a chasm to envelop the death and fire, the remnants of her old life, seemingly becoming a part of this liminal state where Hester already exists. Her act of revenge and disassociation from the community may be resonant of the Troubles and Ireland’s Good Friday Agreement made on April 10th, 1998, the same year By the Bog of Cats… premieres in The Abbey Theatre (Brown 391; Merriman 153). Hence, the tensions between the Unionist and Nationalist parties over politics of Northern Ireland become representative of the territorial dispute presented in Carr’s play. 

The stigma of a cultural ‘other’ is seen through the community’s rejection of Hester, and the resulting fight over land and heritage. Hester’s final act in murdering her daughter and committing suicide is related to the claim for power and control over a territory- Hester claims “If it’s the last thing I do I’ll find a way to keep her from ya” (Carr 290). This represents the cultural anxieties of the time but is also related to Hester’s past and unwillingness to allow Josie to experience the same type of painful longing she experienced with her Mother. It is an attempt to stop the past from recycling- which is also indicative of Ireland’s past with colonial Britain, and status as a neo-colonial state (Merriman 147). The past injecting itself into the future represents the cultural anxiety of Colonial Britain, Ireland’s new economic policies and urbanization that open up a globalization that threaten an existing identity. As seen, Carr’s play can be seen as a response to the social changes at Ireland during the time- in particular, the ending can be viewed as a reaction to the injustices of Magdalene Laundries. Lasting from 1922-1996, Magdalene Laundries “incarcerated unmarried pregnant women as unpaid laundry workers” and often illegally sold babies to families abroad (Sihra 554). These institutions were a topic of much dispute, and Carr’s play premiered in the midst of the social changes and revelations about these Church-run institutions. Hester’s decision to kill Josie can be viewed as an extreme reaction against the anxiety of children being taken from their mothers, and the theme of perverted and lost parent figures echoes throughout. As with the land, possession of her child is threatened by prominent male figures and industrialization, another anxiety for women in Ireland at the time. 

The perverted relationships in the play show the rupture of traditional kin by urbanization and industrialization, but also how the past infiltrates the present through questions of heritage, and parental relationships. Although the characters judge Hester for her “Tinker” heritage and involvement with “black magic”, they are equally as haunted by their pasts. “The Age of a Nuclear family” is perverted throughout- as seen in the dysfunctional parental relationships: Carthage, Caroline, and Hester all have lost a parent when young. Hester tells Caroline how she used to take care of her as a child, suggesting Hester’s role as a mother figure to Caroline. Plus, Hester accuses Xavier of killing his own son, and of sexually assaulting his daughter (Carr 293). The entangled and perverted relationships not only highlight the hypocrisy of the community towards Hester, but also a larger statement on the imperfectness of a patriarchal, industrial community in Ireland with the rise of urbanization. Throughout, the perverted relationships show the similarity between Hester and the other characters, for example, Monica admits “Hester I know what it’s like to wait for somewan who’s never walkin’ through the door again” (Carr 324). And although Hester’s ‘otherness’ is painfully reinforced through Mrs. Kilbride’s racist comments “Tinker” and the forcefulness in kicking her out of the land, Kilbride is equally as uncivil and ‘savage’ as she accuses Hester to be, showing up to her own son’s wedding in a wedding dress, hanging onto her own youth and past (Carr 310). As each character is exposed by their own pasts, making Hester more human, they refuse to see her similarity with them, too easy to label her as an outsider and crazy. This reflects the traveler culture and society’s refusal to integrate them into their own culture. Hester’s displacement from the community is exaggerated through her supernatural presence- the duality of experience as she has one foot in the ‘other’ world because of connection to her mother and the land. The link between past and present and the imperfectness of family can be summed up in the dialogue between Hester and Carthage: “Who are ya and what sourt of stuff are ya made of?”  To which Hester replies, “The same as you” (Carr 288). 

By the Bog of Cats… ties the mystical and the past to a sense of place. The ellipses at the end of the title leaves it open-ended, offering a type of continuum, represented by the recycling of the past into the present, as seen in the relationship between Hester and her mother, and Josie and Hester. Both Josie and Hester repeat “Mam- Mam-” as their final dying words, reiterating the haunting connection to the past (Carr 340). Marina Carr represents the cultural anxieties of Ireland at the time through combining magical elements with real life, emphasizing Hester’s mythical connection to the land that represents her autonomy, ‘otherness’, and refusal to submit to an increasingly industrial and patriarchal society. Through the perversion of family and community, she sheds light on the consequences of the society, and resistance to social change. Carr’s last lines in the play, “She’s cut her heart out- it’s lyin’ there on top of her chest like some dark feathered bird” binds the story together, making the play itself one continuum, a circle where the past continuously reappears in the present (Carr 340). The ending scene reiterates Hester’s connection to Black Wing and the Bog, as she plunges into the other side of this indeterminate space, finally reuniting with her mother and daughter in death. 

Words: 3061 

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