A Queer Ireland

Frank McGuinness is hailed as one member of the most distinguished young generation of contemporary playwrights in Ireland. As a prolific playwright, McGuinness has devoted many plays rich in theme and his artistic uniqueness also lies in his bold depiction of various homosexual characters in his main plays.Queer theory thinks that people’s sexual orientation is ambiguous and many people can experience heterosexuality as well as homosexuality. It criticizes the traditional and static gender identity, and proposes a fluid and changeable idea. Queer theory considers that people’s homosexual, heterosexual and bisexual behaviors are not a fixed constant, but look more like the performance of an actor, who changes himself/herself unceasingly in different personal and social contexts. It follows that gender is diversified and fluid rather than congenital and unalterable. Queer theory, actually, is not only to challenge this sort of social sexual rank which takes the heterosexuality as the foundation, but also to challenge the traditional homosexual culture and to urge the marginalized to cooperate and rebel against the fixed dichotomy.The gay characters in Frank McGuinness’ s main plays reflect obviously queer characteristics. From the points of gender, sex and sexuality, sexual politics, this thesis discusses how McGuinness’ s gay characters correspond to Queer theory. This thesis proceed as follows: Chapter 1 is the Introduction part; Chapter 2 analyzes Rebecca’s muted lesbian in The Factory Girls and Pyper’s overt homosexual love in Observe the Sons of Ulster and shows McGuinness’ s initial rebellion against the dichotomy of gender and sexuality; Chapter 3 studies the main characters in Dolly West’s Kitchen and shows McGuinness’ s challenges towards traditional homosexuality; Chapter 4 explores gender and sexual politics in Carthagians and offers a non-binary and rainbow suggestion for Ireland’s peace progress. The Conclusion Chapter proposes the term “queer Ireland” to summarize the main points of this thesis and the idea that Frank McGuinness’ s queer thoughts inspire harmonious and tolerate development in society.