The Silver Tassie represents a radical departure from Sean O'Casey's early work, and its most significant aspects have been almost consistently misunderstood by his critics. The play is a conscious blend of naturalism and symbolic expressionism, and as such is unified through language, imagery, and theme, rather than through character. O'Casey himself wrote to W. B. Yeats, in their famous controversy over the play [documented in O'Casey's Blasts and Benedictions]: "I'm afraid I can't make my mind mix with the sense of importance you give to 'a dominating character.' God forgive me, but it does sound as if you peeked and pined for a hero in the play. Now, is a dominating character more important than a play, or is a play more important than a dominating character?" Characterization in The Silver Tassie is clearly subordinate to the play's ritualistic structure and to its complex symbolic framework. Symbol and imagery throughout the four acts revolve around the trinity of war, religion, and sexuality—"the decorations of security." This imagery is placed within the dual context of a strong anti-war theme and the Sacrifice of the Mass. The thematic and structural function of the imagery is well expressed by the Croucher's lines in Act II: "Then the decorations of security/Become the symbols of self sacrifice." (p. 29)
The ritual structure is manifested first and most obviously in the religious chanting. Despite the observations of the critics, the chant is not confined to the second, expressionistic act, but operates as a unifying element throughout the play, appearing in both naturalistic and expressionistic passages…. The intertwining of war, religion, and sexuality in the imagery of [the first] act is subtly manipulated. Susie chants Biblical platitudes as she polishes Harry's rifle, an activity that is prolonged almost to the end of the scene, and is unavoidably phallic. It is revealed that the roots of her religious belief lie in sexual frustration…. It becomes clear as the act progresses that hers is the chanting of the "faithful" and not of the "Faith."… The tragedy of the "faithful" is in Susie's line at the conclusion of the scene, "the men that go with the guns are going with God."… (p. 30)
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