Dancing at Lughnasa | The Motif of Song and Dance in Friel's Play
In the following essay, Liz Brent discusses the motif of song and dance in Friel's play.
Song and dance are major motifs of Friel's Dancing at Lughnasa. They symbolize the play's central thematic concerns with paganism and societal change. The instrument of change in the Mundy household is the acquisition of the family's first wireless radio. The presence of the radio, which functions only sporadically, inspires in the Mundy sisters a spirit of freedom and expressiveness heretofore repressed within their traditional Irish Catholic household. The setting of the play during Ireland's pagan tradition of the Festival of Lughnasa provides a backdrop of pagan dance,...
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