The Donagh (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: William Carleton
- First Published: 1830
- Type of Plot: Allegory
- Time of Work: The early nineteenth century
- Setting: Rural Ireland
- Principal Characters: Anthony Meehan, Anne, Denis Meehan
- Genres: Social realism, Short fiction, Allegory
- Subjects: Superstition, Religion, Rural or country life, Death or dying, Faustian bargains, Theft, Horses
- Locales: Ireland
The Story
The story is set in an isolated Irish village where the community is closely knit, where the people are bound together by shared suspicions and fears, and where absolute evil is recognizable and verifiable. It relates a test of innocence that the whole community undergoes in an effort to identify a gang of horse thieves. The reader knows that the thieves are led by Anthony Meehan, but the tension of the story is created by the suspense of waiting to see if Anthony will succumb to the test.
Anthony Meehan is introduced as an absolutely evil character: violent,...
[The entire page is 1507 words long]
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