ABSTRACT

An identification of Shakespeare as one William Nugent, Baron of Devlin, previously suggested in Elizabeth Hickey's biography of Nugent, The Green Cockatrice, is even offered. There might also be a Joycean jibe at Matthew Arnold's claim of a Celtic note in Shakespeare's aesthetic. Such privileging of MacMorris has as much to do with Shakespeare's centrality to the canon. In relation to modern performance, an association of Henry V with its Irish subtexts is unlikely to apply, especially as productions seek to repackage the play's relevance. We are not dealing with the same Shakespeare as John Arden who, on the evidence of Richard II, held the playwright accountable for perpetuating anti-Irish prejudices. Spenser is positioned as the touchstone of English colonialist attitudes in the period. Comparing MacMorris's service in Henry's army to Irishmen fighting in World War I, Stockley describes him as an 'Irishman of no bad heart, serving the English, yet sensitive to Ireland, trying to serve two masters.