ABSTRACT
The literary and artistic enterprises coming out of Ireland in the twentieth century reflect Said's ideas as it desires this recognition as an enabling factor for overcoming the nation's marginalized position. The manifestation of this reterritorialization can be seen through the overt reinscription of William Shakespeare's plays by Irish dramatists who engage the issues of reconstituting national identity that is separate from that imposed on them through imperial domination. Shakespeare's plays embody an empathy for the Irish Other. While this sentiment is most blatant in the Henriad, Shakespeare serves as an antithesis to Edmund Spenser in particular by problematizing—and debunking—the tenets of deterritorialization and colonial oppression which he sets forth in A View of the State of Ireland. Twentieth-century Irish plays contain symbolic representations for the state of Ireland, as articulated through Sean O'Casey's Russo Mary and Brian Friel's Barber Sarah.
