In his writing of ‘Freedom of the City’, Brian Friel accurately portrays the idiosyncrasies of the ‘poor’ and juxtaposes them with an academic viewpoint of 1970s Ireland. Friel utilises modern theatrical conventions staging the play’s denouement at the very beginning to place emphasis on the reasons behind Michael, Lily and Skinner’s death. Friel’s contentions are to make apparent the hardships of the ‘poor’ and to highlight the cyclical nature of poverty.
Lily’s anecdotes reveal the acrimony of the poor’s everyday plights whereby something as routine as work becomes another facet of their suffering, ‘Johnny Duffy, cos…ladder.’ Friel’s nuances of language, ‘last time’ highlight the magnitude of their suffering and makes it abundantly clear that these hardships are both frequent and periodic. Friel conveys the seemingly perpetual agony and places emphasis on the inequality in Ireland. Lily proceeds to further detail occurrences of her everyday life and all contain physical suffering, ‘limp’ and ‘stuttering’ furthering the notion that Skinner makes explicit, ‘the poor are always overcharged.’ Friel utilises these occurrences to portray a society where being ‘poor’ extends far further than economic position and dictates the way people live, tinged with suffering.
Dr. Dodds’ lengthy speech offers an exterior and alternate viewpoint of the the poor. Dodds’ implies that ‘poverty’ condemns a person and the subtleties of his language, ‘chronic’ and ‘condition’ indicate that poverty is akin to a medical disease. Dodds’ academic viewpoint is largely detached and offers little insight into the lives of the poor. Though he identifies the obvious unfavourable fiscal position of the poor, ‘shortage of cash’ he overlooks the cause and effect of their baneful lives and their lack of rudimentary rights. Friel detests the perspective Dodds’ represents, exemplified as he juxtaposes his speech with the brutality of the unionist police, ‘The 8th Infantry Brigade…’ and he makes apparent the rigid social structure that encases the lives of the poor ‘under your command’ contradicting Dodds’ speech. Both of these contribute to Friel discrediting of Dodds’ speech as the playwright exemplifies the true tragedies of ‘poverty’, utilising Lily’s sorrowful and utterly mundane life whereby even her cherished ‘Chairman’ insults her, ‘You’re a bone stupid bitch.’ Friel exacerbates Lily’s tragedy by condemning her child, a symbol of innocence, to a dire future as the social conventions reject ‘mongols’ and thus he is a representation of the cyclical nature of poverty and suffering.
‘Freedom of the City’ confrontingly depicts the lives of the poor, yet Friel eschews from discussion on a modus operandi for a pathway to equal rights. Michael’s view of the pristine affluent and Skinner’s contrasting cynical approach are both ultimately futile as they are murdered brutally. Their tragedies are depicted prevalently, ‘X opposite my name’ yet neither have even glimpses of happiness in their lives. Friel makes apparent that the poor are bereft of an avenue to salvation and depicts the utter helplessness of their situation. Friel’s nuances of language exemplify their futility as Lily instructs Michael to shout ‘Help! Help!’ yet Michael continues to cough and remains unchanged.
Throughout ‘Freedom of the City’ suffering is inescapable and the varying perspectives all result in tragic endings for the poor. Friel places emphasis on the severity and frequency of this suffering and then proceeds to highlight its perpetual nature suggesting that there is no hope for the poor in the current state of Ireland.
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