Theater Evaluation
Insane or Justifiable
In Marina Carr’s By the Bog of Cats, a story merely focused on the extreme and impulsive actions of a mother widely affecting those around her, pride and discernment is masked with insanity. The various episodes in which Hester Swane, mother and “traveler,” has caused throughout the story continue to raise controversy as to whether or not this woman is considered to be clinically insane, or justifiable for the seemingly outrageous actions she commits. The Ghost Fancier, who is symbolic of a mystical figure foreseeing the future, mistakenly alerts Hester of her upcoming death. Hester then becomes fully aware of her fixed fate, therefore cleanses herself of internal bitterness towards those in her community, in hopes of making her mark. This “cleansing” definitely raises some high level of judgment reflecting on the notion of Hester not only burning down her own house, but murdering her daughter, as well as herself. However, as insane as this sequence of events might initially sound, if one’s destiny is already established as a fact, then an individual with questionable disposition is expected to have little to no concern with the ruckus they leave behind after they are dead. Although many would agree that only a psychopath would take the life of another person, Hester is in no way mentally unstable because her predetermined fate depicts the ways in which she lashes out.
Conventional wisdom has it that an individual who would murder another person, especially their relative, would be rightfully labeled as psychotic, or mentally ill. With that being said, Hester’s outrage leaves those living in her community angry and fed up with her constant affiliation with violent and strange acts. Though Hester was abandoned by her mother, which would emotionally affect anyone in a similar situation, her shocking behavior exceeds the idea of a “coping mechanism.” One in which particularly raises a high level of disturbance occurs when she sets off her former house into flames, and doesn’t seem to have much remorse for it:
Monica: But your house—Ya set it yourself?
Hester: I did.
Monica: Christ almighty woman, are ya gone mad!
Hester: Ya want a drink?
Monica: A drink, she says! I better go and get Carthage, the livestock, the calves—
Hester: Would ya calm down, Monica, only an auld house, it should never have been built in the first place. Let the Bog have it back. In a year or so, it’ll be covered in gorse and furze, a tree’ll grow out through the roof, maybe a big oak. I never liked that house anyway.
Monica: That’s what tinkers do, isn’t it, burn everythin’ after them?
Hester: Aye. (Carr 384-385)
During this point in the play, Monica, Hester’s neighbor, is astonished at the fact of Hester setting her so called beloved house on fire, while acting strangely cavalier at the scene. Hester dismisses the issue with offering Monica a drink, which seems exceedingly more bizarre. Typically an individual with an average level of mental stability, whom suddenly acts with impulse, would eventually realize the degree of extremity regarding their irrational decisions. Hester on the other hand, does not. Due to her calm composure followed by outlandish reactions, most people would be safe to say that this woman has some serious issues. Monica continues on in calling Hester a tinker which is an indication of her traveler identity. Hester agrees with the assumption that tinkers “burn everythin’ after them.” This prideful mentality is instilled in Hester’s thought process, driving her to commit seemingly psychotic actions, as she literally burns her past.
Reasonably enough, this identity of a tinker, as well as her abandonment issues, may not be seen as a plausible excuse for Hester acting in such ways. However, she is quite mentally calculated in a sense that she knows exactly what she is doing, and is in no way oblivious to the uproar she causes. From the start of the play, the audience is informed that Hester will soon be dead, thanks to the fortune told by the Ghost Fancier. Due to the fact that Hester is no longer able to live in her house because of her former lover’s, Carthage, commitment to another woman, frustration is already peaking. Hester’s notification of her death is a basis for her outrage. The level of rejection and abandonment she once felt with her mother, in which she is currently experiencing again with Carthage and the house, drives her to set it in flames. This burning house signifies her past just as Monica stated earlier, “That’s what tinkers do, isn’t it, burn everythin’ after them?”
Hester’s decision to kill her daughter before taking her own life is seemingly the most selfish and twisted thing a mother could do. However, immediately after being informed of her upcoming death, she states the fact that she cannot die because she has a daughter. This initial response regarding her daughter reveals how much she really cares about her, and does not want her facing the same effects of child abandonment as she did. She takes action in preventing another cycle of abandonment right before she attempts to kill herself:
Josie: No, Mam, stop! I’m goin with ya!
Hester: Would ya let go!
Josie: No, Mam. Please!
Hester: Alright, alright! Shhh! It’s alright, I’ll take ya with me, I won’t have ya as I was, waitin’ a lifetime for somewan to return, because they don’t, Josie, they don’t. It’s alright. Close your eyes. (394-395)
Rather than Hester notifying Josie that she is no longer going to be a part of this community, Josie walks in on the scene of her holding a knife. Hester’s initial intent was not to murder her daughter, though once she saw how badly she wanted to be with her, Hester agreed for the sake of saving her from the same distress she experienced her whole life. This moment in the play is a reflection of what Hester longed for with her mother—togetherness and security. Had she rejected Josie’s request, Josie would be living with the same abandonment issues as she did, which would be hypocritical on Hester’s part. The way in which Josie begs Hester to be with her also reveals the level of attachment she had towards her mother, which re-assures Hester that she is making the right decision.
At first glance, many may assume that a person who commits murder is classified as mentally ill. But on a closer inspection, various individuals who have taken it to that level of extremity have experienced previous conflicted incidents throughout their life, many in which accumulate so heavily, it drives them to the point of taking drastic measures in order to cease the issue completely. When Hester burns down her house and kills her daughter before she takes the knife to her stomach, she’s showcasing her pride and marking what is hers before she leaves everyone else behind. This violent outcome stems from prior severe emotional or physical hardships in which drives these people to do the things that they do. With that being said, rather than labeling Hester as psychotic or mentally ill, it would be suitable to consider her reasoning behind the chaos, and her initial motive that has driven her to take such drastic measures. In this case, Hester’s pride takes over her emotional insecurity which enables her to validate her victimization of abandonment and emotional rejection through these various extreme acts.
Ultimately in the story of By the Bog of Cats, Hester reacts accordingly with regards to her internal brokenness, given the circumstances of being faced with a fixed destiny which warns her of her own death. She has been driven to the point of what many may assume to be insanity, but through textual evidence is fully aware and calculated for the decisions she makes before she dies.