The Shadow of a Gunman

1. The Shadow of a Gunman

by Seán O'Casey

2. Characters

Donal Davoren - a poet living with Seumus in the tenement. Some of the residents suspect
he has an affiliation with the IRA.
Seumus Shields - a lazy pedlar of about thirty five disillusioned over the nationalist cause he
supports who wishes the conflict will end.
Tommy Owens - a younger man of twenty five that is enamored with the Republican effort.
Adolphus Grigson - an alcoholic resident of the tenement; a self-proclaimed "Orangeman",
Grigson's Protestantism exemplified by his Bible and his picture of King William triumphant at
the Battle of the Boyne hanging on the wall
Mrs Grigson - Adolphus's wife.
Minnie Powell - a woman of twenty three that fawns over Davoran by virtue of his supposed
IRA connections; she is sardonically equated to Kathleen Ni Houlihan, the symbol of Irish
nationalism.
Mr Mulligan - the landlord of the tenement.
Mr Maguire - an IRA volunteer and friend of Seumus.
Mrs Henderson - a resident of a neighboring tenement and a champion of Mr Gallogher's
plea.
Mr Gallogher - a resident of a neighboring tenement seeking the IRA's help.
An Auxiliary - a soldier of the Auxiliary Division

3. Summary

Donal Davoren is a poet who has come to
room with Seumus Shields in a poor,
Dublin tenement slum. Many of the
residents of the tenement mistake Donal
for an IRA volunteer (gunman on the run).
Donal does not refute this notoriety,
especially when it wins him the affection
of Minnie Powell, an attractive young
woman in the tenement. Meanwhile,
Seumus' business partner, Mr Maguire
(who is a real participant of IRA)
hides a bag full of Mills bombs in Seumus'
apartment before participating in an
ambush in which he is killed. The city is
put under curfew as a result of the
ambush, and Donal and Seumus do not
discover the grenades until the Auxies
(*auxiliary division) are raiding the
tenement. Minnie Powell takes the bag
and hides it in her own room. The Auxies
find nothing of note in Seumus' room, but
take off Minnie Powell, who is later killed
trying to escape.

4. Main themes

NATIONALIS
M/PATRIOT
OSM
DISHONEST
Y
WAR
RELIGIO
N
LOVE
POVERTY/
SOCIETY

5. Setting

The action of the play takes place
in a Dublin tenement house. It
opens in the room of Seamus
Shields and Donal Davoren. Their
room is poorly furnished and we
become aware of a few symbolic
objects in the room. The religious
statues on the mantelpiece
emphasise the centrality of
Religion to the lives of the people
at the time and the lack of
furniture emphasises the poverty
being experienced by these
characters.

6. Characters: Donal Davoren

An idealistic poet
or a simple
coward?

7. Minnie Powell

The only sincere and
faithful character?

8. Irony of the Tragedy

Davoren’s NOT a gunman, BUT he is on
the run – from noise and politics;
Minnie’s sacrificing death for a “patriot”
is all in vain;
Minnie is the only true and sincere
character among everyone’s selfishness.
And only she suffers the actual death In
the play.

9.

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