The Symbolism of At the hawk is well

At the Hawk's Well is a one act play by William Butler Yeats, first performed in 1916 and published in 1917. It is one of five plays by Yeats which are loosely based on the stories of Cuchulain the mythological hero of ancient Ulster. It was the first play written in English that utilised many of the features of the Japanese Noh Theatre.

The play is set by a dried up well on a desolate mountainside which is guarded by a hawk-like woman. An old man has kept camp there for fifty years, waiting to drink the miraculous waters from the well which occasionally rise up. Cuchulain arrives at the spot, having heard a story that the waters bring immortality. The Old Man urges Cuchulain to leave the well, telling of his wasted lifetime there and how, even when the waters did rise up, he was thwarted by a sudden urge to sleep. But Cuchulain is determined to stay and convinced that he shall soon drink the waters. While they speak of a hawk which had attacked Cuchulain earlier in the day, and which the old man claims is a supernatural being which carries a curse of discontent and violence, the Guardian of the Well seems to fall into a trance, arises, and begins to dance with hawk-like motions. She then leaves the stage as the well waters bubble up. Cuchulain pursues her, but unable to find her he returns to the well to be informed by the Old Man he has missed the waters. Oblivious, he rushes out again to face the warrior women the Guardian of the Well has called out to battle, ignoring the Old Man's pleas to stay with him.

Yeats's uses ancient Irish mythology as themes to convey ideas and emotions that can be experienced by his contemporary audience in a similar way than what the earlier generations of Irish people experienced. One particular legend, that of Cuchulain was not only a major theme in Yeats's work, but it was present in his poetry and drama throughout his career. Yeats was not interested in recounting the legend of Cuchulain for informational motives, but rather he used the legend of Cuchulain as theme to communicate moments of intense feeling where the hero's plight resonates with the struggles the Irish faced in their day-to-day lives. Even if Cuchulain is portrayed as a hero and warrior in Yeats's work, the context surrounding the events are not entirely magical: we see Cuchulain as a man who has flaws, makes mistakes, and ultimately dies.

Cuchullain is an Irish mythological hero who appears in the stories of the Ulster Cycle, as well as in Scottish and Manx folklore. The son of the god Lugh and Deichtine, sister of the king of Ulster, he was originally named Setanta, but gained his better-known name as a child after he killed Culann's fierce guard-dog in self-defence, and offered to take its place until a replacement could be reared. At the age of seventeen he defended Ulster single-handedly against the armies of queen Medb of Connacht in the epic "The Cattle Raid of Cooley". It was prophesied that his great deeds would give him everlasting fame, but that his life would be short - one reason he is compared to the Greek hero Achilles. He is known for his terrifying battle frenzy or riastrad, in which he becomes an unrecognisable monster who knows neither friend nor foe. He fights from his chariot, driven by his loyal charioteer Laeg, and drawn by his horses, Liath Macha and Dub Sainglend.

In this play, we can see the Cuchulain legend explored in an iteresting manner. Although the Noh influence in this play can signify a departure from Yeats's earlier craft, it also provides Yeats with a new venue to explore the legend of Cuchulain. We see the audience and setting as supporting figures to the hero's journey. The Cuchulain legend is then evoked by the Musicians who initiate the action by announcing the scene in which Cuchulain's adventure is to unfold. The Musicians actually invite the audience to physically participate in the action, which echoes Yeats's intention to inspire the Irish to take charge of their cultural experience. Because the Noh tradition requires a more subjective reading of the subject matter, one may wonder if Yeats's device of having the Musicians evoke the Cuchulain legend as his way of assuring the audience would still recognize the ancient legend as a theme.

The opening verse of the play sets up the tone for the rest of the experience. Yeats writes:

I call to the eye of the mind

A well long choked up and dry

And boughs long stripped by the wind,

And I call to the mind's eye

Pallor of an ivory face,

Its lofty dissolute air,

A man climbing up to a place

The salt sea wind has swept bare.

The audience is immediately invited to participate in the action because the verse actually calls upon the "eye of the mind." The audience is asked to imagine the well, which according to the stage directions is represented by a cloth. Despite the Noh tradition with emphasizes minimal setting, Yeats's invocation of the audience's imagination also echoes his own trajectory towards the mystical world.

Yeats uses the Old man as a plot device to unfold the action. As a character, he is not unlike the setting, which is desolate, weak, and helpless. But he describes the Guardian to Cuchulain; the Old man is like an omniscient narrator. The Old man says:

"There falls a curse