The Rising of the Moon

The Rising of the Moon is a one-act play by Augusta, Lady Gregory, It is a political play that examines Anglo-Irish relations, It was first produced on March 9, 1907, by the Irish National Theatre.

Character

Sergeant: - He is a poor man with a family. In the Beginning, he is anxious to get a reward by catching an escaped prisoner who is a patriot but, in the end, the light of patriotism rises in the sergeant’s heart. He doesn’t catch the prisoner. He helps him escape the police-net.

Policeman X & Policeman B – They are for the help of the sergeant.

The ragged man: - He is the escaped prisoner in the disguise of a poor balled singer. He is a patriot and freedom fighter of Ireland.

Summary


The play opens on an evening scene. The moon extremely shining in the sky. We see two police man and the sergeant by the side of the sea. They are in the search of the prisoners who are escaped from the prison. They put the cards at the various places. These play cards give the description of the escaped prisoner. He is the leader of the party which is struggling for freedom of Ireland from slavery of English people. 

The sergeant is an efficient police officers. He knows that the prisoner has many friends in the country. They will come in boat to the key and take away escape prisoner. So the sergeant wants to stay alone on the bank of sea so that he may have not shared the reward with the two policemen who are with him for his help. So he asked them to go to some other place to put up the play cards and he stays back alone on the wolf. 

The Sergeant is lost in his thought he dreams of the large reward and the promotion if he will able to arrest escaped convict. All of a sudden he sees a ragged man going towards the steps of key; he challenges the man and ordered him to stop. The man tells that he is a poor balled singer and earns his leaving by singing and selling his ballets. He said that he sat on the steps of the key perhaps one of the passing sailors would purchase one of his ballets and he began to sing song to divert sergeant attention but the sergeant tells him to stop the noise and tells him to go back to town. 

The ragged man looks at the play cards and tells the sergeant that he knows the escaped prisoners. He says that he would not stay there to be killed even if the rewards will 10 times more saying this the ragged man turns to go to the town but the sergeant ordered him to stop and tell him more about the escaped prisoner. The ragged man says that the escaped prisoner is very dangerous. He can use all type of weapons, he is very strong and his muscles is as hard as wood. The ragged man says that this prisoner once killed a sergeant with just a piece of stone. The sergeant is deeply frightened. 

The ragged man understands the sergeant’s felling. He frightened him more by saying that the prisoner comes out suddenly and makes attack. The Sergeant feels deeply shaken. He thought that government should put their whole troop of police to arrest this type of person; In fact the ragged man himself is a escaped prisoner.


The Sergeant asked him to sit with him there on the barrel and keep vision. But he tells him that he would not give any shares with his rewards if the escaped prisoner was arrested. 

The ragged man assured him that he would not have any shared with his reward by arresting a patriot. The ragged man then began to sing some National song. The Sergeant cracks him and point out the missing line. The ragged man shows his surprised that the sergeant should also know that patriotic song. 

He says that the sergeant must also have sung this song with his friend in his boyhood. The sergeant told him that the family responsibilities made him the policeman. If the circumstances allowed him he would love to fight for the freedom of the country. He realizes that only a thin line divides him as the police officer and rebel who has escaped from the prison. If the circumstance is different perhaps, he himself would have become the rebel and the present rebels have become a police officer. 

The Ragged man again sings popular patriotic song to excite the sergeant more. Meanwhile, roaring sound of the boat is heard at the sea. A vessel is heard from the boat. It is the signal and the ragged man tries down the stairs to escape. The Sergeant stands in front of him and ordered him to stop, he finds that ragged man is not a ballad singer; he is the escaped prisoner himself. At that time the two policemen who had gone to put the play cards at the other places arrived there. The ragged man hides behind the barrel. The Sergeant can now arrest him with the help of the policeman but he does not do so. 

He tells the policeman to go back from there. In this way he helped the prisoner to go into the boat and helped them get away from there. While going prisoner thanked the sergeant for his help. He says that the freedom could come from Ireland when the spirit of Patriotism rises in the heart of Irish people like the Rising moon in the dark night; he promises that he would repay the Sergeant for his help as soon as freedom comes to Ireland.

 

This was the short summary of the play “The Rising of the Moon”.  I hope this Article is helpful for you, for any type of queries do not forget to comment below in the comment box.  And for this type of information visit my website. Thank you So much. For more Article also visit - Aquatic animals .