“Somethin’ evil moved in on me blood…”: Female violence and the Medean tale of By the Bogs of Cats…

Resumen

Medea’s archetype, that of the murderous mother, is widely known. Nowadays, has been used as a way to criticize the oppressive system that subjugates women and outsiders. In this context, By the Bog of Cats… (1998) is a reference to a developing Ireland, where whatever economic growth was not the same as social progress. The play reflects the feeling of frustration over not belonging. A postcolonial feminist reading allows for the identification of the Gothic “return of the oppressed” trope through violence. Hester, a Traveller woman located in a settled community, suffers from a long life of prejudice and, in order to protect herself and her daughter Josie from this, she commits filicide and suicide. Through this, she subverts the capitalist logic of meritocracy, and the critique is found in the use of violence as retaliation.