Identity is the individual characteristics by which a thing or a person is recognized or known with, http://www.thefreedictionary.com/identity These characteristics are exposed through factors such as a person’s image,personality,where they were brought up and their accent. All the characters in the play, making history are identified through where they came from and their accent. Here Friel is attempting to illustrate the difference between class and social status in Ireland during the time of play. Friel has also used the crucial times of Hugh O’Neill post and prior to the Battle of kinsale.One of the key ways in which Friel succeeds in doing this is by implementing the theme of identity and O’Neill’s struggles with this issue of identity throughout the play. Other characters are shown to have split identities, which reinforces Friel ideas of how history will portray them. Making history is a play by, playwright Brian Friel. The play is set in the Elizabethan era, during the renaissance period.
From the scenes of the play, Friel uses the events of O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone as his attempt to secure a deal with Spain that will drive the last of Elizabeth’s English forces out of Ireland. As this play is not exact history of Hugh O’Neill, Friel has used certain events and key characters, to explore the concept of identity in making history.
Act 1 scene 1 the play begins with the discussion of Christening, in which O’Neill has received an invitation, Friel has used to evidently represent the light heartedness of the rest of the act that follows, before events take a more sinister turn. This discussion is carried out between O’Neill and his personal secretary Harry Hoveden, the symbol of birth here present possibly indication of their relationship facing tough and strenuous times ahead, implying that Harry and O’Neill’s relationship goes further than