Preservation Of Tradition In The Handmaid's Play '

Due to the fact that Owen is both a native of Baile Beag, and an assistant to the English, he represents a number of contrasting points of view throughout the play. Firstly, he is a representative of the more forward-thinking Irish, such as himself and Maire, in the sense that he realises that the natural progression for Irish society at this time is with the English, and not against them. However, it is arguable that this acceptance comes on the back of the fact that he has the ability to understand the English – he can speak their language, and in doing so has crossed the most fundamental cultural divide that separates the two nations. Furthermore, in doing so, he has progressed as an individual, and bearing in mind that the play was only written in 1975, perhaps suggests Friel's opinion that progress can only come after understanding, and it is a lack of this that is at the heart of the world's
When he and Yolland are discussing what to call Tobair Vree he asks ‘do we keep piety with a man long dead, long forgotten, his name eroded beyond recognition, whose trivial little story nobody in the parish remembers?' Here Owen points to the Irish people's almost instinctive fear of change. He sees tradition as simply a romantic perhaps even nationalist excuse to hide from progression. This view is perhaps the least biased of all, as of all the characters Owen is the one furthest away from any particular side, and because of this, he is easier for the audience to relate to, and could perhaps even be described as the play's chief narrator. Moreover, Owen's less passionate stance incorporates a check on the Irish nationalism that much of the play