Abstract
The image of the soldier, as a hero who sacrifices everything to defend his
country and values, is no longer depicted in modern drama. With two World Wars
and many regional wars and civil wars, the soldier becomes a victim, not a hero.
Authors present the character of the soldier as a man who suffers a lot as he is
victimized by his own government and its politics that forces him to be in such a
position. Dramatists express their views about race, oppression and war through
their characters, such as the character of the soldier, as in the two selected plays for
this research: The Hostage by Brendan Behan and A Soldier's Play by Charles
Fuller.
The Hostage depicts, through its events, the Irish oppression which makes
both the Irish and the English victims for this conflict. A Soldier's Play presents the
oppression which the blacks face daily in their society, a matter which creates
among them the oppressed and the oppressor.
An oppressed people demand that all their resources be put to the
service of liberating them, no matter what these resources are. Certainly art and
culture must be seen in such a light. Literature, as part of art is sometimes the
mirror of its society and people. Dramatists, in general, and Brendan Behan and
Charles Fuller, in particular, are aware of the value of the theatre as a tool for social
discussion, therefore; their characters no more assume limited quality, as they
assume a universal one.1
Berndan Behan's The Hostage, which lies in three acts, was first
presented by Theatre Workshop in 1958. It takes place in an old house in Dublin. It
is owned by Monsewer, an Englishman by birth, who is more fanatically Irish than
his entourage; Pat, who served with Monsewer in the civil war, is no longer fanatic.