Purgatory

E253991

Purgatory is a one-act play by W.B. Yeats that explores themes of guilt, inheritance, and the haunting power of the past within a stark, symbolic family drama.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Purgatory canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (47)

Predicate Object
instanceOf literary work
one-act play
play
alsoKnownAs Purgatory (play)
author W.B. Yeats
surface form: W. B. Yeats
centralConflict Old Man versus Boy
Old Man versus his family past
character Boy
Old Man
countryOfOrigin Ireland
creator W.B. Yeats
surface form: William Butler Yeats
dramaticFocus family drama
moral conflict
psychological conflict
emotionalTone bleak
claustrophobic
tragic
firstPerformanceCentury 20th century
form one-act play
genre drama
tragedy
hasSupernaturalElement yes
intendedPerformanceSpace stage
language English
literaryMovement Modernism
surface form: modernism
mainCharacter Boy
Old Man
medium theatre
moralQuestion whether violent rupture can break a cursed inheritance
narrativeMode dramatic dialogue
numberOfActs 1
setting night
outside a ruined house
structure dialogue between Old Man and Boy
style minimalist
symbolic
symbolism recurring past as spiritual imprisonment
ruined house as symbol of family decay
theme destruction of the family
family legacy
guilt
inheritance
sin and retribution
spiritual torment
the haunting power of the past
violence
writer W.B. Yeats
surface form: W. B. Yeats

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

W.B. Yeats notableWork Purgatory