Freedom of the City - ‘Even though we sympathise strongly with Lily’s plight, the style of the play prevents us from only considering immediate events.’ Do you agree?

In this play, The Freedom of the City, set in the troubled British province of Northern Ireland, Brian Friel, ensures that we as the audience are made well aware of the violence and mayhem which is a normal part of daily life. We can only marvel at how the poor, such as Lily, can survive in such a difficult and challenging environment. Indeed, it is the way in which Lily retains her dignity, and refuses to adopt a cynical view of life, that makes us admire her. This is especially so when we consider the lifestyle which she comes from – an invalid husband who has only worked ‘for a fully year after [they] were married’, eleven children, a condemned two room flat without running water, ‘except what’s running down the walls’ and a house-cleaning job. In addition, she can appreciate her apparent ‘luck’ at being able to enjoy the ‘facilities’ and comforts of the Mayor’s Parlour, concluding that ‘it’s a very unfair world’. She also shows her motherly care and conc...