The Countess Cathleen

In The Countess Cathleen, famine devastates Ireland, and a pair of mysterious merchants begin buying souls from starving peasants in exchange for food and gold. When Countess Cathleen discovers the growing spiritual crisis among her people, she tries to offer aid—but quickly realizes her wealth alone isn’t enough to stop their grief. In a final, deliberate act, she sells her own soul to the merchants, hoping to ransom the villagers’ salvation with her sacrifice. Drawing from Irish legend to explore moral choice, quiet heroism, and the uneasy space between good intentions and divine judgment, this debut play of W.B. Yeats would set him apart from other contemporary writers of his time and solidify the foundation for his works to come.