The aim of this research is to analyze the role of chess in W.B. Yeats' and G. Russell’s plays based on the Irish myth of Deirdre. It demonstrates how they fill this minor detail from the later adaptations of this myth with philosophical and ethical meaning. The methods of motivic and comparative analysis reveal that the game of chess is associated in both plays with opposition between humans and destiny. It is concluded that, despite the seeming futility of this confrontation, the fact that characters are actively involved in the game, can be perceived as a form of a victory.
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