Hugh O'Neill as the Tragic Hero of Making History

In Making History Hugh O'Neill was a well-liked character who also proved himself not only a good man, but intelligent and sensible. He inspires a large amount of sympathy in the audience. O?Neill had been fighting, backed by the Irish population, for Spain's support to rid themselves of the English for many years.

When the Spanish finally agreed to help and announced they will land at Kinsale, a large distance from them, O?Neill at once spots the difficulties, ?Kinsale is out of the question. If the insist on landing in the south?tell them to cancel the expedition.? Only Harry understood the complications, ?We?d have to march an army through the full length of the country to join forces with them.? He now faced a huge dilemma, this support has been long awaited and should he turn it down, not only would he resign himself and his people to a life with which they are unhappy, but he would also face an uproar. He had the difficulties of a politician with much to lose and, after a lifetime of sitting on the fence with many contrasting alliances, he made a decision, which may well end in disaster, but possibly with much worse consequences for him than his people. We see many of them turn and support the English after the Battle of Kinsale fails, when O?Neill asks who, O?Donnell replies, ??they?re crawling in on their hands and knees and offering hostages and money and whatnot.? This is something that O?Neill cannot really do (despite his letter to the Queen).

However he did not die for his cause, like many of his people and you could say his wife. Instead he fled to Rome, which was something they couldn?t do and therefore deserted those left still fighting. He made the decision to start this battle and some would believe he did not suffer the most from it. O?Neill however did lose everything: from his lifestyle and title to his happiness and most of his friends, indeed also his wife. There is little he had left except his life, and by the end we can easily believe he would be happier without that, and from his drinking it may not be all that far off.

Lombard?s history does indeed set O?Neill up as a tragic hero and as this history itself is central to the play, we are likely to see it that way too.