ABSTRACT This article examines the use of courtroom dialogues in two of the leading works of Irish language literature, and how they acted, at the time of their writing, as a mechanism which permitted both author and audience to question societal attitudes to female agency and sexuality – and how they continue to facilitate such critical reflection contemporaneously. Specifically, the piece examines the use of courtroom dialogues in Cúirt an Mheán Oíche by Brian Merriman (CMO) written around 1780 and in An Triail by Máiréad Ní Ghráda (AT) originally performed in 1965 and published in 1978. Both pieces, written nearly two centuries apart, use courtroom dialogues, and the formal mechanisms of testimony and cross-examination to articulate and critique the social subordination of women portrayed in the texts, and to question the restraints on female agency and sexuality imposed by the societies in which their characters exist. Through the works’ use of judicial settings and dialogues both texts articulate a feminist theory of law which aligns with Catherine McKinnon’s dominance theory.

中文翻译：

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爱尔兰文学中的法庭对话和女权主义法律理论

摘要 本文考察了法庭对话在爱尔兰语言文学的两部主要作品中的使用，以及它们在写作时如何作为一种机制，让作者和观众质疑社会对女性能动性和性的态度– 以及他们如何同时继续促进这种批判性反思。具体而言，该作品考察了布赖恩·梅里曼 (CMO) 于 1780 年左右撰写的 Cúirt an Mheán Oíche 中以及最初于 1965 年演出并于 1978 年出版的 Máiréad Ní Ghráda (AT) 所著的 An Triail 中法庭对话的使用。这两部作品几乎写了两篇几个世纪以来，使用法庭对话以及证词和盘问的正式机制来阐明和批评文本中描绘的女性的社会从属地位，并质疑她们所在的社会对女性能动性和性行为施加的限制。通过作品对司法环境和对话的使用，两篇文章都阐述了一种女性主义的法律理论，与凯瑟琳·麦金农的支配理论相一致。