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Introduction:
This play is the most outstanding of John Millington Synge’s Irish Dramas, and in it, Synge has used the beautiful lyrical Irish language to the finest effect. The Playboy of the Western World is tender, ironical, and humorous drama.
The Playboy of The Western World (1907) is Synge's masterpiece, and in fact, "one of the masterpieces of the twentieth-century theatre". It is based on a story that Synge had heard from an old villager in the Aran Islands; "There was a gentleman that killed his father and I had him in my house for six weeks till he got away to America." And out of this germ the dramatist built this masterpiece of a comedy. The action takes place in a poor country public house on the wild coast of Mayo, where comes a callow young man, Christy Mahon, who says that he had killed his brutal father in a fit of anger. He is treated as a hero by the villagers and becomes a grand picturesque figure to the girls. Pegeen Flaherty, the bold beautiful daughter of the publican is captivated by his wild courage and poetic speech and casts off her loftiest fiance, Shawn, in favour of the new hero. Just in the hour of this triumph suddenly enters the father, intent on revenge for the blow with which the son thought he had killed the father, chastises the son and disappears. In bitterness of heart Pegeen rates poor Christy for his cowardliness. He rushes out and murderously attacks the old man. The reality affects the villagers differently. They seize and bind Christy, intending to hand him over to justice, when the father comes in, takes the son's side and the two march out in good humor. Pegeen who had turned against Christy when she found that he was no murderer of his father is left wildly lamenting "I've lost the only playboy of the Western World."
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| The Playboy of The Western World (1907) |
Summary:
The Story One evening a young man arrived at a small inn on the Wild Mayo coast of Ireland and announced that he had run away from home. He said his name was Christopher Mahon and that he was running away because he had killed his father during a fight. The farmers who were passing the time in the inn were very much pleased by his exhibition of courage. Christopher was especially admired by Pegeen, the pretty young daughter of Michael Flaherty, the innkeeper. She, along with the others, passed the young man to tell his story over and over again.
At home, Christopher had been a meek and obedient son, domineered by his father. He accepted the insults of his parent until the latter tried to force him into marrying a rich old woman. At last, in desperation, he hit his father over the head with a log. Seeing the old man fall, Christopher presumed that he was dead.
The experience at the inn was something new for Christopher, who for the first time in his life was looked upon as a hero. When the news of his story spread among the villagers, they locked to look at this paragon of bravery. The young women were particularly interested in him and the, not so young as well. Dame Quin, a middle-aged widow, was much taken with the young taproom hero.
Each year the village held a festival in which the men competed with each other in various sports. Christopher was naturally expected to take part. His early timidity having long since disappeared, he made every effort to appear a hero in the eyes of Pegeen, to whom he was now openly betrothed. She had broken her engagement with a young farmer, Shawn Keogh, soon after Christopher arrived on the scene.
While her Playboy, as Pegeen called him, was taking part in the sports, an old man came to the inn. He was looking for a young man whose description fitted Christopher’s appearance. Dame Quin, who still had designs on the boy, deliberately misdirected the stranger. But when the man returned from his wild goose chase, he arrived in time to see Christopher hailed as a hero, because he had just won the mule race. Old Mahon, not dead from Christopher’s blow, recognized his son and flew into rage. He insisted that Christopher should go home with him, and by his angry tirade he humiliated his son in front of the spectators.
But Christopher was attracted to pretty Pegeen. He was flattered by her admiration and in an attempt to live up to her opinion of him, he began to adopt an attitude of bravado. Before long he himself believed that he had done a courageous deed.
Each year the village held a festival in which the men competed with each other in various sports. Christopher was naturally expected to take part. His early timidity having long since disappeared, he made every effort to appear a hero in the eyes of Pegeen, to whom he was now openly betrothed. She had broken her engagement with a young former, Shawn Keogh, soon after Christopher arrived on the scene.
While her Playboy, as Pegeen called him, was taking part in the sports, an old man came to the inn. He was looking for a young man whose description fitted Christopher’s appearance. Dame Quin, who still had designs on the boy, deliberately misdirected the stranger. But when the man returned from his wild goose chase, he arrived in time to see Christopher hailed as a hero, because he had just won the mule race. Old Mahon, not dead from Christopher’s blow, recognized his son and flew into rage. He insisted that Christopher should go home with him, and by his angry tirade he humiliated his son in front of the spectators.
But the Playboy had enjoyed too long the thrill of being a hero. He did not give in timidly as he would have done at an earlier time. Much to his father’s astonishment, he struck old man over the head. Once again it appeared that old Mahon was dead. The Playboy of the western world of the people was not at all what Christopher might have expected. Killing one’s father sonic miles away was one thing. Killing him in front of a number of spectators who might be involved in the affair was another. The people muttered angrily among themselves, and even Pegeen joined with them in denouncing the murderer.
Deciding at last that the only thing to do was to hang Christopher for his crime, they tied up the struggling young man and prepared to lead him away. Bit Old Mahon had proved he a tough follow once before, and he did so again. The first blow that Christopher had given him had only stunned him, so that soon after the boy ran away his father was able to follow him to the village. Now the second blow had merely knocked him unconscious for a short time. As Christopher struggled and the noose was slipped over his head, Mahon crawled through the door on his hands and Knees.
While the villagers stood around dumbfounded, he walked over to his son and quickly untied him. Far from being angry with Christopher for hitting him, he was pleased to discover that his son was not the timid weakling he had thought him to be. The two left the inn, arm in arm, deaf to the plays of Pegeen, both of them jeering at the foolishness of the people on the Mayo coast.
Analysis:
The play during the first few nights of its performance in the Abbey Theatre had raised a storm of protest and was violently interrupted by demonstrations of anger. It was held that the dramatist had maligned the Irishman by showing them capable of glorifying a murderer. But recognition of its excellence came soon and spread beyond Ireland. The play gives an impressive representation of Irish peasant life and character. The characterization shows the humor of the dramatist at its best. All the characters are vital and natural, "warm in the blood and capable of poetry". For such wealth of human materials, as we find in the play, we can only go back to Shakespeare's comedies. The natural setting of the action - the bogs, potato fields, hedges, ditches, straying sheep, the moonlit fields is an admirable backdrop for such a hilarious comedy.
The play is broader in scope than his other work, and the subtle of the development of the central character, Christy Mahon is the theme round which Synge builds a riotously funny comedy, full of spontaneous vitality which gives an excellent, if satirical picture of the Irish character.