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Master of Arts

ENGLISH (MAEG)

MEG-02

BRITISH DRAMA

Block – 5

The Playboy of the Western World

UNIT-1 BACKGROUND TO THE PLAYBOY

UNIT-2 CRITICAL ANNOTATIONS TO THE PLAYBOY

UNIT-3 CLOSE ANALYSIS OF THE PLAY BOY

UNIT-4 THE PLAYBOY : A DISCUSSION

UNIT-5 THE PLAYBOY : A DISCUSSION (contd.)

1

UNIT-1 BACKGROUND TO THE PLAYBOY

Structure

1.0 Objectives

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Biographical note on Synge

1.2.1 Synge's works

1.2.2 The Irish dramatic movement

1.2.3 The Playboy riots

1.2.3.1 Dublin

1.2.3.2 Us towns

1.3 Modem comedy

1.4 Let us sum up

1.5 Glossary

1.6 Questions

1.7 Suggested readings

1.0 OBJECTIVES

This unit aims to provide you with essential background information about the author

and his works, the Irish dramatic movement and The Playboy riots and also on

modem comedy so that you could approach the task of close textual analysis with

fuller confidence and clearer understanding of the issues involved.

1.1.1 INTRODUCTION

It is not often in dramatic history that a single individual should be responsible for

two momentous events. W.B. Yeats was such a person. Though he was not himself a

major dramatist, the national theatre in Ireland was first an idea in his mind. He also

enabled an Irish genius to find himself. The genius in question was John Millington

Synge whom Yeats encouraged to go to the Aran Islands and ―express a life that has

never found expression.‖ Synge heeded his advice—with momentous results.

A play is essentially a public events as a noval is not. This public nature of the play

comes to the fore in the account of The Playboy riots. The account also raises the

question of censorship and the freedom of the artist to express himself.

2

1.2 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE ON SYNGE

Synge lived only for 38 years from 1871 to 1909. His short creative life barely lasted

7-8 years during which period he was able to write 6 plays besides an account of his

visit to Aran Islands and some poems, and translations. Two of his plays Riders to the

Sea (1903) and The Playboy of the western world (1907)—one a tragedy on the

classical model, the other a dark comedy that provoked a week of riots in Dublin, are

among: the best plays in twentieth century drama.

In a country where most of the people were dispossessed and Roman Catholic, Synge

came from Anglo-Irish protestant landowning stock. He belonged to. What came to

be known, as the Protestant Ascendancy. But though some of their income did come

from, land, the Synges were middle class professional people.

Synge was born on 16 April 1871 at Rathfarnham near Dublin where his father was a

barrister and was christened Edmond John Millington Synge. A year later his father

died, leaving a widow to bring up five children. Synge was to cause much, distress to

his mother on several counts: his loss of religious faith and his becoming an agnostic,

his. Passion for music—piano, violin and flute—which he wanted to adopt as a

profession; and his sympathy for the oppressed tenants. This last interest found a full

outlet when he visited the Islands on the advice of Yeats.

Synge‘s early education was mostly private until he entered the trinity college, Dublin,

hi 1888, which was traditionally the fountainhead of Anglo-Irish culture. It was here

that he started learning Irish and Hebrew. He also read a great deal about Irish history

and Irish antiquities.

His boyhood was spent among the hills and mountains to the south of Dublin. He had

a Wordsworthian love for nature and also an intimate knowledge of natural history.

This is reflected in the images and descriptive passages in his plays.

In 1893 Synge went to Germany to study music systematically. But later his interest

shifted from music to literature and like several youngmen of his lime moved to Paris.

In Paris he read widely in European authors and probably thought of becoming a

literary journalist. He visited Italy also and learned Italian. During the summers he

would return to Ireland where he pursued his interest in the Irish language and Irish

antiquities.

It was in Paris in December 1896 that he met W.B. Yeats and later the young

revolutionary Maud Gonne he joined Maud‘s Irish league in January 1897 but

resigned soon alter in April saying that lie had his own ―theory of regeneration tor

Ireland‖ and that he wished to work in his own way for Ireland and that he did not

wish to get mixed up with a revolutionary and semi-military movement.

3

Yeats was only six years older but Synge‘s encounter with him proved to be a turning

point in his life. Here is a longish account of their meeting in Yeats‘s own words:

Six year ago I was staying in a students' hotel in the Latin quarter, and some-

body whose name I cannot recollect introduced me to an Irishman, who, even

poorer than myself, had taken a room at the top house. It was J.M. Synge, and

I, who thought I knew the name of every Irishman who was working at

literature, had never heard of him. He was a graduate of Trinity College,

Dublin, too, and Trinity College does not as a rule produce artistic minds. He

told me that he had been living in France and Germany, reading French and

German literature, and that he wished to become a writer. He had, however,

nothing to show but one or two poems and impressionistic essays, lull of that

kind of morbidity that has its root in too much brooding over methods of

expression, and ways of looking upon life, which come, not out of life but out

of literature, images reflected from minor to mirror. He had wandered among

people whose life is as picturesque as the middle ages, playing his fiddle to

Italian sailors, and listening to stories in Bavarian woods, but life had cast no

light into his writings. He had learned Irish years ago, but had begun to forget

it, for the only language that interested him as that conventional language of

modem poetry which has begun to make us all weary…. I said, ―give up Paris,

you will never create anything by reading Racine, and Arthur Symons will

always be a better critic of French literature. Go to the Arran Islands. Live

there as if you were one of the people themselves; express a life that has never

found expression.‘‘ I had just come from Arran and my imagination was frill

of those gray Islands, where men must reap with knives because of the stones.

Because of the stones‖ (Greene, 70).

Yeatswrote this in his preface to the play The Well of the Saints published in 1905. Thus began his long association with Yeatsand later with Lady Gregory and with

other members of the Irish literary revival, which bore such strange and rich fruit.

The Aran Islands are a group of three rocky Islands in the west coast of Ireland where

Irish was still spoken in his days and where the older Irish way of life had been

preserved.

Before coming to Paris, Yeatswith his friend Arthur Symons had been to the Aran

Islands in 1896, where they both said they had heard the story upon which Synge later

based The Playboy of the Western World.

Synge had studied Gaelic (which is a language spoken in Ireland, Scotland and the

Isle of Man), which enabled him to master ‗the pure but rapid and colloquial language

of the island.‘ he had spent his boyhood in wick low and this had given him his basic

understanding of the Irish peasantry. His protestant and landed ancestry and his later

loss of faith sufficiently distanced him from the people around him so that he was

4

able to view them at once with objectivity and ironic compassion. Synge visited the

island four times, in 1898, 1899, 1900 and 1901 which gave him the material for his

plays in terms of incidents, characters and language. But while the visit to Aran was

momentous, it did not transform Synge instantaneously into a writer of genius.

Several years were to elapse between his first visit to Aran in 1898 and his

completing his first successful play in 1902. Moreover, all this while he was writing

the Aran Islands which was the first book he wrote, though it was published in 1907.

So while his transformation into a ―playwright‖ was astonishing it was not sudden. In

this period of apprenticeship, Synge was obviously honing his skills in his use of the

peasant dialect. He himself said that in ―writing out the talk of the people and their

stories in this book [the Aran Islands], and in a number of articles in the Wicklow

peasantry . . . learned to write the peasant dialect and dialogue I use in my plays‖

(Synge, 24)

Synge was sickly as a boy and later suffered much because of his poor health. This

possibly accentuated his morbidity which seems to have been a family characteristic

and which is most evident in his poems. But perhaps as a compensation like R.L.

Stevenson, ―he took a huge delight in all that was superb and wild in reality.‖ He had

a malignant tumour—lymphatic sarcoma—detected in his neck in 1897, which

ultimately cost him his life.

The last love in his life was Molly Allgood, a Catholic shopgirl turned actress who

was fifteen years his junior and who played the role of Pegeen in The Playboy when

it was first produced. In a letter to her Synge referred to her as his wife but he died

before they were married. The end came in Dublin on the morning of 24 March 1909.

Yeats recorded: ―Synge is dead. In the early morning he said to the nurse, ' it is no use

fighting death any longer‘ and he turned over and died. I called at the hospital this

afternoon and asked the assistant matron if he knew he was dying. She answered, 'he

may have known it for weeks, but he would not have said so to anyone. He would

have no fuss. He was like that.‘ she added, with emotion in her voice, 'We were

devoted to him.‖

1.2.1 Synge’s works

Five of his six plays were published during his lifetime. These were :

1. The Tinker's Wedding wr. 1902-1907 pb. 1908,

2. In the shadow of the glen (one act) pr. 1903; pb. 1904.

3. Riders to the sea (one act) pb. 1903; pr. 1904.

4. The well of the saints pr. Pb. 1905.

5. The Playboy of the western world pr.pb. 1907.

6. Deirdre of the sorrows pb.pr. Posthumously 1910.

5

Non-dramatic work

The Aran Islands wr. 1902;pb. 1907

Synge is considered the greatest dramatist of the Irish literary revival. His 6 plays

provide evidence of his versatility. He tried plays of varied lengths from one act to

full length plays. His four comedies include knockabout farce and also moments of

high seriousness and one of them trembles on the verge of tragedy. He also excelled

himself in writing tragedies, a folk tragedy which is arguably the finest one act

tragedy in literature and the other a heroic tragedy based on an Irish love legend.

A major theme in his plays is the yawning gap between romantic dreams and the

harsh reality he writes principally of Irish folk life, of peasants, tramps and Tinkers,

viewing them with unsentimental compassion. Synge is also acutely conscious of the

mutability of all things particularly of the passing away of beauty and of the dread of

old age and death. Another important element in his plays is the relationship between

man and the natural world.

Synge expressed his vision of Irish folk life in prose that was intensely poetic and

used a peasant dialect which was English in form but Irish in thought and feeling- his

style is marked by vigour, ironic humour and dramatic pathos.

The shadow of the glen (1903)

The play based on a story heard by Synge in the Aran island is about a young woman

Nora Burke who leaves her cantankerous old husband Dan with a tramp who oilers a

romantic life to her. Her husband suspecting her of infidelity gives out as though he

was dead in order to trap her. The trap succeeds for the woman has invited her young

man to the house. At this point the wronged husband springs up out of the bed and

turns his wife out. The lover heats a hasty retreat; it is the tramp who comes forward

to rescue her. The play ends with the about- to-be-wronged husband sitting down to

drink with his would be betrayer.

The play dramatizes Synge‘s characteristic themes; the conflict between the reality

anti man‘s dreams, his awareness of human mutability and man's intimate

relationship with the natural world. It was also the first play to treat the theme of

sexual frustration explicitly on the modem Irish stage. Its first production in Dublin

evoked protests against its unfair‘ portrayal of Irish women which anticipated the

riots that greeted The Playboy in 1907.

6

Riders to the sea (1903)

Synge‘s first tragedy in one act modelled on the classical Greek tragedy, draws

heavily on his experiences on the Aran Islands. The simple and highly compressed

action of the play concern an old woman Maurya of the island whose lost two sons

Michael and Bartley are drowned while trying to cross the stormy sea to Galway us

all her other sons have been drowned. The sea is presented as the islanders‘ source of

sustenance and also their principal natural enemy. The play which takes less than half

an hour to perform climaxes into Maurya‘s lament at the cavalcade of death in the

family ending with a prayer for all the living and the dead.

The Tinker’s wedding (1908)

The play is based on an incident that happened in Wicklow and which is recorded in

Synge‘s Wicklow memoirs. It concerns people including Tinkers, tramps, etc. Who

lived on the fringe of society and fascinated Synge. Sara Casey has been living with

Michael Byrne, a Tinker, for many years but now wants to get married to him

properly in a church by a priest. Their efforts to coax the priest into marrying them

leads to much knockabout farce in the play. The wedding as the title of the play

suggests does not come off because a woman‘s fear of a lonely and comfortless old

age motivates her to foil her son‘s marriage.

In his introduction to the play, Synge said ―in the greater part of Ireland, . . . The

whole people from the linkers to the clergy have still a life, and view of life, that are

rich, genial and humorous. And i do not think that these country people, who have so

much humour themselves, will mind being laughed at without malice . . .‖ However,

the characterization of the priest who at one stage is beaten and thrown into a sack

ruled out any performance of the play in Ireland.

The well of the Saints (1905)

Synge derived the idea of the plot from an early French farce in which a cripple and a

blindman are healed. Synge‘s beggars are however man and wife, both blind living

happily in the illusion of beauty and they are healed by the miraculous holy water of a

hallowed well. The cured beggars are however disappointed in (heir fondest dreams

when each discovers that the other is old, weather-beaten and ugly. The play

reminiscent of Ibsen‘s The Wild Duck underlines man‘s need for illusions that can

sustain him in life. At the end the effect of the miraculous water wears off and

blindness is restored to the beggars, and with it a measure of happiness in each other.

The play was not received well by the Dublin audience when it was first produced in

1905.

7

Deirdre of the Sorrows (1910)

The play which Synge left unfinished and which was published and produced

posthumously marked a new departure for Synge. From depicting peasants, tramps

and beggars, he turned to an ancient legend of Ireland for his subject. It is the story of

the love of an ageing king Conchubar for the young and beautiful Deirdre who elopes

with her lover Naisi. When the lovers return after seven long years, Naisi is

treacherously murdered and Deirdre then takes her own life. This brings with it the

destruction of other city of Emain.

T.R. Henn says that the play was written ―in illness, in the course of a prolonged and

frustrated love-affair, and in a state of depression to which The Playboy riots had

contributed.‖ When the plan was produced in January 1910, Synge's beloved Molly

Allgood played the female lead.

1.2.2 The Irish dramatic movement

The Irish Literary revival or Irish literary renaissance was a movement that aimed at

reviving the past literary greatness of Ireland. It was believed that the Irish people had

a great past and a great body of literature written in their own language—Irish Gaelic.

But it was only among the peasants in the west and south of Ireland that the Irish

language was used and lire native literary tradition existed. Few Irish people knew

anything about then literature or their heroic past. The founders of the literary revival

aimed to revive interest in their literary heritage and also to create an art that was

local but not narrowly provincial and that would bring honour to Ireland.

In 1891 ―the great founder‖ as Sean O‘Casey called him, Yeats founded the Irish

literary society in London . The following year he and Maud Gonne, John O'Leary

and other enthusiasts founded tire Irish national literary society in Dublin. Its

objectives were to publish books and give lectures and hold discussion ―upon notable

figures in Irish history and notable epochs in the national life, and on problems and

difficulties of today.‖

Synge was at this time busy learning Hebrew and Irish and had not come under

Yeats‘s influence and so was not part of the original society.

The next important date is 1898 when Yeats discussed‘ the possibility of founding an

Irish theatre in Dublin with Lady Gregory, her country neighbour Edward Martin and

George Moore. The plan was to produce in Dublin every year ―certain Celtic and

Irish plays which whatever be their degree of excellence will be written with a high

ambition, and so to build up a Celtic and Irish school of dramatic literature.‖

Dublin was in fact tire site of the first licensed English theatre outside London

established in 1637. There were also a series of Irish playwrights—Congreve,

8

Farquhar, Steele, Goldsmith Sheridan and later Oscar Wilde and Bernard Shaw but

they all gravitated to London and to its English audiences. The theatrical fare served

in Dublin at the close of the nineteenth century consisted of light operas, melodramas

and musical shows. The Irish melodramas of Dion Boucicault made use of Irish

material but this was done with an eye to export. The result was presentation of what

has come to be known as ―the stage Irishman‖ who was a drunkard, clown or

excessively sentimental. The Irish Literary Theatre was meant to undo tins impression:

We hoped to find, in Ireland, an uncorrupted and imaginative audience,

trained to listen by its passion for oratory and believe that our desire to bring

upon the stage the deeper thoughts and emotions of Ireland will ensure for us a

tolerant welcome, and that freedom to experiment which is not found in

theatres of England, and without which no new movement in art or literature

can succeed. We will show that Irish is not tire home of buffoonery and of

easy sentiment, as it has been represented, but the home of an ancient idealism.

(from the prospectus of the Irish Literary Theatre)

The Irish Literary Theatre came into being in 1899 and gave its first performances at

the Antient concert room in Dublin with Yeats‘s Countess Cathleen and Edward

Martyn's the heather field (in Irish Gaelic).

The Irish Literary Theatre and its successor the Irish national theatre society

continued to work till 1904 when it acquired its own theatre known as Abbey theatre

from its location on the Abbey sheet. This acquisition was made possible through tire

generosity of an English woman Miss Annie Horniman who was primarily interested

in advancing Yeats‘s career. Her association with the Abbey theatre continued till

1908 when the differences between her and Lady Gregory and others came to a head

and she decided not to pour money into the Abbey theatre any more and found

another theatre nearer home in Manchester.

The first performances of the Irish Literary Theatre were given by English

professional actors. The idea of a company made up exclusively of Irish actors who

could be taught a fresh style of acting free of the mannerism of the English

professional stage came wife the fay brothers, willie fay and frank fay were actors

and they believed that they could form such a company provided they had more plays

about Irish life. ‗a.e.‘ (george russell) gave them lus play Deirdre and Yeatshis

cathleen ni houlihan. This led to the founding of the Abbey theatre company. The

performance of these plays in april 1902 with Maud Gonne in the lead role in Yeats‘s

play proved to be an exciting and inspring success. The performances led to the

formation of fee Irish national theatre society with yeats, Maud Gonne and douglas

hyde as directors. The society was reorganized by Yeatsin 1905 when Maud Gonne

and dougles hyde were replaced as directors by Lady Gregory and Synge.

9

The first performances of the Irish Literary Theatre were given by English

professional actors. The idea of a company made up exclusively of Irish actors who

could be taught a fresh style of acting free of the mannerism of the English

professional stage came with the Fay brothers. Willie Fay and Frank Fay were actors

and they believed that they could form such a company provided they had more plays

about Irish life. 'A. E.'(George Russell) gave them his play Deirdre and Yeats his

Cathleen Ni Houlihan. This led to the founding of the Abbey Theatre Company. The

performance of these plays in April 1902 with Maud Gonne in the lead role in Yeats's

play proved to be an exciting and inspiring success. The performances led to the

formation of the Irish National Theatre Society with Yeats, Maud Gonne and Douglas

Hyde as directors. The society was reorganized by Yeats in 1905 when Maud Gonne

and Douglas Hyde were replaced as directors by Lady Gregory and Synge.

Synge had met Yeats in 1896 in Paris, and met both Yeats and Lady Gregory in 1898

at the Coole Park where discussions on the Irish Literary Theatre were going on this

second meeting led to his friendship with Yeats and Lady Gregory which proved to

be most important in his life.

Synge‘s first play (when fee moon is set) was rejected by both Yeats and Lady

Gregory but both noticed feat the peasant characters who played a minor part in it

were more electively realized than lire chief characters. They encouraged him to stick

with the peasant and forget all else. As his plays showed, Synge followed this advice

with splendid results. The dates of the production of his play and other important

details are shown in the chronology of the Irish Dramatic Movement and need not be

repeated here.

But a few things need to be stated. As we said earlier, fee Irish national theatre

society was reorganized in 1905 and Synge and Lady Gregory became director in the

reorganized society. Synge was the only director who had made Dublin his home and

was to play more active role in fee management of the professional theatre. He read

the plays submitted to the company by young writers and also helped the fays to

enlist and train new actor's.

There was an upheaval in November 1905 when some young actors back from a

triumphant tour of oxford, Cambridge arid London , severed their connection with tire

society because they felt that Yeats was taking the theatre completely away from the

nationalistic direction.

This is significant because the theatre was spearheaded by people (like Yeats, Lady

Gregory, Synge) whose origins were not Celtic and whose involvement in the

movement was purely emotional.

10

In 1906 there was considerable discussion on the aims of Irish dramatic movement

(IDM). There was a suggestion backed by Yeats that fee Abbey theatre should also

devote its creative energies to staging classics Synge was opposed to the idea. He felt

that their movement should concentrate on the ―creation of a new dramatic literature

where the interest is in tire novelty and power of the new work rather than in the

quality of the execution.‖

Finally Synge was able to win his point and the Abbey theatre stuck to its original

objective.

The Abbey Theatre survived many crises. Miss Horniman withdrew her subsidy. The

Fay brothers also left. Synge died in 1909, and Yeats resigned as a result of a dispute

with Lady Gregory. But fee Abbey theatre continued to be the centre of the dramatic

movement in Ireland till 1957 when it got burnt down. Among distinguished Irish

dramatists whose plays were produced at fee Abbey were Padraic Colum (1881-

1972), St. John Greer Ervine (1885-1971) and Lennox Robinson (1886-1958) and

later Sean O‘Casey (1880-1964).

Irish Dramatic Movement - A Chronology

8 May 1899. Irish Literary Theatre founded; its first offering staged in Dublin:

Yeats‘s The Countess Cathleen and Edward Martyn‘s The Heather

Field put up by an English Company at the Antient Concert Rooms in

Dublin.

Feb. 1990. George Moore‘s adaptation of Edward Martyn‘s The Tale of a Town

entitled The Bending of the Bough plus two shorter pieces The last

Feast of the Fianna by Alice Milligan and Maeve by Edward Martyn

were offered.

Oct 1901. Dougles Hyde‘s Gaelic play The Twisting of the Rope performed by a

company of amateur Irish actors, and Yeats‘s Diarmuid and Grania

and King Lear by F.R. Benson‘s company of English professional

actors.

2,3,4 April 1902. ‗A.E.‘s Deirdre and Yeats‘s patriotic Cathleen Ni Houlihan with

Maud Gonne in the title role in the latter, performed by the Fay

brothers: the beginning of the Abbey Theatre Company.

1902. Synge wrote In the Shadow of the Glen and Riders to the Sea; first

draft of The Tinker‟s Wedding.

11

Oct. 1902. Yeats‘s farce The Pot of Broth, a gaelie play Eilis and the Begger

Woman by P.T. McGinley and plays by Fred Ryan and James Cousins

performed.

Oct-Nov 1902. Last visit to Inishere, one of the Aran Islands.

2 May 1903. Five plays—The Hour-Glass, Cathleen Ni Houlihan and The Pot of

Broth by Yeats, Lady Gregory‘s Twenty-Five and Fred Ryan‘s The

Laying of the Foundations performed by the Fays in London .

June 1903. In The Shadow of the Glen read out by Lady Gregory to the group in

Dublin.

Sept. 1903. Riders to the Sea published in Samhain the organ of the Irish Literary

Theatre started by Yeatsin October 1901; also published was a play in

Irish by Douglas Hyde.

8 Oct. 1903. The King's Threshold by Yeats, the Shadow of the Glen by Synge and

Cathleen Ni Houlihan by Yeats were staged in Dublin in this order.

Synge‘s play was received with some hissing, the play was criticized

by the The Irish Time as casting a slur on Irish womanhood.

Dec. 1903. Broken Soil by Padraic Colum performed by the Fays.

25 Feb. 1904. Riders to the Sea and A.E.‘s Deirdre performed by the Fays.

26 March 1904. Synge‟s Riders to the Sea and In the Shadow of the Glen, and

Yeats‘s The King‟s Threshold, Brown Soil and The Pot of Broth

performed in London .

11 May 1904. Miss Horniman‘s generous offer of Abbey Theatre accepted.

27Dec. 1904. The Shadow of Glen published in Samhain. Yeats‘s On Baile's Strand

and Lady Gregory‘s Spreading the News (new plays) and Cathleen Ni

Houlihan and In the Shadow of the Glen presented as the Abbey

Theatre‘s first offering m Dublin.

4 Feb. 1905. The Well of the Saints presented; copies of the play published by A H.

Bullen were provided for sale in the theatre.

20 Jan. 1906. Molly Allgood played Cathleen in a revival of Riders to the Sea. She

was Synge‘s last love. Synge plays a more active part in managing the

Abbey Theatre.

12

17 April 1906. In the Shadow of the Glen revived.

24 Nov, 1906. Yeats‘s Deirdre presented.

8 Jan. 1907. The Playboy went into rehearsal with Molly Allgood in the role of

Pegeen.

26 Jan. 1907. The Playboy presented at the Abbey Theatre.

1907. The Playboy published; The Aran Islands also published.

Jan. 1908. The Tinker's Wedding published; in the Land by Padriac Column

presented.

1910. Deirdre of the Sorrows with Molly played the leading role performed,

13 Jan.; play also published.

1.2.3 The Playboy Riots

1.2.3.1 Dublin

Now let us closely examine the issue why The Playboy was the centre of tierce

controversy when it was first staged in Dublin. Involved here is also the crucial issue

of an artist‘s freedom of thought and expression. Such a controversy is an implicit

recognition of the power of theatre to subvert traditional morality.

In order to examine all these issues, we first need to look at the available evidence.

Luckily we have eye witness accounts of the riots written by Lady Gregory and John

Holloway and others connected with the Irish Dramatic Movement. Synge‘s plays

before The Playboy were not all well received in Dublin on first presentation. When

his Shadow of the Glen was first produced in 1903, some attacks were made on it in

the press. The story of a young wife who goes away with a stranger evoked the

charge that Synge had borrowed the story from a decadent Roman source, the story of

the widow of Ephesus and given it an Irish dress. The play was also attacked as a slur

on tire Irish womanhood, The Well of the Saints was not adversely commented upon

but then according to Lady Gregory the audiences for it were quite thin.

There was suspicion of trouble over The Playboy even before the play opened on 26

Jan, 1907. While the play was in rehearsal, Joseph Holloway, the Dublin architect and

ail Abbey Theatre bull‘ wrote in his diary that someone he talked to felt ―there is an

organized opposition I present to his [Synge‘s] play" , . . According to him, others

including Yeats, Lady Gregory and William Fay had their apprehensions. Lady

Gregory wanted a few cuts and she also made some but only after the first production.

Yeats said plainly that there was far too much ―bad language.‖ Synge made a few cuts

13

himself but they did not amount to much. The full story of the reception of The

Playboy at the Abbey Theatre during the first week is available in Our Irish Theatre,

(1913), pp. I 12-17.

The most objectionable tiring in the play was the reference by Christy to the ―drill of

chosen females, standing in their shifts itself may be from this place to the eastern

world.‖ The feeling was that Synge had slandered Ireland. The above account is quite

comprehensive but we shall try to fill in the gaps. What was Synge‘s own reaction to

the play and the disturbance? In a letter to his beloved Molly Allgood who played

Pegeen, he said: ―I think with a better Mahon and crowd and a few slight cuts the play

would be thoroughly sound. . . .‖ About the row Synge was prophetic.

It is better any day to have the row we had last night, than to have you play

fizzling out in half-hearted applause. Now we‘ll be talked about. We‘re event

in tire history of tire Irish drama. (Italics added.)

The reaction of the press was generally adverse. Here is an excerpt:

The play is an ―unmitigated, protracted libel upon Irish peasant men and

worse still upon Irish peasant girlhood. The blood boils with indignation as

one recalls the incidents, expressions, ideas of this squalid, offensive

production, incongrously styled a comedy in three acts ... No adequate idea

can be given of the barbarous jargon, the elaborate and incessant cursings of

these repulsive creatures.

(The Freeman‟s Journal)

The matters were compounded when Synge gave an unfortunate interview published

in The Evening Mail. He denied that he wrote the play in order to represent Irish life

as it is lived... I wrote the play because is pleased me, and it just happens that I knew

Irish life best, so I made my method Irish.‖ His play was a comedy, an extravaganza,

made to amuse and he did not care a rap how the people take it. ―I never bother

whether my plots are typically Irish or not; but my methods are typical.‖ Yeats was

absent when the play was first presented on Saturday but when he came back on

Tuesday the scene was lull of fight. He announced that they would go on until the

play has been heard sufficiently to be judged on its merits and also that on the

following Monday they would hold a debate about the play. (For an eye witness

account by John Holloway of what happened on the Tuesday night performance, see

Greene, p. 245.)

Yeats actual words to the audience on the same night deserve to be quoted in full for

they beautifully sum up the whole issue of freedom to write and stage and to be read

and seen :

14

We have put this play before you to be heard and to be judged, as every play

should be heard and judged. Every man has a right to hear it and condemn it if

he pleases, but no man has a right to interfere with another man hearing or

playing and judging for himself. The -country that condescends either to bully

or to permit itself to be bullied soon ceases to have any fine qualities, and I

promise you that if there is any small section in this theatre that wish to deny

the right of others to hear what they themselves don‘t want to hear we will

play on, and our patience shall last longer than their patience.

The debate on the play was held as announced with everyone in the Dublin literary

world present except Synge. Yeats came splendidly to Synge‘s defence. According to

an eye witness, Mary Colum, she never ―witnessed a human being fight as Yeats

fought that night‖ (Greene, p. 250). Lady Gregory was happy with their defence of

the play— ―it was spirited and showed we were not repenting or apologizing‖ (Green,

251).

Among Synge‘s leading opponents was Arthur Griffith, editor of The United

Irishman a weekly that voiced extreme nationalistic opinions. He later founded the

organisation Sinn Fein to further his political objectives.

He had attacked Synge for borrowing his story for In The Shadow of the Glen from

Petronius. He described The Playboy as a ―vile and inhuman story told in the foulest

language we have ever listened to from a public platform‖ (Green, 248).

The story of The Playboy‟s first staging in Dublin is interesting but for want of space

must come to a stop.

1.2.3.2 US Towns

When The Playboy was taken to the USA, Synge had died and his sweetheart Molly

had married and had gone off making it necessary for the Abbey players to look for a

substitute for her. Lady Gregory then accompanied the Company on its tour to US

that began in September 1911.

The Playboy‟s controversial reputation had reached America before the company did.

The reception that it received in America was mixed. It was generally friendly but in

Washington some priests preached against the Company and a pamphlet denouncing

the play was published. In New York a periodical The Gaelic American said that The

Playboy ―must be squelched.‖ The play itself was duly disturbed. Among the things

thrown on the stage were stink pots, rosaries, potatoes and cigarettes

In New York the play was seen by the Roosevelts.

15

In Philadelphia the entire cast was arrested and was tried but the players were rescued

by John Quin who demolished the arguments of the witnesses. In Chicago the Mayor

was asked to stop the presentation of tire play but he refused to oblige.

Curiously not all the objectors were Irish American. One English man who was

arrested objected to British soldiers being spoken of as ―khaki cut throats,‖

The controversy over The Playboy is long over and the play is now' a permanent part

of repertoire of the Abbey Theatre but tire issue of the freedom of thought and

expression it raises is alive. As we said before, the controversy also provides another

proof of the subversive power of theatre. The power of the written word increases

manifold when it is spoken by a character from the stage. Should a play or a book

considered obscene or otherwise objectionable by a section of the people be banned?

Ours is an age of permissiveness and many themes considered taboo earlier are now

routinely presented in books or on the stage. But, paradoxically, ours is also an age of

increasing intolerance. Witness the latest example of the violent protests against

Salman Rushdie‘s The Satanic Verses. The whole issue is embroiled in controversy

and it is difficult to adjudicate between the two sides.

So far as The Playboy is concerned, what we want you to do is to read the play again

and ' judge for yourself

1.3 MODERN COMEDY

In modem limes the comic form has been exploited in different ways. As a result

there is an extraordinary variety of comedy available in the twentieth century.

A most striking characteristic of modem drama is the blurring of the boundaries

between the tragic and the comic, the serious and the ludicrous. This blurring is

nearly as old as drama itself but it strikes the modem reader with a new force. Such a

distinction depends on the existence of generally accepted standards of value within,

a society. These commonly shared values or norms which provide the dramatist with

a basis for communication no longer seem to be valid. Without these values all

experience tends to become equally serious or equally ludicrous. As the French

dramatist Ionesco said: ―It comes to the same thing anyway; comic and tragic are

merely two aspects of the same situation, and I have now reached the stage where I

find it hard to distinguish one from the other.‖

One result of the blurring of this distinction has been the use of comic means not to

serve comic ends as it was done in earlier times but for serious purposes. The comic

has been described by a critic as a transparency through which we see the serious.

Laughter is one of the resources of comic theatre but this resource is now also

employed for serious purposes.

16

Here Ishould like to illustrate the use of comic in serious drama today by giving the

example used by the Italian dramatist Pirandello. I quote from J.L. Styan‘s book The

Dark Comedy:

Imagine, he [Pirandello in 1908] says, an elderly lady: We are immediately

predisposed to be sympathetic. But she is overdressed, her face painted, her

hair dyed like a girl‘s: we find this comic and are ready to laugh. Yet suppose

she is aware of the figure she is cutting, and is behaving in this way in order to

hold the affection of her husband: we are sobered. The old lady seems pathetic

again, and the laugh is ‗on us.‘ The comic may be no laughing matter.

Our response to the lady is complex. We in the audience are first drawn to the lady,

then repelled and finally drawn again. This is one way in which the waiter uses the

comic to control the responses of the audience of modem times. This commingling of

comedy and tragedy, laughter with tears is frequent in modem drama particularly in

the plays of Chekhov, Synge, Beckett, Ionesco, Pinter and Albee. Your study of

Beckett should help you to realize this.

This is a good point at which to introduce a new term for a modem comedy that

defies the traditional pigeon-holes of tragedy and comedy and that combines laughter

with tears. The term is dark comedy which is the title of the book from which the

above quotation has been cited. The old tragicomedy also continues to be used. Styan

himself uses another term modern comic tragedy in the sub-title of his book. Terms

are often useful as convenient labels, provided we know how we define them and

what they stand for. The term dark comedy stands for modem comedy that not only

amuses and entertains you but also teases and troubles you and can even be painful.

Such a play could end by raising questions or by sobering us. A comedy whether old

or modem in some way reaffirms its faith in life inspite of all the obstructions in it—

and life‘s capacity to renew itself. But this resurrection is not always achieved

through the traditional union of young lovers.

1.4. LET US SUM UP

The protesters against Synge‘s play have often been dismissed as ―philistine fools.‖

But in defence of their attitude, Synge‘s own ambivalence of aim has been pointed

out. He defended the play as an extravagant comedy. On the other hand he had

reacted to the hostile reception of The Well of Saints with the remark that ―the next

play I write I will sure annoy them.‖

Ann Saddlemyer has adduced several factors that help account for the riots. The

downfall of the Irish statesman, Charles Stewart Parnell was within easy recall, the

figure of the ‗stage Irishman‘ was still ridiculed on the English stage, there was still

considerable prudery regarding dress and sex, and Oscar Wilde‘s arrest a few years

earlier had made Irishmen more sensitive to their country‘s good name. That being so,

17

it was ―not surprising that a nationalist audience should object... to the presentation on

the stage of their National Theatre, of a self- confessed patricide who is glorified as a

hero and encouraged as a lover by an entire community in the West of Ireland.‖

Part of the fault lay with the original production also, which is said to have been

extremely realistic. It has been pointed out that ―Pegeen was too sensual, Christy

unpleasant-looking, and the bloody head of his father rather horrible.‖ It was only

later after Synge‘s death that the comic aspects started being emphasized.

1.5. GLOSSARY

Celt One of the ancient people speaking Celtic. They originated around

1500 B.C.in S.W. Germany and spread through France to N. Spain and

the British Isles and later to other parts of Europe. But in time only

Brittany and the West of the British Isles remained Celtic. ‘

Gaelic a branch of the Celtic family of languages comprising Irish, Scottish

Gaelic, and Manx

1.6 QUESTIONS

1. How did Synge‘s meeting with Yeats change the former‘s career?

2. What place do Tinkers, tramps and vagabonds occupy in Synge‘s plays?

3. Write a paragraph on Synge‘s role in the Irish Dramatic Movement.

4. Which words or sentences offended the first audiences in Dublin most? Which

other remarks could possibly have offended audiences?

5. Go over the play again and the objections of the critics and write an essay

giving your own opinion on the issue.

6. Can we call The Playboy a dark comedy? If so, in what manner

1.7 SUGGESTED READINGS

Green, David H. And E.M. Stephens. J.M. Synge 1891-1909. Collier Books, 1959.

Lady Gregory, Our Irish Theatre. New York: G.P. Putnam‘s Sons. 1913.

This is indispensable reading; contains three important chapters entitled ―The Fight

Over The Playboy,‖ ―Synge and ―The Playboy in America.‖

Styan, .J.L. Dark Comedy: The Development of Modem Comic Tragedy. Cambridge,

England, CUP, 1968.

Corrigan, Robert W. Comedy: Meaning and Form. 2nd edition. New York: Harper

and Row. 1981

18

UNIT 2 CRITICAL ANNOTATIONS TO THE PLAYBOY

Structure

2.0 Objectives

2.1 Introduction

2.2 How to use the study material

2.3 Key Questions

2.4 Study Notes

2.4.1 Synge‘s Preface to the Play

2.4.2 The text of the play

2.5 Let Us Sum Up

2.6 Glossary

2.7 Questions

2.8 Suggested Readings

2.0 OBJECTIVES

The Primary objective of this Unit is to enable you to assess the play by drawing your

attention to certain key questions on it and then providing study notes.

2.1 INTRODUCTION

The Playboy of the Western World is one of the finest plays of this century by the

Irish playwright John Millington Synge (pronounced sing-). Remember there are two

other dramatists of Irish origin in your course, Bernard Shaw and Samuel Beckett.

2.2 HOW TO USE THE STUDY MATERIAL

i. A play is meant to be put on the stage. So the best way to start your work on

the play is to see it staged first. But since that is not always possible the next

best thing is to read the play aloud with fellow students participating in the

reading.

The reason behind this is that it is important to respond to the play directly

before turning to criticism or to an account of the riots over The Playboy‘s

performance. There is so much of wild imagination and poetry in it that you

must let it come through to you and work upon you. And the only way to do it

is to read the play aloud. You must remember that a play achieves its full

effect only in a good performance.

19

ii. Your first reading of the play should be a general reading.

iii. Please ensure that at least one of your readings of the play is a detailed

reading. When you do this, you should make use of the notes provided in the

material and any other help that you can get from any other source.

iv. We have tried to make this material self-contained. But you will need to look

up some other material on the play mentioned in the suggested readings.

v. The text of the play that we have used in preparing this Study Material is

contained in The Plays and Poems of J.M. Synge, edited by T.R. Henn

(London: Methuen, 1963) reprinted as a University Paperback in 1968. But

you should feel free to use any other text of the play.

2.3 KEY QUESTIONS

Before you begin to read, I would like to suggest several questions that are central to

any meaningful discussion of the play and that you could keep in mind as you read it

1. What is the play about? This will lead you to the question — what kind of

play is it?

2. Does it remind you of some other comedy or comedies that you have read? Is

it different? In what way?

3. Is it an ‗extravagant comedy‘? Does it have elements of farce?

4. What about the serious elements in it?

5. How do you respond to the language of the play?

6. Why do you think the play offended its first audiences in Dublin and USA?

2.4 STUDY NOTES

Notes: An effort has been made to provide fairly exhaustive annotations to meet the

requirements of distance students as not all of them may have easy access to libraries.

2.4.1 Synge’s Preface to the Play

Synge here explains how he has been able to combine realism with poetry in the play.

He says he has used only one or two words in the play that he has not heard from the

country people of Ireland.

Lines 1-J2 In writing The Playboy... compared with the fancies one may hear in any

little hillside cabin in Geesala, or Carraroe, or Dingle Bay: Synge lived among the

Irish peasants in the Aran Island when he visited the Islands for years from 1989.

Synge laid been in Paris in 1896 when Yeats met him and advised him to go and live

among the Irish people and ‗express a life that has never found expression.‘

I have used one or two words only that I have not heard among the country people of

Ireland . . . : This, according to Synge‘s biographer, was not an exaggeration and ―it

20

must have angered him when his Dublin critics accused him of foisting an outlandish

vocabulary upon the peasants of the West of Ireland‖ (Green, 144).

Lines 12-23 All art is collaboration . . . let me hear what war being said by the

servant girls in the kitchen: The key sentence here is: All art is collaboration. It is a

collaboration because in this case the language used by the dramatist has been

provided by the people. He counts the Elizabethan time among the happy ages of

literature, happy hi its use of language, in the use of 'striking and beautiful phrases‘

that the poet has heard from the people, that have just come hot front the oven of the

people‘s imagination.

Lines 24-28 in countries where the imagination . . . in a comprehensive and natural

form: Notice Synge‘s emphasis on ‗rich and living‘ language and ‗reality,‘ which

according to him is the root of all poetry He Grids fault with modem literature

because it lacks this combination.

Mallarme Stephane (1842-98) French symbolist.

Huvsmans. Karl Joris.‘ Writer and critic, in his A Rebours (1884) translated as

Against the Grain (1926) he describes the perverse life of Des Esseintes, a dedicated

aesthete who prefers artificial flowers and man-made scenery to living nature.

Ibsen. Henrik (1828-1906) Norwegian dramatist generally recognized as the founder

of modem prose drama. He influenced Shaw (among others) who introduced his work

to English theatre.

Zola. Emile (1840-1902) French novelist and dramatist. He is the high priest of the

naturalistic movement in literature. His essay Naturalism of the stage (1880) was

widely influential. According to Zola, imagination has no place in literature and that

nature is sufficient without modification or pruning.

Musical comedy a form of theatrical entertainment that development in the USA

during the 19th century. It combines song, music and spoken dialogue. Shaw‘s

Pygmalion (1902) was adapted as a musical comedy as My Fair Lady (1956).

2.4.2 The Text of the Play

Act I

shebeen: a house selling alcoholic liquor in Ireland.

settle: a bench with a high back and arms and often with a box fitted below the seat.

turf fire : fire fed with grass.

creel cart: cart that has high movable sides, used for carrying turf, pigs, sheep, etc.

Kate Cassidy's Wake: Wake is a watch beside a corpse before burial. T.R. Henn gives

21

this description of the ceremony of a wake: ‗The body, dressed in its shroud and

―tidied‖ - usually by some women, not of the family, who has known skill in this—is

laid on a table in a comer of the room, candles burning at head and feet. As each

visitor enters he lifts the cloth from the face of the dead to make his farewell. The

visitor kneels down to say a prayer. At one time it was customary to place a conical

mound of snuff on the navel of the corpse, from which each took a pinch as he went

by. Then, one by one, the callers pass to the group round the fire. Each is given a new

clay pipe, ready loaded with tobacco. There is whisky and stout in whatever quantity

the means of the relatives allow, and tea for the women.

‗The talk round the fire develops, first, as a series of praises of the deceased,

reminiscences and anecdotes (always favourable) about his or her life: and finally

might develop into something like an orgy. The whole ceremony is pagan, down to

the symbolism of the new claypipes, overlaid with Christian ritual.‘ (From

Introduction to The Shadow of the Glen in The Plays and Poems of J.M. Synge, ed.

T.R. Henn [London : Methuen, University Paperback,1968], p.29

Scruff of the hill: slope below the summit.

Aren't we after making a good bargain: Apparently dowry was prevalent.

Father Reilly‟s dispensation: It is necessary because Pegeen and Shawn are marrying

in the month of Lent, i.e. the period of fasting and penitence. The dispensation finally

arrives in Act 3.

Queer lot: the word queer recurs in the play several times.

The like of Daneen Sullivan Knocked the eye from a peeler : who knocked . . .

Peeler a policeman; originally a nickname given to the Royal Irish Constabulary,

instituted under the Secretaryship (1812-1818) of Sir Robert Peel.

Maiming ewes : disabling ewes; a favourite way to settle grudges against one‘s

neighbours, or landlord.

He a great warrant to tell: he is highly skilled and famous for telling.

Father Reilly has small conceit : would not have allowed,

Is it the like of that murderer? : Pegeen‘s objection to Widow Quin is because she is

‗a murderer.‘ But ironically later she is to urge her father to employ Christy as a

potboy because he is a murderer and brave.

Himself: Master of the house, i.e. Pegeen‘s father.

When he sees you taking on : when he sees you getting frightened?

I'm after feeling a kind of fellow : I have a feeling there is a kind of fellow.

22

Well, you‟re a daring fellow : Pegeen is using these words ironically here. The same

words are used for Christy Mahon also but in a positive sense.

don‟t let on : don‘t reveal this secret.

Whisht: (Scot & Irish dialect) be quiet, hush.

God bless You! The blessing of God on this place : A customary greeting used by an

Irish peasant, a neighbour or a stranger, on entering a cottage. The Irish peasant of the

time used these blessings almost without thought of their significance.

Stooks of the Dead Women : rocks on the sea-shore; a stook is a conical cluster of

sheaves of oats set up to dry. ―Do you see that sandy head, he said, pointing out to the

east ―that is called the Stooks of the Dead Women; for one time a boat came ashore

there with twelve dead women on board her, big ladies with green dresses and gold

rings, and fine jewelleries, and a dead harper or fiddler along with them.‖ (In Wicklow,

West Ketty and Connemara, 1911), p. 119.

Bad cess to them : bad luck to them.

Gripe of the ditch : hollow of the ditch

Leave me go : There is a lot of horse play in The Playboy .

old Pagan : Shawn uses the phrase for Michael probably because what he wants him

to do is Something so unlike a Christian.

Penny pot-boy : a serving man in a cheap public home.

lonesome West : The emphasis throughout is on the ―lonesome‖ West.

You‟ll have no call: you will have no need.

God save all here : Cf. God bless You? (P. 178).

A bona fide : a bona fide traveller, so exempted from licensing ―hours‖; here genuine.

You‟re wanting, maybe? : you are probably wanted (by the police)? This question by

Michael is the beginning of the snowballing of the lie.

He did what any decent man would do : probably attacked and killed the man who

came to evict.

divil a one : (colloq.) not even one or not at all.

gentle, simple : Gentle here means of good social position as against common people.

He‟d beat Dan Davies circus! : The exaggeration suggested is typical of the people

here. Note the vivid imagination of the people.

23

Boers : South African of Dutch origin.

Kruger : Full name - Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (1825-1904). South African

soldier and statesman. He led the Afrikaners i.e. the whites esp. the whites of Dutch

origin to victory against the British in the First Boer War in 1881. He died in exile in

1904.

With the help of God I did... : Notice comic incongruity of religious piety and murder.

Crusty: irritable.

I‟m a law fearing man : Notice the oddity of the situation where a man who says he

had murdered his father claims to be a law abiding man. But the irony is wholly

unconscious.

Hanged his dog from the license : because he could not afford to pay for it.

I just riz the Ioy : I just raised the loy; a loy is long thin spade.

Aye, I buried him then : Note the force of the stage direction Considering. Christy is

now committed to circumstantial story and its elaboration;

Spuds : Potatoes.

Oh, a distance place, ... a windy comer of high, distant hills : That Christy is now

making up his story is clear from the vagueness of his reply.

The sense of Solomon : wisdom of Solomon. Solomon was the king of Israel c. 970-

930 B.C. known for his wisdom and magnificence.

Poteen : (Irish) illicit liquor made from potatoes, oats or rye. Its manufacture was

once a major industry in the West of Ireland, and the search for ―stored‖ whisky a

major preoccupation of the police.

The peelers is fearing him : Note how others join in building up Christy‘s self-esteem.

Bravery‟s a treasure in a lonesome place : Cf. ―There‘s a daring fellow‖ in Act II.

Loosed khaki cut throats : This is one of the reminiscences of the Boer War

The walking dead : The phrase anticipates Old Mahon‘s reappearances later in the

play at the wrong time.

If they‟re not fearing You : There is a reversal of situation here. At first Christy was

afraid of the police and asked if the shebeen was safe from the police. Now Michael

believes that the police would probably be afraid of Christy.

drouthy : thirsty.

24

Let You stop a short while anyhow: Pegeen has shifted her attentions to Christy now.

Himself in it too : The master of the house himself has no objection to his (Shawn‘s)

staying with Pegeen during the night.

I'm tired surely . . . waking fearful in the night: This is the real Christy.

a kind of quality name : aristocratic name. Christy promptly accepts this suggestion

that he belongs to the landed gentry. The Mahons were a famous military family.

You‟ve said the like of that, maybe : The eternal response of a woman in such

situations.

Streelen : chat.

You‟d have as much talk and streelem : Pegeen attributes the qualities of a poet to

Christy.

I never killed my father : Pegeen‘s apology for not killing her father is highly comic.

it‟s most conceit you 'd have : Conceit here means personal vanity.

And I after, toiling, moiling, digging. . . : again the real Christy.

Poaching : catch (game) illegally.

I was a divil to poach : I was

St. Martin's Day : 11 November:; St. Martin‘s summer, means a period of fine mild

weather about this date.

Gaudy officers : wearing the striking Edwardian uniform of the militia.

Banbhs : young pigs.

I a seemly fellow with great strength in me and bravery of. . . : This interruption of

Christy in mid-sentence is eloquence. His reaction to the knocking is highly comic.

Contrast Christy‘s boasting with Old Mahon‘s account of his son in Act II.

I'm in terror of the peelers : As soon as he hears a knock on the door, all his veneer of

bravery goes and he appears as one who is afraid of the police.

Stringing gabble : continues talking.

Curiosity man : man who had aroused the curiosity of others. What other titles are

given to Christy? Make a list.

Priesteen : little priest

25

penny poets : selling ballads at fairs.

Never overed it : never got over it, Widow Quin‘s murder ―a sneaky kind of murder‖

contrasted with the hero murder by Christy.

Houseen : little house. The Irish suffix -een is used to form diminutive nouns. Make a

list of such diminutives.

Without a tramp : It's true the Lord God formed you to contrive indeed : This match

of abuse between women is highly comic.

A sop of grass tobacco : dried but uncured tobacco leaf.

I liefer stay : I would prefer to stay.

There right torment will await you here ... : Widow Quin‘s prophecy about Christy‘s

torment at the hands of Pegeen comes true in Act III.

Act II

County Clare : in the province of Munster in the Republic of Ireland.

Cnuceen (or knockeen): little hill.

gamy : sensational.

―You squinting idiot," says he : Here find another evidence of the growth of the

Christy‘s lie about having killed his father.

He was letting on .. . : he wanted to give the impression.

Under a dray : dray is a low, strong flat 4-wheeled cart without sides, used for

carrying heavy loads.

That's grand story. He tells it lovely : These comments sum up the attraction

Christy‘s story has for the people here. Why is it considered ‗a grand story‘? What

makes it ‗lovely‘ in the telling? What makes Christy such a good or lovely narrator?

he gave a drive with the scythe : Christy gives an immediate proof of his skill as a

story teller. He is inventing details of the epic fight

Supeen : a little sup.

You„re heroes : It what sense are they ‗heroes‘?

Drink a health to the wonders of the Western world. . . : Sara is proposing a mock

toast to an odd assortment of people.

a white shift: a white undergarment.

26

huffy: rudely proud.

Lepping the stones : crossing by stepping stones.

That lot came over the river: The reference is to the girls who came to see Christy.

It's not three perches : perch is a measure of length of land of 5112 yards.

Frish-frash : froth-like substance like beaten egg.

Shut of jeopardy : safe from danger

It‟s queer joys they have : Note Pegeen‘s sadistic description of hanging. This is her

reaction to Christy's flirtation with the girls.

Lonesome : keyword for Christy.

Coaxing fellow : flattering, persuasive.

Esau : the elder son of Isaac and Rebecca in the Bible.

Cain and Abel: sons of Adam.

Neifin : the name of a mountain west of Loch Conn, between Newsport and Bollina.

Eiris plain : Erris is a barony in northwest Mayo. j

The needy fallen angels do be looking on the Lord: Note the biblical comParison

made by Christy to describe his own need of a woman.

What call have you : You don‘t have to?

I‟m thinking you‟re an odd man : Pegeen is truly puzzled and also affected by the talk

of Christy.

Wattle : thin stick.

mitch off : sneak away, play truant.

Inveigle You off : to trick you away from

thraneen : bit of thread, shred.

Cleeve : basket

Kilmainham : a notorious jail in Dublin

It‘s hard case to be an orphan : Shawn is sincerely lamenting his not having a father.

Or else he could kill him and be a hero like Christy. This is comic.

27

rye path : path by the side of a small rye field.

turbary : right of cutting turf on a stretch of bog.

the long car : a kind of small waggon once popular in the West for postal services.

one blow to the breeches belt : Note how the stroke becomes magnified steadily as

the story is re-told. Cf. ―he split to the knob of his gullet‖ (p. 197).

Where‟ll I hide my body from that ghost of hell? : Notice how Christy‘s pride is

punctured at the moment when it is most inflated, when he thinks he is most secure.

Did You see a young lad passing this way. . . : Old Mahon does not use the customary

greeting ―God save you.‖ You can guess why not?

Streeler : rugged youth. The word is used mainly by city boys.

gob : mouth, hence the whole face.

Divil a robber : The word devil is used to express strong disagreement. The phrase

would mean ―far from being a robber.‖

a dirty, stuttering lout : After the romantic build-up of Christy we have his father‘s

version of what his son was like.

mortified scalp : wounded head.

A great shame when the old and hardened torment the young? : Widow Quin is

vastly amused at the sudden turn of events. And she is deliberately provoking old

Mahon.

a lier of walls : one who lies on walls or sits on or leans against them.

Finches and felts : birds

bit of glass we had hung on the wall: The looking glass plays an important part in

building up Christy's self-esteem.

baronies : In Ireland a barony is a division of a county.

The laughing joke of every female woman : Here is the other version about Christy.

The spit of you : Your exact likeness.

Civil warrior : because he is not in the military.

You're the walking Playboy of the Western world, and that the poor man you had

divided to his breeches belt: Widow Quin uses the term in its English meaning,

hoaxer, fraud. The tune has changed now and she sarcastic now.

28

Weasel tracing a rat: weasel is a type of small thin fur animal with a pointed face

which can kill other small animals. A weasel works quickly weaving from side to side

to pick up the scent.

he a kind of carcass : dead sheep and cattle were not buried but pushed over cliffs

into the Atlantic,

after the love-light of the star of knowledge shining from her brow : At moments

Christy‘s language becomes incandescent.

spavindy ass : lame with spavin, disease of the hock-joint.

It‟s her like is fitted to be handling merchandize in to heavens above : instead of

selling things at her small shop.

at the comer of my wheel : The old men come in to gossip while she is spinning.

Boreen : lane.

It‟ll be great game : Fun is what Christy‘s coming has provided to the inhabitants of

the place—-till such time it becomes serious in Act III

Act III

gaffer: boss or man in charge.

Roulette man: roulette is a gambling game.

cockshot man: who allows sticks to be thrown at him, for money at fairs.

hobbled yet: hobble is to cause a person to limp.

he flings up two halves of that skull: The discussion of the skull and the graveyard is

macabre and recalls Hamlet and Webster.

there was a graveyard. . . :Synge had heard the story in Kerry.

I doing nothing but telling stories: Here is another storyteller who wins clean beds

and food for the other side of the story of the murder.

I knew a party was kicked in the head by a red mare : Note how the playwright has

brought the image of tire horse and clock together in the ―metaphysical‖ fashion.

Isn‟t madness a fright: isn‘t madness frightful?

Skelping them: slapping them

mangy cue :diseased dog.

29

the champion Playboy of the Western World :Widow Quin had used the phrase earlier

in Act 0. Find out where and in what context. She now knows the reality of Christy

and so uses tire phrase ironically.

winkered mule: mule with blinkers on the bridle.

there isn't a ha'p 'orth: ha‘p‘orth is a contraction of half penny worth: a small amount.

There is nothing that he isn‘t winning,

They‟re pressing him now : Note the ingenuity of the stagecraft for reporting the races.

What we have here is u running commentary of the last item of the mule race. The

important thing is that Old Mahon is made to witness the triumphs of Iris son.

Who is he at all?: Old Mahon‘s question is really a question that vocalizes his wonder

at the doings of his son.

I seen rats as big as badgers sucking the life blood from the butt of my lug: ―with

teeth fixed in the lobe of the ear.‖'Perhaps the image is derived from weasels or

ferrets, who usually fasten on rabbits at tire base of an ear. Jug is British slang of an

ear'.

brain pan :the case of bones in which the brain is contained.

Parlatic: paralytic.

Then I‟d best be going to the union beyond : Old Mahon has been convinced by

Widow Quin that he is mad.

a terrible and fearful case :again the heroic delight in reported violence.

darlint boy :darling boy.

since striking my one single blow :Christy now never forgets to mention his ‗heroic

murder‘ of his father with one blow.

a kind of pity for the Lord God... : The image is also used in from Synge‘s own poem

―Dread‖:

Besides a cahpel I‘d a room looked down,

Where all the women from the farms and town,

On Holy-days and Sundays used to pass

To marriages, and Christenings, and to Mass,

Then I sat lonely matching score and score,

Till I turned jealous of the Lord next door. . .

Now by the window, where there‘s none can see,

The Lord God‘s jealous of yourself and me

30

The image is said to have been taken from Douglas Hyde‘s

―Lone Songs of Connacht‖:

I had rather be beside her on a couch, ever

kissing her.

Than be sitting in Heaven in the chair of the

Trinity.

till we are astray in Erris, when Good Friday‟s by : A good Catholic does not make

love in Lent.

mitred bishops : mitre is a type of tall pointed hat worn by priests of high rank.

If the mitred bishops : Christy has been truly transformed and is at his eloquent best in

these lines.

Such poet‟s talking, and such bravery of heart : Note the two qualities that appeal to

Pegeen.

Isn‟t there the light of seven heavens . . : The comparison of the beloved with light is

traditional.

paters : the Lord‘s prayer

tempted to go sailing the seas till I‟d marry a Jew-man : Yeats‘ ballad. Colonel

Marlin is perhaps relevant here: ―The Colonel went out sailing,/ He spoke with Turk

and Jew."

And to think it's me is talking sweetly . . . : These lines bring out the transformation

brought about by love.

For You‟d never see the match of it for flow of drinks : Wakes were occasions for

heavy drinking.

throw him on the crupper. . . : the opportunity for drinks at a wake is not to be missed.

Crupper is a leather bell passing under a horse‘s tail and tied to the saddle to prevent

it from slipping forward.

gilded desperation : dispensation is the Roman Catholic permission to disobey a

general rule, cf. p 177.

no savagery or fine words at all: Shawn doesn‘t have the acquisitions that Christy has.

Cf. p. 218.

Picking up a dirty tramp up from the highways of the world : Note the rhythm and

cadence.

And have You no mind : Shawn‘s speech is largely materialistic and is in sharp

31

contrast to the sheer poetry of Christy‘s eloquence.

Drift of heifers : Contrast this with the reference to the ‗drift of chosen females‘ made

by Christy, which created a storm in the Abbey Theatre when the play was first

presented in 1907.

the plains of Meath : the more fertile lands of the midlands and south-east are

proverbial in the west for their wealth.

the rising tide will wash all traces : Perhaps this line recalls the image of washing in

Macbeth.

Liefer: rather.

Then I‟ll make you face the gallows : Christy tries to ‗reenact his murder‘ of his father.

I‟ll not renege : break my promise. In a few moments she will forget all about her

promise.

win an easy or a cruel end : Yeats‘s ‗Lament for Mrs. Mary Moore‘ is relevant here.

―A bloody and a sudden end,/ Gunshot or a noose.

that all should rear up lengthy families : Genesis viii, 17 is relevant here [―Bring out

with you every living thing ... so that they may abound on earth, and be fruitful and

multiply on the earth.]

He‟s not my father : In his desperation Christy even denies his father.

You‟re fooling, Pegeen : note how the crowd turns against Christy.

And to think of the coaxing glory we had given

him : Pegeen is the first to turn against Christy and she is the severest.

Munster liar : Christy who belongs to Munster

Rule the roost in Mayo : be the leader in Mayo.

state him now : attack him now. the old hen : influenza

cholera morbus : the peasantry love to pick up bits of medical knowledge.

scorch my understanding at her flaming brow : an Elizabethanism that seems over-

rhetorical in the context.

If them two set fighting: The scene now turns into a fight between the father and the

son with

the crowd enjoying it. The only person distressed is Pegeen.

32

if you „re after making a mighty man of me by the power of a lie : probably the heart

of the play.

run from the idiot!: The crowd that had cheered Christy now turns abusive.

a drift of chosen females standing in their shifts itself: These lines were considered a

slur on the Irish nation, particularly Irish womanhood.

There „re going to hang him now: There is some sympathy among girls for Christy.

hanging is an easy and a speedy end : Contrast this with Pegeen‘s description of

hanging to scare Christy on p. 199.

gallons story: gallous is from gallows.

there's a great gap between a gallous story and a dirty deed : Christy‘s story of his

‗heroic murder‘ of his father is approved so long as it is a mere story. The reversal

comes when he tries to turn the story into reality.

scorch his leg : ―I had defended the burning of Christy Mahon‘s leg on the ground

that an artist need not make his characters self-consistent, and yet, that ton was

observation, for although these people are kindly towards each other and their

children, they have no sympathy for the suffering of animals, and little sympathy for

pain when the person who feels it is not in danger‖ (Yeats, Essays and Introduction, p.

326).

With ladies in their silks and satins snivelling in their lacy kerchief: as in many

popular ―hanging‖ ballads of the eighteenth century.

Picking cockles : According to T.R. Henn, the coldest, wettest and most ill-paid of

work.

I‟m master of all fights from now : There is a new Christy now.

Ten thousand blessings upon all. that's here . . . : There is no bitterness in Christy

towards the people of Mayo, those who first lionized him and then turned hostile

towards him.

Romping lifetime : lively years of life

Oh, my grief, I've lost him surely : The only person who has suffered a loss apart from

Christy is Pegeen herself.

2.5 LET US SUM UP

Reading this play can be a bewildering experience for some readers. Parts of it are

sheer fun. But there are several other elements in it—wild imagination, picturesque

language, love, violence, plenty of role-playing and the element of the grotesque and

33

much else. Also, the play does not have a happy ending usual in comedies.

2.6 GLOSSARY

farce: A light humorous play the objective of which is to provoke uproarious

laughter. For its effect a farce depends on exaggerated physical action,

absurd situations and improbable events. The plot of a farce generally

moves with surprising rapidity.

grotesque : The dictionary defines it as strange and unnatural so as to cause fear or

laughter. In a literary context the word is used to denote ridiculous

bizarre, extravagant. The grotesque element is used by writers for comic

Critical and satirical purposes.

Picturesque : charming and interesting; (of language) unusually clear, strong and

descriptive.

2.7 QUESTIONS

1. Answer the following questions;

(i) Which character in the play uses the word playboy first?

(ii) Which other characters use the same word?

(iii) Where is the action of the play located? In which part of Ireland?

(iv) How much time does the action of the play take?

(v) Which place does Christy belong to?

(vi) The word shebeen means a small country pub or public house selling liquor.

There are several other words that end with the suffix-een which is used to

form diminutive nouns. Make a list of such words and find their meanings

with the help of a dictionary, if necessary.

2. Identify the speakers of the following lines and the situation in which these lines

are spoken.

(i) ―Well it‘s a clean bed and soft with it, and it's great luck and company I‘ve

won me in the end of time—two fine women fighting for the likes of me—

till I‘m thinking this night wasn‘t I a foolish fellow not to kill my father in

the years gone by?‖

(ii) I know well it‘s the man; ―Pm after putting him down in the sports below

for racing, leaping, pitching, and the Lord knows what.‖

(iii) ―Take him on from this, or I‘ll set the young lads to destroy him here.‖

(iv) ―It‘s Pegeen Pm seeking only, and what‘d I care if you brought me a drift

of chosen females, standing in their shifts itself, maybe, from this place to

the eastern world?‖

(v) ―Well, you‘re the walking Playboy of the Western World, and that‘s the

poor man you had divided to his breeches belt.‖

(vi) "Oh, my grief, I've lost him surely. I've lost the only Playboy of the

Western World."

(vii) ―I‘ll say, a strange man is a marvel, with his mighty talk; but what‘s a

34

squabble in your background, and the blow of a loy, have taught me that

there‘s a great gap between a gallous story and a dirty deed.‖

3. Write an essay giving your personal impression of the play.

2.8 SUGGESTED READINGS

Corrigan, Robert W. Ed. ―Farce, Satire and Tragicomedy,‖ Comedy: Meaning and

Form. 2nd ed. New York : Harper & Row, 1981. Pp. 191-227.

Cuddon, J.A. Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. 3rd ed. Penguin

Books, 1992. [Read particularly the entries on comedy, farce and grotesque.

35

UNIT 3 CLOSE ANALYSIS OF THE PLAYBOY

Structure

3.0 Objectives

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Germ of the play

3.3 Title

3.4 Actwise Analysis.

3.4.1 Act I

3.4.2 Act II

3.4.3 Act III

3.5 Let Us Sum Up

3.6 Glossary

3.7 Questions

2.9 Suggested Readings

3.0 OBJECTIVES

The primary aim of this unit is to help you to pay close attention to the text and

analyse it and also see how the dramatist achieves a variety of effects in it.

3.1 INTRODUCTION

How are we to interpret the play? Synge himself said that parts of it were meant to be

‗extravagant comedy‘ but that there was much more in the play that was perfectly

serious and that there were ―several sides‖ to it. What are those sides? In order to

answer these questions, I suggest that you turn to the text and read the play once

again with the help of comments and questions on each Act, and on the play as a

whole. These comments and questions draw attention to the function of each Act and

the various scenes in it and suggest various points of interest.

3.4 GERM OF THE PLAY

The germ of the play lay in a story that both Yeats and Synge heard during their

respective visits to the Aran Islands. Yeats who visited the Islands two years before

Synge did, in 1898 with Arthur Symonds wrote;

An old man on the Aran Islands told me the very tale on which The Playboy

is founded beginning with the words ‗If any gentleman has done a crime we‘ll

36

hide him. There was a gentleman that killed his father, and I had him in my

own house six months till he got away to America.

(Essays and Introductions, pp. 337-38)

An account of this incident was also left by antiquarian Thomas Johnson Westropp

who had visited Aran twenty years earlier.

Synge heard a similar story on the Inishmaan island one of the Aran Islands, he

visited. An old man, the oldest on the island told him.

about a Connaught man who killed his father with the blow of a spade when

he was in passion, and then fled to this island and threw himself on the mercy

of some of the natives with whom he was said to be related. They hid him in a

hole—which the old man has shown me—and kept him safe for weeks,

though the police came and searched for him, and he could hear their boots

grinding on the stones over his head. In spite of the reward which was offered,

the island was incorruptible and after much trouble the man was safely

shipped to America.

(Four Plays and the Aran Islands, p. 216)

Synge then goes on to comment on the attitude of the islanders:

If a man has killed Iris father and is already sick and broken with remorse,

they see no reason why he should be dragged away and killed by the law.

Such a man, they say, will be quiet all the rest of his life, and if you suggest

that punishment is needed as an example, they ask, would anyone kill his

father if he was able to help it?‘

The origin of the idea of the play and the attitude of the Island are an important

element in our making sense of the play:

Apparently the idea of the play had also been suggested by the case of a man called

James Lynchehaun who had assaulted a woman and managed to conceal himself from

the police with the help of peasant women. Lynchehaun also eventually escaped to

America. But Synge believed that the story in its essence was ―possible‖ given the

psychic state of the locality. He also clarified: "If the idea had occurred to me I could

and would just as readily have written the thing as it stands today without the

Lynchehaun case or the Aran case ... I used the cases afterwards to contravene critics

who said it was impossible.‖

3.3 TITLE

Synge‘s first working titles for the play were ―The Murderer- A Farce,‖ ―Murder will

out or Fool of the Family,‖ and ―The Fool of Farnham‖ until he hit upon the present

title.

37

According to his biographers David Grenne and Edward Stephesn, ―Playboy is

possibly the translation of the Gaelic phrase used in hurling or it may be the English

word Playboy, a hoaxer. It is in this sense that the Widow Quin uses the lull title for

Christy after discovering that the man he had boasted of killing is still very much

alive: ―Well, you are the walking | Playboy of the Western World and that‘s tire poor

man, you had divided to his breeches belt,‖ The term is used more positively also and

I am sure you have discovered several uses of it in the course of your reading of the

play.

The biographers‘ comment of the phrase ―Western world‖ is also interesting: ―The

Western World‖ is a phrase Synge may never have heard an Irish countryman use,

though he puts it and its counterpart ―eastern world‖ into the mouths of several of his

characters in the play.

But he was undoubtedly aware that it occurs frequently in early Irish texts as an

epithet for a champion. For example, a tenth century poem reads:

Where is the chief of the Western world?

Where the sun of every clash of arms?

The phrase ―Western World‖ refers to the west part of Ireland where the play is

located but could also be taken to refer to the large western word. There is a similar

ambiguity about the word playboy because the hoaxer becomes a real champion in

the end. Apparently the ambiguity weighed with Synge when he made his final choice

for the title.

3.4 ACT-WISE ANALYSIS

3.4.1 Act I

Do look up the meaning of The Playboy in your dictionary. According to the Oxford

Encyclopaedic English Dictionary, the word means ―an irresponsible pleasure seeking

man especially a wealthy one.‖ You need to see if the play supports this meaning.

The title suggests a comedy

What kind of comedy do you expect this to be?

Also, what does the phrase the Western world refer to? To Western Ireland or Mayo

where the play is located or to the Western world as a whole?

Act I

1. The key questions here is:

What is the principal focus of Act I ?

A tentative answer is that the focus is on:

38

Christy and how he wins the respect and

Admiration of the people with the story of

killing his father with a loy

2. There are two scenes before Christy enters;

- the scene between Pegeen and Shawn Keogh; and

- the scene when her father 'Mike James and, his friends join them before going

to a Wake

What do these two scenes do?

(i) The first scene establishes the characters of Peggen(she is a sharp-tongued

woman) and Shawn Keogh (as a timid God-fearing young man).It also sets

the playful tone to the play through Pegeen's teasing of her betrothed.

Notice that Shawn has struck what he calls a 'bargain' with Pegeen's father

suggesting a loveless marriage.

The scene also introduces us to the feeling of the characters towards

nature.("I could hear the cows breathing and sighing in the stillness of the

air ...") on the opening page Find out other examples of this as you read

the play.

(ii) The second scene introduces a bit of horseplay characteristic of farce with

Michel James trying to prevent Shawn from escaping. Shawn escapes

leaving his coat in Mike's hands.

(iii) Christy's interrogation is the key scene of this Act.

(a) Notice that his interrogation takes place in two parts-to uncover the nature of

the crime and to find out the instrument used to commit it. You need to decide

which part of the information is true or factual and which is make believe,

Example: Read the following exchange between Michael and Christy:

Michael: Did you bury him then?

Christy (considering): Aye. I buried him then. Wasn't I digging spuds in the field?

What does the stage direction considering

suggest about the truthfulness or otherwise

of what he is saying?

(b) The clear suggestion is 'that Christy is trying to invent a suitable answer. The

scene also introduces the theme of imagination and reality here. The crowd's

fascination for imaginative reconstruction of Christy's murder of his father is

39

underlined. Notice how Christy's listeners suggest and collaborate in the

growth of the story.

(iv) After the departure, of Michael James and his friends, there is a brief

exchange between Pegeen and her betrothed Shawn Keogh. What is the

point of the ex-change? It shows that Pegeen is attracted to Christy.

(v) Pegeen and Christy are I ell alone together. Notice how Christy‘s self-

discovery under the admiring gaze of his listeners—here Pegeen—

continues. There is a reversal of gender roles also. Traditionally, it is a

man who woos and pursues the female. Here Pegeen is more active.

(vi) Widow Quin enters.

1. What is the effect of the Widow Quin‘s knocking on Christy?

The knocking comes while Christy is in the middle of a sentence boasting

about his bravery: (―It's time surely, and I a seemly fellow with great strength

in me and bravery of . . . ‖). But he forgets all about his ‘bravery‘ and clings to

Pegeen. This is what he says : Clinging to Pegeen : ―Oh, glory be! it‘s late for

knocking, and this last while I‘m in terror of peelers and the walking dead.‖

2. Recall what Pegeen said about Widow Quin (―a murderer,‖ p. 177). Now she

comes as a rival to Pegeen for Christy.

3. Notice that Pegeen dismisses Widow Quin‘s murder of her husband as

―sneaky‖ when compared to Christy‘s grand one-stroke ―murder‖ of his father.

Language

How do you react to the language of the play?

The language is poetic. Notice that all the characters speak the same poetic language.

For a fuller discussion read Section 5.3 on Language. But can you pick out what you

consider to be the three most poetic utterances in Act I? Also, in what way is the

syntax peculiar?

Sources of Laughter

1. Comic Reversal

Notice how traditional attitudes are reversed and this reversal is treated comically.

A prime example of this reversal is the crowd‘s admiration and respect for the

patricide. He is also provided shelter. This comic reversal frames the play.

2. Notice the use of irony, both conscious and unconscious for comic effect.

Example

40

Read the following dialogue:

PEGEEN with blank amazement: ―Is it killed your father?‖

CHRISTY subsiding : ―With the help of God I did, surely...‖ Here the speaker is

not aware of the fact that the pious interjection does not fit in with his confession.

The result is incongruity and verbal which makes us laugh.

3. Notice that some of the situations are farcical. Michael trying to stop Shawn from

escaping is farcical.

4. Pegeen‘s downgrading of Widow Quin‘s ‗sneaky‘ murder of her husband in

comparison to Christy‘s one-storke murder of his father is hilarious.

5. What other sources of comedy does the miter make use of in Act I?

One final question

Do you think the playwright is satirising the

people of Mayo? Or is it all just good

- humoured fun?

Keep this question in mind as you read the play

3.4.2. Act II

Note: Act I takes place on the evening of an autumn day. This Act takes place the

following morning. The key question is :

What is the principal function of this Act?

Read Act II with this question in mind and make your own notes as you read on, Let

us study the Act in detail.

(i) The act begins with the coming of several girls who are drawn by Christy‘s

story of parricide and who make him tell his story again.

The question is

In what sense does the scene between Christy and

the Mayo girls advance the action of the play?

1. The scene provides further evidence, of Christy‘s growing confidence. Notice

how he makes his story more spectacular. Particularly note the details that he adds.

Also, note the change in the manner of telling his story.

41

2. Christy also provides a reason for his anger against his father—his father‘s plan to

force him to marry Widow Casey.

Language: Choose at least three picturesque phrases/ sentences from this scene.

3. The girls propose a union between Widow Quin and Christy. What is in common

between them? They also drink a mock-toast for them.

(ii) What is the point of the scene between Christy and Pegeen?

The scene brings out (i) Christy‘s growing feelings for Pegeen. Compare his

feelings with what he says at the end of Act I. Notice also that though Pegeen

plays with Chrisy, she is also strangely moved by him.

(iii)What do we learn from the scene between Christy, and Shawn and Widow

Quin?

1. Shawn sees a rival in Christy for the hand of Pegeen but Christy rejects his

offers to induce him to quit the scene.

2. Shawn promises Widow Quin many things in lieu of her help to make Christy

leave.

(iv) Old Mahon‘s reappearance: What is the effect of Old Mahon‘s reappearance

on Christy? Old Mahon‘s appearance again at the height of Christy‘s boasting

is a big setback to him. There is a similar setback in Act I. Can you spot it?

This scene between Widow Quin and Old Mahon (with Christy in hiding) has

its parallel with the scenes of Christy‘s interrogation by the Mayo men in Act I.

Notice particularly the way the old man‘s story is elicited. What is the effect

of Old Mahon‘s story? Christy hides herself while Old Mahon is telling his

story of his son Christy.

(a) Hiding

What is the effect of Christy‘s hiding on the play?

The hiding of a character while others on the stage talk about him is a standard

comic device. It makes the scene even more humorous than it would have

been otherwise

(b) Notice also a parallel between the effect on Christy of Old Mahon‘s

appearance and Widow Quin‘s knocking in Act I.

42

(c) Extravagance/Fantasy

The cleft caused by Christy‘s blow on his father‘s head travels down the

latter‘s anatomy. Look up Christy‘s speeches for exact details.

After listening to Old Mahon‘s story, Widow Quin says: ―Weft, you‘re the

walking playboy of the Western world and that is the poor man you had

divided to his breeches belt.‖

Is Widow Quin praising Christy or is she being ironical?

Of course, she is being ironical. Look for other examples of irony in act II.

(v) The final scene between Widow Qujn and Christy takes place on a new footing,

with Christy‘s reputation deflated in Widow Quin‘s eyes.

Notice it is Christy‘s turn to seek Widow Quin‘s help in dismissing Old

Mahon and marrying Pegeea (Who was it who had sought her help earlier?

Shawn, of course.)

Language Choose three excerpts that you find particularly fascinating

Exercises

1. Read the following ;

Susan : ―That‘s a grand story.‖

Honor : ―He tells it lovely.‖

Write a brief answer illustrating the points made in this exchange between the

two girls. Base your answer on Acts I & II.

2. What fresh light does this Act throw on Widow Quin‘s character?

There are several parallels between Act I & II. What are they?

Hint: Point 1: Widow Quin interrogates Old Mahon in Act II as the Mayo men had

interrogated Christy in Act I.

These paralleles bind-the two Acts together.

3.4.3. Act III

43

(I)

What purpose is served by the scene involving

Jimmy, Philly, Widow Quin and Old Mahon?

1. The long scene has two major points of focus—one, Widow Quin tries to put Old

Mahon off the scent of his son and mislead Jimmy and Philly about the father‘s

true identity; two, Jimmy, Philly, Widow Quin and Old Mahon give a running

commentary as they watch Christy‘s triumphs in the mule race below.

2. Notice the strategem that Widow Quin uses to dismiss the father's suspicions.

Does the strategem succeed? Mark the point of Old Mahon's re-entry, and the

timing of it.

3. Notice also in the form of discussion on graveyard and skulls with which the Act

opens, which shows Synge‘s preoccupation with death.

4. Christy‘s triumph in the games shows yet another surge in his reputation. Notice

the earlier surges and setbacks in Act I & II.

(II)

What is the significance of the scene of

Christy‘s triumphant entry into the public

house and his conversation with Pegeen?

What is the mood of this scene?

1. It is a scene of real tenderness in which Pegeen and Christy overreach themselves

Notice the poetic language the lovers use. In what way do you feel this is different

from the language used by other characters? Notice also that the lovers are

conceived in a wholly traditional way—the woman is expected to be beautiful and

the man both eloquent and brave and full of worship of his woman.

2. Notice too that love is presented as a transforming experience. Do you agree with

this? If you do, find evidence for your reading.

(III)

What is the function of the scene involving

Pegeen, Christy, Michael James, and Shawn?

(1) Michael James has received the Pope‘s permission to marry off Pegeen and

Shawn

(2) Pegeen has changed her mind and switched her loyalties over to Christy; and

(3) Michael James blesses the new union between Pegeen and Christy.

(4) There are two other things you should notice.

44

(a) This scene looks back to Act II in some respects. Sara‘s toast as she links the

arms of Widow Quin and Christy in mock engagement has its counterpart in

the father‘s blessing on the union between Christy and Pegeen. Think of the

other parallels.

(b) This scene furnishes the second instance when Shawn tries to escape from an

inconvenient situation. Earlier in Act I he had escaped being forced to stay the

night with Pegeen by running away. This time he escapes being forced to fight

with his rival Christy for the hand of Pegeen, with the same results.

A Final Point

The climax of Christy‘s apotheosis is reached with the father‘s blessing of his

daughter‘s union with the young man. A fall is inevitable.

(iv)

What is the effect of Old Mahon‘s re-entry on

the play? What is the mood of the play from

this point onwards

Old Mahon‘s entry upsets everything bringing Christy down once again.

(a) The play suddenly becomes serious and remains serious till the end. Since this

part of the play is crowded with action, it will be good for you to be clear

about the sequence of events.

(1) Old Mahon re-enters and starts beating Christy.

(2) Realising his story to be a lie, Pegeen becomes hostile to Christy.

(3) Christy strikes his father again off stage in order to appear a real hero

in Pegeen‘s eyes.

(4) The Widow Quin asks Christy to escape in order to save him.

(5) Thinking he has killed Iris father, the crowd led by Pegeen rope him in

and pull him down to the floor

(6) Christy manages to bite Shawn in the-leg. Close Analysis of

(7) Pegeen burns Christy‘s leg.

(8) Old Mahon comes back ‘alive‘ whereupon Christy is released.

(9) Before going away with his father, Cirri sty blesses the Mayo crowd for

turning him into ‗a likely gaffer. He is a new man with a new confidence.

Read this list and tick mark those events that show a reversal of earlier attitudes.

(b) Go back to the list of events given here and tick mark the events that bring in

the element of the grotesque or gross Rabelaisian humour in the play.

45

(c) A comedy usually ends in the marriage of the boy and the girl or at least the

promise of it.

Does The Playboy end like a traditional comedy?

Well, unlike in most comedies, the boy doesn't‘ get the girl or rather the girl

doesn‘t get the boy. On the contrary, the last line of the play is her cry at her

lose of her man. There is no feasting either at the end, though Mike James

invites his friend to drinks. There is finally a reconciliation of sorts wife

Christy invoking ‘Ten thousand blessings upon all that‘s here.‖ for they have

turned him ―into a likely gaffer in the end of all." The lie has turned him into a

man but he goes away. Notice also that Pegeen‘s anger and cruelty come out

of her love for Christy, and that the last words that belong to her are a cry of

pain.

(d) Think of the most memorable lines of this Act. List at least two examples.

3.5 LET US SUM UP

Tins commentary and exercises were designed to help you discover the play and its

complexity of substance and style, and answer the question what is fee play about?

And what kind of play is it? As you have seen, it is about a number of things. And it

conveys its meaning through various comic devices. This diversity and richness and

unusualness have made the play a continuing source of delight for readers. We can

now address ourselves to a discussion of the different aspects of fee play.

3.6 GLOSSARY

Rabelaisian humour: joyously coarse or gross humour The adjective comes from

Francois Rabelais (c. 1494-C. 1553), French writer and scholar.

Besides ribald humour, fee term Rabelaisian can be used for

fantastical and exhuberant writing.

Irony: involves ―the perception or awareness of a discrepancy

between words and their meaning, between actions and their

results, or between appearance and reality. In all cases there

may be an element of fee absurd and fee paradoxical.‖ The two

basic kinds of irony are verbal irony and situational irony. For

a fuller treatment look up the entry in Cuddon pp. 457-62.

46

3.7 QUESTIONS

1. Write an essay bringing out Christy‘s role as a master story-teller.

2. Discuss The Playboy as a folk play

3.8 SUGGESTED READINGS

Yeats, W.B. Essays and Introductions. New York : Macmillan, 1961.

Synge, J.M. Four Plays and The Aran Islands. Ed. With an introduction by Robin

Skelton. London : OUP, 1962.

Henn. T.R. Ed. The Plays and Poems of J.M. Synge. London: Methuen, 1968.

Cuddon, J.A. Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. Third Edition.

Penguin Books, 1992

47

UNIT 4 THE PLAYBOY: A DISCUSSION

Structure

4.0 Objectives

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Major Critical Perspectives on the Play

4.3 Themes / Genres

4.3.1 Theme of Patricide

4.3.2 Theme of Fantasy versus Reality

4.3.3 Theme of Role-playing

4.3.4 The Playboy as an extravagant comedy and bildungsroman in drama

4.4 Characters

4.4.1 Christy

4.4.1 Pegeen

4.4.1 Widow Quin

4.4.1 Other characters

4.5 Comic Strategies

4.5.1 Farcical elements

4.5.1 Irony

4.5.1 Balancing through parallel/contrasting situations

4.6 Let Us Sum Up

4.7 Glossary

4.8 Questions

4.9 Suggested Readings

4.0 OBJECTIVES

The primary objectives of this unit are to (i) discuss the major critical perspectives on

the play, and then (ii) converge on the major themes in it; cast a glance at the major

characters in it; and finally discuss the comic strategies employed by the dramatist to

present his comic vision.

4.1 INTRODUCTION

After the close analysis of the play undertaken in unit 3, you are now, hopefully, in a

position to take on the question of how best to interpret the play. There are any

number of critical approaches, some more fanciful or tempting than the others. One

48

important condition that any critical approach must, I think, fulfil is that it should be

true to the experience of reading the play or seeing it acted on the stage.

Several critics have, for instance, detected what Nicholas Grene has called ‗concealed

analogies‘ Christy Mahon has been variously described as a parody version of

Cuchulain, a mock Oedipus, also a Christ figure. But none of these readings

according to him, are backed by solid evidence from the text.

What we need to do is to keep an open mind and look for an approach or evolve one

for ourselves, that will help to account for the multiplicity of the play.

4.2 MAJOR CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE PLAY

For sixty years or so after The Playboy‘s hostile reception in Ireland in 1907, Synge

received more attention outside Ireland than inside. As late as in 1971 in a volume

published on the centenary of Synge‘s birth, Aim Price remarked that in Synge

criticism there is ‗almost nothing‘ from the Irish. Even so it will be generally agreed

that W.B. Yeats is a pioneer of Synge criticism. He not only came splendidly to his

defence during The Playboy riots, he wrote on Synge giving intimate glimpses of the

man and his work and his style. Thomas Whitaker has even described him as possibly

―Synge‘s most profound commentator.‖

Another important Irishman who has influenced Synge criticism is T.R. Henn whose

edition of Synge‘s plays (1963) is among the best available. According to him The

Playboy does not lend itself easily to classification and briefly talks about its

different interpretations.

Then came Thomas Whitaker‘s collection of 12 critical essays on The Playboy (in

Twentieth Century Interpretations) in 1969. Another significant work is Nicholas

Grene‘s study entitle Critical Study of the Plays (1975) where he ―provides detailed

criticism, analysis and evolution‖ of the plays. A more recent landmark is the

publication in the Casebook Series of critical essays on The Playboy included in J.M.

Synge: The Four Plays (1992) edited by Ronald Ayling.

How has The Playboy been viewed over the years?

The play has been looked at variously from the point of view of its genre, its themes

and its central characters.

Synge himself said that it was not a play ―with a purpose.‖ Though parts of it were

―extravagant comedy,‖ it was predominantly a ―perfectly serious‖ play.

Yeats described it as "the strangest, the most beautiful expression in drama of. . . Irish

fantasy‖ and also drew attention to the clement or ―mischievous extravagance‖ in it.

Una Ellis-Fermor called it a ―tragicomedy‖ which had as its main theme ―the growth

of fantasy in mind or a group of minds." According to T.R. Henn the play could be

49

looked at in seven different ways—as an extravagant comedy with elements of strong

farce in it, as a free corned as a satire with Christy as a comic Oedipus, as a mock-

heroic with Christy as a ―Comic Odysseus,‖ as a tragic-comic piece with the Widow

Quin as Nausica and as a tragedy with Pegeen as the ―heroine-victim.‖ More recently

J.L. Styan has described it as a ―dark comedy.‖

Much of the criticism on the play turns upon the attitudes adopted towards the central

character Christy Mahon, Among those who see him romantically is Alan Price (1961)

who views it primarily as a play in which Christy‘s imagination transforms the dream

into reality. He sees the ending of the play as a vindication of the creative power of

imagination. According to Una Ellis-Fermor (1954) the play's theme is ―a mind‘s

exploration and discovery of itself,‖ ―the growth, like a Japanese paper flower

dropped into a bowl of water, of Christopher Mahon‘s new self.‖ Norman Fodhoretz

(1953) attributes Christy‘s maturation through the myth of rebellion against his father.

According to Patricia Meyer Spackes (1961), the play presents ―the visions of a man

constructing himself before our eyes.‖ He also points to the element of the fairy tale

in it which according to him ―solves the problem of relation between realms and

fantasy in it‖ and also ―suggests the sources of its strange power.‖ Ann Saddlemyer

(1964) suggests that in The Playboy” we see the power of the myth to create a reality

out of the dream or illusion itself.

Hugh MacLean sees Christy as a Christ figure. Howard D. Pearce‘s essay ―Synge‘s

Playboy as Mock-Christ‖ acknowledges the parallel between Christy and Christ but

he presents Christy as a scapegoat who can only save himself, and not the world. Like

MacLean earlier, Stanley Sultan also finds in Christy‘s person‘s persuasive, sincere

and full-fledged analogue to Christ.‖

There are those who do not take the romantic view implicit in the essays mentioned

above. Howard Pearce as already stated warns us against oversimplifying Christy's

apotheosis. Ronald Peacock gives a dissenting view holding that Synge‘s "delicate

self-mockery‖ is directed against himself, ―against the artist and his dangerous love of

fine words.‖ He also holds that Synge had a style that was ―quite useless for the

English drama, its basis being a speech of extremely local and ambiguously English

character.‖ R.R. Sanderlin believes that the play is ―a direct satire on Irish

romaticism—on blather and blarney.‖

There is another view expressed by J.F. Kilroy that the play ―dramatizes the gradual

development of the poet‘s craft from its first uncertain expressions to the full display

of mature art.‖ The play is also spoken of as symbolising Christy‘s growth as an artist.

Christy is the central figure round which a great deal of criticism moves. But there are

dissenting voices also. Howard Pearce directs our attention to the role of the Widow

Quin. He says: ―If Widow Quin lacks the sparkle and romance of Christy,

nevertheless her actions are grounded in actuality, in sharp contrast to Christy‘s

points up Synge‘s ironic detachment.‖ Pegeen has been described as a ―heroine-

victim‖ ―of the play. More recently scholars like Ann Saddlemyer (1983) and Gail

50

Finney (1987) have looked at the play from the point of view of women characters.

Clearly the play is complex and lends itself to interpretation in many ways, depending

upon how one decides to look at it.

4.3 THEMES / GENRES

I take it that you have been able to read the play at least twice and also the

background material and have formed your own impressions about it.

I also hope you have enjoyed reading the play and have laughed a great deal over it.

Many people when they read it or see it on the stage for the first time find it puzzling,

even bewildering. Perhaps you have also been bewildered by some of the things in it.

Whatever be your first reaction, do put it down on paper before you read on. You

know ideas have a way of escaping unless we catch them.

4.3.1. Theme of Patricide

An obvious theme of the play is patricide, Christy‘s killing of his father. This idea is

linked with the idea of the growth of his personality.

To the ancient Greeks, patricide was the most dreadful of sins. Witness Sophocle‘s

Oedipus Tyrannus, But in The Playboy the subject is treated with comic irony, indeed

with comic reversal of values 3nd is presented as a metaphor of emancipation and

achievement. In this reading the play could be seen as an example of bildungsroman

(a German term for a 'formation' novel or an ‗upbringing‘ or ‗education‘ novel) in

drama with the murder of the father as a necessary step to Christy‘s maturity and his

assumption of manhood.

Christy commits two ‗murders‘ of his father and is prepared to 'kill' him a third time.

The first time he hit him and thought he had killed him was when he [his father] tried

to force him to marry a rich old widow, He strikes him a second time to win back

Pegeen‘s respect, which he lost after the reappearance of his father.

The chief interest of the play seems to be in the expanding consciousness of Christy

under the influence of the adulation of Pegeen and oilier Mayo women and men. The

rewards of the murder are so palpable that Christy wonders why he had not killed his

father earlier. The laughing stock of all women becomes their darling. But the more

real reward is the growth of his personality and his poetic eloquence that accompaneis

it,

As against Christy‘s achievement in ‗murdering‘ his father his rival Shawn laments

that he has no father to kill. Till the end he remains under the authority of a father

figure, le priest, Father Reilly.

The Christy who makes his triumphant exit from the play is unrecognizably different

from the frightened runaway young man who seeks shelter from the law in a Mayo

shebeen. He has finally subdued his father, has become a ―likely gaffer in the end of

51

all ―and he walks out determined to be ―master of all fights from now.‖

However the theme of patricide is only part of the total story.

4.3.2. Theme of Fantasy versus Reality

The expansion of Christy‘s consciousness is accomplished through a lie—a lie that

snowballs and in which Christy‘s audiences are his enthusiastic collaborators. As he

himself acknowledges at the end, the Mayo crowd has made ‗a mighty' man of him

by the power of a lie.‖ Is the play then an example of a dream or fantasy or myth

becoming a reality? Una Ellis-Fermor says the play is about the fantasy in a mind or a

group of minds. Ann Saddlemyer goes further and has suggested that The Playboy

shows the power of the myth to create a reality out of dream or illusion itself.

The Irish love of fantasy and myth-making is well known. In The Playboy Synge uses

what has been called tire ―incorrigible Irish genius for myth-making.‖ The play puts

fantasy or romance against reality. Christy‘s lie of murder grows to heroic

proportions at each telling. ' growth of the lie is made clear in the extent of the split

caused by the blow of the loy on the father‘s anatomy.

Christy begins modestly enough:

I just riz the loy and let fall the edge of it [the loy] on the ridge of his skull and

he went down at my feet like an empty sack .. . (Act I).

The story expands when Christy tells it to the admiring girls Susan and Honor and

others in Act II.

I hit a blow on the ridge of his skull, laid him stretched out, and he split to the

knob of his gullet.

The split travels further down when he talks to the Widow Quin in the same Act :

... a gallant orphan cleft his father with one blow to the breeches belt. ‟

To the admiring Mayo crowd Christy‘s fantasy is welcome so long as it remains

distant, a ‗gallous story‘ beautifully told but becomes disgustful when it comes too

close for comfort and becomes a dirty deed.‘ It is principally for this reason that the

Widow Quin‘s murder of her husband is dismissed as ―a sneaky kind of murder did

win small glory with the boys itself,‖ whereas Christy‘s murder is lionized. Christy‘s

exaggerations and those of his listeners provide a great deal of fun but Synge sees to

it that in his handling of the theme versus reality: never gets out of hand. Whenever

Christy soars too high on lire wings of his imagination, Synge punctures his flight

mid brings him back to solid earth. When for instance Christy is boasting about his

bravery to Pegeen, a knock on the door sends him cowering to Pegeen. Later, when

he is at his boastful best, telling Widow Quin how he cleft his father to his j breeches

belt, Synge deflates him by showing him a glimpse of his unsplit father. There are

52

any number of other examples of this kind. Even so the fact that the fantasy does

become a reality, it transforms the man. But this theme by itself does not do justice to

the multiplicity of the play.

4.3.3 Theme of Role-playing

The Playboy is also about role-plying which is what Christy does in living his big lie.

As Thomas Whitaker has said, ―drama has long used disguises, plays-within-plays,

and other metaphorical gestures integral to tire medium; it has long seen life as this

stage, where each man plays many parts.‖ But it is only in the past century that drama

has become more aware of itself, become more ―ironically self reflexive." Life itself

has become a performance. Role- plying, as he points out, has become an obsessive

theme of modem drama. Synge‘s treatment of it makes his play strikingly modern. It

is one of those plays where role-playing starts early and continues till just before the

end.

The role-playing in The Playboy involves a boaster, a miles glorious figure of Roman

comedy, who is supposed to be a man of words rather than deeds. But though Christy

begins as a braggart and continues to be one for quite some time, he proves to be a

man of deeds in the end. That is to say, he breaks the traditional mould of a miles

gloriosus.

For Christy role-playing is at first essential to his survival. But later it becomes a

means to self- discovery.

Since he himself is the raconteur, Christy‘s role-playing requires improvisation, a

task that he accomplishes with aplomb. Two examples of it could be given. When in

Act I Michael asks Christy if he buried his father, he does not reply straightaway.

Here is the exchange:

Michael (making a sign to Pegeen to fill Christy's glass) : And what way weren‘t you

hanged, mister?

Did you bury him then?

Christy (Considering) : Aye. I buried him then.

Wasn‘t I digging spuds in the field?

The stage direction considering clearly indicates that he is trying to improvise, to give

a reply that would be consistent with what he has said earlier and that would at the

same time impress his listeners.

My second example is from Act II When Christy is boasting about his murderous

deed to the Widow Quin:

Christy : From this out I‘ll have no want of company when all sorts is

bringing me their food and clothing (he swaggers to the door,

53

tightening his belt), the way they‘d set their eyes upon a gallant

orphan cleft his father with one blow to the breeches belt.

Again the stage direction—he swaggers to the door, tightening his belt—is important.

Earlier he had said that his father ‗split to the knob of his gullet‘ but now the split has

gone further down to the breeches belt.

Christy is indeed a naive braggart who does not lie grossly and whose fantasies are

more a sign of his own growing self-esteem. This brings us to the recognition that

Christy‘s role- playing proves to be educative and leads to self-discovery; it results in

the creation of a new personality. The transformation in Christy could be explained

with the help of Yeats‘s doctrine of the mask. Yeats held that ―all happiness depends

on the energy to assume die mask of some other self; that all joyous or creative life is

a re-birth as something not oneself. . ..‖ (―The Death of Synge‖ (1909), p. 121).

Christy‘s self-discovery is made possible by his pursuit of his opposite. By imagining

himself to be a daring man who is unafraid of his father, he does become one.

Each of the foregoing three readings taken by itself is a valid reading in a limited way

but does not do full justice to the complexity and multiplicity of the play. Each is

intimately connected with the other and only together do they come close to giving a

truer picture of the play. Also, they have the disadvantage of focusing more or less on

Christy alone. For instance, they do not give due importance to the character and role

of the Widow Quin or to Peggen who has been seen as a victim-heroine of the play.

Clearly we cannot get a fuller idea of the play unless we are able to find a more

adequate answer to the other important question we started with- What kind of play is

it? We have no doubt referred to the writer‘s use of comic irony, comic inversion of

values and repetitive comic deflation of Christy. But the themes and the comic

devices need to be seen in relation to the form that the writer has employed. Only

then can we have a comprehensive view of the play and the writer‘s vision embodied

in it.

4.3.4 The Playboy as an extravagant comedy and bildungsroman in drama

I suggest that the best way to arrive at an answer to two questions—what is the play

about and what kind of play is it?—would be to try and determine the basic structure

of the play and see how Synge has used it to communicate his comic vision.

As stated in the section on Title the play was originally meant to be a farce. The

action of the play was to begin with the fight between father and son in the potato

garden in which the son was to hit the father with a loy and run away and to end with

his exposure just as he is elected Country Councillor in Mayo. The central situation

was the growth of a monstrous lie and the exposure of the braggart.

In the bourse of its evolution, the play saw many changes and revision and went much

beyond its original intention, hi Synge‘s hands the play has become an extravagant

comedy of situation that allows the growth of its central characters. Even so Synge

54

retained the substratum of a farce. This is clear from his characterization and plotting

and some of the comic devices used in the play.

Eric Bentley says that ―outrage of family piety is certainly at the heart of a farce.‖

This is true of The Playboy, the obvious subject of which is the murder of the father

and the approval of it by the Mayo crowd. The absurdity involved in this situation as

also in others to which it leads is central to The Playboy and causes much of the

laughter in it. Synge also takes the figure of an alazon or an imposter often found in

farces and makes it central to his play. There is also much of knockabout farce in the

play. As for plotting Synge uses the device of what Bergson calls the ―snowball"—

the growth of a lie to monstrous proportions. We find it used in Lady Gregory‘s farce

called spreading the News, for instance, and other farces. Improvisation is another

feature of a farce and several examples of it have been noted earlier in this Unit. The

tempo in the play is also the tempo of a farce—Christy's lie expands with surprising

rapidity.

The unmasking that comes at the end of a comedy occurs all along in a farce. This is

true of The Playboy where Christy is continually deflated, though the final unmasking

conies only at the end. Inevitably in a farce the expansion of the lie reaches a point at

which it is exploded and the braggart is exposed. This happens in The Playboy also

but with a noticeable and significant difference. In the earlier drafts Synge had used a

circular structure which means that Christy was to end where he had begun—as the

fool of Farnham, But he breaks the traditional mould of a farce in which there is no

development of character, and makes his braggart hero grow to maturity and

confidence.

4.4 CHARACTERS

4.4.1. Christy

Christ is basically an extremely naive and likeable character whose lies are more in

the nature of his unconscious fantasies which grow with the active help of the Mayo

crowd, particularly Pegecn and the other girls! His naivete is clear from the fact that

in spite of being boastful he speaks disarmingly about himself as he has really been.

On such occasions we feel that there is no pretence in him. So while we laugh at his

boastfulness, we also like him and sympathize with him.

The growth of Christy‘s fantasies is also an earnest of his growing confidence in

himself. True, he is continually deflated, but he is also amazed at the interest that he

has been able to arouse in the people of Mayo and he begins to discover himself anew.

His love for Pegeen which he finds fully reciprocated releases springs of poetic

eloquence in him. By the time he is exposed, his personality has been born anew.

Here one can also detect the classical elements of reversal and recognition.. The

reversal in Christy‘s fortunes follows the return or the ‗resurrection of the father, and

recognition of his new self comes to him not long after. For a brief while he feels

angry with the mob but soon recovers and before going away blesses the Mayo

55

people for turning him into a ‗likely gaffer.‘ He makes his triumphant exit with his

father confident in his belief that he will be a master of all fights from now. But

Christy is not the only character who grows and discovers himself. Pegeen too does

not remain uninfluenced by her involvement with Christy.

4.4.2. Pegeen

Love for Christy transforms her from being a sharp tongued woman into one who is

gentle, eloquent and who vows unchanging fidelity to him. Though later she is angry

with him, and is even cruel to him for having won him on the basis of a lie, and

rejects him, she remains inconsolable at the end at having lost her man. ―Oh my grief!

I‘ve lost him surely I've lost the only Playboy of the Western World.‖ Her grief at her

loss which is genuine shows that she is not the girt she was before Christy‘s arrival.

In this denouement again Synge has departed from the practice of a traditional

comedy where the boy gets the girl at the end. No wonder Una Ellis-Fermor has

described The Playboy as a comedy that trembles on the verge of a tragedy. T.R.

Henn has called her the heroine-victim of the play. This is how he describes her plight:

... it is Pegeen who is the heroine-victim She has found her man, made him,

won him in the teeth of opposition from her own sex. The marriage has been

approved, in a superb drunken half-parody of the traditional blessing by her

father.

The Playboy is an exuberant comedy that leans towards irony and at the end towards

tragedy.

4.4.3. Widow Quin

Synge has used the Widow Quin as a counterweight to the romantic, highflying

Christy and other characters. If the play is likened to a ship, she is the ballast to it

keeping it stable and close to reality.

In the beginning she is one among a group of curious neighbours, who comes 'racing

the hills beyond to look on his [Christy‘s] face and tries to win him over by claiming

an identity with him (I'm your like) but once she comes to know Christy‘s preference

for Pegeen, she accepts his choice and in fact strikes a hard bargain with him and fries

her best to further his prospects with Pegeen.

However, her role as a realist begins quite early. Her first reaction to Christy is more

commonsensical than that of others : ―. .. it‘d soften my heart to see you sitting to be

saying your catechism than slaying your da‖ (p. 190). She also warns him to beware

of the fate that awaits Christy at the hands of Pegeen : Do you hear the way she‘ll be

rating at your own self when a week is by?‖ (p. 191). Even more important is her

ironic awareness of the gap between Christy‘s extravagant praise of Pegeen and the

reality : ―There‘s poetry talk for a girl you‘d see itching and scratching, and she with

a stale stink of poteen on her from selling in the shop‖ (p. 208). Towards the end after

56

the turnabout, she senses danger to Christy and tries to save him from mob fury by

asking h. n to go away. But when she finds her efforts unavailing Synge lets her

disappear from the play much like Lear‘s Fool. There are several other examples of

the Widow Quin‘s role as the realist in the play, which you should be able to discover

for yourself.

4.4.4. Other Characters

Shawn Keogh

In the morally topsy-turvy world of The Playboy Shawn‘s conservative morals are in

sharp contrast to Christy‘s amorality and are a source of a great deal of comedy in the

play. When he senses danger to his morals, he invokes the aid of Father Reilly and

escapes leaving his coat in Michael James‘ hands.' When his marriage is in danger he

unromantically refuses to fight the ‗usurper‘ and tries first to bribe Christy himself to

go away and then the Widow Quin to get rid of him

Michael James

Michael James is a fat and jovial publican whom nothing can keep away from drinks.

His almost pagan joy in life and sex comes through in his drunken blessing of Christy

and Pegeen, where he exalts marriage and virility. He joins everyone else in lionizing

Christy but when he returns to reality, he remembers his responsibilities as a law-

abiding citizen and father, and turns against the playboy.

Old Mahon

Though fond of drink like Michael James, Old Mahon is by far the most eccentric

character in the play. He is besides, a tyrant determined to force Iris son Christy to

marry Widow Casey. And when Christy runs away after giving him what he calls a

‗tap‘ with a loy, he chases him in order to punish him. In the end however he is

reconciled to him and agrees to follow him when he discovers that the loony of

Mahon has after all become a man.

4.5 COMIC STRATEGIES

Of the things that nourish the imagination humour is one of the most needful, and it is

dangerous to limit or destroy it, ‘

(Synge in his Preface to The Tinker‟s Wedding)

The Playboy, we said, is at once an extravagant comedy with the substratum of a

farce and a dramatic bildungsroman. The combining of these two elements was an

artistic feat that Synge was able to achieve by the use of his richly ironic style.

Because of his Anglo-Irish ascendancy background and his agnosticism, his attitude

towards Ireland and the Irish peasantry was highly ambivalent. He loved the

peasantry and understood them but he was also able to view them with detachment

57

and mockery. As a result the play achieves a delicate, even, precarious balance

between opposing attitudes, a balance which it has not always been possible to

maintain in the production of the play. Synge‘s comedy leans heavily towards irony.

If at times it is close to satire, the satire is never harsh or ill-tempered.

The play offers a feast of comedy showing an exceptional range of effects, from

broad farce to subtle irony.

4.5.1 Farcical elements

Some general features of farce in The Playboy have been mentioned in Section 4.3.4.

This discussion is more specific.

A great deal of humour in the play is the result of absurd situations and incidents. The

play has many such scenes. Two of these may be pointed out :

1. Shawn Keogh struggling to escape and managing to flee leaving his coat in

Michael James‘ hands.

2. Pegeen and Widow Quin quarrelling over Christy.

Notice that the first scene involves the characters in an undignified physical situation

and belongs to the category of broad farce. But its appeal is not merely primitive and

visual—it has an undertone of subtler comedy in its reference to Shawn‘s

subservience to Father Reilly.

The other scene also has a touch of subtle comedy because it reverses the comic

convention and shows two women chasing a man.

There are other examples in Act II and Act III.

Act II.

3. Sara putting on Christy‘s boots.

4. Christy trying to conceal the mirror from the girls.

5. Sara proposing a mock toast to the ‗union‘ of Christy and Widow Quin.

6. Old Mahon's sudden appearance and Christy‘s hiding behind the door. The

fun of the scene lies in the fact that the character who is hiding is deflated.

Act. III. You should be able to find examples yourself. One obvious example is

Shawn‘s fleeing from Christy‘s threat of violence.

4.5.2 Irony

Irony, we need to remind ourselves, is a mode of seeing things. It involves the

perception or awareness of a discrepancy or incongruity between words and their

58

meaning, between actions and their consequences, or between appearance and reality.

In all these cases there may be an element of the absurd and the paradoxical.

Synge's comic vision requires the use of irony in its different forms, particularly

verbal irony and irony of situation. At times both kinds work together. Here are some

examples.

Verbal Irony:

The Playboy furnishes examples of both conscious and unconscious verbal irony.

1. When in Act I Pegeen tells Shawn - ―You are a daring fellow.‖ she is using

the words ironically, meaning that he is not a daring man.

2. When in Act II the Widow Quin finds Christy cowering in terror at seeing his

father come back ‗alive,‘ she bursts out laughing and says :

―Well, you're the walking playboy of tire Western World, and that's the poor

man you had divided to his breeches belt.‘‘

Again she is being consciously ironical. She now knows Christy for what he is.

You should look for other examples of this in the play.

The examples of unconscious irony are far more numerous. Here are some examples.

1. Christy is being questioned about the use of weapon with which he killed his

father. When it is suggested that he perhaps shot him dead, he says :

―I never used weapons. I‘ve no [gun[ license and I‘m a law-fearing man.‖

The incongruity or oddity in Christy‘s response lies in his being a patricide and yet

claiming that he is a law-abiding citizen. But he is totally unaware of it.

2. ―Is it killed your father?‖

―With the help of God, I did, surely, and that the Holy Immaculate Mother

may intercede for his soul.‖

Here the oddity arises because of the habit of the Irish peasant to use pious and holy

blessings, interjections and expletives without thought of then significance.

3. ―Or Marcus Quin, God rest him, got six months for maiming ewes and he a

great warrant to tell stories of holy Ireland ...‖

Again the normal pious expletive—God rest him— is at odds with his crime.

Moreover both God rest him and holy Ireland is at odds with ‗maiming ewes.

You should be on the look out for similar examples of the incongruous conjunctions

59

of pious expressions in relation to what happens in the play. Such usages provide

grounds for attack on Synge on charges of being anti-Catholic and blasphemous.

Irony of situation

A good example of this is Christy‘s reaction to the Widow Quin's knocking in Act I.

The knocking has the effect of deflating Christy. Similarly Old Mahon‘s appearance

in Act II at which Christy hides behind the door makes the situation highly ironical,

There is another example of situational irony in Act III. Can you find it out?

4.5.3. Balancing through parallel/contrasting situations

Synge‘s comic effect depends on a delicate balancing between laughing at Christy for

his excesses and sympathy for him. His tall claims are ironically undercut continually.

So Christy‘s progress is jerky and his surges of confidence are balanced by setbacks.

But he never seems to lose the sympathy of the audience entirely.

1. Synge also uses parallel and contrasting situations to maintain the balance,

e.g., Christy‘s appearance in Act I is balanced by his father‘s ‗resurrections‘ in

Act II and Act III. More particularly, Pegeen's interrogation of Christy

foreshadows the father's questioning by the Widow Quin That means the

structure of the play requires us to weigh Christy‘s version of the story against

the father‘s version of it. The parallel extends to the use of the same

expression even.

In Act I when Christy finds Pegeen attributing to him ‗a quality name‘ and praising

him for being a fine, handsome young fellow with a noble brow, he is surprised :

―Is it me?‖

The same surprise— ―Is it me?‖— is experienced by the father in Act II when he is

accused of provoking his son to hit him on the head. The difference is that while one

is delighted, the other is shocked and angered.

2. Christy-Widow Quin‘s mock union and the girls‘ proposing a toast to the two

―heroes‖ in Act II is contrasted with Christy-Pegeen engagement‘ blessed by

Michael James.

3. Christy‘s epic blow to his father grows rapidly in narration. This is

counterpointed by Pegeen‘s anti-heroic account of how Widow Quin killed

her man :

Christy : ―I just riz the loy and let fall the edge of it on the ridge of his skull, and he

went down at my feet like an empty sack, and never let a grunt or groans from him at

all‖ (Act I)

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(a) ―I hit a blow on the ridge of his skull laid him stretched out, and he spilt to the

knob of his gullet.‖ (Act II)

(b) ―. . . a gallant orphan cleft his father with one blow to the breeches belt‖ (Act

II)

Pegeen : ―She hit him with a worn pick, and the rusted poison did corrode his

blood the way he never overed it, and died after. That was a sneaky kind

of murder did win small glory with the boy itself.‖

4.6 LET US SUM UP

I hope the many possible angles from which we may possibly view The Playboy and

the variety of effects that Synge has sought to achieve through his comic strategies

have made you realize that the play is a veritable kaleidoscope. The play‘s comedy

acts at several levels from broad farce to skilful irony and yet it looks beyond a

comedy. The section on characters makes manifest Synge‘s obvious delight in

characters who step outside the beaten track or who are amoral or eccentric.

4.7 GLOSSARY

Alazon; the braggart in Greek comedy. According to Northrop Frye ―the Greek

word means imposter, someone who pretends or tries to be something

more than he is.‖ His counterpart in Roman comedy is miles gloriosus.

Bindungsroman : The German word means ‗formation novel.‘ Widely used by

German critics, it refers to a novel which is an account of the youthful

development of a hero or heroine. ―It describes the processes by which

maturity is achieved through the ups and down of life.‖ (Cuddon, 88-

89)

Miles Gloriosus : The term orginated in a comedy by Plautus where the miles

gloriosus was a braggart soldier. It stands for a character who is

basically a coward but who boasts of his valour and is made a fool of

by other char

Parody Imitation of the characteristic style of a writer with the intention of

ridiculing it. The imitation could extend to words, tone and even ideas

4.8. QUESTIONS

1. Pick out the farcical situations in the play and describe their effect.

2. Write an essay on the use of irony.

3. Examine the different levels of comedy in the play.

4. Discuss the view that Pegeen is the victim-heroine of the play.

61

4.9 SUGGESTED READINGS

Greene, David H. & E.M. Stephens. J.M. Synge 1871-1909. Collier Books, 1959, pp.

145- 46.

Synge, J.M. Four Plays and The Aran Islands. Ed. Robin Skelton. London : OUP,

1962, pp. 216-18.

Henn, T.R. Ed. The Plays and Poems of J.M. Synge. London : Methuen, 1963; rpt.

1968. (The Introduction to The Playboy pages 56-67 is very important.)

Whitaker, Thomas R. Ed. Twentieth Century Interpretations of "The Playboy of the

Western World." Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1969. (The Introduc-

tion pages 1-20 is indispensable.)

Grene, Nicholas. Synge : A Critical Study of the Plays. London : Macmillam, 1975;

rpt. 1979. (Chapter entitled ―Approaches to The Playboy‖ pages 132-45 is

particularly important.)

62

UNIT 5 THE PLAYBOY: A DISCUSSION (CONTD.)

Structure

5.0 Objectives

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Some Other Important Aspects of the Play

5.2.1 Love Interest

5.2.2 Violence

5.2.3 The Ending

5.3 Language

5.3.1 Synge on Language in Theatre

5.3.2 Synge‘s Language in The Playboy

5.3.3 Some Critics on Synge‘s Language

5.3.4 The Playboy as a Performance Text

5.4 Let Us Sum Up

5.5 Glossary

5.6 Questions

5.7 Suggested Readings

5.0 OBJECTIVES

This final unit continues the discussion of the play initiated in Unit 4 and focuses

particularly on language and some other aspects of the play. The Unit also looks at

The Playboy as a performance text.

5.1 INTRODUCTION

Synge's use of Irish English is a accomplished as it is distinctive and accounts for an

important part of his reputation. And we need to pay as much attention to it as we

have paid to his themes and his use of the comic mode. In this unit besides

elaborating on certain other aspects of the play we shall look at the text in theatre, as

it is transformed into what Keir Elam has called the performance text.

5.2 SOME OTHER IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF THE PLAY

5.2.1 Love interest

As a well-known critic Northrop Frye says, the presiding genius of comedy is Eros.

Inevitably love and marriage are a major motif in The Playboy.

Marriage actually frames the play. It begins with Pegeen writing out a list of articles

63

of dress that she would need for her marriage with Shawn Keogh and it closes with

the latter expressing life, after the departure of Christy, that they would soon be

married. Much of tire intervening space in the play is occupied by Pegeen‘s growing

admiration and love for the outsider Christy who wins her over with his tale of having

murdered Iris father and with Shawn‘s attempts to have his rival removed from the

scene.

The formula that has become the basis for most comedy is that a young man wants a

young woman, that his desire is resisted by some opposition, usually paternal, and

near the end of the play some twist in the plot enables the hero to have his will. In The

Playboy this pattern is complicated by tire presence of the Widow Quin who initially

tries to win Christy over for herself. But when that fails, she agrees to further

Christy‘s prospects with Pegeen. Also the major obstruction in the union of the lovers

is not parental—but of the lovers‘ own making. Truly enough the turnabout in

Pegeen‘s feelings takes place at the appearance of Old Mahon but the final decision to

give up Christy is her own. Christy‘s desperate attempt to win back Pegeen‘s favour

by ‗killing‘ his father a second time fails. But he reconciles himself to his loss, going

away as a sadder, but a wiser, and assuredly a more confident man.

The play proves yet again the truth of what Byron has said about the asymmetrical

nature of the love of man and woman: ‗Love is of man‘s life a thing apart/ ‗Tis

woman‘s whole existence.‘ Love is important for Christy but even more important for

him is his self-esteem. But for Pegeen love is everything and so she realizes her loss

and is inconsolable at the end. Like Shaw, Synge reverses the convention and makes

the woman chase the man. That apart, his concept of love is traditional because it is

romantic - his lovers are ready to stake everything for it, for the moment. Besides,

their love has the elements of uniqueness and fatality that are seen to be essential to

romantic love in the West.

Pegeen radiantly : ―. . . I‘ll... be burning candles from this out to the miracle of

God that have brought you from the south to-day.‖

Christy : ―It‘s miracles, and that‘s the truth. Me there toiling a long while, and

walking a long while, not knowing at all I was drawing all times nearer to this

holy day.‖

Pegeen : ―. . . and I not knowing at all there was the like of you drawing nearer,

like the stars of God.‖

(Act III. P.219)

Besides, Christy compares Pegeen to ‗the Lady Helen of Troy‘ and to ‗an angel‘s

lamp,‘ comparisons that are entirely in the romantic tradition. Pegeen feels strangely

moved and is also strangely awed by this eloquence and can only mange to

acknowledge the change that love has wrought in her :

64

And to think it‘s me is talking sweetly, Christy Mahon, and I the fright of

seven townlands for my biting tongue. Well, the heart‘s wonder . . .

(Act III. P.219)

Love is highly functional in the play. The flowering of Christy‘s personality becomes

possible through the admiration of women, particularly through the admiration and

love of Pegeen.

This great love scene introduced appropriately when Christy is at the peak of his

glory is one of the greatest in modem drama, where the language acquires a fresh

splendour and an elevated beauty that are rare.

Synge is aware of the extravagance of language to which love leads. Particularly

when he makes the Widow Quin remark on his ―poetry talk for a girl you‘d see

itching and scratching, and she with a stale stench of poteen on her from selling in the

shop‖ (Act II, p. 208). But the love scene is truly rapturous while it lasts, without the

shadow of undercutting.

Assignment

What I want you to do now is to look for the several stages through which Pegeen‘s

curiosity passes and develops into love for Christy.

5.2.2 Violence

The play moves round violence to father which is a most heinous crime but this

violence does not shock as it otherwise should because Synge treats it within the

ambit of comic conventions. As a result we not only do not feel outraged but actually

laugh at Christy‘s deed without feeling guilty. The comic intention becomes clear in

the first few minutes.

Pegeeen in mock rage : ―Would you have me knock the head of you with the

butt of the broom?

Christy twisting round on her with a sharp cry of horror : ―Don‘t strike me. I killed

my poor father, Tuesday was a week, for doing the like of that‖

Pegeen with blank amazement : ―Is it killed your father?‖

Christy subsiding : ―With the help of God I did, surely ...‖

This exchange makes the comic intentions of the playwright clear. The coexistence of

pious invocation to deity and murder is not only laughable. It is also a clear signal

that what we are watching is a comedy. The comic convention delinks violence from

pain : ―I just riz the loy and let fall the edge of it on the ridge of his skull, and he went

down at my feet like an empty sack, and never let a grunt or groan from him at all‖

(Act I, p. 184).

65

Again, what Pegeen says of the patricide—―That‘d be a lad with the sense of

Solomon to have for a pot . . .‖ is absurd but, as Nicholas Grene has pointed out, the

very absurdity of the logic makes it impossible to take this seriously.

Synge require his readers to continue to maintain the same attitude as Christy's story

snowballs and as the split caused by his stroke travels down Old Mahon's anatomy. In

other words, Christy's violence is treated as mock violence and is acceptable so long

as it is part of a story and a fantasy. But Synge shows the people reacting differently

when the violence becomes real. The transition from fantasy to reality is always

difficult and projecting it on the stage is no easy task. Part of the trouble over the play

on its first Dublin production was probably due to this transition. The instrument of

murder which Christy used to ‗kill' his father— a loy—becomes in the course of the

play a comic prop. But when Christy rushes out with a loy to kill his father a second

time, the illusion is broken, and the comic prop becomes an instrument of murder.

This is one moment in the play when our comic attitude towards violence gets

unsettled. The second example of real violence comes when Pegeen forces herself to

scorch Christy's feet.

Her final wail at the loss of her playboy shows that she did what she did out of

frustration. Violence also comes into the play along with the setting. The Irish peasant

community of the West among whom the play is set live close to the earth at a

primitive level with something savage and untamed in their nature. This latter

element is reflected in the psychological makeup of the chief characters, Christy,

Pegeen and Widow Quin who are all violent as well as gentle, one quality setting off

the other. This also accounts for the many incidents of reported violence in the play

relating to the killing of animals, hanging and treatment of mad men. Here is a

sampling:

1. Pegeen with scorn : ―Where now will you meet the like of Daneen Sullivan

knocked the eye from a peeler; or Marcus Quin, God rest him, got six months

for maiming ewes, ...‖ (Act I)

2. Pegeen: ―It's queer joys they have, and who knows the thing they‘d do, if it'd

make the green stones cry itself to think of you swaying and swiggling at the

butt of a rope, and you with a fine, stout neck, God bless you! The way you'd

be a half an hour, in great anguish, getting your death,‖ (Act II)

3. Widow Quin : ―If you are a wonder itself, you'd best be hasty, for them lads

caught a maniac one time and pelted the poor creature till he ran out, raving

and foaming, and was drowned in the sea,‖ (Act III)

The picture that emerges is no doubt harsh but these, incidents are taken only half

seriously because they are said in a comic context. Also because of this background

Pegeen's violent behaviour at the end seems entirely credible.

Is Synge satirizing the Irish peasant's tendency to condone violence?

66

This does not seem to be my feeling. What Synge seems to be doing is to express the

innate human tendency to worship a hero and also to vocalize the deeply unconscious

tendency to rebel against tradition and parental authority. That the play's ‗message‘

found a local application in 1907 in Ireland is I think more or less incidental

5.2.3 The Ending

The ending of the play has evoked sharp comments. This is particularly so in regard

to the burning of Christy‘s feet by Pegeen.

At least two questions are important here :

1. Is it a satisfying ending?

2. Is Pegeen‘s sudden turnabout and burning of Christy‘s legs in character?

Two contemporaries of Synge were not quite satisfied with the ending. Padriac

Colum (1881- 1972), an Irish dramatist who was a younger contemporary of Synge

disapproved of ―the girl putting a redhot coat on Christy‖ and felt that Pegeen would

have ―stood by her man when he was attacked by a crowd.‖ George Moore who

otherwise admired the play found the burning ―quite intolerable‖ and unacceptable.

Actor Willie Fay who along with his brother Frank Fay was part of the Abbey

Theatre also pleaded with Synge to take out the ―torture scene‖ saying that ―while a

note of comedy was admirable for heightening tragedy, the converse was not true.‖

Chief among those who defended the burning was Yeats who held that ―an artist need

but make his characters self-consistent.‖

Synge himself was not quite satisfied with the ending and admitted to Molly Allgood

that ―the third act wants pulling together.‖ In the end he left it as it was.

The burning however distasteful it may have been to some people is entirely in

character. As Yeats was quick to recognize, violence was a part of the life of the

community Synge was portraying in the play. In his Aran Islands he said that

―although these people are kindly towards each other and their children, they have no

sympathy for the suffering of animals, and little sympathy for pain when the person

who feels it is not in danger.‖ Pegeen who embodies the fickleness of the mob is

deeply frustrated and disillusioned at the sudden discovery of what she considers

Christy‘s truth. So it should not surprise us when she makes a sudden turnabout and

takes recourse to the grotesque action and tries to scorch the legs of her erstwhile

lover.

Synge‘s notebooks show him having tried to work out a satisfactory ending by means

of several permutations and combinations. ―Pegeen hesitates between Christy and

Shawn. Marries Shawn, marries Old Man, goes out with Christy.‖ Or again : ―Pegeen

scoffs Christy and the Widow Quin takes him into her care.‖ There are several other

pairings off that he gave thought to. Finally he settled for Christy‘s triumphant exit

67

leaving a disconsolate Pegeen behind. This unromantic yet ambiguous ending is more

in keeping with the ambiguous spirit of the play.

The ending may be violative of the comic spirit. But the literary categories have to

expand or be redefined to fit a play that ends on a note at once of triumph and defeat.

A different term like tragi-comedy or dark comedy would account for the many-

sidedness of the play.

5.3 LANGUAGE

Synge‘s language has received a great deal of attention from critics. It has been

praised as being close to the idiom of the people of Ireland and for being poetic and

exhuberant. On the other hand, he has been cirticized as being ‗a faker of peasant

speech.‘

The variety of English that Synge has used in his plays has a strong Irish flavour. It is

based on the English speech of the country people of Ireland of his time. While

English had been spoken in Ireland, Irish remained the first language of the people in

tire countryside, at least till well into the eighteenth century. As a result it is

influenced by the native Irish language in its syntax, its vocabulary and its idiom. The

resulting difference from the standard English language gives it the charm of the

unfamiliar and also accounts for the difficulty it poses to the readers

Synge holds strong views on language in theatre and has, also said a few things about

the sources of language that he has used in his plays. So any discussion of Iris

language must take these into account.

We shall discuss the whole subject in the following three sections:

Section 1 : will deal with Synge‘s views on language in drama, particularly in The

Playboy .

Section 2 : will focus on features of syntax, idiom and vocabulary that make Synge‘s

language distinctive and also sometimes difficult for the reader, and that also give it

the charm of the unfamiliar.

Section 3 : will conclude the discussion with quoting some comments on Synge‘s

language by critics.

5.3.1 Synge on Language in Theatre

In his preface to The Playboy Synge spoke of an organic link between the imagination

of a people and the language they speak. He valued rich and poetic language in

theatre and believed that such a language could come only from people whose folk-

imagination is still rich and alive. The country people of Ireland of his time were one

such people where, he said, ―we have an imagination that is fiery, magnificent, and

tender,‖ and where the people have not ―shut their lips on poetry.‖ A writer working

68

in such a situation was a privileged person who could produce rich and copious

language ―frill of striking and beautiful phrases‖ that he had probably just heard.

Synge was critical of the linguistic fare provided by writers like Ibsen and Zola

because they presented reality in what he called ―joyless and pallid words.‖ On the

contrary he insisted that theatre should offer reality together with joy and that in a

good play ―every speech should be as fully flavoured as a nut or an apple.‖ Obviously

the joy that he wanted theatre to give was to come from the writer‘s own delight in

the use of language. The obvious implication is that he has tried to achieve in The

Playboy what he found wanting in Ibsen and Zola.

5.3.2 Synge’s Language in The Playboy

Another implication of the preface is that Synge‘s language in The Playboy As

authentic. There he claimed that he used ―one or two words only that I have not heard

among the country people of Ireland.‖ What does this mean? Does it mean that his

characters talk the ordinary language of Irish country people? Or does it mean that

though the characters frequently use the very words of their real-life originals the

language they use is a ‗reinvention‘ of the peasant dialect? The answer is that Synge‘s

language is really a re-creation of peasant speech that he had heard from boyhood in

the different countrysides of Ireland. He spent his boyhood in Widow and later visited

the Aran Islands and West Kerry among other places for varying lengths of time. The

idioms and phrases that he had heard and had noted down in his notebooks during

these visits or later recalled came in handy when he started writing his plays. (Besides

these idioms, there were those that he had invented.) But he did not reproduce the

dialect simply because it was spoken by the people. He was prepared to reshape the

dialect usage to make it more effective and serve his dramatic purpose. Here is one

example :

One entry in a notebook used on Synge‘s visit to Kerry in 1905 reads: “That

seven thousand + seventy devil may play goals with your skull.‖

(Nicholas Grene, 61)

Synge refers to the devils during the course of Christy‘s cursing of his father in Act I

but he reduces their number thereby making his language more effective.

Christy : ―May I meet him with one tooth and it aching and one eye to be

seeing seven and seventy devils in the twists of the road.‖ (Act II, 208)

Another element in his language consists of those phrases that he had invented. One

example of this occurs in u sentence where Christ)' describes his father's drunken

behaviour. He would go put into the yard.

as naked as an ash-tree in the moon of March

The invented phrase moon of May instead of Month of May is more effective because

69

it recalls the origin of the word month which gives it an archaic flavour and also

because it gives us an image of the ash tree shining white under the moon.

These are but two instances of the way in which Synge reworked or reshaped phrases

and idioms to suit his dramatic purposes,

We shall now mention the main characteristics of Synge‘s Irish English and note the

kind of effect he was aiming at

(i) The Omission of the Relative Pronoun ;

Synge is apparently excessively fond of omitting relative pronoun ('that' 'who'

‗which‘) from the sentence. He derived this habit from Irish Gaelic in which there is

no true relative capable of inflection,

Example 1. Pegeen while writing down articles of dress for her wedding says –

a hat is suited for a wedding-day (Act I)

The standard English usage is - a hat [that] is suited for a wedding-day,

Some other examples:

2. The likes of Daneen Sullivan [who] knocked the eye,‘ (Act I)

3. With a man [who] killed his father..(Act I)

4. ―I brought you a little laying pullet - boiled and all she is — [that] was

crushed , ,(Act II)

5. ―Would you have me think a man [that] never talked with the girls would have the

words...‖ (Act II)

6. ―It was my own son [who] hit me,‖ (Act III)

7. They are mounting him for the mule race [that] will he run upon the sands, ‘ (Act

III)

8. ―That's man [that] is going to make a marriage with the daughter of this house…‖

(Act III)

This omission of relative or what we call ellipsis has the effect of adding pace to the

language.

Look for other examples of ellipsis in the play

(ii) Use of a subordinate clause with and but no finite verb

This 'and' construction followed by a noun and participle is constantly used by Synge,

70

Example:

1. Pegeen:.. and I pilling the turf with the dogs harking.,, ‘ (Act I)

2. Shawn ' and I going home lonesome,, ‘(Act I)

Sometimes the participle is omitted.

3. Pegeen ; And. you without a white shift,‘ (Act II)

4. Pegeen : ‗and you with a tine, stout neck . . (Act II)

5. Christy : ‗and I a lonesome fellow‘ (Act II)

6. Michael: ‗and he wet and crusted with his father‘s blood‘ (Act III)

Look for other examples from the text

(iii) Imperative formed with ‗let‘

Examples:

1. Shawn : Let you not be tempting me,... ‘ for ‗Dont tempt me. ‘ (Act I)

2. Michael : ‗Let you come up then to the fire. ‘ (Act I)

3. Christy : ‗Let you walk down now and tell the priest‘. (Act II)

4. Christy : ‗let you save me from the old man.‘ (Act III).

(iv) The ‗After' Construction :

This is a translation of an Irish construction—‗after‘ + gerund. In Irish it often

replaces the standard English perfect.

1. Widow Quin: ‗I‘m after putting him down...‘ in the spoils below:

Standard English version: ‗I have just put him down‘ . .. (II)

2. Pegeen : ‗I‘m after going down and reading the fearful crimes of Ireland‘ . . .

(II)

3. Christy : ‗I‘m after toiling, moiling

4. Jimmy : and he after bringing bankrupt ruin on the roulette man (III)

(v) Inversions Examples'.

1. ‗It‘s above at the crossroads he is . . .‘

Standard English version : He is above at the cross-roads.

2. ‗Isn‘t it long the nights are now, Shawn Keogh . . .?‘ Shawn Keogh?‘

Notice the use of it‘s construction for the sake of emphasis. This again results from

the influence of Irish construction.

(vi) The Use of the phrase ‗the like of in place of ‗like. ‘

Examples:

1. ‗You‘d see the like of them stories.‘

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S.E. You‘d see stories like these (I,182).

2. 'A soft lad the like of you ... (I, 183).

3. for the like of him would get small mercies (Ii, 199)

According to one count, the phrase ‗the like of and its variations occur 63 times in

The Playboy.

(vii) The Use of Progressive or present continuous forms

Synge also prefers using continuous or progressive forms—‗I am saving‘ for ‗I say ‘

This usage is again common Irish English.

Examples:

1. Shawn : 'Then I'm thinking himself will stop along‘ (. . I think... (I, 177-78)

2. Shawn : I‘m afread of Father Reilly, I‘m saying' (... I say ..)(I, 179).

3. Pegeen ‗What right have you to be making game of a poor fellow‘ (. . . to

make .) (I.,180)

4. Sara : ‘Don't be talking' (... talk.. ) (II, 194).

5. Pegeen : 'What is it you‘re wanting?' (. . . you want? . .) (II, 198).

6. Michael: 'You‘ll be wedding them this day, is it?‘ ('You‘ll wed them . .) (III,

220).

(viii) Use of certain words, phrases and expressions

1. Have a right to : should know.

Example : Pegeen : 'If you‘re a dunce itself, you‘d have a right to know that

larceny‘s robbing and stealing‘ (I, 181)

2. The way that with the result that or so that.

Example

a) Christy : 'but you‘re decent people, I‘m thinking, and yourself a kindly

woman, the way l wasn‘t fearing you at all' (I. 186).

b) Honor : 'Well, it‘ll be a hard case if he‘s gone off now the way we‘ll never set

our eyes on a man killed his father ... ‗ (—so that we‘ll.. .).

Other words : lav, poteen, curragh. queer,

3. Use of diminutive forms of words

In Irish diminutives are formed by adding the suffix-een. Synge uses many

diminutive forms in The Playboy.

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Examples:

Shebeen : public house (I,176,191)

Priesteen : little priest (I,190)

housemen : little house (I,191)

boreen : track

Cnuceen : little hill (II,194)

Some other words : supeen (II, 197), thraneen (III, 202)

4. The Use of 'for to‘ for 'to‘: This is a survival of Elizabethan English. An

example occurs in the first line spoken by Pegeen on the stage :

Pegeen : Six yards of stuff for to make a yellow gown

The word for is redundant here.

There is another example near the end of Act I. Find it out. There are other examples

too later in the play.

Clearly Synge's language in The Playboy is marked by frequent use of certain

favourite construction. Since these constructions deviate from standard English they

make his language unfamiliar to the non-Irish speaker But because of the frequency

of repetition and the limited number of such constructions, the unfamiliarity weans

off and the reader gets used to them, hi addition, these repetitive usages also help to

establish certain staple rhythm which recur regularly so that the ear gels accustomed

to the texture of the dialogue

Poetry

'Such poet's talking.‘ That is how Pegeen compliments Christy's eloquence in the

great love scene in Act III. This compliment can he applied to The Playboy as a

whole. Synge‘s language has rightly been called poetic and exhuberant.

It is the language of people whose imagination is still wild and unfettered and whose

speech, ns T.S, Eliot points out, is ―naturally poetic‖ Synge was a meticulous

craftsman who worked hard on his speeches before he achieved the effect of musical,

rhythmic prose that he wanted. Here is one of life two examples of his verbal

revisions in the play which David H. Greene gives. It relates to the opening lines of

act one where Pegeen is shown writing aloud items for her marriage. The first draft of

the speech with which he was not satisfied reads :

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Two dozens of Powers Whiskey. Three barrels of porter, two bottles of hopes.

To be sent by Timmy Farrel's Creel-cart on the evening of the coming fair to

Mister Michael James Flaherty. With the best compliments of this season.

Margaret Flaherty.

―The latter part of the speech,‖ according to Greene, ―strikes the right note at the very

start; hut the first part is all wrong because the three items she is ordering the whiskey,

porter, and bottles of hopes are short and jumpy and delay the lyric take-off which

follows with "To be sent by Timmy Farrel's creel-cart. ..‖ So in the margin Synge had

written, ―Try making her order her trousseau" On the back of the page is an attempt at

the trousseau; ―Six yards of yellow silk ribbon, a pair of long, boots, bright red hat

suited for a young woman on her wedding day, a fine tooth comb to be sent . . . The

long boots he changes then to ―pairs of shoes with English heels,‖ but still isn't

satisfied, so he crosses out English and substitutes in succession the words big, long,

and lengthy. The passage finally reads;

Six yards of stuff for to make a yellow gown. A pair of lace boots with lengthy

heels on them and brassy eyes, A hat is suited for a wedding-day. A fine tooth

comb. To he sent with three barrels of porter in Jimmy Farrel's creel cart on

the evening the coming Fair to Mister Michael James ‘ Flaherty.

The rhythmic effects that Synge achieved through such careful; workmanship were

however not easy to achieve in theatre and made great demands on the actors who

had to speak those lines. Willie Fay, the first director of the Abbey Theatre, remarks

on the difficulties of mastering the rhythm of Synge‘s lines. ―They had what I call a

balance of their own and went a kind of lilt.‖

Synge‘s language is capable of varied effects, His sensitiveness to the world of nature

often shows itself in language that is at once simple and vivid ;

I could hear the cows breathing and sighing in the stillness of the air, and not a

step moving any place from this gate to the bridge.

In the famous love scene of Act II Iris language is at its finest. His skilful

orchestration of metaphor, cadence and rhythm enables him to rise to heights of

eloquence and lyricism that is perhaps unrivalled in modem drama.

Imagery

A word about imagery in The Playboy. Synge‘s images come from two sources—folk

and literary. Here are some examples :

Folk image

-and now she'll be turning again, and speaking hard words to me, like an old

woman with a spavindy asss she‘d have, urging on a hill. (Act II, 208);

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Literary image

Synge also uses the traditional image of the Helen of Troy in his love duel.

If the mitred bishops seen you that time, they‘d be the like of the holy

prophets, I‘m thinking, do be straining the bars of paradise to lay eyes on the

Lady Helen of Troy... (Act III, 218)

The phrase ‗The star of knowledge‘ has been taken from Hyde‘s Love Songs of

Connaught, as a traditional image of the beloved.

A serious criticism of Synge is that he sometimes strains alter rhetorical effect.

. . . till you‘d find a radiant lady with droves of bullocks on the plains of

Meaht, and herself bedenizened in the diamond jewelries of Pharaoh‘s ma.

i. ‗Synge wrote in a prose that sets him high among the poets.‘ (Maurice

Bourgeois)

ii. ‗He went to Aran . . . listening also to the beautiful English which has grown

up in Irish- speaking districts, and takes its vocabulary from tire time of

Malory and of the translators of the Bible, but its idiom and its vivid metaphor

from Irish ... He made Word and phrase dance to a very strange rhythm, which

will always, till his plays have created their own tradition, be difficult to

actors who have not learned it from his own lips.‘ (W.B. Yeats)

iii. ‗The play of John Millington Synge form rather a special case, because they

are based upon the idiom of a rural people whose speech is naturally poetic,

both in imagery and in rhythm. I believe that he even incorporated phrases

which he had heard from these country people of Ireland. The language of

Synge is not available except for the plays set among that same people.‘

(T.S.Elliot)

5.4 THE PLAYBOY AS A PERFORMANCE TEXT

Accounts of performances of plays particularly by those who have acted in them

often furnish valuable clues to the play‘s meaning and also tell us what it means to

transform a dramatic text into a performance text.

Two such accounts are available, both by Irish actors who have played the lead role

of Christy Mahon. William Fay‘s account deals with the first 1907 production which

has already been referred to. The other account is by Cyril Cusack Who joined the

Abbey Theatre after the Fays had left and who had a long innings of twenty years

with the play from 1936 to 1955. Both these accounts are available in the Casebook

volume on J.M. Synge: Four Plays (1992) ed. By Ronald Ayling. There are also stray

references to some other production of the play. However the amount of evidence

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available with this writer does not qualify him to study The Playboy as a performance

text as thoroughly as he would have liked to. But two points could be noted. I shall

put these points in the form of question.

1. Does the play require to be presented naturalistically? Or should it be staged

as an extravagant comedy? Would, for example, the presentation of Old

Mahon with a ―horribly bloodied bandage‖ detract from the extravagance of

high comedy?

2. How should Pegeen be presented? Should she be presented with a ‗touch of

fury‘ in her? Or should she be presented as ‗a decent likeable country girl,?

As for the first question, Cyril Cusack says that in his effort to present the real Synge

he at first combined the purely theatrical with a form of naturalism that came

perilously close to the representational. He also admits that it was only after 1954

when he moved out of his ―too naturalistic style‖ into a wider acting orbit nearer to

extravaganza, that he came to enjoy ―the full flavour‖ of the play.

Padriac Colum pointed out that the "horribly-bloodied bandage‘' on Old Mahon's

head ―took the whole tiling out of the atmosphere of high comedy." He preferred the

Abbey Production of 1909 when Old Mahon ―was made a less bloody object." lie also

felt that the somewhat ―sardonic" Christy detracted from ''the extravagance of the

comedy" and that Fred O‘Donovan‘s Christy in the 1909 production had more

innocent ―charm and gaiety.'

What about Pegeen?

Willie Fay ―begged" Synge, as he put it, to make Pegeen ―a decent likeable country

girl" but with little result. The part has been presented differently in different

productions. In the Ashley Duke‘s production in London, for example, Pegeen was

played as "a limpid young girl;‖ when according to a critic, she should have had a

―touch of firry" in her. But (he Cusack‘s production in 1954 and the Dublin Theatre

Festival of 1960 returned to Pegeen‘s role ―a necessary vibrant depth and wildness"

You should try and look up some other reviews of the production of the play

including those in India. This should help you to get closer to the play.

5.5 LET US SUM UP

Our exploration of The Playboy is now coming to a close. The play is now an

acknowledged masterpiece not only of the Irish Dramatic Movement but of modem

drama As Cyril Cusack says, it belongs to the large Western world. How does one

account for its continuing relevance to our times?

The Playboy is neither a comedy nor a tragedy but a bit of both. Because of its unique

combination of affirmation and despair, of the romantic, the Rabelaisian and ironic

elements, it refuses to fit into any neat traditional category.

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Like all classics it is thematically rich and lends itself to multiple interpretations. But

as Thomas Whitaker has pointed out, it ―most fully engages what scents the obsessive

subject of modem drama: life as a question of role-playing.‖‘ A character in Shaw‘s

Arm and the Man spoke of six persona of his and he himself was not sure which of

them was the real man. As Whitatker continues, life has become more inescapably

histrionic; Words like mask and performance have become pail of the modem man's

vocabulary' The Playboy is a play where the mask literally creates or re-creates the

man.

The Playboy taps another source of great power—it touches something very deep in

human nature—the instinctive desire to rebel against tradition and the tyranny of the

older generation. The play brings this subconscious desire to the surface and treats the

dread subject of patricide in a light-hearted manner. In this sense the play shows us an

image of ourselves which we both dread and wish to see at the same time.

5.6 GLOSSARY

Ellipsis : Comes from a Greek word which means leaving out. Leaving out of a

word or words when the meaning can be understood without an to

achieve more compact expression

Eros : Greek God of Love, the power to produce and reproduce

Imagery : a term used for images collectively. The term covers use of language to

represent objects, actions, feelings, thoughts and states of mind.

Motif : a dominant idea, part of a main theme; also a subject, pattern, or an idea

that forms the main base on which a literary work is based.

Perspective : the way in which a matter is judged

5.7 QUESTIONS

1. Discuss the characteristic features of Synge‘s language in The Playboy.

2. Write an essay on imagery in The Playboy.

5.8 SUGGESTED READINGS

Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory by J.A. Cuddon (Third Edition).

Penguin Books, 1992.

Yeats, W.B. ―The Death of Synge‖ in Autobiographies. London Macmillan, 1955.

Greene, David H. And Edward M. Stephens. J.M. Synge: 1871-1909. New York:

Macmillan, 1959,p. 321.

Biography of Synge interspersed with criticism of his work. The authors

include a discussion of the riots over The Playboy and critical reception and

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reviews of his plays both from Dublin and abroad.

Synge, J.M. Four Plays and the Aran Islands. Ed. With an Introduction by Robin

Sklton. London : Oxford University Press, 1962, Pages 155-327 contain the

introduction and four parts of the book The Aran Islands.

Henn, T.R. Ed. The Plays and Poems of J.M. Synge with an Introduction and Notes.

London : Methuen, 1963;rpt. 1968

Contains General Introduction which has three section: The Playwright, the

Language of the plays, Rhythm; a separate introduction to The Playboy;

contains annotations to each play mid a bibliography also. Essential reading.

Whitaker, Thomas R. Ed. Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Playboy of the

Western World: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice

Hall, 1969.

Contains essays by W.B. Yeats, Una Ellis-Fermor, T.R. Henn, Norman

Podhoretz, David H. Greene, and several others. Highly desirable. Whitaker‘s

20-page long introduction should be essential reading.

Frye, Northrop ―The Mythos of Spring: Comedy‖ in Anatomy of Criticism. New

Jersey : Princeton University Press, 1971, pp. 163-86.

Also available in Comedy -.Meaning and Form. Ed Robert W. Corrigan.

Second Edition. New York. Harper & Row, 1981, pp.84-99.

Contains an analysis of the mythic structure of comedy, a category that

transcends drama. Frye‘s aim is to establish universal structures of all

literature. Essential reading.

Williams, Raymond. ―J.M. Synge‖ in Drama: From Ibsen to Brecht. Penguin Books,

1973; rpt. 1978, pp. 139-52. Section 4 of the essay deals with The Playboy . Useful.

Grene, Nicholas. Synge . A Critical Study of the Plays. London : Macmillan, 1975 rpt.

1979.

Detailed discussion of each play, viewing the prose work as source material. Three

chapters are particularly useful: ―The Development of Dialect‖ dealing with Synge‘s

language ―Approaches to The Playboy and ―Unhappy Comedies.‖ Essential reading.

Benson, Eugene. J.M. Synge. London Macmillan, 1982, p. 167.

Contains a useful essay on The Playboy; also contains several pictures including

those, of the productions of plays.

Alying, Ronald. Ed. J.M. Synge: Four Plays: A Selection of Critical Essays. A

Casebook. London : Macmillan, 1922, pp. 137-87.

There are three essays on Synge‘s dramatic art. The portion on The Playboy includes

contemporary comments, reviews and nine critical studies.