The Playboy of the Western World is set in the world of the Irish, with its first scene opening into a rough and dirty shebeen. When Christy, the play’s protagonist comes in and declares that he has killed his father by splitting his head with a spade, everyone is smitten. The previously insignificant and shy Christy, whose father refers to as a lazy, good for nothing son, becomes an instant hit with the village girls, a widow and even Pegeen, the daughter of the landlord who is betrothed to be married by Shawn (Synge 2). The author, Millington Synge, meant for the play to be a tragi-comedy, portraying what he saw in the Irish society in a rather humorous and sarcastic way (Zucker 40). It is laughable that the villagers do not admonish Christy in any way when he claims to have killed his father or when he tries to snatch away their women by charming them even those already engaged, but, when they realize that he had lied about the murder, they attempt to kill him.
Playwrights, like every other artists have a responsibility to chide the vices in the society and espouse the virtues. While they have a poetic license to use language as they please, I feel that Synge went a little over board. Whether the play may was a reflection of the lives of the Irish at the time notwithstanding, staging it in a national theatre was an insult to the Irish and the fact that he was a protestant did not help his case much. What Christy exhibits by killing his father, bully or not, should not be hailed as an act of bravery in a civilized society. That no one bothers to report the matter or even investigate it further casts a great shadow on the morality of the Irish. Even Christy is set aback by the acclamation he receives as a result. In his thoughts, a person who kills ought to face the devil in hell (Synge 4). On the contrary, girls are enamoured of him and even a mature widow gawks at him. The village girls are so enchanted by his murderous escapade that they make Pegeen so jealous that she sends them away, angrily. Pegeen’s fiancée, Shawn, sees the threat in Christy and he tries to bribe him to go away with clothes.
I do not refute, in any way, the brilliance and the genius in the writing of this play, but the portrayal of the Irish as shallow unvirtuous lot, fascinated by those that flout the society’s virtues with impunity is highly inappropriate. The theme of the play, though maybe appropriate at the time is a clear slander against the people of Ireland which made its staging in a national theatre, the Abbey theatre, highly inappropriate. The play presents a protracted vilification of the peasant Irish men and girls whose lives are portrayed as so dull that they will run after anyone with the promise of a little adventure, virtuous or otherwise. Before the entry of Christy, Pegeen and her father are teasing Shawn, her fiancée, who has maintained that he will not come near her until they are properly married (Synge 2). Shawn is punished for upholding the virtue of sanctity when Pegeen becomes smitten with Christy who values have gone to the dogs. Even when it is clear that Christy lied, she is still reluctant to marry Shawn who is kind enough to forgive her wandering eye and accept her with open arms.
The public’s exaltation of vice as portrayed in the play is appalling to say the least. Although Synge defends his play indicating that there was nothing to be ashamed of and that he has the liberty to choose any subject he deems fit (Zucker 41), the audience was not amused. That he chose his hero to be a foul mouthed parricide is a direct attack on the people of Irish. The author’s later assertion that the language he used in the play was mild compared to the language of the Irish (Ellis 13) indicates his lack of remorse for portraying the people of Ireland as an unvirtuous lot. Whether his play was grounded on realism, the audaciousness and outlandish premise of this piece is horrendous. Even the climax of the play is vicious and gives no clear indication as to what the playwright seeks to exalt. I believe it is this confusion that brought about the riots that plagued the play right from its first staging (Ellis 13).
Christy is hailed as a hero and in addition to having all the girls gawk at him and having Widow Quin beg him to marry her, she enters him into a racing competition and, much to the surprise of his father, he wins the race (Synge 10). His new found confidence certainly plays a major role in his win. What, however, is disheartening is that the community has given him, a murderer, a chance to shine in his vice. His father, who should have been the hero, is the only one appalled by this act of ‘heroism’. Only Mahon knows who his son is really is, a lazy good for nothing man. Even when the villagers are confronted with these facts, they still take Christy’s word over his father. Clearly, Christy is so lazy that he could not even accomplish the murder that he brags so much about. Even when he attempts to kill his father for a second time, he still does not accomplish the task. The villagers however are portrayed as so hopeless, so dull that they will hold onto every little excitement that comes their way whether real or perceived. When they realize that they have been deceived, that Christy really did not kill his father, they are angry that he is not the hero that they thought he was. Pegeen mourns that she has lost her hero rather than chide herself for attempting to leave her kind and virtuous fiancé (Synge 14).
The playwright was able, in the first scene, to maintain decorum with no visible scenes of violence but in the second scene poses a different and undesirable picture. When the old Mahon enters with a bloody bandaged head and Christy runs after him with a spade, there is a clear flouting of the rules of stage decorum. The playwright’s insistence that he was simply portraying what was happening in the Irish society was clearly throwing aspersions to a community he did not belong to. Even when the Irish protested its staging, Synge was quoted saying, with impunity, that the play would run for the entire scheduled time and he did not give a rap and in private, he was heard saying that his middle class critics were ungodly sweaty faced swines (Zucker 41). Such portrayal of violence on the stage spoke volumes on the nature of the Irish people. They were portrayed as violent and although the audience’s reaction to this scene was less than peaceful, the play itself did cast a shadow on the character of the people of Ireland.
Although Synge insisted that all the words he used he had learn in Ireland (Zucker 41), I feel his play only succeeded in portraying the Irish as an ignorant unvirtuous group of people with misplaced and misguided understanding of what a society ought to praise and what it ought to admonish. He makes Christy, a foul mouthed murderous lazy and good for nothing son his hero, a decision I believe does not exalt any values. When Christy enters the scene and proclaims that he has indeed murdered his father, his fortunes change instantly and he becomes a hit, so much that the land lord’s daughter is ready to abandon her long life and virtuous fiancé for him. At this point, the audience wonders what kind of a society would exalt such a deed. Our expectation is for the playwright to show an attempt to punish the evils in the society while rewarding the good.
Christy seems to be constantly rewarded for the vice that he commits. As I read the play, I tried to convince myself that it really was not a reflection of the Irish but it is impossible to consider a piece of art in isolation. Synge knows this too and I am convinced that his aim was to portray the Irish exactly as he did in the play: People with no sense of morality. As early as the first staging of the play, he paraded the village girls’ semi-nude in the play. Now I certainly do not believe that girls in the 1790s wore as scantily as the girls clothe today. His play could have been prophetic. My major concern, and the reason I maintain that the play was not appropriate is that Synge did not commit a single thought, a single line, to admonish the flawed character of Christy and/ or his fans. In fact, he quickly quells the only voice of reason, old Mahon’s, by having the widow point out that his judgement is impaired by the injury he sustained on the head. The aspersions the play casts on the people of Ireland are unwarranted and irreparable.
Works Cited
Synge, J.M. The Playboy of the Western World. Boston: J.W. Luce, 1911; Bartleby.com,
2000. Web. 24 February 2016.
Zucker, E. Cedars, S.R. ed. "The Playboy of the Western World ". 30 October 2013 Web. 24
February 2016. Web. 25 February 2016.
Ellis, “The Playboy of the Western World, Dublin, 1907,” The Guardian, 2003. Web. 25
February 2016.
