Term Paper on "Synge Two Plays by"

Term Paper 8 pages (2256 words) Sources: 2 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Synge

Two Plays by Synge

Throughout the course of his tragically short life, J.M. Synge wrote a number of plays attempting to capture both the poetic language and bucolic idealism of the life of people in rural Ireland. In this paper, we will critically examine two of Synge's best-known and most beloved plays, the Playboy of the Western World and Riders to the Sea. In doing so, we hope to discover both the qualities of Irish life and character that Synge was intending to evoke, as well as those qualities that establish these plays as two of the more successful Irish dramas of the last century.

The Playboy of the Western World is a most puzzling play that depicts, like most of Synge's plays, Irish peasantry. Unlike Riders to the Sea, however, is the depiction here is less flattering.

The play is set in County Mayo on Ireland's western coast in a public house. There, the mundane daily life is suddenly interrupted when a mysterious stranger arrives one day. Curious, the locals begin to ask him of his origins. He eventually confesses to them that he is on the run, as he has just killed his father by splitting his head open with a spade. Oddly enough, the peasants are impressed with Christy's crime, and compliment him on his bravery while consoling him as to his guilt and fear. He is invited by Michael, the owner of the tavern, to stay and work there. It is agreed by all that he will make a fine addition to the citizenry of Mayo. What is more, Michael's daughter, Pegeen, clearly has the hots for him, despite the fact that she is allegedly engaged to the obese Shawn, who does not take kindly to Christy's presence in Mayo. At the same time, Christy inspires great fear in Shawn, who is depicted as a coward. In fact, Christy seems to inspire great fear in the men of the county, and the respect and admiration of the county's women. Not only does Pegeen seem romantically interested in Christy, but the young Widow Quin also begins to pursue him early on in the play.

Christy is quite astounded by all the attention he is receiving. He admits early on that he has never before received such lavish attention from women. In the play's second act, a gaggle of local girls appears, eager to get a good look at the criminal. Christy is invited to participate in sports with the men of the town, and he ends up winning all of the games. After Widow Quin and Pegeen competitively pursue him, he ultimately decides that his heart is with Pegeen. The two make plans to marry, despite Shawn's fearful jealousy.

But all is not what it seems - as both Christy and the peasants will soon find out. With the appearance of Christy's father, Mahon, the truth about Christy is revealed. Not only has he not murdered his father, he is not as savory a character as he wishes to present himself as. His father laughs when he learns that his son has been wooing all of the attractive young women in town. His son has always been shy around the opposite sex and has never been able to snare a girlfriend for himself. Nor is he successful as a drinker or a socialite. What is more, he is incredibly slothful and refuses to work hard - which his father attributes to the constant fighting the two were engaged in, fighting that in the end resulted in his son hitting him on the head with a spade - but certainly not hard enough to kill him. In fact, this is why the son has run away, Mahon infers - because he knew that he would take his revenge in a most brutal fashion once he had regained his composure.

The Widow Quin then goes about trying to deceive Mahon as to his son's presence in Mayo, but all to no avail. The problem seems to lie in Christy's ultimate success in everything he puts his mind to; indeed, Mayo seems to be his lucky county. He is successful in all the sports and games. Mayo leans his head out the window to catch a glimpse of the hero who the crowd outside is cheering after, and it is then that he recognizes the face of his son.

This sets up the action for the ultimate show down between father and son - a show down, Synge infers, that will result in the death of one or the other. All of the locals show up to witness the battle. They take the fighting outside, where Christy seems to triumph over his father once again, dealing him a fatal blow to the skull. Christy walks back into the tavern, triumphant. But in many ways, he has lost. He is now regarded as a liar and a murderer by the town, and Pegeen rejects him. As the villagers prepare to hang him, the Widow Quin makes one desperate attempt to save his life. But Christy refuses to go along with it. His heart is broken, he knows that he will never get Pegeen back, so he does not see any sense in continuing to go on living.

The mob appears, ready to bring Christy down to lynch him. But Christy, previously a victim of his father's abuses, not to mention the ill treatment he has received at the hands of the villagers, swears that he will not go down without a fight. Just as it looks as though they have the noose around his neck, Christy's father appears in the doorway. It seems that he has not killed old Mahon after all. Mahon tells the villagers that he and his son will be leaving now, and that they will tell everyone they know of the stupid brutality people from Mayo inflict on visitors. They disappear, and Pegeen is left alone, the sole victim of the scenario, for she has forever lost her chances to be with the Playboy of the Western World.

This play was very controversial when it was first performed in the early years of the 20th century. Many members of the Irish audience felt that Synge was being unpatriotic by depicting rural Irish people in such a harsh, hypocritical light. At the same time, it must be said that Synge injects the villagers' dialogue with a poetic richness that aptly captures the way people from this region speak. It is a beautiful dialect and language that effectively elevates them above the coarseness of many of their fouler actions throughout the course of the play.

What makes the Playboy of the Western World such a powerful play is its thematic ambiguity throughout. It is difficult to determine whether this play is meant to be a farce, a comedy, a tragedy, or a tragi-comedy - as it contains elements of all of these dramatic genres. There are even some scary moments that happen during the course of the action, such as the sudden appearance of Mahon, which leads one to momentarily believe that the play has turned into a ghost story. The play is also filled with moments of tense, dramatic action when it is tough to decipher what the outcome will be, thus heightening the mystery and suspense of the story.

In many ways, Riders to the Sea is a much simpler play - it is shorter (one act compared to the Playboy of the Western World's three), less complex in plot, and more direct in the unraveling of its action. Like the Playboy of the Western World, it aptly captures the essence of the rural Irish people - in this case, the inhabitants of the Aran Islands, which are situated far into the Atlantic off the west coast of Ireland.

In the early 20th century, these islands contained some of Europe's most primitive inhabitants, owing to the fact that they were completely cut off from the mainland. Frequent storms meant that it was nearly impossible to get to the mainland. The waters surrounding the island were incredibly violent, and men would often shipwreck trying to leave the island and drown. The island was constantly subjected to brutal weather, and since it is very rocky and not easy to farm there, the villagers would oftentimes have to rely on fishing as a means of avoiding starvation.

Synge spent a lot of time on the Aran Islands, after being advised to go there early in his career by his mentor Yeats. It is here where he found his voice as a writer, among the people of the Aran Islands and their unique local dialect, which is captured so perfectly in plays like Riders to the Sea.

The story is deceptively simple. It surrounds a mother who has lost her husband, sons, and father-in-law to the sea. While it might sound melodramatic, this situation was not at all unique to inhabitants of the Aran Islands during this period. Thus, the… READ MORE

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