The Playboy of the Western World and Riders to the Sea by J.M. Synge

Thesis Statement

“Synge's play, The Playboy of the Western World, revels in its comic power. It expresses the power of the comic spirit to resist life-defying urges in society. Christy as the comic hero exhibits the human potential to indulge in the high spirits that both renew life and resist the rigid structures that society often places on people. This sense of joy illustrates the human potential to endure hardship and overcome obstacles.”

Analysis and Discussion

John Millington Synge (1871-1909) is best known for his play “The Playboy of the Western World”, which was first performed in 1907.Synge's dark comedy blends realism, satire, and myth to examine the lives of Irish villagers living on the coast of Mayo. The play opens in a small, filthy public house, where we see Pegeen Mike and Shawn Keogh sitting and talking. Although I perceive that it opens in a realistic enough fashion. The play takes on a mythic and heroic quality when Christy Mahon arrives with a tale of murdering his father. Synge has presented the symbolic characteristics of the society through this play. It has highlighted significant factors in social, relational, and civil norms context. Rebellious behavior of Mayo County people towards penalizing Christy through civil system highlights the complete inverse action of people towards admiring acts that are considered as felonious for the rest of society (Jospeh, pp. 371).

My readings and observations on this play suggest that the John Millington Synge creates a memorable comic hero in the character of Christy Mahon, the protagonist of The Playboy of the Western World. While comedy tends to subvert accepted or sacred ideas about life, it also reinforces the power of the life force to overcome all obstacles. In opposition to the tragic hero's suffering, the comic hero emphasizes high spirits, the renewal of life, resistance to rigidity, and a strong sense of the absurdity of the human condition. Christy Mahon certainly represents the capacity of the comic hero to succeed against seemingly overwhelming odds. Just when we think life will defeat Christy, he demonstrates the comic hero's ability to triumph, and his triumph inspires a belief that all can prevail. Every person may derive out different meaning from the actions of the characters that were highlighted in the play.

The play renders the rebellious nature of the villagers against the society norms. It presents a combination of rebellions and their actions towards acceptable social norms. Role of Christy and women, highlighted in the play, is highly crucial in this context. Role of Christy, in the form of playboy, is deterministic towards the responses of villagers. When Christy arrives in the Pub and tells his story about killing his father to the people, everyone perceives his actions an act of bravery. This propels the people in the tavern to admire his act; Flaherty praises him for his bold act, his daughter start getting inspired by him, other female of the town also attract towards ...