You will need to post comments three times on the first play before pumpkin time on Monday, December 8. Read the directions!
When posting comments...
* Use your name and first initial as usual.
* Label the post 1st, 2nd, or 3rd.
* In the first section of each post (labeled 1a, 2a, or 3a) analyze a specific passage and/or meaningfully connect related passages. Remember that some of the students reading your posts will not have read the same play, so make sure you provide adequate context. (This is the same problem faced by book, film, art, and music reviewers who analyze works of art that most of their audience hasn't yet experienced.) Remember to consider both what the play suggests (the themes) and how the play suggests it (the techniques).
* Leave an empty line.
* In the second section of each post (labeled 1b, 2b, 3b) respond to a comment or comments made by peers. You might respond to peers who are reading the same play by extending one of their ideas into new territory by connecting it to new a passage or by drawing new conclusions. You might offer an alternative interpretation of the same evidence offered by peers. You might also (or alternatively) respond to peers reading a different play. Since all of the plays deal at some level with the relationship between identity and family and since all of the plays in each section are either by the same author (Ibsen or Lorca) or by authors from the same country (Ireland and the U.S.A.) you will notice meaningful similarities and differences between the play you are reading and the others.
Each section of each post should be a couple hundred words or more (meaning each post will be several hundred words long). More importantly, however, is that you demonstrate an ability to analyze specific passages and eventually to synthesize the separate analyses into a convincing understanding of the whole.
Note: Since you must read two plays (one by 12/8 and another by 12/19) I recommend the following pairs: Ourselves Alone paired with either The Plough and the Stars or Juno and the Paycock (these plays deal with identity, family, and revolutionary politics) or Philadelphia, Here I Come paired with The Playboy of the Western World (which, it seems to me, offer different views of the difficulties of rural Irish life).
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1a In Philadelphia, Here I Come!, the main character, Gareth O’Donnell, searches desperately for belonging. His relationships all seem to be either cold or shallow. He seems to be unappreciated in his environment: his relationship with his father decays into a relationship between workers while his relationship with friends decays into an awkward impersonality. Without recognition from his environment, he can form no concrete identity: he rejects his environment in a thoughtless plan to move to Philadelphia.
Gareth’s anxiety over his place in society is manifested in a complex interplay between his public and private selves which are represented as separate characters in the play. Gareth’s private self serves to articulate his most intimate feelings but also prevents him from forming a compatible identity.
One scene that seems to epitomize the tension between Gareth’s two selves is the one in which Gareth remembers a former love affair with a woman named Kate. His private self taunts him into remembering her: “Do you still love her? Do you still lust after her?” But simultaneously condemns her viciously while Gareth’s public self tries to temper his feelings by blaming the failure of the relationship on himself.
In the scene, Gareth and Kate are engaged and madly in love. His private self articulates his feelings for her enthusiastically: “Kathy, I’m mad about you! I’ll never last till Easter!” while his private self tries to contain him: “Steady, boy, steady.” Kate is worrying about Gareth’s financial situation but he largely ignores her plea. She urges him saying, “Please. This is serious.” When he reveals that he has some extra investments stored away Kate is pacified and they plan to immediately return and tell her parents that they plan to marry. But when they head to her house Gareth is insecure: her father is a wealthy and important senator. He makes one initial attempt to tell her father about their plans while his private self urges him on but he fails. When her father tells him that another, wealthier boy is interested in Kate he is crushed. Gareth’s private self now urges him to forfeit his plan exaggeratedly: “Get out, you eejit you!” However, as he is about to leave, Kate’s father sincerely tells him “Kate is our only child, Gareth, and her happiness is all that is important to us… any decision she makes will be her own.”
Currently, Gareth’s private self is biting and resentful: “But then there’s more fish in the sea, as the fella says, and they’re all the same when they’re upside down.” This scene contains one of the bitterest dialogues in the play between Gareth’s public and private self. Gareth’s lower financial position prevented him from finding love and a lasting relationship with Kate. This remembered event was also the closest Gareth ever came to an intimate and lasting relationship. Until Gareth can find an intimate relationship with an equal whom he connects with deeply, he will be unable to form a concrete identity. He will be unable to reconcile his public and private selves and his private self will continue to torture him.
Michael M
1a
In the opening lines of The Playboy of the Western World, the themes of cowardice and religion are brought up. Cowardice comes up do to the actions of the character Shawn. Shawn is a young man who desires to marry a young woman named Pegeen Mike. She is the daughter of a local tavern owner and is also the bartender. When the play starts, Shawn enters the bar to find Pegeen alone inside the tavern. After a short discussion, he tells her that on his way over to the tavern, he heard strange moanings, as if from a dying person. Pegeen calls him a coward for not checking on and helping the struggling person. Upon hearing this, Pegeen wishes that someone would stay with her for the night so that she isn't alone. Her father, Michael James, tells Shawn to stay with her to watch over her. Shawn refuses, saying that Father Reilly would condem him for spending the night with a woman he was not married to. The others agree that he should not go against religion. This is all in direct contrast with the character Christy. When Christy enters the bar, he is visibly distraught and tells the people that he killed his father. Instead of being appaled and horrified, Michael James admires his courage for being able to do something as serious as murder. Pegeen also admires his courgage (something Shawn doesn't have.) Also, even though murder is an act that is unforgivable in religion, no one at the tavern minds the fact that Christy killed his father. They are indifferent towards it, even though religion clearly means a lot to them as evidenced by the fact that Shawn was unwilling to spend the night with an unmarried woman.
1b. In Alex R’s post, he talks about how the main character in Philadelphia, Here I Come has relationships with his father and family that are slowly deteriorating. He also says that the character leaves his home to find a new identity. This is very similar to what the character Christy Mahon is experiencing. His relationship with his father has deteriorated to the point to which he has killed him. Christy tells the people at the bar that his father was a dirty man who deserved what he had coming. Clearly, something happened in their relationship that caused Christy to feel this way about his father. The similarities between the two plays continue because Christy then leaves his home in order to escape the police who are after him. This is essentially finding a new identity because Christy can never be the same person he was before murdering his father. He must find a new life and a new identity in order to keep moving on with his life.
Michael M
2a
In the second act of Playboy of the Western World, the themes of cowardice and hypocrisy are continued. Christy appears to be this very brave individual who killed his father as a way to protect himself against his father’s oppressive behavior. He is able to awe people by telling this story and people respect him for it. As a result of this, he attracts the attention of many girls in the town. One of the women after him is the Widow Quin, who wishes to make him her husband (although she has ulterior motives for doing so). Pegeen also begins to fall for Christy because of the bravery he possesses. However, Christy’s father shows up at the town where Christy is hiding and confronts the Widow Quin. He tells her that he is looking for his son, who hit him on the head with a shovel. He goes on to say that his son is a lazy, useless man who is unable to handle alcohol and can’t talk to girls. The Widow Quin eventually gets Christy’s father to leave the town, thus protecting Christy’s secret. The whole time that Christy’s father and the Widow Quin are talking, Christy is hiding from his father in the corner. This shows that Christy is not only a liar, but lacks the bravery that everyone in the village thinks that he has. Every relationship he has made in the town has been based on his bravery, and the appearance of his father ruins his credibility. From this point on, Christy becomes fearful that his father will come back and the truth will be revealed, thus ruining his and Pegeen’s budding relationship. This scene develops the theme of cowardice because it exposes Christy as a man who lacks any conviction. He lies to the townspeople so they will look favorably on him, and he is unable to face his father when he comes looking for him. Christy also is seen as a coward because he is unable to tell the woman he loves the truth about his past. Hypocrisy shows itself in this scene because the townspeople will be furious with Christy if they find out that he did not kill his father. There is something inherently wrong with being mad at a person for failing to commit murder, as well as admiring a person for killing another human being. These hypocritical beliefs of the townspeople seem to underlie their small minded nature. It seems as if that these people are so isolated being in a small, rural town, that they are unable to see past their hypocritical nature and see that being ready to hate a man for not killing his father would be wrong.
2b
There were no new posts so I commented on Brian’s response on Death of a Salesman.
2a The action of Philadelphia, Here I Come! is confined almost entirely to Gareth’s home between he and his father and their housekeeper, Madge. It seems that other characters and scenes are only introduced to provide context for Gareth’s quest for belonging in a home setting.
In the second act of the play a few of Gareth’s friends stop by to pay a final visit before he leaves for America. Friel’s stage directions clearly convey the tone of the scene: “Tranquility is their enemy: they fight it valiantly… When they consistently refuse to acknowledge his leaving – or perhaps because he is already spiritually gone from them – his good humour deserts him.” Whenever Gareth makes an effort to connect with his friends on some emotional level he is immediately interrupted. For instance when he says, “Well, boys, when you’re lining out on the pitch, you can think of me, because I’ll be thinking of you” his friend Ned interrupts, “By the way, lads, who’s the blondie thing I seen at the last Mass on Sunday?” Gareth’s conversation with his friends reveals that their relationship is shallow and vain: they try to impress one another with gaudy remembrances. Their relationship is not even intimate enough for them to be honest: “I had [Annie McFadden] for the fortnight I was home last year and she damn near killed me.” Gareth challenges their lies: “You were never out with big Annie McFadden in your puff, man.” When his friends leave their goodbyes are more intimate but still appear awkward: “Ned (shyly, awkwardly): By the way Gar, since I’ll not see you before you go -”
Gareth desires any kind of relationship that is honest. Often in public life individuals may put on contrived personalities in order to promote a particular image. Philadelphia, Here I Come! promotes the theme of family life as immune to this trend. Gareth desires an environment where he can be himself truly and completely. His small town environment – in which everyone is most concerned with keeping up appearances – cannot provide this for him. His home life is even more impersonal. Gareth needs the kind of intimacy that a family affords whether he finds it with his father or his forced to find it elsewhere.
Michael M
3a
In act 3 of The Playboy of the Western World Christy and his father finally meet again, continuing the hypocritical theme. Christy’s father comes back to town to witness his son win a race. He is in disbelief that his no good son is able to be good at anything. Playing on this, the Widow Quin is able to convince Christy’s father that the young man who won the race could not possible be his son. Christy’s father believes her and leaves the tavern. The Widow Quin does this because she and Christy had previously worked out an agreement that would give the Widow Quin necessary good once Christy married Pegeen. Once back in the tavern, Christy asks Pegeen to marry him. She agrees but her father protests due to Christy’s less than perfect past. However, he agrees after witnessing Shawn flee instead of fight Christy for Pegeen. Christy’s apparent bravery persuades Michael to let him marry Pegeen. “A daring fellow is the jewel of the world, and a man did split his father’s middle with a single clout, should have the bravery of ten.” At that moment, Christy’s father comes in and everyone denounces Christy a liar. “that’s it, now the world will see him pandied, and he an ugly liar was playing off the hero, and the fright of men.” In order to win them back, he decides that he must kill his father. “I’m going, but I’ll stretch you first.” Upon killing his father for the second time, instead of being welcomed back into the community, the crowd wishes to hang him for his crimes. Pegeen says to Christy, “I’ll say, a strange man is a marvel, with his mighty talk; but what’s a squabble in your back yard, and the blow of a loy, have taught me that there’s a great gap between a gallous story and a dirty deed.” This quote shows that the townspeople are able to find bravery in murder, but only when it is not committed in their town and they have no part in it. This shows the hypocrisy in their thinking, because when they feel apart of it, they realize that murder is in fact evil and wrong. Christy, once viewed as a hero for his brave actions is now being tortured and hanged for the same reasons he was praised. It isn’t until Christy’s father is revealed to still be alive that Christy is released and leaves the town. Upon his exit, Pegeen, recognizing her hypocritical views, states, “Oh my grief, I’ve lost him surely. I’ve lost the only Playboy of the Western World.” This quote seems to say Pegeen realizes that the town created Christy’s heroism, and it was not his fault that they praised him for what they should have condemned him for. It also shows that she realizes that the town was wrong for then punishing Christy for something they once believed was brave.
3b
In Alex R’s post, he talks about how the main character in his play has superficial relationships with other characters in the play. The same can be said about Christy in Playboy of the Western World. His relationship with the other characters in the book is based on a lie. Every character in the play respects him for something that he never did, so the characters do not know each other on an intimate basis, just as in Philadelphia, Here I Come! Not only that, but no one really likes Christy for who he is, but for the bravery they think he possesses. Even Pegeen, whom he is supposed to marry, only likes him because she thinks that he possesses more bravery than her other suitor Shawn. This is evidenced when Pegeen gets angry at Christy upon learning that he did not kill his father. If Pegeen had more than a superficial relationship with Christy, then the fact that Christy wasn’t a murder probably wouldn’t have bothered her so much.
3a The anxiety between Gareth and his father, S.B., reaches a peak at the novels end. In a desperate last attempt at communication with his father, Gareth asks him to remember a scene fishing together years ago. Gareth asks brings up sentimental details of the scene: “and it wasn’t that we were talking or anything – but suddenly – suddenly you sang ‘All Round My Hat I’ll Wear a Green Coloured Ribbono’ - …for no reason at all except that we – that you were happy.” But his father cannot connect with him emotionally; he concentrates on trivial details: “No, I don’t think I ever knew that one. It wasn’t ‘The Flower of Sweet Strabane,’ was it?” They part and S.B.’s housekeeper, Madge, reassures him that things will turn out all right. S.B. nostalgically remembers a point when Gareth wanted to leave school to help his father at work. After S.B., too, has left she recalls, “When the boss was his age, he was the very same as him.”
This scene immediately struck me as extremely emotional but it took a while for me to figure out the significance of the failure of communication between Gareth and S.B. Friel uses intense irony to demonstrate his point: Gareth’s only real attempt to deeply connect with his father leads to an utter lack of comprehension. However, the scene also reveals that Gareth and S.B. do have strong feelings for one another and that they are in reality, very similar. Through this contradiction, Friel seems to imply that emotional alienation is permanent. Gareth and S.B. have chosen to take on separate lives. They cultivated identities that deliberately pushed each other away: those of boss and employee. As similar as they are essentially, they cannot overcome these identities.
Gareth does, in the end, follow through with his plan to move to Philadelphia. He asks himself, “God, Boy, why do you have to leave? Why? Why?” and can only answer, “I don’t know. I – I – I don’t know.” This is the final line of the play; it is isolated from any other lines and I think it is extremely significant. There are many valid answers to this question: there is little opportunity in Ballybeg, he cannot come to terms with the past, and he cannot form strong relationships in this environment. But Gareth still cannot answer it. I think this is because he is abandoning an identity that he has formed all his life. So many years of conditioning by an unsympathetic environment have created for him an identity that is inherently alienated. There are things he loves about his environment but in order to overcome his alienation he must abandon his identity and find a new one elsewhere.
2b There is an obvious parallel between Philadelphia, Here I Come! and Playboy of the Western World in their treatment of father/son relationships. Christy and Gareth both rebel against their fathers in an effort to form a new identity. Michael talks about the character Christy attacking his father in cold blood and then later hiding from him. Although I wouldn’t immediately characterize Gareth’s actions as cowardly, I think they could be interpreted that way. Gareth takes drastic action in deciding to leave for Philadelphia. This action is both an attempt at a new identity and a plea for recognition from others. But throughout the play he avoids confronting his father directly. Like Christy, he attacks his father’s authority but then later avoids coming to terms with it.
This theme in Philadelphia, Here I Come! and Playboy of the Western World seems very Freudian to me. I don’t know that much about psychology but I do know that in Freudian psychology father figures are seen as oppressive. Individuals inherently desire to rebel against their fathers and thereby create an identity. These plays are a literal manifestation of this idea. By rebelling, Gareth and Christy earn some sort of recognition from others as well as the freedom to form new identities. This means of identity formation may be, in a sense, cowardly because it involves running away from oppression and taking advantage of it, but it is also, as these plays illustrate, an undeniable trend in human nature.
Brian Hand
Death of a Salesman
I first became interested in Playboy of the Western World when Mike M. noticed some parallels between it and Death of a Salesman. Well, I read into POTWW and it seemed (from the little research I did) to parallel the myth of Oedipus. It seems to me that Christy Mahon has a desire similar to that of Oedipus to overcome his father by killing him (although their motives differ). I feel as though the Oedipus myth, although not as explicit as TPOTWW, can be applied to Death of a Salesman as well. Biff and Happy, feel they must overcome their father's delusions to forge their existence in reality. However, they fail to that too as they discuss their plans to open a sporting goods store. Like Willy, they succumb to living out old memories rather that being at peace with the present.
1a I think the immediate juxtaposition of religion and murder in Playboy of the Western World is extremely significant. When Christy arrives at Pegeen’s “shebeen” the first thing he says is “God save all here!” When he is recounting his story to the guests there Pegeen asks, “Is it killed your father?” To which he replies, “With the help of God I did surely.” God and murder are not merely juxtaposed; they are directly related. J.M. Synge seems to be saying, by connecting the concepts so closely, that religion was in some way responsible for Christy’s actions. I think Synge is saying that the overbearing religiosity of rural Ireland breeds rebellion. Their religion strongly emphasizes a sort of Christian piety and humility. This undermines the people’s intrinsic want of power. In this environment people come to idolize those who rebel against the typical standards of behavior. Christy was once “a quiet, simple poor fellow with no man giving [him] heed.” In the eyes of those who hear his story he is transformed into a brave and powerful man. He is entrusted to protect Pegeen: “Now, by the grace of God, herself will be safe this night, with a man killed his father holding danger from the door.” And he is likened to poets: “and I’ve heard all times it’s the poets are your like, fine fiery fellows with great rages when their temper’s roused.”
Although the societal standard of Christian humility is, I believe, a major factor in Christy’s rebellion there may be other factors. There was one quote in particular that caught my eye: Christy says, “There’s many wanting” (by which he means that many people are wanted by the police) to which Michael replies, “Many surely, with the broken harvest and the ended wars.” Mr. Cook mentioned that this play and Philadelphia offer different views of the difficulties of rural Irish life and I think this quote exemplifies Synge’s view. These people live desperate lives and when they are forced to the brink they may be forced to rebel against societal standards. Another quote: “They’re bloody liars in the naked parish where I grew a man.” Christy may be rebelling against the superficiality that develops in intimate, small town environments.
1b Michael mentions in his posts the hypocrisy between Christy being a murderer and a good Christian. I agree that the attitudes of the townspeople are very clearly hypocritical but I think this is a bit of an oversimplification. As I stated in the first half of my post, I think their admiration of Christy is rooted in their strictly moral upbringing. There is evidence that the townspeople are sometimes disgusted with and afraid of Christy such as when Shawn protests, “That’d be a queer kind to bring into a decent quiet household with the like of Pegeen Mike.” But they are also deeply enticed by him. This is the result of their upbringing: people are naturally both repulsed and attracted to taboos. I think they are interested in Christy because of not in spite of their religion.
However, there is also something to be learned from the hypocrisy that he mentions. I think Synge may be saying that society is inherently hypocritical: people create societal standards purely to break them. The characters shun sin and struggles for power but secretly delight in them. Also, breaking these standards may be a necessary step in creating an identity. By simply conforming one gives up their right to an independent identity. Christy purports to kill his father in order to create an identity. The premise of creating an identity based on murder is obviously barbaric but maybe it’s not important which standard one breaks as long as one breaks some standard. Maybe people are defined precisely by which standards they break.
2a I want to talk a little bit about Christy and Pegeen’s relationship throughout POTWW. She seems to be the one woman in the play who doesn’t immediately begin chasing after him. She is critical and skeptical of him: “A soft lad the like of you wouldn’t slit the windpipe of a screeching sow.” When he first approaches her to ask if she is single she replies, “What would I want wedding so young?” When a group of girls comes to hear Christy’s story and flirt with him she shoos them off. She isn’t at all like the rest of them. At one point Pegeen protests, “You’ve told me that story six times since the dawn of day,” to which Christy replies, “It’s a queer thing you wouldn’t care to be hearing it and them girls after walking four miles to be listening to me now.” However, her relationship with Christy is also deeper than anyone else’s. Later in the book, whenever they are together, Christy takes on a poetic diction. This is apparent in his direct speech and in the allusions of others: “What is it I have… to make me fitting entertainment for the like of you, that has such poet’s talking…?” She eventually accepts his advances and falls madly in love with him. I think this development is important. Pegeen truly understands Christy. Even though she is unaware that he didn’t really kill his father, she still knows that he is not the brave hero he makes himself out to be. And yet she still loves him. I think she recognizes his aspirations and desire to rebel and loves these elements. It doesn’t matter whether or not he is a hero – merely that he has the desire to make something of himself in a world where so many people live a very humble existence. Christy is contrasted with Pegeen’s former love interest, Shawn. At one point she says, “Wouldn’t it be a bitter thing for a girl to go marrying the like of Shaneen, and he a middling kind of a scarecrow, with no savagery or fine words in him at all?”
However, Pegeen is devastated when she finds out that Christy isn’t what he claims to be. She brutally condemns him, “That’s it, now the world will see him pandied, and he an ugly liar was playing off the hero, and the fright of men.” She admires his rebellion and desires to have a part in it but the realization that he is a liar makes her doubt that he is a rebel at all. But the final quote shows that she has a sudden change of heart, “Oh my grief, I’ve lost him surely. I’ve lost the only Playboy of the Western World.” I think at this point she has realized that Christy is a rebel. He is the father-killer and charmer of women that he makes himself out to be. Just by his intense desire to rise about the conformity of his life, he becomes a hero. In her environment of intense conformity, she may never find anyone else who shares his spirit.
2b I just read the end of Michael’s third post and am especially interested in his interpretation of the play’s ending and final quote. I realized that it is pretty dissimilar from my interpretation but I don’t think that either interpretation is invalid. I have interpreted the ending based on an analysis of Christy’s character whereas Michael interpreted it based on an analysis of the community. But the ending reveals much about both the small town society and Christy’s rebellion. Christy makes a desperate attempt to save face when his lying is revealed and he reverts to an intense violence. He reveals that he really is an outsider at odds with society and trying to escape its oppression: “Go on now and I’ll see you from this day stewing my oatmeal and washing my spuds, for I’m master of all fights from now.” But the townspeople also realize their savagery: that the mediocrity of their lives led them to abandon rationality. They realize that they have created a hero out of a savage: “…but what’s a squabble in your back-yard, and the blow of a loy, have taught me that there’s a great gap between a gallous story and a dirty deed.” I think the townspeople’s actions ultimately reveal an inherent reverence for power and violence that is usually hidden by the standards of their Christian morality. Their morality only finally wins out when they realize they have been fooled. I do, however, think that Pegeen’s final quote reveals that she has come to see Christy for who he really is. I don’t think it is deeper than a mere expression of remorse over the actions of the townspeople.
Correction: that last sentence should read "I think it is deeper than a mere expression of remorse over the actions of the townspeople."
Michael M
1a
Second Play
In the play Juno and the Paycock, there seems many identity issues being suffered by the family. Mary, the daughter of the family is immediately introduced as having identity issues. “Two forces are working in her mind – one, through the circumstances of her life, pulling her back; the other, through the influence of books she has read, pushing her forward. The opposing forces are apparent in her speech and her manners, both of which are degraded by her environment, and improved by her acquaintance.” This shows that Mary is trying very hard to change her identity and better herself from the person she grew up as. It seems that by reading literature and hanging around higher class people that she is trying to make herself a higher class citizen. This is shown again when she is talking to Jerry. The dialogue between the two suggests that they had a past relationship but grew apart due to Mary’s desire to better herself. Jerry says to her, “You hardly speak to me, an’ then only a word with a face o’ bitterness on it.” This shows that Mary is clearly trying to distance herself from her past. Mary’s father Jack also suffers from identity issues. Throughout the first act, Jack pretends to have an injured leg in order to get out of work. He prefers to coast through life without doing much besides drink with his friend Joxer. However, after Jack discovers that he is due to inherit 2,000 pounds from a recently deceased relative. After learning this, Jack says that he is through lounging around with Joxer and that he is “A new man from this out.” This shows that Jack is changing who he is due to the money he is receiving, and like his daughter he is trying to better himself by leaving behind the people from his past.
1b
In Alex’s post, he talks about the love triangle between Christy, Pegeen, and Shawn. In Juno and the Paycock, the first act seems to be setting up a love triangle between Mary, Jerry, and Mr. Bentham. Mary and Jerry had a relationship, but it ended due to Mary’s desire to improve herself. In doing this, Mary starts to hang around with Mr. Bentham, who fits Mary’s desires. As the play says, he is a tall, good looking man, with a high opinion of himself. While there has been no romantic link between Mary and Mr. Bentham yet, it seems likely that the two will likely end up together due to Mary’s desire to break free of her lower class upbringing.
Michael M
2a
Second Play
In the second act, many of the characters are still undergoing identity issues. Jack, the father, is still hanging around with his friend Joxer, even though he said he wouldn’t. But Jack’s identity issues come a distant second to those of Johnny. Later on in the act, Johnny claims to see the body of Robbie Tancred, a man who was killed fighting for Irish independence. Johnny claims that “it wasn’t my fault that he was done in” which shows that he has some lingering guilt about Robbie’s death. Once the matter is settled however, Johnny denies ever being friends with or even liking Robbie. He shuns him completely saying, “Am I always to be havin’ to tell you that he was no friend o’ mine? I never cared for him, an’ he could never stick me.” This doesn’t make sense to due the fact that Johnny is having visions of Robbie’s bloody corpse. This quote signifies that Johnny and Robbie were at one point good friends but had some sort of falling out that led to Robbie’s death. Johnny probably feels so guilty about this that he is denying ever being friends with Robbie in the first place. Then, at the end of the act, a man comes in to Johnny’s house and asks him to go to a meeting to discuss the circumstances of Robbie’s death. Johnny, refuses to go saying, “Haven’t I done enough for Ireland?” Johnny’s actions show the he is trying to deny his past and not own up to something that he did. He feels tremendous guilt about something involving Robbie, but is denying it. It is in this way that Johnny is having identity issues. He is having trouble accepting who he is due to his past actions, and he denying who he is.
2b
In an earlier post, Alex talks about how the scenes of Philadelphia, Here I Come! are confined to a single locations in order to make a point about the main character’s search for a home setting. In Juno and the Paycock, the acts are also confined to a single setting. I think that this is done to get a better sense of the identity struggles the family is going through. In the first act, the house is crowded with furniture and pictures, but simple and plain, much like other families would have. At the start of the second act, the house becomes overcrowded with useless furniture and unnecessary goods due to the family receiving some inheritance money. This simple change in the home’s furnishings reflects the family’s identity shift. They are losing who they and becoming new people. Mary is trying to forget her low class upbringing, Johnny is trying to forget his past, and Jack is doing his best to act like someone with money should. So, by keeping the scene as a house throughout the play, the reader is able to see the families identity transitions.
3a Towards the end of POTWW, the consequences of Christy’s power are fully realized. Over the course of the play, Christy is elevated to the status of “hero” through his dramatic storytelling and the reverence of the townspeople. He is literally empowered: he conquers the hearts of the townspeople (and more importantly Pegeen’s) and wins in all of the games that take place in the town. However, his power also has negative effects. This is exemplified by the scene in which Pegeen reveals that she is planning to marry Christy instead of Shawn. Michael (Pegeen’s father) condemns Christy for not giving his father a proper burial. This is one of the few instances in the play in which Christy is criticized for his actions and I think it is very important. Christy’s power also has the ability to alienate people. Michael laments, “It’ll be a poor thing for the household man where you go sniffing for a female wife.” Christy’s power prevents him from developing the strong relationships and quiet home life that he desires. Michael continues, “…look beyond at that shy and decent Christian I have chosen for my daughter’s hand.” One must ultimately give up their power to find a place in society. But Christy’s power also affects other people negatively. When Pegeen reveals that she has decided to marry Christy, Michael and Shawn are devastated. Michael is devastated because Christy is not the kind of humble person who would ensure a happy home life for Pegeen: “You’d be making him a son to me, and he wet and crusted with his father’s blood?” Shawn is devastated because he is “afeard to be jealous of a man did slay his da;” he cannot compete. But Christy ends up overpowering both of them. His newfound power asserts itself regardless of who is effected by it. He threatens, “Take yourself from this, young fellow, or I’ll maybe add a murder to my deeds to-day.” Because neither Michael nor Shawn will fight him they are forced to concede. Although Michael does not approve he is forced by Christy’s threat to submit to his daughter’s desire: “A daring fellow is the jewel of the world, and a man did split his father’s middle with a single clout, should have the bravery of ten, so may God and Mary and St. Patrick bless you…”
This scene is very tragic. Although I think that Synge intends to create sympathy for Christy’s goals throughout the play, he also, in this scene especially, intends to create sympathy for the more minor characters in the play. There is a tragedy of mediocrity here: those who aren’t powerful or rebellious are crushed by their conformity. Humanity idolizes and sympathizes with rebels but it does not often sympathize with conformists. Their goals often go unrealized and unrecognized. I think Synge illustrates a twofold condemnation of society (and the conformity/rebellion it foments) here. Those who rebel either succeed and achieve fame and power or fail and are defeated by or assimilated into society (Christy both succeeds and fails). Those who conform are either satisfied with a humble lifestyle or destroyed by their mediocrity. Ultimately, society harms both rebels and conformists.
3b From Michael’s second post it seems to me that Johnny and Christy face a similar challenge in creating an identity. Johnny struggles to construct a new identity but is prevented by the guilt he feels over his past. Christy struggles to construct a new identity that is dependent on things in his past that never actually happened. I think both of these characterizations illustrate that the past is a problem in identity formation. Our past is essentially who we are, but it is not all of who we are. Like Christy, individuals may have goals and ideals that reflect their inner nature but not necessarily their past actions or present position. Christy is in many ways a fierce and passionate rebel but struggles to assert this facet of himself in light of his past. In one scene, his father characterizes him as a shy and lazy boy who couldn’t handle alcohol or women. We see however that Christy has great aspirations and that he is capable of a great deal. The ultimate problem for individuals is reconciling one’s past with facets of one’s identity that have not yet been realized.
Michael M
3a
Second Play
In act three of Juno and the Paycock, Mary is dumped by Mr. Bentham. Mary claims it is because Mr. Bentham thinks that her and her family is not good enough for him. In addition to that, Mary also finds out that she is pregnant with Mr. Bentham’s child. Also, Jack begins having money problems, and Johnny is murdered as revenge for causing Robbie’s death. This act seems to show that the family’s true identity is catching up to them. Each member of the family who tried to be someone they are not had their plans backfire on them. Mary, trying to appear as a higher class, was eventually dumped and left alone to care for her child by herself. Jack, who tried to spend money like a rich person, ended up receiving no money from the will and got himself into debt and is now no better than where he started from at the beginning of the play. In both cases, Mary and Jack were negatively affected by Mr. Bentham. Not only did he leave Mary to care for their child alone, but he also made an error on the will that cost Jack’s family all of their money and got them into debt. In a way, Mr. Bentham represents the high society that both Mary and Jack were trying to become. They both end up being betrayed by Bentham, and high society, revealing who they really are.
Johnny’s identity issues also come to a sad end. Two men come into his house and drag him out at gunpoint, eventually killing him. He is killed for giving up Robbie’s location, and his past that he tried so desperately to escape came back to get him. Juno, Jack’s wife also had an identity crisis, but instead of hers being resolved, it just started. Not only did she lose her son and husband, but she lost her identity of being both a mother and a wife. She now has to take on a whole new role in life in replacement of the one she lost.
3b
In Alex’s final post, he talks about how Christy faces the consequences for his actions. The same happens to the Boyle family in Juno and the Paycock. Each member has to deal with the consequences for whatever they did over the course of the play. Mary, who dumped Jerry in favor of a higher class man, was in turn dumped and left to raise a child by herself. Jack, who spent money unwisely, ended up receiving no money and lost his family as a result of it. Johnny also faces the consequences for betraying a fellow comrade by paying with his life.
Irish Plays
Alex R (Philadelphia, Here I Come): Thank you for the thoughtful comparison of (what’s called) female agency (“agency” is akin to assertiveness and control within a social situation) in Friel’s play and Lorca’s. You’ve hit on an essential difference between the social environments.
“Gareth’s conversation with his friends reveals that their relationship is shallow and vain” This reminds me of many of what many of the conversations between male friends reveal in James Joyce’s short story collection Dubliners, too. (Joyce called this emotional “paralysis”.) A severe problem with emotional intimacy plagues many USAmerican male relationships too, no? (For this reason and others I love the wonderful speech Hamlet gives to Horatio in act five. I’ve found the intensity of the love Hamlet express for Horatio to make male teens squirm a bit uncomfortably.)
Also relevant with regard to Joyce’s Dubliners is the fact that in a letter to his brother he referred to one part of the book as consisting of “public life” stories. Considering how important Joyce is in Irish literature it seems Friel must have had this in mind somewhat when writing Philadelphia…
Michael M (Playboy…)
“Christy’s father comes back to town to witness his son win a race. He is in disbelief that his no good son is able to be good at anything. Playing on this, the Widow Quin is able to convince Christy’s father that the young man who won the race could not possible be his son. Christy’s father believes her and leaves the tavern.” This is funny! I don’t think any of the other plays in any of the other categories are as darkly humorous as Synge’s play. (It seems to me humor is characteristics of all the Irish greats (Joyce, O’Casey, Beckett, Flann O’Brien, Oscar Wilde) except perhaps for Yeats—though his Crazy Jane poems have humor too.)
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“Pegeen realizes that the town created Christy’s heroism” It would be interesting to compare this play to Ibsen’s Enemy of the People for what they say about the (lack of) wisdom of the majority view of a town.
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Alex R
“Through this contradiction, Friel seems to imply that emotional alienation is permanent.” Ugh a profound truth (though quiet but no less tragic because quiet)
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“Individuals inherently desire to rebel against their fathers and thereby create an identity.” One sees this in A Portrait too.
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( Playboy ) “Their religion strongly emphasizes a sort of Christian piety and humility. This undermines the people’s intrinsic want of power.” Alex, have you been reading Nietzsche?\
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“people are naturally both repulsed and attracted to taboos.” Yes, Alex. Our country would be better off if more people understood this.
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“Christy takes on a poetic diction.” An insight gleaned from careful attention to the language. Well done.
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“I think she recognizes his aspirations and desire to rebel and loves these elements. It doesn’t matter whether or not he is a hero – merely that he has the desire to make something of himself in a world where so many people live a very humble existence.” I admire the distinction you see here between hero and heroic aspirations and admire that you have found this distinction in Pegeen’s relationship with Christy.
Your response (2a) amounts to a powerful analysis of the play’s core arrived at through an analysis of Pegeen’s view of Christy.
“But the townspeople also realize their savagery: that the mediocrity of their lives led them to abandon rationality.” Wow. Now really: have you too been reading Nietzsche—or perhaps Ayn Rand?
Michael M
“It seems that by reading literature and hanging around higher class people that she is trying to make herself a higher class citizen.” Solid interpretation of indirect characterization.
Alex R
“There is a tragedy of mediocrity here” It’s not often that a person coins a memorable phrase in informal high school writing. Impressive. The writing is as impressive as the insights.
“society harms both rebels and conformists” It is perhaps the human condition itself—society aside—that is engenders tragic harm of this sort.
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