J. M. Synge The Playboy of the Western World
1) How is J. M. Synge's play a "vampire" story? Explain your answer.
2) What sort of hero is Christy Mahon?
3) J. M. Synge's Playboy is famous for inciting riots both in Dublin and amongst Irish-American audiences in Philadelphia. Irish nationalist leader Arthur Griffith called it "a vile and inhuman story told in the foulest language we have ever listened to from a public platform." Why do you think audiences, particularly Irish audiences, found this play so offensive?
4) What is the portrayal of women in this play? How might it compare to portrayals of Irish femininity in other texts we have read so far?
By: Lynn Schambow
ReplyDeleteI think that JM Synge’s play is seen as a vampire story for a couple different reasons. One of them is the women in the play; they are more sexual than other human women we have read about. They have more common ground with the vampire women we have read about with the fact that in the play the women show an interest in Christy. One of the women say “There’s great temptation in a man did slay his da, and we’d best be going, young fellow; so rise up and come with me” (17). This is not something that women at this time would do. Women didn’t call out to men and show their liking for them. They wanted women to be quite and do what the men wanted. The other factor that makes this seem like a vampire story is that the young men said he killed his dad but he’s dad comes back. There is nothing in the papers about a murder or a body being found. So it seems like his dad could be a vampire and that is the reason that he didn’t die and he comes back. The women also seem ok with the fact that is man has killed his father. I think that is a bit strange most people would be freaked out that a killer is talking to them. They seem like they are more interested in him because of this fact.
By: Ashley Kreul
ReplyDeleteJM Synge's play gives off the idea of being like a vampire story. It brings up the idea of the imaginative and things being unreal/fake. The men in the play are easy going and masculine while the ladies are romantic, sexual feeling towards the guys. The girls are interested in Christy by his story and they end up calling him a hero. The idea is though is that in the end of the story, his dad that was "murdered" comes back to life and that gives the idea of the living dead, or the unreal. The father coming back to life is unlikely because if you are dead the only way you can come back to life is if you are part of the supernatural or unreal world. A quote that caught my interest that could be related to this being a vampire story was "Isn't there the harvest boys with their tongues red for drink, and the ten tinkers is camped in the east glen, and the thousand militia-bad cess to them!-walking idle through the land. There's lots surely to hurt me, and I wont stop alone in it, let himself do what you will (6). This could relate to it being a vampire story, with the fact that it's tongues are red for drink or they walk idle through the land. The way the play is written could explain the way it is like a vampire story. It's the idea of the ladies attraction to Christy and the idea that the father comes back from the dead.
By: Lukas Wagner
ReplyDeleteIn J.M. Synge The Playboy of the Western World Christy Mahon was portrayed as some sort of hero. In my opinion I think the town folks looked at him as a hero because, he gave their little town some lively hood. The town was said to be boring we can see this when they tell us what Pengeen father and friends do for fun is go to wakes at night. Christy comes into the pub and when he starts to tell his story they all listen in and can’t seem to get enough of him. He is also portrayed as a hero in the end I believe because; he is able to walk off with his father. Finding out he did not truly kill him but just knocked him out is poetry’s him as a hero because his father is not dead but he has shown that he is a man and that he can now take control over the family farm. In this play we also see that it portrayals femininity in a different way than in some of the last text that we have read. One way that I seen a difference is that the women seem to seek Christy more than he seeks them but in many of our last stories the men have been known to seek the women. I also thought it was different that Pengeen was left to run the pub all by herself while her father was out enjoying his time. Altogether I really enjoyed reading this play it seemed to be an easier read than some of the last stories that we have read.