The Playboy of the Western World

“I’m afeared of Father Reilly, I’m saying. Let you not be tempting me, and we nearly married itself.”

This is the first time Shawn fully admits to being afraid of his priest, Father Reilly. This is a critical character development for Shawn, who is depicted as a devout Catholic and rule-follower to a fault. It also establishes Father Reilly as a father figure to Shawn, which supports the theme of Fathers and Obedience.

“Bravery’s a treasure in a lonesome place, and a lad would kill his father, I’m thinking, would face a foxy divil with a pitchpike on the flags of hell.”

Jimmy, Michael James’s friend, encourages him to hire Christy as a server for the bar. He sees that Pegeen Mike wants for company, and a man who showed such bravery in killing his father is likely to provide ample protection to the bar while they are away. This is also the beginning of the villagers treating Christy as a hero for his violence, as opposed to a criminal. Jimmy’s reverence supports the theme of The Romanticization of Heroism and Violence.

“Up to the day I killed my father, there wasn’t a person in Ireland knew the kind I was, and I there drinking, waking, eating, sleeping, a quiet, simple fellow with no man giving me heed.”

This line is spoken by Christy to Pegeen Mike in one of their initial conversations. The two of them bond over their shared loneliness, a recurring motif. Pegeen Mike assumes that Christy must be popular and well-loved back home, but Christy assures her that this isn’t the case. His life was redundant, dull, and most of all, lonely.

“It’s more than ‘maybe’ I’m saying, and it’d soften my heart to see you sitting so simple with your cup and cake, and you fitter to be saying your catechism than saying your da.”

Widow Quin, upon first meeting Christy, is shocked that such an innocent-looking man could be capable of something like murder. He is not physically brutish, nor does he seem violent in nature. She arrives, per Father Reilly and Shawn’s request, expecting a drunken, violent man. Instead, she is greeted by an average man who smiles tiredly.

“If it didn’t, maybe all knows a widow woman has buried her children and destroyed her man is a wiser comrade for a young lad than a girl, the like of you, who’d go helter-skeltering after any man would let you wink upon the road.”

This line is a dig at Pegeen Mike from Widow Quin. During the scene in Act I, when the two women are fighting over Christy, Widow Quin implies that Pegeen Mike is a flirt with many men, and that Christy is not special to her. When this doesn’t work, Widow Quin mentions Pegeen Mike’s engagement to Shawn as she is being rushed out of the bar. Widow Quin’s attempt to undermine Pegeen Mike and position herself as a more appropriate companion for Christy develops the theme of Marriage as a Social and Economic Institution.

“She did not. She hit himself with a worn pick, and the rusted poison did corrode his blood the way he never overed it, and died after. That was a sneaky kind of murder did win small glory with the boys itself.”

Pegeen Mike reveals to Christy how Widow Quin killed her husband. This act of murder gives Widow Quin and Christy something in common and is one of the traits Widow Quin later uses to position herself as a better match for him. Widow Quin is also characterized as “sneaky,” a trait that foreshadows her cunning and manipulative actions throughout the play.

“Well, it’s a clean bed and soft with it, and it’s great luck and company I’ve won in the end of time—two fine women fighting for the likes of me—till I’m thinking this night wasn’t I a foolish fellow not to kill my father in the years gone by.”

For the first time, Christy finds himself the center of attention with multiple women. He is fond of the unexpected attention he receives from the County Mayo women and comedically surmises that he should have killed his father sooner. The perceived death of Old Mahon affords Christy greater opportunity and status, which develops the theme of Fathers and Obedience.

“I know well it’s the man; and I’m after putting him down in the sports below for racing, leaping pitching, and the Lord knows what.”

Once Christy has settled into County Mayo, the villagers want to test his physical strength and “masculine” prowess. Widow Quin signs him up for every sport imaginable, and Christy proceeds to win them all. Christy’s athletic victories further cement his hero status, and as per stereotypical gender roles, Christy’s grand “prize” is Pegeen Mike.

“Would you have me think a man never talked with the girls would have the words you’ve spoken today? It’s only letting on you are to be lonesome, the way you’d get around me now.”

Flirty Christy is such a smooth talker with the ladies that Pegeen Mike does not believe him to be lonesome. She sees it as an act of his to connect with her. Although unaccustomed to the attention, Christy is a natural charmer. The “playboy” persona is a farce, yet Christy’s poetic speech evinces his genuine Casanova traits.

“I’m thinking you’ll be a loyal lad to have working around, and if you vexed me a while since with your leaguing with the girls, I wouldn’t give a thraneen for a lad hadn’t a might spirit in him and a gamey heart.”

Pegeen Mike is weary of Christy’s flirting with other girls, but he is soon able to convince her to accept it. She does and even admits that his flirting with so many women makes him seem more masculine. Pegeen Mike’s attraction to Christy’s social esteem supports the theme of Marriage as a Social and Economic Institution.

“It’s the like of me only that she’s fit for, a quiet simple fellow wouldn’t raise a hand upon her if she scratched itself.”

Shawn maintains that Christy and Pegeen Mike would be an ill-fitted match, as both Christy and Pegeen Mike are ill-tempered and stubborn. Shawn, on the other hand, is much more mild-mannered and would never contradict Pegeen Mike. Ironically, Shawn condemns Christy’s fieriness yet admires Pegeen Mike’s. In addition, Shawn believes that as a man interested in Pegeen Mike, he is equipped to determine who is and is not suitable for her. Synge subverts this gender stereotype by having Pegeen Mike violently reject Shawn in the play’s closing scene.

“It’s the walking spirit of my murdered da?”

Toward the end of Act II, Christy comes face-to-face with his father, who he believed to be dead. At first, it doesn’t register to Christy that Old Mahon never died, so he believes him to be a ghost come back to haunt him. The comedic arrival of Old Mahon incites conflict between Old Mahon and Christy as well as between Christy and the County Mayo community.

“And isn’t it a shame with the old and hardened do torment the young?”

This is another example of ageism in The Playboy of the Western World. Widow Quin makes this comment to Old Mahon in an amusing manner, which both patronizes him and accuses him of bringing his own son’s wrath upon his head. Ironically, Widow Quin knows herself how it feels to be looked down upon for something like one’s age, but she defends the younger Mahon instead. Widow Quin has more to gain from Christy than Old Mahon, so her loyalties lie with whoever supplies the most advantageous alliance.

“I’d take a mighty oath you didn’t surely, and wasn’t he the laughing joke of every female woman where four baronies meet, the way the girls would stop their weeding if they seen him coming the road to let a roar at him, and call him the looney of Mahon’s.”

Christy, who has been heralded as a hero and a ladies’ man, is outed by his father for being unsuccessful back home. The women there berated him and were certainly never attracted to him. This comes as a great shock to the people of County Mayo, whose women have treated Christy like a king. Old Mahon’s biting revelations shatter Christy’s heroic image. 

“Well, you’re the walking Playboy of the western World, and that’s the poor man you had divided to his breeches belt.”

Widow Quin bursts out into laughter when Old Mahon leaves, and Christy comes out of hiding. She says this line to him, referring to the father Christy claimed to have killed so violently. Although Widow Quin first felt attracted to Christy, now she is amused by the situation in which he has found himself. Widow Quin uses this turn of events to her advantage and strikes a deal to help Christy.

“She’ll knock the head of you, I’m thinking, and drive you from the door. God help her to be taking you for a wonder, and you a little schemer making up the story you destroyed your Da.”

Christy tells Widow Quin he’s worried about how Pegeen Mike will react when she finds out that his father is alive. Widow Quin tells him that it won’t be pleasant; Pegeen Mike will likely react with violence of her own. Ironically, Widow Quin also fell for Christy’s story yet mocks Pegeen Mike for her naivete to believe the murder was true.

“I am your like, and it’s for that I’m taking a fancy to you, and I with my little housemen above where there’d be myself to tend to, and none to ask were you a murderer or what at all.”

Widow Quin and Christy share a moment that bonds them. For the first time, Christy realizes that Widow Quin is correct in saying that they are similar to each other. One thing that ties them together is the lonesome fate of murderers. Widow Quin lives alone, away from the prying villagers, and a similar fate might befall Christy if his secret is discovered.

“Then we’ll not say a word of the old fellow, the way Pegeen won’t know your story till the end of time.”

Widow Quin and Christy form an alliance, one in which Christy barters a large amount of goods with the widow in exchange for her help in concealing the truth from Pegeen Mike. Now, more than ever, Christy is determined to win Pegeen Mike’s hand and make her his bride. Widow Quin, who feels a sort of kinship with the young man, agrees to help him deceive his love. This alliance is comical because “sneaky” Widow Quin just made a deal with Shawn to help him win Pegeen Mike. This exchange characterizes Widow Quin as conniving.

“I’m the same surely. The wrack and ruin of three score years; and it’s a terror to live that length, I tell you, and to have your sons going to the dogs against you, and you wore out scolding them, and skelping them, and God knows what.”

Old Mahon bemoans his son’s unfaithfulness to all who will listen at the bar. He talks of the hardships of aging and of seeing his son, whom he raised for nearly two decades, turn against him. He feels betrayed by Christy’s actions and tired from life’s struggles. Instead of being respected for having lived so long, he is treated as a burden. Like Christy, Old Mahon spins a sympathetic yarn to win the favor of the villagers.

“That man marrying a decent and a moneyed girl! Is it mads you are?”

Old Mahon is hardly able to believe his ears when Widow Quin tells him that Christy (who, in this scene is being raised above the crowds for his sporting championship) is betrothed to the lady of the house. The son he knows is awkward, lazy, and vain. Old Mahon cannot grasp why Pegeen Mike would marry his son, and why her father would approve of the union. Old Mahon’s disbelief conveys his negative view of his son.

“That’ll be right fun, Christy Mahon, and any girl would walk her heart out before she’d meet a young man was your like for eloquence, or talk, at all.”

Pegeen Mike is fond of Christy and drawn to his poetic speech. Christy is able to string together words so romantic and beautiful that they make her melt. In this scene, he uses his words to ease her mind, as she worries he might grow bored and wander off after they are married. The charm of Christy’s language is heightened in contrast to the ordinary speech of County Mayo’s citizens.

“Aye. Wouldn’t it be a bitter thing for a girl to go marrying the like of Shaneen, and he a middling kind of scarecrow, with no savagery or fine words in him at all?”

Pegeen Mike has never been shy about insulting Shawn’s cowardice. Shawn, Michael James, and Christy are arguing about who should marry Pegeen Mike: Christy or Shawn. Pegeen Mike is firm in her decision. She will never marry Shawn because he is a pushover, with no ear for poetry or romance. Pegeen Mike’s favor shows that she values social esteem more than security.

“Shut your yelling, for if you’re after making a mighty man of me this day by the power of a lie, you’re setting me now to think if it’s a poor thing to be lonesome, it’s worse maybe to go mixing with the fools of the earth.”

Toward the end of the play, Old Mahon and Christy face off in a climactic fight. The crowd urges Christy to keep going and to fight his father more, and Christy turns to them and delivers this line. He is upset by their obsession with violence, as he’s already proven his masculinity by winning each of the sporting contests. Here, his anger is brewing, and only a few lines later he erupts and chases his father out of the bar with a loy.