A Quick Guide to "The Playboy of the Western World"

By Students' Academy

“The Playboy of the Western World” by Irish playwright John Millington Synge is a three-act play.

The play was first performed on 26th of January, in 1907, at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.

The play is set in Michael James Flaherty’s public house in County Mayo, on the west coast of Ireland, during the early 1900s.

The story revolves around a young man, Christy Mohan, who happens to be running away from his farm. He claims that he has killed his father. The locals are not as much interested in condemning his immoral and murderous deed as they are in vicariously enjoying his story.

A Quick Guide to "The Playboy of the Western World"
Copyright
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Plot Summary
Chapter Three: Characters
Chapter Four: Complete Summary
Chapter Five: Critical Analysis

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raja Sharma
• Release date: Nov 5, 2013
• ISBN: 9781311616807

Students' Academy

Easy study guides for the students of English literature.

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A Quick Guide to The Playboy of the Western World

Copyright

A Quick Guide to The Playboy of the Western World

Students' Academy

Copyright@2013 Students' Academy

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Chapter One: Introduction

The Playboy of the Western World by Irish playwright John Millington Synge is a three-act play.

The play was first performed on 26th of January, in 1907, at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.

The play is set in Michael James Flaherty’s public house in County Mayo, on the west coast of Ireland, during the early 1900s.

The story revolves around a young man, Christy Mohan, who happens to be running away from his farm. He claims that he has killed his father. The locals are not as much interested in condemning his immoral and murderous deed as they are in vicariously enjoying his story.

Christy meets a bar maid Pegeen Mike, the daughter of Flaherty. He catches her romantic attention.

Chapter Two: Plot Summary

Before the start of the play, there is a brief preface by Synge. He tries to establish that there happens to be a link between the imagination of the Irish country people and their speech itself. He establishes that the Irish speech is rich and living. According to Synge the language of the Irish people is fiery and magnificent.

He takes the credit for possessing both the presence of mind and poetic vision to have recognized these virtues of the Irish people and their language.

The play is set in a pub outside a village in Northwester Ireland in 1907. In the opening scene of the Act I, we find Pegeen Mike, the daughter of the owner of the pub. She is sitting alone in the pub. She happens to be writing a letter to order supplies for her wedding to Shawn Keogh. The wedding is going to take place in a few days.

Michael James is Pegeen Mike’s father. He has gone to attend a wake, leaving his daughter in the pub for the evening.

After a while, Shawn Keogh enters the pub. He comments on the frightening darkness outside. Pegeen wants him to stay with her because she is also feeling nervous that night. Shawn refuses