Playboy
of the Western World is a comedy rich in farcical elements. In fact the play is
a boisterous comedy which keeps us amused and laughing throughout. The comic
elements, many of which are coarse and crude, are so abundant in the play that
sometimes it seems that the play is more a farce than a comedy. Moreover, like
a comedy the play does not end with the ringing of the marriage bells. The play
may also seem to have no definite purpose or aim. For these reasons, I think it
would not be a crime if we term The Playboy of the Western World as a farce.
In
theatre,
a farce is a comedy
which aims to entertain the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and
improbable situations, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication,
which may include sexual innuendo and word play. Farce is also characterized by physical
humor, the use of deliberate absurdity
or nonsense, and broadly stylized performances. In dramatizing Playboy of the
Western World Synge does not disdain the effects of farce on the sage, the
primitive appeal to eye and ear, which transcends nationality and education. Indeed
it is likely that his close acquaintance with the plays of Shakespeare and
Moliere encouraged him to include so many farcical scenes in his own comedies.
There
seems to be a steady increase in the number of farcical scenes as the play
progresses. The humour of situations in this play is often farcical.
There
are two ludicrous scenes in the first act: The first situation is when Shawn
trying to escape from the clutches of Michael in order to avoid sleeping at the
shebeen for the night, manages to run away, he leaves his coat behind in
Michael’s hand. He is so terrified of having to spend the night alone with
Pegeen, an unmarried girl, that he has to make a run from shebeen in order to
avoid being forced to stay by Michael. There are undertones of subtler comedy
on each occasion.
Another
situation is Pegeen and Widow Quin each pulling Christy in her own direction
because of their rivalry over the young man. We have known of two men fighting
over a woman but here we have a farcical situation because here two women fight
over a man and each pulls him toward herself. It is an indignified physical
situation which immediate appeal is primitive and visual.
In
Act 2 there are more such scenes. Christy hiding a mirror behind his back when
the village girls come to see him, constitutes a funny sight for the audience
while this situation becomes even more comic when one of the girls says that
Christy is so vain that he even wants to look at the reflection of his back
side in the mirror, adding that probably men who murder their fathers become
conceited.
Sara
putting on Christy’s boots is funny too. Then we feel amused to find Philly who
is already semi-drunk searching for more liquor and, on finding all the
cupboards in the shebeen locked, cursing Peggen as the devil’s own daughter.
Christy
hiding behind the door when he sees his father is alive and coming towards the
shebeen locked is another comic situation. Here the comedy arises from
Christy’s discomfiture at finding his father to be very much alive and also
from the contrast between what Christy has proclaimed and what turns out to be
the real fact. The appeal is till mainly visual in this swift series of comic
sketches, and, highly-colored language is a delight to the ear.
In
Act III, where we move from one farcical incident to another at bewildering
speed: Jimmy and Philly, slightly drunk, talking nonsense about skulls and
bones; Old Mahon’s second entrance; Michael James’s drunken return from the
wake; Shawn Keogh fleeing from Christy’s threats of violence; Old Mahon beating
his son before the assembled villagers; Sara’s petticoat being fastened on
Christy; Christy biting Shawn; Pegeen scorching Christy; Old Mahon’s last
return on all fours.
The
efforts of Widow Quin and Sara to fasten a petticoat on Christy in order to disguise
him as a woman so that he may be able to escape from the wrath of the crowd is
also funny, because they are trying to convert a supposed hero into a female.
One
of the most amusing situations which is bound to evoke a roar of laughter from
the audience is Christy’s managing to bite Shawn’s leg and Shawn’s screaming
with pain.
But
perhaps the most amusing situation in the whole play is the second resurrection
of Old Mahon. The old man comes back into the shebeen on all fours not having
been killed even by the second blow which Christy has given him, this time
again with a spade. Apart from Synge’s obvious delight in farce, such scenes
often have a clear dramatic function: the hero is being humiliated and
ridiculed as a very proper punishment for his vanity, boasting and lies.
Thus,
we see that Playboy of the Western World is a farce in a good sense of the
word. The play has the capacity to entertain the audience to the utmost
satisfaction with its comic and farcical elements.