The Playboy of the Western World (Cyclopedia of Literary Places)
At a glance:
- Author: J. M. Synge
- First Published: 1907
- Type of Work: Drama
- Type of Plot: Comic realism
- Time of Work: Early twentieth century
- Genres: Realism, Drama, Comedy
- Subjects: Parents and children, Mythology or myths, Twentieth century, Rural or country life, Fathers, Fratricide, parricide, or filicide, Ireland or Irish people, Peasantry or peasants, Braggarts
- Locales: Mayo, Ireland
Places Discussed
Tavern. Unlicensed public house in the wild Mayo County region on the west coast of Ireland in which the play is centered. The location is somewhat north of John Millington Synge’s beloved Aran Islands, and thus an apt setting in which to illustrate Synge’s repulsion at the ignorance of Ireland’s poor. Synge came by this disdain honestly, through his fiercely Protestant family, who owned land in both County Galway and County Wicklow (thereby bracketing the island both east and west).
Within the setting’s isolation, there is community. The tavern...
[The entire page is 555 words long]
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