2) THEMES

The playboy of the western world was written by John Millington Synge and is set
in a village in north western Ireland. The entire play is based on Christy Mahon.
The play is mostly a dark comedy but the play also deals with other themes. Some
of them are-
1) Conservative rural Irish society
At that time Ireland was under the control of England. The people of the
imperialist country were fighting for freedom. The liberties of the people were
being crushed and were mercilessly exploited. Anyone who broke the law became
hero. That is why people of Mayo have a tendency to protect all criminals. Christy
comes to Mayo and tells them that he had killed his father with a single stoke of
spade. The tendency is so prominent that at one time Shawn says-
“Oh, it’s a hard case to be an orphan and not to have your father that you’re used
to, and you’d easily kill and make yourself a hero in the sight of all.”
Instead of treating it as a despicable act and handing him over to the police, Christy
is received warmly and treated as a hero. They regarded a self-confessed murderer,
one who opposed the law as a brave and reliable man.
2) Conflict between Convention and Rebellion
The issues of convention and rebellion were at the forefront of Irish politics when
the play was produced. Christy’s act in murdering his father represents an act of
rebellion against social expectations. The awe that he incites from the villagers
does not come from murdering his father but from the fact that he was capable of
doing something that was totally unacceptable. The play contains an ironic mixture
of rebellion and conformity to social conventions. All of the characters, save
Shawn, value a rebellious spirit.
Generally, fathers during those days were authoritative figures and were expected
to be obeyed.  Pegeen Mike loves Christy but she is forced to marry Shawn Keogh,
who is repulsed by Pegeen for his cowardice. Because of the patriarchal views of
Pegeen’s father she is forced to marry Shawn. Throughout the play we can see
fathers forcing their children to marry against their will. This in turn creates an act
of rebellion. Since marriage is seen more as an economic convenience than an act
of love Pegeen and Christy have to decide whether to succumb to the pressure or to
break away and create a unique identity of their own.
 3) Conflict between Fantasy Vs. Reality
Synge adopted many of the characteristics of realism in his plays but also added
poetic elements. Synge writes in his preface to The Playboy of the Western
World that he rejected the realism of Ibsen and Zola whom dealt with the reality of
life in joyless and pallid words. He insisted that
"on the stage one must have reality, and one must have joy … the rich joy found
only in what is superb and wild in reality."
We see the conflict between fantasy vs. reality is shown here.
The play is about fantasy. It shows the power of myth to create a reality out of
dream or illusion. The expansion of Christy’s consciousness is accompanied
through a lie and grows to heroic proportions at each telling. The people of Mayo
welcome his fantasy as long as it remains distant, a ‘gallous-story’ beautifully told
but becomes disgustful when it comes too close for comfort and becomes a dirty
deed. Christy’s exaggeration and those of his listeners provide a great deal of fun,
but Synge sees to it that in his handling of the theme versus reality never gets out
of hand. Whenever Christy soars too high on the wings of his imagination, Synge
brings him back to earth. For example, when Christy is boasting about his bravery
to Pegeen, a knock at the door sends him cowering to her. Therefore, when fantasy
becomes a reality it transforms the person.

4) Religion and Hypocrisy

Religion in The Playboy serves as the reigning moral order of village life.
However, Synge's depiction of it is quite nuanced, since characters frequently
subvert religious expectation for the sake of self-interest.
 Shawn Keogh prefers to leave Pegeen alone in the dead of night with a
madman abroad than risk censure for spending unchaperoned time with her.
 Meanwhile, these 'religious' villagers immediately celebrate Christy for his
horrific patricide. The worse Christy's tale becomes, the more do the
villagers grow enamored of him.
 What is implied through Pegeen's tale in particular is that freedom from
religious restraint allows for freedom from the stifling nature of village life.
Christy's crime allows her to imagine a life of self-realization, away from
religious restraint.
 Though Synge never makes an explicit attack on religion in the play, it is posed
as something antithetical to human freedom and individuality, and this conflict
forms the center of the story.

5) Power of Love
Having been built on a foundation of lies, the love between Pegeen Mike and
Christy Mahon falls apart instantly when Christy’s true colors are exposed.  Synge
almost satirizes the idea of love through both Pegeen and Christy’s relationship to
emphasize its superficiality. They must be true to each other before experiencing
the powerful force that is love.
As a young woman who feels constrained by the limitations of her world living in
rural Mayo of the early 1900s, Pegeen Mike seeks excitement and adventure.
Naturally, she seizes the opportunity when Christy offers her this. She’s fascinated
by his “gallous story”. The way Christy describes his “dirty deed” plants the seed
of ambition and love within Pegeen. Pegeen’s self-obsession with love blurs the
line between reality and her fantastical thoughts. She disregards his true
personality and falls in love with his false story. In turn, Christy takes advantage of
this new persona and allows himself to continue with the lie. Neither of the two are
innocent from the outset and a superficial relationship is created. 
He expresses his love by saying,
“Isn’t there the light of seven heavens in your heart alone, the way you’ll be an
angel’s lamp to me from this out”.
This poetic nature that Christy shows gives him more confidence to be someone
he’s (he is) not. Both Pegeen and Christy desire something that neither are capable
of achieving. As soon as the truth comes out their relationship collapses. This
demonstrates how unstable the relationship was. This highlights that love is
superficial and ultimately temporary. Pegeen’s final words emphasize this insight-
“I’ve lost him surely. I’ve lost the only playboy of the Western World”.
Unfortunately, the power of love proves tragic for both Pegeen and Christy.
6) Marriage
Although the play is built around the theme ‘marriage’, none of the characters are
married and only incomplete families can be found with the absence of wives and
mothers. Both Christy and Shawn seems to be seeking for wives who can make up
for the loss of their mothers. Marriage is obviously central to a world centered
around Church expectations, as the Irish countryside of his play is. Throughout the
play, 'fathers' force marriage upon their 'children,' inspiring intense acts of
rebellion or submission. Because marriage does not represent love, but rather
economic convenience, characters must decide whether to submit to expectation or
declare their identity in the face of these expectations. Father Reilly controls
Shawn’s fate through deciding whether to grant the dispensation. Most of all, the
relationship between Christy and Pegeen reflects the way marriage stands in
contrast to personal identity. Whether Pegeen will eventually submit to marrying
Shawn is uncertain, but what is certain is that she has glimpsed that true freedom is
stifled by social expectations like marriage.