The Vision of JM Synge
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South Dakota State University Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange Electronic Theses and Dissertations 1974 Pathos and its Paradox : The Vision of J. M. Synge William K. Schultz Follow this and additional works at: https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd Recommended Citation Schultz, William K., "Pathos and its Paradox : The Vision of J. M. Synge" (1974). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 4761. https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/4761 This Thesis - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ( PATH(.)S AND ITS PARADOX: THE VISION OF J. M� SYNC3E BY '1/ILLIP.M K. SCHULTZ� JR, A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment cf the requirements for de91�ee Master of Arts, Major in the English, South Dakota State University 1974 LIBRARY. UNIVERSITY KOTA STATE SOUTH DA M.. PATHOS AND ITS PARADOX: THE VISIOI� OF J. SYNGE This thesis is appr oved aa a creditable and independent investigation by a c a n i ate for the degree, Mast er of Arts, and d d is epta for m i g the thes is requirements for this degree. acc ble eet n Acceptance of this thesis does not imply that the conclus ions candidate .:ire ni;·cessa:?:·ily :::-eached by the the c0nc;lusicr.s of the major epar tme t . d n Thesis Adv1sE--r uate // I Head, EdJl Department Dat ish e iii ACKNOWLEDGJvIENTS I wo uld like to acknowledge the cordial ass istance rendered by my thesis adviser , Dr . John Kinyon, during th e preparation of this pa per . Our discussions of Synge and his contemporaries have only enha nc ed my appreciation of a critical period in British literature . also wish to recognize the helpful suggestions of Dr . Paul I Witherington, whose corresponding interest in mythology imparted a definite influence in the conception of this work. WKS iv Ma n 's la st high mood Can pass above this pa ssion of the seas Tha t moans to crush him . In each man 's proper joy Th e first high pu issance that made live the gods Lives on the earth and asks ea ch stone for worship. --Luasnad, Lu asnad, Capa and Laine M. Synge .by J. CONTEN TS Chapter Page I. THE RECEPTION OF SYNGE: THE CRITIC AND HIS LANGUA GE • • • . 1 II. ACCEPTANCE AS CHOICE: SYNGE' S HEROIC JvPMEN T • • • • • • • . 13 III. THE BLAZING STRAW: A STUDY OF SYNGE' S . PA RADOXICAL DEIRDRE ---OF THE SORROWS 24 IV. TRAGICOMIC ART •• . ' . 38 V. DEA TH AND HERO . THE 52 BIBLI OGRAPHY OF WORKS CONSULTED . 60 A CHAPTER I THE RECEPT ION OF SYNGE: THE CRITIC HIS LANGUAGE AND The moods of his various plays--laughter and pa ssion and knavery--were what he saw in the world; bu t the light in which he saw them was his own , a clear hard light, shining neither through rosy nor through smoky glass. l For Syn e what Franc is Bickley calls the "hard light" of J. M. g reality and the "passion" of imagination are combined in the chara cter of the Ir ish peasant. As Bickley aga in observes, "in this people, as he saw it--and he had no sentimentality to mar his vision--the god and the beast were mixed in just proportions; corresponding to tha t juxtaposi tion exaltation brutal ity figt;r es in of a.'.1d which his thecry of poetry."2 It is the poetic richness of Synge's language, too, that ju xtaposes the potential of language and the potential of life . It is a rhythmic language that pulsates with the fullness of physical nature , and yet it too reta ins the somberness to be acknowledged upon wit- nessing transient life. H. S. Can by suggests tha t the poetic style of Synge was a needed stimulus in an ailing English drama . "Indeed , here is a new rhythm for English prose, as be autiful perha ps as the rhythms of the seventeenth century. Its flexibl e beauty gives ju st tha t impression lFra ncis Bickley, l..· f:1· � and the Irish Drama tic Movement ( Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1 91 2 ) , p. 30 . 2rbid. , PP· 24-5. 2 of reality elevated into art which blank verse permitted to the 3 Elizabethans ." The critic L. A. G. Strong wr ites that The Playboy of the Western World "has a laughter and violence and overwhelming love of life which no other dramatist ha s recaptured since the _ • • 4 El izabetha !ls . · •11 As if describing Synge himself, Strong cha r- acte:rizes the Playboy as "the poet, the man of imagination . The 5 world wa s too much with him. He got drunk on the smell of a pint." It is a wild and pa ssionate love of life tha t provides Synge 's chara cters with their pr ima ry motivations. C. A. Bennett reminds the rea der tha t "t he presence of something incalculable wa rns us that we are among a people wh ere the forces of life have not been subdued." 6 Th e µeasa ntry of Ireland is a convenient and technologically unspoiled art istic source that Synge utilizes to spark the fiery national imagina tion . For Synge, the wonder of man is the wonder in ea ch man. "He found the life in a ma n very well worth wonder , ev en though the man were a fool , or a knave , or just down from Oxford. 117 3H. S. Canby, "John M. Synge, A Review of His Works," Ya le Review, (July 1913) , 771-2. 2 4 1. A. G. Strong , "John Millington Synge," Bookman, April 1931 , 134. p. 5Ibid., p. 135. 6c. A. Bennett , "The Plays of Synge," Yale Review, Ja n. 1912, p. 196. ?John ��s efield, John Synge: & Few Persona l Re collections (New York: Macmillan, 1915)M., 21. P· 3 In a fa ithful glance at the elemental fabric of Sy nge 's chara cter and technique, Bennett ma intains tha t "if his plays live it will be because they are the work of a man who sought his ma terials in the primitive and the simple and the strong , in laughter and sorrow , pas sion and joy. And these are the things that endure.''8 In the drama of Synge exists an exhilaration pr oclaiming the vastness ·of life's potential , a potential dimmed by the certa inty of dea th and decay. not "Whatever other qua lity may be domina nt at any moment in Synge there is always along with it, exaltation." 9 The term "national" will almost certa inly appear in any detailed discussion of Synge's work. It is paramount that appropriate con- nota tions of thls word be defined as apply to the efforts of they Synge. wa s Synge's desire to contribute to the national J. M. It literature of Ireland a drama that would reflect both Irish cultural tra ditions and ideals. The inhabita nts of the rura l Irish landscape were more tha n suitabl e, "for the peasant ha s national courage and 1110 meanness, cowardice and nobility, humor and the lack of it •• Although sympathetic with the activist politics of his fellow 8Bennett, p. 205. 9cornelius Weygandt, Irish Pl ays and Pla)0Nriqhts (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 191 3), p. 168. Ervine , "The Irish Drama ti st and the Irish People," 1 Forum, 0s51. G.( Ju ne 1914), 946 . 4 countrymen, Synge does not incorporate any em pha sis on political nationalism into his drama . "He shared the political convictions of the Irish nationalists, but ignored them in his writing.11 11 In the Pr eface to The Tinker's Wedding Synge considers what he believes to be the necessary artistic perspective of dramatic art: The drama is made serious--in the French sense of the word--not by the degree in which it is taken up with problems tha t are serious in themselves , but by the degree in which it gives the nourishment , not very easy to define , on whi ch our imaginations live . 12 It is impossible to read the plays of Synge without recognizing some didactic concern, but Synge impl ies that it is the truth to be dis- covered in the observation of rea l experience , rather than any contrived scheme �f his own, that s u gest s mora l considerations . Th is g belief is a primary concern of Synge in The Pl ayboy of the We stern World. Synge would no doubt be amused by the attempts of moralists to analyze the play in a lirni{ed, dida ctic wa y. The rollicking spirit of Synge, represented by Christy, is a devasta ting assault on those who would at tempt to define a moral position for another human individual. The drama of didacticism is not sufficient for Synge because it is his contention tha t an appreciation of life itself must precede any at- tempt to discern ultimate human obj ectives . "He understood tha t it is llHerbert Howarth, The Irish Writers 1880-1940: Li terature Under Pa rnell's Star (London: Rockliff, 1958), P· 219. 12 ohn Synge, The Complete Works of John 11· Syn ge , 8th ed. (1910; Jrpt . NewM. York: Random House, 1960), (Al l subsequent reference s from this edition .) P· 177.