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Themes
Themes and Colors
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Jerusalem, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Johnny “Rooster” Byron is a habitual liar. In the various monologues he delivers throughout the play, rarely does he tell a true story, and it is difficult to discern the truth from his lies. But Jerusalem does not present Johnny’s lies as malicious or immoral. Instead, the play presents a modern-day form of mythmaking in a world that would be spiritually empty without it. Everyone who hangs around Johnny is skeptical of his stories, yet they always encourage him to tell them. In one particularly memorable example, Johnny speaks of the time he caught a bullet between his teeth while still in the womb. When Ginger doubts the veracity of Johnny’s tale on the grounds that babies don’t have teeth, Johnny explains that all Byron boys are born with teeth, hair on their chests, and their own cloaks—details that are all clearly untrue. In general, whenever Ginger questions Johnny’s stories, they become more outlandish. Indeed, Ginger is generally the one who openly doubts Johnny, sometimes playful and other times angrily. However, his doubt only causes Johnny’s tall tales to expand and grow, making Ginger a coconspirator in the mythmaking process. Despite his constant doubts, then, Ginger actively encourages Johnny to tell stories and, suggesting that he secretly enjoys hearing them.
The most powerful story Johnny tells in the play involves him meeting a giant who gifted him a large drum. In Johnny’s story, the giant tells Johnny to bang on the drum whenever he was in trouble and the other giants will come running to help him. At the end of the play, while Johnny is still bleeding after Troy and his lackeys assaulted him, Johnny burns down his home and beats the drum, all while cursing the local council and the people forcing him to move. It is a moment of primal rage, as Johnny calls on the giants—whom he presumably invented—to come help him. In this moment, myth blends with reality. In the end, though, Johnny’s mythical giants fail to protect him from the government officials who have the legal power to force Johnny off his property. Thus, while myths can entertain and serve as a form of escapism, the play also suggests that such stories are limited in their ability to undermine the powerful institutions that shape reality.
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Lies and Myths ThemeTracker
The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Lies and Myths appears in each act of Jerusalem. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
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Lies and Myths Quotes in Jerusalem
Below you will find the important quotes in Jerusalem related to the theme of Lies and Myths.
Prologue Quotes
PHAEDRA: And did those feet in ancient time,
Walk upon England’s mountains green,
And was the holy lamb of God
On England’s pleasant pastures seen.
She beams, pulls a string and the wings flap.
And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine forth upon those clouded hills,
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among those dark satanic—
Thumping music. She flees.
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This passage opens Jerusalem and is notable, in part, because it features Phaedra, who will not appear again until the prologue of Act II. Phaedra’s presence signifies her importance to the play even though she is absent for the majority of its runtime. This prologue, along with the title Jerusalem, suggest that the play will be invested in English myths and religious traditions. Notably, Jerusalem is the city where Jesus Christ was born and later crucified. These two stanzas formally represent the duality between the heavenly and the satanic, which perhaps have more similarities than one might think. The text Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta imped
Act 1 Quotes
JOHNNY: I ain’t scared of Kennet and Avon. I been running rings round that lot since before you were born. There’s council officials ten years dead, wake up in cold wet graces hollering the name of Rooster Byron. I’m in their dreams and their worst nightmares. Besides. My lawyers in New York deal with all that. Here, Davey? Did you smash my telly up?
DAVEY: No, son. You did. With a cricket bat.
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Davey asks Johnny about Parsons and Fawcett, whom he saw walking through the woods. He presumes Johnny is in trouble with the law and thinks it is serious this time. Several times throughout the play, different characters confront Johnny with a version of Davey’s concerns, and each time Johnny’s response downplays the severity of the situation. Here, Johnny suggests that he has a better claim to the land than any bureaucratic structure ever could. However, his urge to quickly change the subject implies that he is less confident than his words would suggest. Furthermore, Davey’s response to Johnny’s question reinforces Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error.
DAVEY: You know what I reckon. I reckon she’s been got by a werewolf. She’s been turned away from The ‘Rakers, wandered off into the night, in tears, whereupon a werewolf has heard her tragic sobs, and he’s followed her through the brush and he’s pounced. He’s torn her arms and legs off and eaten her virgin heart. Seriously. In a day or two, someone’ll find a bloody patch of turf in a clearing, with just these pink fairy wings flapping in the breeze.
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This moment comes from the play’s first mention of Phaedra, a teenage girl who is missing and won’t reappear until the very end of the play. Davey’s theory about a werewolf eating Phaedra plays into the play’s larger interest in how English folklore interacts with contemporary society. Before the beginning of Act II, Phaedra comes out alone on stage and sings a cover of a contemporary song about a werewolf that, while violent, deserves love. Notably, later in the play, Butterworth reveals that Phaedra has been staying with Johnny all along. As such, Johnny represents the werewolf she sings about Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciu
Act 2 Quotes
JOHNNY: It’s true. My mother was a virgin when she bore me!
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At the start of Act II, Johnny gives a long speech about the bizarre (and highly improbably) circumstances surrounding his birth. He starts by claiming his mother was virgin, which aligns him with Jesus Christ in the Christian tradition. It is one of many references in the play to compare Johnny to Christ, though it is the only one made directly by Johnny himself. Later in the play, Troy Whitworth brands an X on each side of Johnny’s face. X often functions as a stand-in for Christ, and the community does metaphorically sacrifice Johnny for their own benefit. Of course, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis co
JOHNNY: Always search a Byron boy at birth. You never know what he’s got on him. A Byron boy comes with three things. A cloak and a dagger, and his own teeth. He comes fully equipped. He doesn’t need nothing. And when he dies, he lies in the ground like a lump of granite.
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This moment is a continuation of the grand act of self-mythologizing Johnny performs at the beginning of Act II. Here, Johnny is literally saying that Byron boys are born with a full set of teeth, while also wearing a cloak and clutching a dagger. As is the case with most of Johnny’s tales, it is an utterly ridiculous claim, which his friends have a fun time picking apart. However, although there is no literal truth to be found in Johnny’s story, there is some metaphorical truth, which plays into his individualist philosophy. Johnny claims that Byron boys come fully equipped Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. M
JOHNNY: He said, ‘This is for you. If you ever get in any bother, or you need a hand, just bang this drum and us, the giants, we’ll hear it, and we’ll come.’
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This quote comes from the end of a story Johnny tells his friends about the time he supposedly met a giant. It is the most outrageous of all of Johnny’s tales as well as the most symbolically important. The story ends with the giant gifting Johnny a drum, which supposedly possesses great power. It also taps into the mythological ethos that runs throughout the play. Specifically, Butterworth is calling on another work by William Blake, Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion, a prophetic book that describes the fall of humankind (in Blake’s mythology, Albion is the embodiment of humankind). Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis conse
LEE: Ley lines is lines of ancient energy, stretching across the landscape. Linking ancient sites. Like this one, the one you’ve got her goes…(Thinks.) Avebury Standing Stones, through Silbury Hill, right down to Stonehenge, and on to Glastonbury. That ley line comes clean through here. We’re standing on it right now. Seriously. If you was a Druid, this wood is holy. This is holy land.
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This quote comes from a conversation between Lee and Tonya about ley lines—longitudinal and latitudinal lines that link various natural and historical sites. While one could certainly draw such lines on a map, people using the term typically espouse pseudohistorical or pseudoscientific beliefs, as Lee is doing here. Regardless of the claim’s veracity, Lee’s discussion of ley lines plays into the play’s larger interest in the mythical history of England. Because Johnny’s grove sits on a ley line, Lee suggests that it is a magical place akin to Stonehenge and the Avebury Standing Stones. Lee’s language and his references also Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Expl
Act 3 Quotes
JOHNNY: School is a lie. Prison’s a waste of time. Girls are wondrous. Grab your fill. No man was ever lain in his barrow wishing he’d loved one less woman. Don’t listen to no one and nothing but what your own heart bids. Lie. Cheat. Steal. Fight to the death. Don’t give up. Show me your teeth.
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This moment comes from the last conversation Johnny has with Marky before burning his home to the ground. He speaks to Marky as if it is the last time they will ever talk, suggesting that he plans to do something radical. Rather than give Marky good advice about how to advance in society, Johnny takes the logic of his individualist philosophy to its extreme and passes all of its worst features on to his son, encouraging Marky to do things on his own terms with no regard for how his actions affect others. The speech comes from a place of Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corru
JOHNNY: Come, you drunken spirits. Come, you battalions. You fields of ghosts who walk these green plains still. Come, you giants!
Relentlessly he beats the drum. Faster. Faster. Staring out. He pounds on and on until the final blow rings out and…
Blackout
Curtain.
The End.
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These lines mark the end of the play, as Johnny burns his property to the ground and bangs on the giant’s drum. Earlier in the play, Johnny’s suggested that the giant’s drum was an object of great power that would summon giants to help him. However, in reality, its power is merely symbolic, as no giants are coming to help him. As such, Johnny bangs on the drums as an act of a desperate man who has nothing to his name and no one left to support him. The play ends on an ambiguous note, as it is unclear what Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omni
