Old Mahon / Christy’s Father Character Analysis in The Playboy of the Western World

Old Mahon is Christy Mahon’s father. Christy thinks that he has killed his father with a blow to the head, and describes him as tyrannical, rude, and a drunk. Before too long, though, Old Mahon turns up at the village pub, looking for his son. His description of Christy is just as disparaging as his son’s of him—he thinks Christy is a loser, too lazy to work, and too shy to speak to women. Old Mahon is hell-bent on revenge against his son for striking him over the head with a loy. He is temporarily convinced that he is mad when he sees the man he thinks is Christy seemingly doing well at sports and confidently enjoying the admiration of the village—which he views as totally out of character for his son. Soon enough, though, he realizes that the popular “playboy of the western world” is Christy and attacks him, receiving another blow to the head. His paternal instincts kick in when the village turns on Christy, leading him to free his son from the ropes that bind him and call on them to leave the “villainy” and “fools” of the small village community. As the father and son depart, Synge hints at one key difference between their old life together and their future. Christy now insists that he will be the “gallant captain” to his father’s “heathen slave,” signaling a possible reversal in which of the two men holds authority over the other.

Old Mahon / Christy’s Father Quotes in The Playboy of the Western World

The The Playboy of the Western World quotes below are all either spoken by Old Mahon / Christy’s Father or refer to Old Mahon / Christy’s Father. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

PEGEEN (with a sign to the men to be quiet). You’re only saying it. You did nothing at all. A soft lad the like of you wouldn’t slit the windpipe of a screeching sow.

CHRISTY (offended). You’re not speaking the truth.

PEGEEN (in mock rage). Not speaking the truth, is it? Would you have me knock the head of you with the butt of the broom?

CHRISTY (twisting round on her with a sharp cry of horror). Don’t strike me. I killed my poor father, Tuesday was a week, for doing the like of that.

PEGEEN (with blank amazement). Is it killed your father?

CHRISTY (subsiding). With the help of God I did surely, and that the Holy Immaculate Mother may intercede for his soul.

PHILLY (retreating with Jimmy). There’s a daring fellow.

JIMMY. Oh, glory be to God!

MICHAEL (with great respect). That was a hanging crime, mister honey. You should have had good reason for doing the like of that.

Related Characters: Pegeen Mike (speaker), Christopher “Christy” Mahon (speaker), Philly O’Cullen (speaker), Jimmy Farrell (speaker), Michael James Flaherty / Pegeen’s Father (speaker), Old Mahon / Christy’s Father

Related Literary Devices:

Page Number and Citation: 10-11

Explanation and Analysis:

When Christy arrives at the pub, he reveals that he is hiding from the “peelers,” meaning the police. Michael, Philly, Jimmy and Pegeen enthusiastically quiz Christy, trying to tease out the nature of his crime. They are evidently excited to be harboring an outlaw, who appeals to their sense of rebellion. Christy doesn’t immediately reveal what he has done, but when Pegeen raises the broom at him, she subconsciously reminds him of the confrontation with his father, consequently making him reveal his secret. Christy’s appeal to God to “intercede” for his father’s soul paints him as respectful and honorable, despite 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 sus

CHRISTY (impressively). With that the sun came out between the cloud and the hill, and it shining green in my face. “God have mercy on your soul,” says he, lifting a scythe; “or on your own,” says I, raising the loy.

SUSAN. That’s a grand story.

HONOR. He tells it lovely.

CHRISTY (flattered and confident, waving bone). He gave a drive with the scythe, and I gave a lep to the east. Then I turned around with my back to the north, and I hit a blow on the ridge of his skull, laid him stretched out, and he split to the knob of his gullet.

[He raises the chicken bone to his Adam’s apple.]

GIRLS (together). Well, you’re a marvel! Oh, God bless you! You’re the lad surely!

Related Characters: Honor Blake (speaker), Christopher “Christy” Mahon (speaker), Susan Brady (speaker), Old Mahon / Christy’s Father, Widow Quin, Sara Tansey, Nelly McLaughlin

Related Symbols: The Loy

Page Number and Citation: 25

Explanation and Analysis:

This quote comes early on in Act Two, when four girls from the village come to see the man they’ve heard has killed his father. For a man who is supposedly trying to keep a profile, Christy is extremely forthcoming with the details of his story, willingly acting it out with a sense of drama and enjoying the attention that comes with doing so. He tells it well, imbuing his narrative with an aura of mythology, making use of pathetic fallacy to conjure a sense of grandeur, and switching up the rhythm of his sentences to build the action. The 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 asperi

CHRISTY. I wish to God I was letting on; but I was lonesome all times, and born lonesome, I’m thinking, as the moon of dawn.

[Going to door.]

PEGEEN (puzzled by his talk). Well, it’s a story I’m not understanding at all why you’d be worse than another, Christy Mahon, and you a fine lad with the great savagery to destroy your da.

CHRISTY. It’s little I’m understanding myself, saving only that my heart’s scalded this day, and I going off stretching out the earth between us, the way I’ll not be waking near you another dawn of the year till the two of us do arise to hope or judgment with the saints of God.

Related Characters: Christopher “Christy” Mahon (speaker), Pegeen Mike (speaker), Old Mahon / Christy’s Father

Page Number and Citation: 29

Explanation and Analysis:

When Pegeen Mike comes back to the pub to find Christy regaling the village girls with his story, she quickly shoos them away, jealous of them. To teach Christy a lesson, she convinces him that the girls will gossip about his story, and that information will eventually get to the police authorities (“peelers”), who, she says, will undoubtedly come to hang him before too long. For that reason, Christy makes the reluctant decision to leave the pub and stay on the run. Christy thinks he will be returning to his lonesome existence; Pegeen can’t understand why a heroic, poetic man 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

CHRISTY. From this out I’ll have no want of company when all sorts is bringing me their food and clothing (he swaggers to the door, tightening his belt), the way they’d set their eyes upon a gallant orphan cleft his father with one blow to the breeches belt. (He opens door, then staggers back.) Saints of glory! Holy angels from the throne of light!

WIDOW QUIN (going over). What ails you?

CHRISTY. It’s the walking spirit of my murdered da!

Related Characters: Christopher “Christy” Mahon (speaker), Widow Quin (speaker), Old Mahon / Christy’s Father

Page Number and Citation: 32

Explanation and Analysis:

This passage represents the high point of Christy’s hubris. Just after he has tried on Shawn’s clothes, he decides to keep them and offers nothing in return in terms of him leaving. He is deep into the fantasy of himself as hero, expressly linking it to the act of killing his father, and sees his new clothes as a way of visually demonstrating his newfound status. Of course, it’s at this precise moment, when Christy is most enjoying his new world and identity, that Old Mahon seemingly returns from the dead. Though of course, Mahon was only wounded, and not 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

MAHON. I’d take a mighty oath you didn’t surely, and wasn’t he the laughing joke of every female woman where four baronies meet, the way the girls would stop their weeding if they seen him coming the road to let a roar at him, and call him the looney of Mahon’s.

Related Characters: Old Mahon / Christy’s Father (speaker), Christopher “Christy” Mahon, Widow Quin

Page Number and Citation: 34

Explanation and Analysis:

When Old Mahon comes into the pub, Christy cowers behind the door—which isn’t exactly heroic behavior. Widow Quin enjoys the tension in the air and gets Old Mahon to tell her more about his son’s character and personality. Mahon describes Christy at length, as disparaging about him as Christy was earlier about his father. Essentially, he characterizes Christy as lazy, foolish and shy—distinctly unheroic traits. He especially highlights Christy’s inability to interact with women, highlighting the gulf between Christy’s old life and his fledgling new one. This thus sets up the remaining tension in the play, as the audience wonders 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 a

WIDOW QUIN (taking men to the right stealthily). Do you know what? That mans raving from his wound to-day, for I met him a while since telling a rambling tale of a tinker had him destroyed. Then he heard of Christy’s deed, and he up and says it was his son had cracked his skull. O isn’t madness a fright, for he’ll go killing someone yet, and he thinking it’s the man has struck him so?

JIMMY (entirely convinced). It’s a fright, surely. I knew a party was kicked in the head by a red mare, and he went killing horses a great while, till he eat the insides of a clock and died after.

PHILLY (with suspicion). Did he see Christy?

Related Characters: Philly O’Cullen (speaker), Widow Quin (speaker), Jimmy Farrell (speaker), Old Mahon / Christy’s Father, Christopher “Christy” Mahon

Page Number and Citation: 41

Explanation and Analysis:

When Old Mahon departs from the pub in Act Two, Widow Quin strikes a deal with Christy that she will keep his secret if he will reward her with provisions from the pub once he is married to Pegeen. Their plan is to pretend that Mahon is a madman, who has heard about Christy’s story through the rumor mill and is simply incorporating it into his hallucinations. Jimmy and Philly have just encountered Mahon, who has told them that he is looking for his son who struck him over the head with a loy (a very specific weapon that links 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 al

MAHON (putting his hands to his ears). What in the name of God do they want roaring below?

WIDOW QUIN (with the shade of a smile). They’re cheering a young lad, the champion Playboy of the Western World.

[More cheering.]

MAHON (going to window). It’d split my heart to hear them, and I with pulses in my brain-pan for a week gone by. Is it racing they are?

JIMMY (looking from door). It is then. They are mounting him for the mule race will be run upon the sands. That’s the playboy on the winkered mule.

MAHON (puzzled). That lad, is it? If you said it was a fool he was, I’d have laid a mighty oath he was the likeness of my wandering son (uneasily, putting his hand to his head).

Related Characters: Old Mahon / Christy’s Father (speaker), Widow Quin (speaker), Jimmy Farrell (speaker), Christopher “Christy” Mahon

Page Number and Citation: 42

Explanation and Analysis:

This quote comes when Mahon returns to the pub for the second time, having given up on following Widow Quin’s instructions. Christy, meanwhile, is winning all of the village sports and games, cementing his position as their hero by demonstrating his physical and athletic dominance. This is distinctly at odds with how Old Mahon thinks of his son—lazy and unaccomplished—which explains why he fails to recognize the racer as Christy. Or, more accurately, he tries to suppress his recognition because it doesn’t fit with his perception of his son. Widow Quin mentions Christy’s nickname which gives the play its title, 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.

CHRISTY (in low and intense voice). Shut your yelling, for if you’re after making a mighty man of me this day by the power of a lie, you’re setting me now to think if it’s a poor thing to be lonesome, it’s worse maybe to go mixing with the fools of earth.

[Mahon makes a movement towards him.]

CHRISTY (almost shouting). Keep off…lest I do show a blow unto the lot of you would set the guardian angels winking in the clouds above.

[He swings round with a sudden rapid movement and picks up a loy.]

CROWD (half frightened, half amused). He’s going mad! Mind yourselves! Run from the idiot!

CHRISTY. If I am an idiot, I’m after hearing my voice this day saying words would raise the topknot on a poet in a merchant’s town.

Related Characters: Christopher “Christy” Mahon (speaker), Old Mahon / Christy’s Father

Related Symbols: The Loy

Page Number and Citation: 51

Explanation and Analysis:

This quote comes when Old Mahon returns to the pub once again. This time, he’s sure of Christy’s identity, and the villagers are in turn certain of the dishonesty of Christy’s account of his father’s murder. The villagers turn on Christy, led by Michael and Pegeen, and want to have him hanged. This is in part because it lends the “story” of the play the kind of murderous conclusion that Christy’s story turned out to be missing, but is also an effort to protect themselves and their community from the attentions of the law. Christy points out their hypocrisy, and 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 eaq

CHRISTY. Ten thousand blessings upon all that’s here, for you’ve turned me a likely gaffer in the end of all, the way I’ll go romancing through a romping lifetime from this hour to the dawning of the judgment day.

[He goes out.]

MICHAEL. By the will of God, we’ll have peace now for our drinks. Will you draw the porter, Pegeen?

SHAWN (going up to her). It’s a miracle Father Reilly can wed us in the end of all, and we’ll have none to trouble us when his vicious bite is healed.

PEGEEN (hitting him a box on the ear). Quit my sight. (Putting her shawl over her head and breaking out into wild lamentations.) Oh my grief, I’ve lost him surely. I’ve lost the only Playboy of the Western World.

Related Characters: Christopher “Christy” Mahon (speaker), Michael James Flaherty / Pegeen’s Father (speaker), Shawn Keogh (speaker), Pegeen Mike (speaker), Old Mahon / Christy’s Father

Related Literary Devices:

Page Number and Citation: 57

Explanation and Analysis:

Ironically, it is Old Mahon who rescues Christy from death at the hands of the villagers. He insists on freeing Christy from the ropes and begins to take him outside, presumably to go back to their old way of life: itinerant peasantry. However, there’s a crucial difference given that Christy has undergone a fundamental transformation of character. Having had a taste of life free from his father’s authority, he has realized that he can play the hero and is not willing to go back to his previous subjugated state. That’s why, even though they have just been trying to kill 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

Old Mahon / Christy’s Father Character Timeline in The Playboy of the Western World

The timeline below shows where the character Old Mahon / Christy’s Father appears in The Playboy of the Western World. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Christy Mahon comes in, “tired and frightened and dirty.” He addresses the pub: “God save all here!”... (full context)

...She pretends to strike him with a broom, at which he reveals that he killed his “poor father ” a week ago.” The locals are mightily impressed, assuming that he must have had... (full context)

Christy explains that his father was “a dirty man…old and crusty, the way I couldn’t put with him at all.”... (full context)

Christy insists that this is the first time he’s spoken about killing his father , telling Pegeen that she is “a kindly woman.” He says he’s “seen none the... (full context)

...moiling, digging” from “dawn till dusk.” His only “joy” was poaching rabbits in the night. His father , continues Christy, was a terrifying drunk who had estranged himself from all of his... (full context)

The girls quiz Christy enthusiastically about whether he is the man who killed his father . Christy confirms this, while secretly trying to re-hang the looking-glass behind his back. The... (full context)

Christy describes how his father had recently ordered him to marry a hideous widow, whom he describes as “a walking... (full context)

Christy concludes the story: his father had lifted his scythe up above his head and wished Christy “mercy” on his soul.... (full context)

...her mood, Christy picks up a loy and tries to tell her again about killing his father . She complains that she’s heard the story “six times” that morning and that, furthermore,... (full context)

...Christy is safe at the pub and that there’s been nothing in the newspapers about his father . Christy is deeply relieved and talks rapturously about having Pegeen’s company from now on. (full context)

...the “walking spirit” of his father. Widow Quin looks out, seeing only a “tramper.” Old Mahon comes in; Christy hides behind the door. Mahon asks Widow Quin if she has seen... (full context)

Mahon takes off his hat and shows Widow Quin his bandaged head. She’s impressed with the... (full context)

Widow Quin, with one eye on Christy, asks Mahon why his son was “so foolish”—was it because he “was running wild after the girls... (full context)

Widow Quin gets rid of Mahon by saying she thinks she’s seen the man he’s looking for heading to catch a... (full context)

Widow Quin suggests that she and Christy pretend Old Mahon is a “maniac” and not Christy’s father. Susan, Sara, Honor and Nelly run in, calling... (full context)

...village games and sports. As they complain about Christy’s constant bragging about his deed, Old Mahon passes by the window unseen. They wonder what will happen if Mahon’s skull is discovered... (full context)

As Philly and Jimmy talk more generally about skulls, Old Mahon comes in and instructs them to look at his. Triumphantly, he tells them it is... (full context)

Widow Quin comes in, shocked to see Mahon again. She fetches Mahon a drink at his request. As he gulps it down, Widow... (full context)

In an effort to demonstrate Mahon’s supposed madness to Philly and Jimmy, Widow Quin asks him how he is feeling. He... (full context)

Widow Quin craftily asks Mahon if his son is “a great hand at racing and lepping and licking the world.”... (full context)

Mahon wants to go out and watch the mule race about to commence on the sands,... (full context)

As Christy is carried on the villagers’ shoulders towards the pub, Mahon is astonished to realize that the race-winner is his own son. Widow Quin grabs Mahon... (full context)

Mahon comes to agree that he must be mad on account of his head injury. He... (full context)

...race. Christy compares his sporting achievements, saying that they’re nothing compared to how he killed his father . Pegeen ushers the crowd out to let Christy rest; they go off to take... (full context)

...supported by Shawn. He heaps praise on Christy but also chastises him for not giving his father a “decent” Christian burial. Michael slaps him on the back, saying that married men will... (full context)

Just then, Mahon rushes into the pub, followed by the crowd (including Widow Quin). He runs at Christy... (full context)

...and chasing northward in a sweat of fear.” Though Christy pleads with her, she tells Mahon to take him away; she doesn’t want “the world” to see her “raging for a... (full context)

Christy becomes increasingly desperate, realizing that no one will help him—not even Widow Quin. Mahon tries to grab Christy, who tells him to “leave me go.” The crowd is bloodthirsty... (full context)

Christy chases Mahon out of the pub with the loy. After a great noise and “a yell” outside,... (full context)

The men come back in. Philly confirms to Michael that Mahon is dead. Michael, fearing that the murder will get him and his community in trouble... (full context)

Mahon, still alive, crawls back into the pub. Christy, also on his knees, asks his father... (full context)

Mahon loosens the rope around Christy, insisting that they will be “going on our own way... (full context)

Old Mahon / Christy’s Father Character Analysis

Old Mahon / Christy’s Father Quotes in The Playboy of the Western World

Act 1 Quotes

Act 2 Quotes

Act 3 Quotes

Old Mahon / Christy’s Father Character Timeline in The Playboy of the Western World