The Playboy of the Western World

At the top of Act II, Christy is adjusting nicely to his new position as pot-boy. He is taking inventory and commenting to himself on how much he likes his new life, where he is regarded as handsome and useful. He takes the mirror from the wall and studies himself in it, then sets it down to wash his face. Suddenly, he hears a group of young women coming up to the bar and rushes to hide from them.

The village girls have come to see the man who killed his father. Shawn told them of him, and they all rushed over to see this new hero for themselves. They are upset Christy is nowhere to be found and even wonder if Shawn made him up from the start. Soon, however, they find Christy’s boots and know that he must be in the bar. Christy makes a noise and is discovered.

When Christy confirms that he’s the man who slayed his father, the women start to bestow him with gifts. One woman, Sara Tansey, gives him her finest duck eggs. Susan Brady gives him a pat of butter, Honor Blake gives him a slice of cake, and Nelly gives him a “laying pullet,” or chicken (34). Nelly tells Christy to feel how fat the chicken is, but his hand is still holding the mirror from earlier, so he can’t. Nelly looks around Christy’s back and sees the mirror. She chuckles at the sight, telling her friends that “I have never to seen to this day a man with a looking glass held to his back. Them that kills their fathers is a vain lot surely” (34). Christy, embarrassed, takes the gifts from the women and places them on top of the mirror.

Just then, Widow Quin enters and breaks up the party. She demands to know what they are all doing at the bar so early in the day, and they don’t hide their motives: They have come to see the man who killed his father. Widow Quin does not scold them, but instead informs them that she has come to sign up Christy for various sporting events. This is a way for Christy to demonstrate his physical prowess and for the villagers to engage in a bit of gambling as they bet on who will win each event.

The women begin to cook breakfast for Christy, and Widow Quin brings him to sit next to her. She asks him to tell her the story of how he killed his father before Pegeen Mike returns. Christy obliges, detailing how he and his father were digging spuds on the day of the murder. Christy’s father had been pressuring him to marry the Widow Casey, a larger, middle-aged woman who was known for causing trouble. However, Christy’s father thought that the home Widow Casey had to offer (and the money she had for alcohol) made her a great match for his son. Christy’s refusal to marry her sparked a fight between them, which ended with Christy taking the loy and landing it on his father’s skull, splitting it open. The women applaud Christy’s story and make a toast to him.

Pegeen Mike returns, and the girls scatter away from Christy. She asks them why they are there and shoos them out of the bar when they can’t give a satisfactory answer. She tells Christy to tidy up the bar from where they were cooking, and he abides. Pegeen Mike points out the mirror, which Christy, caught up telling his tale, forgot to put back. She asks why it isn’t hanging on the wall but quickly shuts him down as soon as he alludes to the fact that he was using it to look presentable for the ladies.

While Pegeen Mike was out, she ran into the post-boy who had news about a murder. Christy asks if it’s about his murdered father, but she replies that it’s about a man hanged for murder. She tells Christy that the law will show little mercy for a man who murdered his father, so he would be wisest to keep his mouth shut and to stop bragging to pretty women who may get him in trouble. Christy, shaken at the thought, asks Pegeen Mike why the women would want to tell. She responds that “[i]t’s queer joys they have” (40), implying that they would get a twisted sense of fun out of seeing Christy hang. At this, Christy remarks that perhaps he would be better off continuing to wander across the countryside, and Pegeen Mike agrees with him.

Christy is not quite ready to leave Pegeen Mike, so he prods her further. He talks about how lonesome it will be on the road, to which Pegeen Mike replies that he has plenty of women who want to meet him in County Mayo alone. Christy says that those women don’t matter to him, and he begins to sweet talk Pegeen Mike into letting him stay. When she questions his sincerity of how lonesome he is, he replies, “I was lonesome all the time; I was born lonesome, I’m thinking, as the moon of dawn” (42). After this, he reminds Pegeen Mike that, if he leaves now, there is no way of knowing when, or if, they shall ever meet again. This is the breaking point for her, and she tells him to come back and stay on as their pot-boy. She assures him that he will be safe with them as the police have likely not found the body of his father. She even excuses his earlier flirting with the group of women, saying that his “mighty spirit in him and a gamey heart” (43) made him all the more attractive. Christy is relieved to stay and have the chance to continue romancing Pegeen Mike.

Shawn and Widow Quin burst into the bar. Shawn tells Pegeen Mike that her sheep are eating Jimmy’s cabbages in the nearby field, and she must tend to them before they cause even more damage. Christy offers to accompany her, but Widow Quin insists that Pegeen Mike will be fine on her own. With Pegeen Mike out of the house, Shawn begins to make a bargain with Christy. He nervously offers half a ticket to the Western states, along with most of the clothes on his back, which he takes off there in the bar. Along with these, he offers Christy the blessing of both Father Reilly and himself, under the condition that Christy leaves County Mayo for good. Shawn is nervous that Pegeen Mike will fall for Christy and break their engagement. He insists that Christy and Pegeen Mike would be a terrible match: They are both too hot-tempered and strong-willed. Christy is uncertain, but Widow Quin pushes Shawn’s clothes at him, telling him to try them on while he makes up his mind.

When Shawn and Widow Quin are alone, Shawn laments that he’s sure that Christy will end up marrying Pegeen Mike. He tells her that it is only his fear of God that keeps him from committing his own act of violence against the stranger who is trying to steal Pegeen Mike’s heart. Widow Quin decides that a different tactic is in order and asks Shawn what he would give her if she were to marry Christy instead, before he and Pegeen Mike could wed. Shawn expresses how grateful he would be; he accepts her condition to provide her with food and goods—a red cow, a mountainy ram, a load of dung, and access to his rye path and peat bog—if she would help him in this way. The bargain is set, and they agree on it just before Christy returns from trying on the clothes.

Widow Quin compliments Christy’s new look, but Christy has decided he shall not be taking Shawn’s offer. He would rather stay put and announces he is going to search for Pegeen Mike on the hillside. As he is heading out the door, he sees his father. Christy exclaims that it’s the spirit of his father approaching and hides. Shawn and Widow Quin greet scraggly Old Mahon, who asks them if they’ve seen a young man, his son, wandering around. He describes Christy as “an ugly young steeler with a murderous gob on him, and a little switch in his hand” (47). When Widow Quin asks what he wants with the young man, Old Mahon tells her he wants to get revenge on Christy for splitting open his head with a loy.

Widow Quin is quick to defend Christy, telling Old Mahon that he must have said something terrible to cause Christy to lash out the way he did. She remarks, “And isn’t it a shame when the old and hardened do torment the young?” (48). This infuriates Old Mahon, who feels he was more than patient with his lying, indolent son. The Christy he describes is far different than the one who showed up the previous night. This young man is forgetful, can’t stomach beer, and is the laughingstock of the women in their village. Old Mahon asks again if they’ve seen the man he’s describing, and Widow Quin replies that they have. She sends him away to look for Christy down by the beach.

When Old Mahon leaves, Widow Quin bursts into laughter at Christy, who is shaking from fright. He has been caught in his lie, and he worries that Pegeen Mike won’t have him anymore as soon as she finds out the truth. Apparently, Old Mahon had only been pretending he was dead when Christy left him. Now Christy will have to face those who once regarded him as a hero. The women who adore him quickly approach to take him to the sports competitions. Christy pleads for Widow Quin’s help to win over Pegeen Mike, offering his prayers in exchange: “I’ll be asking God to stretch a hand to you in the hour of death, and lead you short cuts through the Meadows of Ease, and up the floor of Heaven to the Footstool of the Virgin’s Son” (53). Practical Widow Quin counters and asks that once he has control of the property, he will allow her to do as she pleases in addition to providing her with a mountainy ram and load of dung. He agrees, and their newfound allyship ends the act.