Subversion of Heroic Myth: the parricide in J. M. Synge’s The Playboy of The Western World

<h2><span lang="EN-GB">This study aims toinvestigate the subversion of the heroic myth in John Millington Synge’s ThePlayboy of the Western World by applying the ‘heroic scheme’ of LordRaglan, who identified a set of common characteristics that appear in the livesof mythological heroes across various cultures, and the model of the ‘monomyth’by Joseph Campbell, who traced the universal stages of the hero’s journeyacross diverse myths and folklore. Synge, the Irish playwright, poet, andwriter best known for his contribution to the Irish Literary Revival, wrote theplay in 1907, which was premiered at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre in the same year. Playboyprecipitated controversy and riots due to its perceived mockery of Irishrural society; however, it later came to be recognized as a masterpiece ofmodern drama. Christy, the parricide protagonist, lacks conventional heroicattributes, and Synge’s portrayal demonstrates that Christy does not belongwithin the traditional heroic framework. This subversion is evident from theplay’s outset until its conclusion, through factors such as the protagonist’ssocial class, the divergence between the divine and the worldly, and deviationsin mythotypical skills and qualifications. Methodologically, the analysis firstapplies Lord Raglan’s heroic scheme to assess Christy’s alignment withtraditional heroic traits, followed by an examination through Campbell’s modelto evaluate Christy’s non-heroic position. The goal of this complementaryapproach is to offer an exploration of structural, thematic, and contextualelements revealing layers of heroic subversion that a single-method approachmight overlook.<o:p></o:p></span></h2>