This time it seems that Old Mahon really is dead, but instead of praising Christy, the townspeople, led by Pegeen, bind and prepare to hang him to avoid being implicated as accessories to his crime. To regain Pegeen's love and the respect of the town, Christy attacks his father a second time. When the townsfolk realize that Christy's father is alive, everyone, including Pegeen, shuns him as a liar and a coward.

Christy also impresses the village women by his victory in a donkey race, using the slowest beast.Įventually Christy's father, Mahon, who was only wounded, tracks him to the tavern. Many other women also become attracted to him, including the Widow Quin, who tries unsuccessfully to seduce Christy at Shawn's behest. Because of the novelty of Christy's exploits and the skill with which he tells his own story, he becomes something of a town hero. Flaherty praises Christy for his boldness, and Flaherty's daughter (and the barmaid), Pegeen, falls in love with Christy, to the dismay of her betrothed, Shawn Keogh. There he claims that he is on the run because he killed his own father by driving a loy into his head.

On the west coast of County Mayo Christy Mahon stumbles into Flaherty's tavern.

Sara Tansey, Susan Brady, Honor Blake, and Nelly, village girls.

Philly Cullen and Jimmy Farrell, farmers.

Shawn Keogh, a young man who loves Pegeen.

Margaret Flaherty, called Pegeen Mike, Michael's daughter and the barmaid.

Old Mahon, Christy's father, a squatter.

Christy Mahon, a man who brags he has killed his father.

Kerrigan ('Shawn Keogh'), in The Playboy of the Western World, Plymouth Theatre, Boston, 1911 Irish actors Sara Allgood ('Widow Quin') and J.

Playboy of the western world jm synge