Cultures commonly adopt heroes or project a heroic image onto certain individuals with the intention of using them as a fortification against anything foreign. Most often, heroes or heroic images will also convey the idealistic qualities a culture reveres. Consequently, heroes and individuals are pressured to uphold a predetermined heroic image; any mistakes cause them ridicule. The Celtic/Irish hero is often overtaken by passion and revered for criminal activity, while other cultures condemn such acts. Conveyed by Christopher Mahon in John Synge’s play The Playboy of the Western World, the image of the traditional Celtic/Irish hero is both revered and lampooned.
In the play, the peasants who reside in the mundane village are starved for something heroic, and Christy Mahon arrives well-timed. After learning he is a “law-fearing man” wanted to hang by the neck above “hell’s gaping gap” for murdering his father, the common people immediately project a heroic image onto him. However, Christy Mahon never killed his father, and once more, later on, still fails to kill him. Thus, Christy Mahon’s timid demeanor lampoons the image of the traditional Celtic/Irish hero. Ironically, Pegeen Mike, the audacious and doughty woman surrounded by wimpy men, is overtaken by the presence of a heroic image in the dull town and recognizes this opportune moment as her escape. When the truth surrounding Christy Mahon’s crime is revealed, Pegeen Mike has lost her opportunity to obtain a better life; and will remain distressed in the stagnant village until death receives her.
Even other cultures have basic expectations of a hero to overcome all evils and rescue the distressed woman. Although the village peasants appropriately revere Christy Mahon’s fabricated identity, his failure to uphold it ridicules the traditional image of any cultural hero, but even more so the traditional image of the Celtic/Irish hero.