Beauty Queen

The smasher coffin nail of Leenane is set in an isolated cottage situated in a small Irish town called Leenane, during the latter half of eighties. The two characters that spinal column the renovate ar the m different- young lady duo of Maureen and magazine Folan. Maureen is a forty-year aged periwinkle who had lived all of her life with her mom, while Mag is the seventy-year old fuck off who is non prepared to let go of her daughter. Mag is very ungrateful and unappreciative, in spite of Maureen dedicating her life to help Mag lead a sensibly normal life.Although both of them have gotten used to each others idiosyncrasies over the years, thither still exists a power struggle of sorts amongst the two of them. At times, they even loathe and blame each other for their own miserable plights. The mother character is portrayed as a mean, selfish woman who believes that her daughter should tonicity indebted to serve her. The daughter desperately wants to find love, rather a hus band who could free her from the shameful existence. Maureen somehow wants to escape from the clutches of her mother and get married the alike(p)s of her sisters.She even believes, at times, that her mother pretends to be vomit to keep her confine to the four walls of the house. On the other hand, Mag tries to make her daughter feel guilty by accusing Maureen of ignoring her. As both of them had remained isolated for some(prenominal) years, they were reaching a state of social and emotional void. Many aspects of the forges storyline draw parallels to Irelands socio-political standpoint. Many rural areas of Ireland like the one featured in the solve are frugalally lifeless zones, where misery and dullness rule the day.This tone reflects in the play as Maureen and Mag lead a dull life which seldom lightens up. They as well as endlessly complain to the highest degree how bad their lives are due to lifelike calamities and atrocities committed against the Irish community. It is quite ironic that the nevertheless time they bonk talking is when they discuss their death. The ambiance of the play is quite claustrophobic as it takes place in a confined, darkly lit environment. The gray walls of the elbow room are analogous to the sleepy town of Leenane, which breaks the usual conception of Ireland universe associated with greenery and hills.This gives the persuasioner an unsettling feeling and conveys a sense of helplessness that haunts the plays main characters. The other two characters in the play are Pato and Ray Dooley who happen to be b break uphers. Pato is a well-mannered gentleman who is sick of working in England for low wages and plans to go to America to filter out his luck there. He is instantly is attracted to Maureen as he expected every little. This made Maureen to be overjoyed over the prospects of organism together with Pato and acquiring a second chance in life.On the other hand, Ray is a brash and irresponsible young man, but nonethe less amusing. This element of the play shadows on the shackless youth of rural Ireland. The youth in Ireland plain have only two possible choices they would have to either rot their lives in boredom. or seek greener preceding(a)ures in London. Although immigrating into England was non the easiest task in the beingness, it was their only hope to flee from poverty. The two brothers represent the two evenly helpless groups of the rural youth in Ireland.This theme is universal since it give the sack very easily be related to almost anyone living in any rural part of the world. Mag relentlessly tries to disrupt Maureen and Patos chances of falling in love, fearing solitude. Pato tries to pacify the situation mingled with Maureen and Mag by talking to them, and gains Maureens respect. Maureens initial physical relationship with Pato was a result of several factors it was due to sexual repression caused by Irelands ridiculously gruelling moral code and she also wanted to go agains t her mother for once in her life.However, she eventually falls in love with Pato and longed to be with him. Maureens final ray of hope gets shattered as Mags purposely lets out certain sensitive information about their family. Mag also unscrupulously destroys a letter written by Pato which asks Maureen to come with him to America. Since Maureen does non get her hands on the letter on time, she does not get the opportunity to leave Leenane and unite with Pato. Ray inadvertently plays a role in the disaster that Mag plans to prevent Maureen and Pato from getting together.The violent unfolding of events, her medical history, Mags death and the distress of not being with Pato forces Maureen to go into a state of chronic low and eventually turns into the person she dreaded most, her mother (Chang 2001). Mag was not only her daughters captor but also a enwrapped of her own lifestyle and choices. Although Mag might seem like the stem turn cause of the disaster, she was also barely a victim of the military man race condition. Maureen being forced to take care of her mother is a motif to Irelands culture where love plays second fiddle to family responsibility.Maureen could not leave her old mom alone because she grew up on Irish values that condemned volume leaving their elder alone during old age. The world needs to view Mags character as a self-indulgent rise up from Irelands cultural perspective. In the rural parts of Ireland, children were raised scarcely to be additional hands in the family workforce, contrary to the western worlds perception of children being objects for showering love and care (Cobbe 2008).Since love is not a big part of the practical Irish life wherein set marriages are still the norm in certain areas, it gives the Irish other reason to escape to England. Also, the violent scenes in the play are not only an indicator of the true domestic violence that has become banality in the day-to-day lives of Irish people, but also a signifi es that the minuscule fights that we as citizens of the world go through in the name of war and so on (Gonser).Like love and hate in human relationships, there is a fine line separating tragedy and comedy in plays. What the Beauty Queen of Leenane successfully does is strike a fine balance between the two elements, making it quite engaging albeit intense. Ultimately, the play is a strong cultural satire of sorts that showcases rural Irelands way of life to the rest of the world. One could interpret this play as ironical for relating the lack of economic wealth to the peoples lives devoid of happiness, thereby criticizing the spate of our sophisticated soulless existence.Beyond the dark humor is a darker message signifying that the worst of human qualities can very easily come out under commensurate circumstances. The Beauty Queen of Leenane is a play that makes us look past the obvious and think about things that we usually avoid because they are alike complicated and stressful . However, these kinds of plays do remind us of the true nature of human beings that lies dormant behind years of cultural training. Also, Maureen growing old and number into her mom is a classic case of the vicious cycle of life.Reference Chang, E. (2001, may 7). Theatre The Beauty Queen of Leenane. Retrieved 27 June 2008, <http//www. peak. sfu. ca/the-peak/2001-2/issue1/ar-leenane. html> Cobbe, E. (2008, June 20). freshen The Beauty Queen of Leenane. Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 27 June 2008, <http//www. austinchronicle. com/gyrobase/Issue/review? oid=oid%3A638384> Gonser, J. pleasurable to McDonaghland About Language, Biscuits, and a Certain Taste for Aussie Soaps. Retrieved 27 June 2008, <http//www. anglo-iren. de/beautyqueen/queen_p. htm>