Sunday, November 1, 2009

Part III: Lies for the Liars

Synge seems to take a similar stance to my own in Playboy of the Western World, in that he appears to think good and evil is relative. If at any point the townspeople believed Christy was wrong in the murder of his father, they immediately changed their minds when he justified the murder. This is where Synge and I differ. Based on Playboy of the Western World, Synge believes that an "evil" act can be manipulated and twisted and contorted into a justified and good act. With enough lying and exaggerating, a scoundrel can become a saint. Even patricide can be justified with a smooth enough tongue. The point is, lying is what makes the world go 'round. Deception makes evil good and good evil. I disagree, but it could just be because I'm a bad liar and I'm bitter about it. Still, didn't Christy's lies kind of blow up in his face? Didn't he end up actually having to try and kill his father again? But before he was found out, the townspeople worshipped him. So maybe good and evil is just a matter of deceit. Maybe the good people in the world are just the best liars. That sounds pretty cynical, doesn't it?

1 comment:

  1. I disagree, but it could just be because I'm a bad liar and I'm bitter about it.

    I like the humor here. This could be a key idea that may show up in your end-of-the-year essay-- humor and how it can be a function of the relativity of the moral/immoral.

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