In O'Casey's "Juno and the Paycock" Show How Far You Would Agree That Captain Boyle is a Stubborn Man

Authors Avatar by pelican347 (student)

Show How Far You Would Agree That Captain Boyle is a Stubborn Man

Captain Boyle is a very stubborn man, but it cannot be said that his obstinacy is his only characteristic. There are many other different aspects to Boyle’s personality such as his jovial and humorous nature, largely presented through his use of language, and including his lazy side revealed by the dramatic techniques used.

        Irony is used to highlight how pig-headed he really is when he says ‘Boyle’s able to take of himself’ when actually we know that he clearly isn’t because so long as he continues to reject the idea of getting a job he will always have to rely heavily on others for support. Yet he is so blinded by his own self-importance that he is unable to see this.

We are shown the true extent of Captain Boyle’s stubbornness when he refuses to eat the sausage his wife had cooked for him. There is nothing for him to gain from letting her ‘keep her sassige,’ it is purely a point of misguided principle. But we see how temptation gets the better of him when the stage directions tell us that after ‘a pause’ he ‘takes out sausage, puts it in pan.’ The pause was used to illustrate his indecision and shows us he is not strong willed enough to not eat at all. However, to make a point, he still refrains from eating the one Juno has cooked for him.

Join now!

As soon as he hears ‘steps are approaching’ his pig-headedness means he ‘whips pan off the fire.’ The verb ‘whip’ is used to convey the sense of urgency felt by Boyle. Desperation is shown when he guiltily tries to hide the proof that Juno had been right about him being hungry because the last thing he wants to do is admit that she was right.

Boyle’s stubbornness causes him ‘to innocently lilt’ just after he hid the evidence of his sausage as he does not want Juno to realise that he had indeed eaten, after insisting that he wouldn’t. ...

This is a preview of the whole essay