At the beginning of the play O’casey gives a detailed description of the tenement that the Bolyes live in, If I were to stage it I would have it like the description, it would be small and cramped Mary and Juno would be chatting about the paper, the lighting would be dim to show that the mood is dull and grim.
The house is a typical example of a tenement in Ireland were Catholic working people lived and who had large families and live in the tenement with many other families but unlike the stereotypical Catholic Family the Boyles only have 2 children this is either due to Mr Boyles lazy, drunken attitude or the large age difference between Mr and Mrs Boyle.
Mr Boyles attitude was similar to most men during the times the play was set because the men expected the women do all the house work while they go out and earn the money but Mr Bolye doesn’t work because he suffers pains in his legs and he depends on his health insurance to get booze. Johnny’s attitude is similar to his fathers but can’t work because he lost his arm and damaged his leg fighting in the civil war.
In the play the women are the only ones working but Juno is the only one who is earning money because Mary is on strike after one of her co-workers, this means that Juno has to support the whole family and it is her job to keep the family together and to stop her husband from going to the pub and spending the money and coming back with Joxer and giving him food, his wasteful and selfish attitude is also apparent when they get promised the ’inheritance’ because he starts bowering money and spends it on ’tacky’ items.
I think if Mrs Boyle knew about Robbie Tancerd’s death she would be shocked and ashamed like the rest of the neighbours because she thought Johnny had left the war alone and Robbie Tancred was also a neighbour and neighbours were close so they would all feel the same.
I think the Boyle family symbolises the societies divide during the civil war because like the war families would spit and end up fighting each other over there valuses and beliefs like they Boyles when later in the play it becomes apparent when Mary becomes pregnant and the men side against Mary and her mother sides with Mary.
Later in the play after Johnny’s death Juno and Mary face more despair as the realisation that Johnny was a Diehard and feels pains like Mrs Tancreds feelings earlier in the play ’ to the pains I’ll suffer carrin you out o the world’.
Mary is a complex character because at the beginning of the play it gives the impression of her being vain because it says ’arranging her hair in a tiny mirror’ but it also tells us even though she seems vain she has brains because she reads classic novels, Mary is the only one in the family who has a chance to escape the poor life.
Mary is unusual during those times because she is 22, unmarried and thinks her own mind this was strange in those times because by 22 most women were married and had children or were about to and women did as they were told, I think she is like this because most women were oppressed by their fathers at a young age whereas Mary’s father didn’t teach her about how to act because he was too busy being drunk.
Jerry is in love with Mary but later when he finds out that Mary is pregnant with Bentham’s child he is put off because it is seen as a great sin so he leaves her. Mr Bentham is the lawyer who tells the family of the inheritance and Mary’s baby is his but it becomes apparent that he only loved Mary to get some money because as soon as he finds out about there is no money he leaves. Mary is still pregnant through wed lock which is a great sin for Catholics so she is seen as an out cast by the men of the family.
Even though Mr Bentham left Mary is still in love with him because she says ’Im in love with all my heart and soul’.
There is an irony with Mary’s pregnancy because she is named after the Virgin Mary and she is having a baby without being married.
Later in the play she also questions God ’there isn’t a God, there isn’t a God’ this was also be a sin in Catholic society because she questions God existence.
Mrs Madigan is a gossiper in the play she is described as ’ a strong dapper little women of about 45, her face is almost always a widespread smile of compliancy’ and ’She is ignorant, vulgar and forward, but her heart is generous withal’
Mrs Madigan has many romantic memories of her past but in the present her husband is dead and her visions of her past are now gone.
Later in the play she gives a loan to the Boyles when she asks Boyle for the loan repayment he doesn’t give it to her so she takes his gramophone because she realises Boyle has been acting and is driven to desperation through his selfish stupidity to get her blanket which she pawned but she was getting cold so she wanted the money back.
Near the end of the play Mrs Madigan hears the news about them finding a body resembling Johnny and has the awful task of telling Juno this is because the live in cramped conditions families staying in the tenements are close to each other.
Mrs Tancred is the Mother of Robbie who Johnny betrayed and ended up dieing. In the play we hear about her more than what we see her this tells us she is staying away from people because she is depressed and in mourning. The part were she shows anger for the grief for her sons death on page 42, the stage should be dull to show the grief then there should be a light that shines on the people when they say an angry or aggressive part to emphasis the anger.
This play is based on hardship and poverty on the women who struggle to keep their families whilst it shows the independence men have an dhow they abuse this by acting selfishly and irresponsibly. Though out the play the characters suggest that even religion appears to of deserted them and leave them in abject despair