The picture we first obtain about Christy from Shawn is symbolic of the epic proportions of Christy’s account reaches. Shawn tells of “a kind of fellow” stealing poultry, following him and probably going to kill him, “groaning wicked like a maddening dog,” when in reality appears only “a very tired and frightened” young man. Christy testifies of how his ‘da’ lay “stretched out” and “split to the knob of his gullet” when his father is actually alive and after him. Thus Shawn’s account serves as the starter in this meal of exaggeration so whetting the audience’s dramatic appetite.
The clean, soft bed that Christy mentions towards the end of Act I is symbolic of the situation he has created for himself. He has made his bed, from his story telling, and is now lying in it, as the proverb follows. The bed is “clean” as in his story he is in the right; the bed is also “soft” as being potboy is relatively comfortable, bearing promise even of “soft, lovely skin” (symbolic of gentility and genteel lifestyle that every commoner and peasant would aspire to). The implications of such symbolism are soon fulfilled by the locals and their gifts of homage to their (mock) hero. The eggs, butter cake and pullet are symbols of the comforts and richness of the life that awaits Christy as he achieves full self-realization. In the same way, the three wise men’s gifts to Christ upon his birth were symbolic: gold is fit for a king, frankincense resembling His deity and myrrh symbolic of his death.
The looking-glass is symbolic of Christy’s image, which turns from distorted to delightful: “Didn’t I know rightly I was handsome.” The clothes that Christy receives from Shawn are symbolic of his gallantry at the games. “I’ll leave you the garments for the sports today,” Shawn says. Christy then goes from oratory to physical prowess thus walking more fully in his true image of the playboy.
The quest for true self-realization is symbolized well in Old Mahon’s testimony of Christy “making mugs of his own self” in the “divil’s own mirror” since the whole play is a gradual build up of Christy’s identity. At the end of the play Christy exclaims “I’m master of all fights from now.”
The skulls that Jimmy and Philly converse over are symbolic of Christy’s murder of his ‘da’. At first it haunts him, just as dug up skulls incite fear and he describes his father as “that ghost of hell.” However, the murder becomes something he can make a show of, like the skulls in Dublin “ranged out like blue jugs,” as he vows, “I’ll go romancing through a romping lifetime.”
Symbolic of his being The Playboy of the Western World are Christy’s gifts received after the games. The bagpipes are a symbol of his greatness of spirit and the great noise he arouses in Mayo, him that “has such bravery of heart.” The “fiddle played by a poet” is symbolic of Christy’s great capacity as a man of words, of which we hear more of in his following discourse with Pegeen, him “that has such poet’s talking.” Pegeen vows that “any girl would walk her heart out before she’d meet a young man was his like for eloquence.” The blackthorn which is said to “lick the scholars out of Dublin” is a symbol of his authority. Formerly, Christy has “a little switch in his hand” which conveys the message of laziness and unrealized potential. Thus the two symbols bring out the contrast in the state of Christy’s affairs well.
The fight between Christy and Old Mahon is symbolic of Christy’s battle between his old self and his new self where his future lies at the stake. Ultimately, Christy wins. His being captain and Old Mahon being his servant symbolizes Christy as having a firm grip on his past and living out the implications of his new image. At this point, we know self-realization has been fulfilled since Christy himself tells us “you’ve turned me a likely gaffer at the end of all.”
The impressiveness of Synge’s use of symbols rests also in their natural occurrence throughout the play, as well as the union they form between the physical and the abstract, adding more depth to the play as a whole.
