"Juno and the Paycock" Coursework

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Gavin Williamson

“Juno and the Paycock” Coursework

In 1920s Dublin, men were considered more superior than women.  The men had to support their families as they were the main source of financial income.  In working class families, women also had to work. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be able to pay the rent, or possibly not be able to feed their family.  Women also had to look after the family and children, and had to do all of the housework.  Men seemed to have control over women, who couldn’t do anything to stop them.

In “Juno and the Paycock”, Sean O’Casey paints a different picture.  Although the men believe they are in control, it is really the women who are in the driver’s seat.  O’Casey believes that the women in his play are stronger, more enduring and unselfish than the male characters.  O’Casey himself believed that women were “secretly in charge”.  He had a very strong relationship with his mother, as his father died when he was only six years old.  He was also the youngest surviving child out of his other thirteen siblings.  As he was brought up by his widowed mother, he sees that women are dominant and men are weaker.  

In “Juno”, we find that the Boyle family have come into a great deal of wealth.  Almost immediately, “Captain” Jack Boyle spends most of it, hence, giving him the title of the “Paycock”.  Johnny Boyle, his son, has a secret, which gradually unfolds as the story progresses.  It turns out that he has been a government informer; “you didn’t think o’ that when you gave him away to the gang that sent him to his grave”.  This ultimately leads to Johnny’s execution; “where were you when me darlin’ son was riddled with bullets”.  Juno Boyle, Boyle’s wife, in the centre of everything, is feeling the burdens of life on her shoulders as she tries to keep her family together.  Mary Boyle, Jack and Juno’s daughter, has found a new boyfriend.  He is Charlie Bentham, and is very rich.  We are later told that he has left Mary as she is now pregnant.  We then learn that there was never any money for the Boyle’s; “There’s no money comin’ to us at all – the Will’s a washout!”  Fed up, Juno, with a drunkard husband and a dead son, finally leaves Boyle, with Mary at her side.  This is where Juno says to Mary about her baby; “It’ll have what’s far betther – it’ll have two mothers.”  This is good for the child as Juno is responsible and will be able to use her own experience to her advantage.    

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I expect that Boyle will be left on his own, possibly with his best friend, Joxer Daily, at his side.  Boyle has done nothing to help or support his family in any situation.

Boyle is the head of the house, but it is Juno who seems to do all the work since Boyle would rather spend his time sipping lager and telling tales. Juno is very responsible and very reliable, while Boyle is completely undependable and irresponsible.  Juno will protect her family with her life, but Boyle is plain lazy; “If it weren’t for the terrible pains in ...

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