Connection #3 (The Playboy of the Western World)

In the play The Playboy of the Western World, Christy wound up at a small Irish town after murdering his own father. The people in the small Irish town rarely leave their town, and therefore had rarely seen anyone from outside of their town. When Christy arrives, claiming to have killed his father with his own hands and a shovel, the town embraces him, thinking he is a hero for having the courage to kill his own father. Christy soon falls in love with a local girl, named Pegeen. Christy loves to tell everyone of his story, adding extreme details each time he tells it. As the play progresses, Christy is faced to deal with a challenge. His father Mahon (the one who he supposedly killed) shows up at the town. The town is outraged at Christy! Christy then gets in another brawl with his father and again strikes him over the head. The town, believing that Christy just killed his own father, prepares to hang him. As he is about to be hanged, Mahon shows up again and saves Christy. Christy departs from the small Irish town and leaves his love Pegeen, to once again run away with his father. The connection to the culminating question…..

Connection #2 (King Lear)

In the play King Lear, written by Shakespeare, the old ruler King Lear is ready to give up his kingdom to his daughters and “retire” from his kingship. He decides to divide up land among his three daughters based on how much they confess their love for him. The first two daughters, Regan and Goneril, tell their father exactly what he wants to hear – both telling him how great of a man he is and even better of a father. His third daughter, Cordelia, tells her father how she truly feels. Cordelia loves her father as a daughter should love a father, but nothing more. She, unlike her sisters’ proclamations, does not obsess over him. King Lear, outraged, banishes Cordelia from his kingdom and forces her to leave. King Lear divides his kingdom in half among Regan and Goneril and asks that they each take turns housing him and caring for him in his old age. As the play progresses, Regan and Goneril begin to have talks of getting rid of their father, now that he no longer controls any land or exercises any power over them. King Lear soon recognizes this, and for his own safety begins to wander the countryside with his remaining companion, the fool. As he wanders, King Lear becomes more and more “insane,” carrying out unusual acts such as arguing with nature, taking off all his clothes, and even setting up a fake trial accusing Regan and Goneril. While these strange acts may look like he has lost all hope, King Lear is actually beginning to realize that he has made several mistakes in his past. Towards the end of the play, the kingdom (now run by Regan and Goneril) is in total disarray. As King Lear comes back, he is thrown in jail, along with Cordelia who has come with her husband, France, to take over Regan and Goneril. While in jail, Cordelia dies and King Lear dies from an overwhelming amount of grief. The connection to the culminating question…..