Beauty Queen

The Beauty pantywaist of Leenane is set in an stranded cottage situated in a small Irish town called Leenane, during the latter half of eighties. The ii fragmentises that anchor the exemplify are the start- daughter bridge of Maureen and cartridge clip Folan. Maureen is a forty-year old spinster who had lived all of her life with her mom, magic spell Mag is the s hithertoty-year old bewilder who is not prepared to let go of her daughter. Mag is very ungrateful and unappreciative, in spite of Maureen dedicating her life to serve Mag lead a somewhat normal life.Although both of them piddle gotten used to each new(prenominal)s idiosyncrasies over the historic period, there muted exists a power struggle of sorts between the two of them. At times, they even loathe and blame each otherwise for their own miserable plights. The mother character is port irradiateed as a mean, selfish woman who believes that her daughter should feel indebted to serve her. The daughter despera tely wants to find drive in, sooner a husband who could free her from the bleak existence. Maureen somehow wants to escape from the take of her mother and convey married like her sisters.She even believes, at times, that her mother pretends to be sick to keep her confined to the four walls of the house. On the other hand, Mag tries to make her daughter feel guilty by charge Maureen of ignoring her. As both of them had remained isolated for many years, they were reaching a claim of social and emotional void. Many aspects of the plays story puff scoop parallels to Irelands socio-political standpoint. Many agrestic areas of Ireland like the one featured in the play are economically dead zones, where misery and dullness regularize the day.This tone reflects in the play as Maureen and Mag lead a dull life which seldom lightens up. They also endlessly complain active how bad their lives are overdue to natural calamities and atrocities committed against the Irish community. It is kinda a ironic that the only time they enjoy talking is when they discuss their death. The ambience of the play is quite claustrophobic as it takes place in a confined, darkly lit environment. The gray walls of the room are analogous to the sleepyheaded town of Leenane, which breaks the usual conception of Ireland creation associated with greenery and hills.This gives the viewer an unsettling tone of voice and conveys a sense of helplessness that haunts the plays main characters. The other two characters in the play are Pato and Ray Dooley who happen to be brothers. Pato is a well-mannered gentleman who is sick of working in England for disordered wages and plans to go to America to try his luck there. He is right off is attracted to Maureen as he expected every little. This made Maureen to be overjoyed over the prospects of being together with Pato and getting a endorsement misadventure in life.On the other hand, Ray is a brash and irresponsible upstart man, but nonethel ess amusing. This element of the play shadows on the restless young person of rural Ireland. The y out(a)h in Ireland apparently have only two possible choices they would have to either rot their lives in boredom. or test greener pastures in London. Although immigrating into England was not the easiest task in the world, it was their only hope to scat from poverty. The two brothers represent the two equally helpless groups of the rural youth in Ireland.This theme is universal since it can very soft be related to almost anyone living in any rural theatrical role of the world. Mag relentlessly tries to disrupt Maureen and Patos chances of falling in love, fearing solitude. Pato tries to patch up the situation between Maureen and Mag by talking to them, and gains Maureens respect. Maureens initial physical relationship with Pato was a result of several factors it was due to sexual repression caused by Irelands ridiculously strong moral rule and she also wanted to go against her mother for once in her life.However, she finally falls in love with Pato and longed to be with him. Maureens final ray of hope gets shattered as Mags purposely lets out certain sensitive information closely their family. Mag also unscrupulously destroys a letter written by Pato which asks Maureen to come with him to America. Since Maureen does not get her transfer on the letter on time, she does not get the chance to leave Leenane and unite with Pato. Ray inadvertently plays a role in the disaster that Mag plans to prevent Maureen and Pato from getting together.The cutthroat unfolding of events, her medical checkup history, Mags death and the grief of not being with Pato forces Maureen to go into a state of chronic depression and eventually turns into the person she fear most, her mother (Chang 2001). Mag was not only her daughters captor but also a captive of her own lifestyle and choices. Although Mag might seem like the root cause of the disaster, she was also and a victim of the human condition. Maureen being forced to take superintend of her mother is a motif to Irelands culture where love plays second fiddle to family responsibility.Maureen could not leave her old mom wholly because she grew up on Irish values that condemned people leaving their elder alone during old age. The world needs to view Mags character as a self-indulgent parent from Irelands cultural perspective. In the rural parts of Ireland, children were raised merely to be additional hands in the family workforce, contrary to the western worlds perception of children being objects for showering love and care (Cobbe 2008).Since love is not a big part of the practical Irish life wherein arranged marriages are still the norm in certain areas, it gives the Irish another reason to escape to England. Also, the violent scenes in the play are not only an indicator of the true domestic violence that has become commonplace in the day-to-day lives of Irish people, but also a signifies that t he petty fights that we as citizens of the world go through in the name of war and so on (Gonser).Like love and hate in human relationships, there is a fine line separating tragedy and comedy in plays. What the Beauty Queen of Leenane successfully does is acquire a fine balance between the two elements, making it quite engaging albeit intense. Ultimately, the play is a strong cultural satire of sorts that showcases rural Irelands way of life to the rest of the world. One could interpret this play as ironical for relating the lack of economic wealth to the peoples lives devoid of happiness, thereby criticizing the spate of our modern soulless existence.Beyond the dark card is a darker message signifying that the worst of human qualities can very easily come out under suitable circumstances. The Beauty Queen of Leenane is a play that makes us look past the obvious and think about things that we usually avoid because they are too complicated and stressful. However, these kinds of pla ys do incite us of the true nature of human beings that lies dormant behind years of cultural training. Also, Maureen growing old and turning into her mom is a classical case of the vicious cycle of life.Reference Chang, E. (2001, May 7). Theatre The Beauty Queen of Leenane. Retrieved 27 June 2008, Cobbe, E. (2008, June 20). Review The Beauty Queen of Leenane. Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 27 June 2008, Gonser, J. accept to McDonaghland About Language, Biscuits, and a Certain Taste for Aussie Soaps. Retrieved 27 June 2008,