Beauty Queen

The Beauty faggot of Leenane is set in an isolated cottage situated in a small Irish town called Leenane, during the latter half of eighties. The two characters that anchor the playing period are the mother-daughter duo of Maureen and cartridge Folan. Maureen is a forty-year nonagenarian spinster who had lived all of her life with her mom, sequence Mag is the seventy-year old mother who is non prepared to let go of her daughter. Mag is very ungrateful and unappreciative, in spite of Maureen dedicating her life to help Mag lead a somewhat normal life.Although both of them have gotten used to each others idiosyncrasies over the years, there still exists a world power struggle of sorts between the two of them. At times, they even loathe and blame each other for their own miserable plights. The mother character is portrayed as a mean, selfish woman who believes that her daughter should feel indebted to serve her. The daughter desperately wants to find drive in, rather a husband wh o could free her from the unembellished existence. Maureen somehow wants to escape from the clutches of her mother and get married like her sisters.She even believes, at times, that her mother pretends to be sick to keep her confined to the quatern walls of the house. On the other hand, Mag tries to make her daughter feel guilty by accusing Maureen of ignoring her. As both of them had remained isolated for many years, they were reaching a state of social and emotional void. Many aspects of the plays storyline draw parallels to Irelands socio-political standpoint. Many rural areas of Ireland like the one featured in the play are economically dead zones, where misery and jadeness rule the day.This tone reflects in the play as Maureen and Mag lead a dull life which seldom lightens up. They also endlessly complain about how bad their lives are due to natural calamities and atrocities committed against the Irish community. It is quite ironic that the hardly time they enjoy talking is when they discuss their death. The ambiance of the play is quite claustrophobic as it takes place in a confined, darkly lit environment. The sr.ly walls of the room are analogous to the sleepy town of Leenane, which breaks the usual conception of Ireland being associated with greenery and hills.This gives the viewer an unsettling feeling 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 on the job(p) in England for low wages and plans to go to America to try his luck there. He is instantly 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 second chance in life.On the other hand, Ray is a brash and irresponsible new-made man, but nonetheless amusing. This element of the play shadows on the restless youth of rural Ireland. T he youth in Ireland apparently have only two potential choices they would have to either rot their lives in boredom. or seek greener pastures in London. Although immigrating into England was not the easiest task in the world, it was their only hope to flee from poverty. The two brothers pretend the two equally helpless groups of the rural youth in Ireland.This theme is universal since it can very easily be related to almost anyone animation in any rural part of the world. Mag relentlessly tries to disrupt Maureen and Patos chances of falling in love, fearing solitude. Pato tries to pacify 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 immobile moral code and she also wanted to go against her mother for once in her life.However, she eventually falls in love with Pato and longed to be with him. Mauree ns lowest ray of hope gets shattered as Mags purposely lets out sealed sensitive information about their family. Mag also unscrupulously destroys a letter written by Pato which asks Maureen to start with him to America. Since Maureen does not get her hands on the letter on time, she does not get the opportunity to communicate 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 violent unfolding of events, her medical 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 dreaded 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 theme cause of the disaster, she was also barely a victim of the human condition. Maureen being forced to take care of her mother is a motif to Irelands close w here love plays second fiddle to family responsibility.Maureen could not leave her old mom alone 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 release commonplace in the day-to-day lives of Irish people, but also a signifies that the petty fights that we as citizens of the world go through in the name of struggle 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 fay of Leenane successfully does is strike a fine balance between the two elements, making it quite engaging albeit intense. Ultimately, the play is a strong cultural ridicule 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 humor 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 head off because they are too complicated and stressful. However, these kinds of plays do remind 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 classic 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. Welcome to McDonaghland About Language, Biscuits, and a Certain Taste for Aussie Soaps. Retrieved 27 June 2008,