As he began to explore alternatives to Christianity, he developed more of a pagan belief structure based on the myths he encountered throughout the country, especially in Aran Island (Roche 109-110). His journey was the equal and opposite journey of the country itself. It was a reflection of the beliefs of his fellow countrymen throughout history. These countrymen strive to take up the “new” Christianity, while still maintaining their pagan beliefs in faeries and natural powers creating a paradox. The Irish reflect the paradoxical beliefs. Synge strove to understand more fully the people by regressing back from Christianity towards pagan myth. Synge's works reflect this interweaving of philosophies.
In plays such as “The Well of the Saints” and “The Tinker's Wedding,” the story revolves around characters that are Christian in name only. The main characters are inherently pagan and any good Christians easily see through any attempt not to be. The protagonists of the stories encounter a priest (which represents Christian religion) and he generally causes chaos in their lives. This substantiates Synge's belief that the meddling of religion points out moral ambiguity that did not affect the people before the religious truths were revealed to them. “The Well of Saints” is about a poor blind couple who are cured by a wandering priest.
The couple has been told that they are both beautiful by all of the people of the town, but when they see each other, they learn that they are not very attractive. When the two see that they are not attractive, it causes strife throughout the village. This play demonstrates Synge's obvious renunciation of the Church and its practices by saying “The Church shows man to himself as ugly and calls it a miracle” (Foster 53). The priest also shows his Irish, and thereby pagan, heritage by curing the couple with water from an enchanted well. This well is a nod to many Irish myths and traditions that revolve around mysterious wells with magical powers scattered across the countryside. This takes the healing power away from a God in the sky, and places the power in the earth by use of magic.
Another play that shows not only the pagan side of Synge, but also his knowledge of the history of Ireland and the people is “Deirdre of the Sorrows.” This piece is set in the past of Ireland and is based on one of the country's well-known legends, the lay of the Red Branch (Price 192). A more tragic and melodramatic tale than usual for Synge, the play was unfinished when he died. The play deals with harsh emotions and scenes difficult for the audience to internalize, but Synge did not do this for mere shock value to make the audience uncomfortable. He was attempting to capture emotion and passion in an almost Shakespearean manner, and to do this, like Shakespeare, he had to take a tale from legend and adapt it (Begnal 90).
This large, mythical drama seems contradictory to Synge's usual realistic style but it is not out of character. Although this play is more emotionally charged than some of his other works, it is a realistic portrayal of human emotion during heightened times. The characters in the play are faced with major decisions that affect their lives, which is a characteristic that differs from his other works. Synge struggled to make “Deirdre” believable. He did not want the dialogue to be forced or fake, but he also wanted to convey human relationships and feelings in this historic time period. He eventually just used a more formalized variation on the dialect he had been writing to convey the import of his words. Though “Deirdre” was not completed, it is functional as a script and is still performed to this day. The themes are universal and apply to more than just the Irish people, though it is an inherently Irish play filled with cultural heritage.
Synge was not fully appreciated and due to his personal beliefs and differing opinions. He remained outside the mainstream in his ideas. When Synge held beliefs similar to his contemporaries, his positions differed just enough to ostracize him from social circles. In the first performance of “The Well of Saints,” his lead actor suggested that he make one of the characters more sympathetic. Synge refused, stating, “he was doing a monochromatic canvas” (Foster 53). This resulted in the play being denounced by the critics because he was not understood. Synge was neither the salesman nor publicist of Yeats or his other contemporaries. He was much more content to write plays than to be associated with a specific movement. Much of Synge's work does not glorify Ireland. His writings are not intended to soften the reality of the situation to please his audience. “Playboy of the Western World” does not pull any punches when it comes to portraying the Irish people.
