This essay (ca 2,300 words) concentrates on how comedy functions as a means of revealing characters in THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN, an Irish drama of the late 1990s, written by Martin McDonagh.
Central to the essay are a detailed examination of the most relevant characters and the comic effects McDonagh applies to them, both from the viewer's point of view during the play and after the thought-provoking ending.
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Funny Characters
3. Conclusion
Aim and Topics
This essay examines how comedy shapes the presentation of characters in Martin McDonagh’s The Cripple of Inishmaan. It asks how comic behaviour, relationships and stereotypes contribute to characterisation beyond entertainment.
- Unusual behaviour and the characterisation of Johnnypateenmike
- Stupidity, aggression and stereotypes associated with Helen
- The relationship between Johnnypateenmike and his mother
- Irish stereotypes and self-directed humour
- Billy’s treatment and the play’s open ending
Excerpt from the Book
Funny Protagonists
Unusual behaviour of the characters. Various characters in the play behave strangely, but one is quite striking: Johnnypateenmike, the “newsman” (moreover a gossip) of the island—where hardly anything ever happens—, ‘earns’ his food with storytelling. His news is so boring that not even local people want to hear it, but they give him food for it after all even though they feel being fooled. (This overlaps with the topic of stupidity.) He tries to get his mother drunk dead, which also plays with the cliché of Irish people’s drinking. However it is he in the end that is reported by Billy’s foster aunt Kate to have saved baby Billy as his parents wanted to drown him because they could not bear a crippled child. Having played a major comic role with his sponger behaviour throughout the drama, Johnnypateenmike eventually turns out to be a man with moral values—a sharp contrast. So it is unlikely that this comic character serves only for entertainment. The comic element seems to be a means of focusing the character.
Stupidity and aggression. If you cannot use your brains, you use your body to get along in everyday life. British colonists used to think that the Irish were intellectually underdeveloped savages who could do nothing but drink and exchange blows. Joking about the Irish has remained part of British humour, particularly in England, though nowadays you find as well the Irish laughing about jokes that they tell themselves on the foolishness connected with them because they know what they really are.
Using one’s body instead of one’s brains applies as well to the stereotype against prostitutes. Here, Helen wants Bobby to take her to the film casting for “kisses and a bit of a hold of his hand” (p. 18) but he prefers to row her over for free (p. 24); she kisses someone from the Hollywood staff to get promised a role in the next film but eventually learns that the man she kissed was not a film director but a “stableman who could do an American accent” (p. 77). Thus she is ridiculed but remains a character that you cannot really look through. Despite the violence that she shows throughout the play (throwing eggs, using aggressive language and beating several people), she must have a weak point in her heart that Billy eventually even seems to hit, otherwise she would not change her mind from rejecting the “funny-looking cripple-boy” (p. 77) to agreeing to walk with him (p. 82).
There are many other protagonists who become violent during the play, but none of them is as strongly presented as Helen.
Chapter Summaries
Introduction: The author introduces the play’s setting and central character, then outlines an approach to comedy that considers stereotypes and surprising characterisation.
Funny Characters: The essay examines unusual behaviour, aggression and relationships, focusing on Johnnypateenmike and Helen while also considering Bobby and Billy. It discusses stereotypes, self-directed humour and the play’s open ending.
Conclusion: The author argues that comedy draws attention to characters whose actions challenge the roles and stereotypes associated with them.
Keywords
Martin McDonagh, The Cripple of Inishmaan, comedy, characterisation, Irish stereotypes, disability, aggression, self-directed humour, dramatic realism, Inishmaan, open ending
Frequently Asked Questions
What is this essay about?
It examines the function of comic characters in Martin McDonagh’s play The Cripple of Inishmaan.
What are its central themes?
The essay considers comedy, stereotypes, unusual behaviour, aggression, relationships and the treatment of disability.
What is the primary aim of the essay?
Its aim is to explore how comedy brings particular characters into focus and gives them complexity beyond their entertainment value.
What method does the author use?
The author offers a literary interpretation of the play, analysing characters, dialogue and dramatic situations alongside selected critical commentary.
What does the main section discuss?
It examines unusual behaviour, stupidity and aggression, and awkward relationships, before considering other characters and self-directed humour.
Which keywords characterise the essay?
Key terms include comedy, characterisation, Irish stereotypes, disability, aggression and self-directed humour.
Why does the essay focus on Johnnypateenmike?
His comic behaviour and his relationship with his mother provide examples through which the author explores characterisation and Irish stereotypes.
How is Helen considered in the analysis?
The author discusses Helen in relation to aggression, stereotypes and her interactions with Billy and Bobby.
How does the essay treat the play’s ending?
It considers the ending open to interpretation and discusses how uncertainty about the characters relates to the play’s comedy.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Daniel Knauer (Autor:in), 2004, The function of comic characters in THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/81187
