# Old Mahon — The Playboy of the Western World character guide

> Old Mahon in The Playboy of the Western World by J. M. Synge.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Christopher Mahon Old Mahon, Mahon, Mahon Puzzled, Mahon Raging, Mahon Amazed, Mahon Dark, Mahon Eagerly

**First appearance:** 0004-act-ii

## Snapshot

The battered squatter father Christy believes he killed, who staggers into the shebeen very much alive and spoiling for revenge.

## Who they are

Old Mahon is the drunken, quarrelsome father whose violent brawl with his son sets the whole play in motion, and whose unexpected survival turns Christy's celebrated parricide into a lie. His rage and bewilderment at being struck down by his own son give the story its sharpest comic and moral friction, since he refuses to stay buried in either grave or memory. His arrival forces the villagers, and Christy himself, to reckon with what kind of man the 'playboy' really is.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_playboy_of_the_western_world_se/characters/old_mahon
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_playboy_of_the_western_world_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_playboy_of_the_western_world_se/characters