The great influx of creative writing in Ireland around the beginning of the 20th century has been spoken of as the Irish Literary Renaissance. Dublin, which has been a famous center of culture, produced writers of distinction, such as Oscar Wilde, G.B.Shaw, W.B.Yeats, James Joyce and J.M.Synge. Of these five, is Synge who grounds his dramatic act exclusively in Ireland. As N.Norman Jeffares says,

Synge treated the subject of the Irish country people in a completely idiosyncratic way. His plays are impressive for their poetic and idiomatic language, their violence, and their transmission of his delight in the wildness of the Irish peasantry, the richness of their nature. He knew his Ireland and loved it and the expression he have it was strange and powerful. (254)

Samuel C. Chew and Richard D.Altick say, “He depicted a hard, coarse life and unrestrained feelings, alike in joy and sorrow, of the simple people, close to earth” (Baugh 1513). He takes them as the raw material for all his works.

Race, religion, history and socio-economic developments have all made the British and Irish people distinct from each other. Unlike England, Ireland was not an industrial country and did not have a strong middle class; it was a Catholic country, though the writers were usually Protestants. Even though the Irish people were oppressed by many rulers, they continued to enrich the world with their literature.

However the Irish writers mostly accepted English cultural influence so fully that it was easy for them to forget their Irish connection. It was only the Irish National Movement in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which made Anglo-Irish writers self-consciously Irish and even then they were not unanimous. Though Synge and Yeats strove establish an indigenous Irish theatre in Dublin, Oscar Wilde and Bernard Shaw remained regular contributors to the English theatre in London. As J.L.Styan says, “The Dublin theatre became the center of the literary awakening, a place where patriots could meet, and where the art of the drama could deal in folk-tales or politics, memories or prophecies” (91). C.J.Watson says, “At the beginning of this century, English drama was revitalized by the use of Irish legend, folk tale and symbolism and by the use of Irish idioms…” (Watson 3). Douglas Hyde, Lady Gregory, George Moore, W.B.Yeats, J.M. Synge and others constituted a brilliant group.

Synge has a unique place in Irish literary history. As John Russel Taylor says,

…the most striking figure of the Irish dramatic revival was John Millington Synge (1871 – 1909). During his short he completed five plays which brought peasant drama to the point of perfection, using the patterns of Irish folk-speech for distinctive flavour and drawing their material from Irish country life, but filtering both language and material through a poet’s imagination. (Craik 184)

John Millington Synge was born on 16th April 1871 in Rathfarmham, a suburb of Dulblin. His father was a barrister, a land-owner and a member of the Protestant Anglo-Irish minority. He spent much of his boyhood wandering in the country side. “His boyhood was spent among the hills and mountains to the south of Dublin; an almost Wordsworthian passion for countryside and a knowledge of natural history more intimate than Wordsworth’s, are continuously reflected in the imagery and descriptive passages of the plays” (Henn 1).

Synge went to Trinity College for studies. After his graduation from Trinity College, Dublin, where he specialized in languages – Gaelic, Latin, Greek and Hebrew – he went to Paris and tried to eke out a living by writing a criticism of French Literature. He went to Aran Islands influenced by the advice of Yeats: “Give up Paris…. Go to the Aran Islands. Live there as if you are one of the people themselves; express a life that has never found expression” (Grene 19).

Synge’s first visit to the Aran Islands was the most important land-mark in his literary career. T.R.Henn says, “…Synge’s journey to Aran in 1898, bears such a strange and rich fruit” (2). Synge paid several visits to the Aran Islands and stayed there for varying periods in order to study the manners, the habits and the mode of life of the people there. “It was on Aran that Synge found a frame for his living imagination. It was in that bare, primitive hand-to-mouth place that he, who had such riches of imagination, such endless means and meaningless ends, found peace and purpose” (Rodgers 100). From this experience he draw much of the material for his plays. Weldon Thornton says, “Undoubtedly Synge’s sojourns on those islands did contribute immensely to his almost magical transformation from an unconfident amateur who did his literary aspirations behind a facade of philological interest, into a skilful dramatist” (11-2). Synge finally returned to Dublin after these enriching periods of preparation. Then this great dramatic genius of Ireland unfolded to make his unique contribution to the Irish theatre and literature.

In his plays Synge simply portrayed the day-to-day life of peasants in rural settings. For his sheer literary artistry Synge had no equal during his time, whether in England or Ireland. His great native gifts and ground knowledge joined him when he already had a single-minded devotion to the aesthetic possibilities of his theme. An international literary culture enabled him to regard his Irish subject-matter with an objectivity of vision denied to most of his countrymen. He wrote Riders to the Sea (1904), a one-act play, The Shadow of the Glen (1903), another one-act play, The Well of the Saints, (1905), a three-act play, The Playboy of the Western World (January 1907), another three act play, The Tinker’s WeddingDeirdre of the Sorrows, an incomplete play in three acts performed in 1910 and When the Moon has Set, which was finally included in the collected works of Synge, in 1968. He also contributed some prose works like, The Aran Islands (1907), In Wicklow-West Kerry and ConnemaraPoems and Translation was also published by him in the year 1909.

Traditional1y alcohol is frowned upon by the elders and religious leaders, because it destroys man and his family. A man goes out of control if he indulges in drinking alcohol. Many people lose their health and wealth when they become chronic drunkards and addicts. Synge's characters have a great craze for alcoholic drinks. Surprisingly, even elders, like Michael James Flaherty and his friends in The Playboy of the Western World and religious leaders like the priest in The Tinker's Wedding are given to drinking. Alcohol is a Circean cup for these people, because it is clearly bewitching and dangerously attractive.

Alcohol as a Totem

In Synge's plays there are many occasions where people arc portrayed as involved in drinking. In Riders to the Sea, Nora says, “There were two men says he, ‘and they rowing round with poteen, before the cocks crowed, and the oar of one of them caught the body, and they passing the black cliffs of the north’” (45). Here Nora reports about two men who had gulped the alcoholic drink even early in the morning and were drowned while rowing. One or these unfortunate men is Nora's brother Michael.

In The Shadow of the Glen, on the stage itself, "There are a couple of glasses on the table, and a bottle of whisky..." (11). No scene seems complete without a display of drinks as part of the routine life on these Irish islands. When the tramp enters the house of Burkes, he asks Nora Burke for a cup of milk because he is tired. The tramp asks, "On my two feet, lady of the house, and when 1 saw the light below I thought may be if you'd a sup or new milk..."(11-2). But Nora offers whisky. Nora "pouring him out a glass of whisky" says, "Maybe that would do you better than the milk of the sweetest cow in Country Wicklow" (13-4). This clearly shows her strong feeling about drinks and faith in its rejuvenating effect. She feels that whisky would definitely be more refreshing and reviving than milk, even if it be the milk of the sweetest cow in their country. The tramp is very happy and he blesses Nora Burke saying, "The Almighty God reward you and may it be to your good health" (14). This shows the attitude of the tramp towards alcoholic drinks.

When Daniel Burke, gets up from his "death" bed, he immediately asks for whisky as if it were a real life-sustaining potion. His craving is such that he says, ''I'm destroyed with the drouth, and let you bring me a drop quickly before herself will come back" (19). Later, the tramp "pouring out the whisky" says, "What will herself say if she smells the stuff on you, for I'm thinking it's not for nothing you're letting on to be dead?" (19). Such is the height of his alcoholism that Daniel Burke says, "Would you have herself come back before I taste a drop at all?" (20). After drinking whisky, Daniel Burke asks for the stick. Surely, alcohol seems to have kindled the brute in him. So, Daniel Burke resorts to Dutch courage for his violent action.

Later in the play, after Nora and the tramp go out of the house, Michael Dara also tries to go out, but Daniel Burke stops him and offers him drink. Daniel Burke says, "Sit down now and take a little taste of the stuff, Michael Dara" (33). Later, "He pours out two glasses of whisky, and gives one to Michael" saying "Your good health, Michael Dara" (33). Michael Dara is very happy and the drink endows him with such great contentment that he says, "God reward you, Daniel Burke, and may you have a long life and a quiet life, and good health with it" (33). Here it is ironical that Daniel Burke joins hands with Michael Dara who had made advances towards Daniel's wife, Nora Burke. Their alcoholism is so strong that it overcomes all other feelings and dominates their moods and behaviour. Their enmity is forgotten over a glass of whisky.

In The Tinker's Wedding also the alcoholic drink is overflowing as the characters are all alcohol bibbers. Mary Byrne is a drunkard. She is always in a drunken state. When Michael Byrne, Sarah Casey and the priest are conversing, Mary comes there. Michael Byrne says, "Whist, now, the two of you. There's my mother coming and she'd have us destroyed if she heard the like of that talk the time she's been drinking her till" (69). Mary Byrne has in her hand a jug with some drink in it. Sarah Casey tries to get the jug from her. Sarah Casey says, "Give me the jug now, or you'll have to spilt in the ditch" (70). But Mary is not willing to give the jug to Sarah. Mary "holding the jug with both her hands, in a stilted voice" says, "Let you leave me easy, Sarah Casey. I won't spill it, I'm saying. God help you; are you thinking it's frothing full to the brim it is at this hour of the night, and I after carrying it in my two hands a long step from Jemmy Neill's?" (70). When Mary Byrne sees the priest, she offers him also a drink. In this society of drunkards, alcoholism does not seem to be a sin, but only a routine way of life. Therefore it is no wonder that; when Mary Bryne "sees the priest, and holds out the jug towards him" and says, "God save your reverence. I'm after bringing down a smart drop; and let you drink it up now, for it's a middling drouthy man you are at all times, God forgive you, and this night is cruel dry" (70). The priest tries to send her away, but she "persuasively" (70) says, "Let you not be shy of us your reverence. Aren't we all sinners, God help us! Drink a sup now, I'm telling you; and we won't let on a word about it till the Judgment Day" (70-1). "She takes up a tin mug, pours some porter into it, and gives it to him" (71). Sarah tries to stop her, but Mary is unstoppable. Mary says to the priest, "Let you drink it up, holy father. Let you drink it up, I'm saying, and not be letting on you wouldn't do the like of it, and you with a stack of pint bottles above reaching the sky" (71). The priest also drinks with Sarah. The potion (alcohol) succeeds in penetrating into priesthood also, because alcoholism is a routine way of life. Probably some wine is necessary even for the priest to brave the rough and violent tides of life in that crude society.

Later, when Sarah Casey and Michael Byrne go out, Mary Byrne wants money for drinking but they refuse to give her any money. Mary Byrne says, "And it's leaving me lone you are? Come back here, Sarah Casey. Come back here, I’m saying; or if it's off you must go, leave me the two little coppers you have, the way I can walk up in a short while, and get another pint for my sleep" (77). Sarah says that Mary Byrne has drunk to the brim. Sarah Casey says, "It's too much you have taken. Let you stretch yourself out and take a long sleep; for isn't that the best thing any woman can do, and she an old drinking heathen like yourself' (77-8).
When Sarah Casey and Michael Byrne have left the place, Mary Byrne takes the tin can which is preserved for the marriage. "She takes up the can, and puts the package back in the ditch" and says, "Jemmy Neill's a decent lad; and he'll give me a good drop for the can…" (78). Such is her craving for the "drop" that she painstakingly picks out the tin can from the bundle, and further only for this "good drop" does she steal that tin can through which she achieves the great bonus of a good drink apart from wrecking the marriage.

Sarah Casey does not know that Mary Byrne has taken the tin can from the bundle. Later, when Mary Byrne tries to take the bundle from the ditch, Sarah Casey gets angry. Sarah Casey says, "Leave that down, Mary Byrne. Oh! Aren’t you the scorn of women to drink that you'd have that drouth and roguery on you that you'd go drinking the can and the dew not dried from the grass?" (82). Here Sarah Casey reveals that Mary Byrne starts drinking from early morning.

Later, when Sarah Casey is ready to go to the chapel, Mary Byrne says, "It was or that you were washing your face, and you after sending me for porter at the fall of night the way I'd drink a good half from the jug?" (85). These words depict Mary Byrne's craze for alcoholic drinks.

Mary Byrne explains the greatness of alcoholic drink to Sarah Casey. Mary Byrne says, "If you do be, drinking a little sup in one town and another town, it's soon you get great knowledge and a great sight into the world. You'll see men there, and women there, sitting up on the ends of barrels in the dark night, and they making great talk would soon have the like of you, Sarah Casey, as wise as a March Hare" (87). Here, Mary Byrne advocates that people in drink would grow into great talkers. She also says that they would become wise. She surely has much faith in and attachment for drinks. That is why she is triggered to praise its potency.

The priest is also interested in alcoholic drinks. Michael Byrne and Sarah Casey wait for the priest to persuade him to perform their marriage. Michael Byrne says, "It's often his reverence does be in there playing cards, or drinking a sup, or singing songs, until the dawn of day" (66). Sarah Casey says, "... it's a great bargain we’ve make now and he after drinking his glass" (66). So, they also count on the drink to give them the pep to persuade the priest towards their appointed goal.

The priest also stoops to drink alcoholic drink with Mary Byrne who is a tinker woman. Though initially, he rejects the offer of Mary Byrne for a drink, he succumbs to the lure later and accepts it. The priest says, "Well, here's to your good health, and God forgive us all" (72). "He drinks" (72). Towards the end of the play, this drink actually saves him from near death. Mary Byrne says, "Let you not rough with him, Sarah Casey, and he after drinking his sup of porter with us at the fall of night" (96).

When the priest is drunk, he first agrees to perform the marriage, but later he retreats. So, in a weak moment of drunkenness he accepts the offer but when he becomes sober, he is not willing to perform the marriage between Michael Byrne and Sarah Casey. The priest says, "So it would be best, maybe, I'd give you a shilling for to drink my health, and let you walk on, and not trouble me at all" (84). These words are spoken to Sarah Casey. So, here the priest indicates how Sarah Casey is also interested in drink. But Sarah Casey feels that her marriage is greater than a drink.

Michael Byrne is also interested in drink as the words of Sarah Casey prove. She says to the priest, "... if you don't marry us now, himself and the old woman, who has a great drouth, will be drinking it to-morrow in the fair" (68). Here "himself' refers to Michael Byrne. So there is no doubt about his love for drinks. Again in the end, Michael Byrne, Sarah Casey and Mary Byrne leave that place to have "a great time" (98) of great revelry and drinking. Michael Byrne says, "... we'll have a great time drinking that bit with the trampers on the green of Clash" (98).

So, most of the characters in The Tinker's Wedding are drunkards or at least - have an inclination towards drink. The story itself is a vine of violence drawing sustenance now and then from the alcoholic stream. It is clear that, except for the pep and kick of wine, the characters would act tame and the story would have fallen flat.

In The Well of the Saints, also there are a few references made to alcoholic drinks. Timmy the Smith tells Martin Doul about "... the way you'll be having a great joy..." (107). Martin Doul is "interested" and askes, "Are they putting a still behind the rock? It'd be a grand thing if I'd a sup handy the way I wouldn't be destroying myself groping up across the bogs in the rain falling" ( I 07). This answer illustrates Martin Doul's interest in drinks.

Later, when Timmy explains about the holy water, Mary Doul says, "Maybe we could send a young lad to bring us the water. I could wash a naggin bottle in the morning, I'm thinking Patch Ruadh would go for it, if we gave him a good drink, and the bit of money we have hid in the thatch" (108-9). These words reveal Patch Ruadh's love for a good drink as also Mary's confidence in the pep giving qualities of the brew. But Timmy says that it is not possible because sinful people like them cannot bring water as it would get spoiled because of “... the villainy of your heart, the time you'd be carrying it, and you looking round on the girls, may be, or drinking a small sup at still" (109). This clearly shows that people in general in the society are interested in drinking.

Later in the play, Timmy says, "And she after going by with her head turned the way you'd see a priest going where there'd be a drunken man in the side ditch talking with a girl" (132), when Martin Doul feels that Mary Doul cannot live for two days without looking at Martin. Here "a priest" is surely not the priest in The Tinker's Wedding because he turns his face from a drunken man. From the words of Timmy one infers that the priests in general hate alcohol drinkers and exhibit their displeasure by turning their heads away from drunkards.

In this play, The Well of the Saints also, there are people who are ready to do work for a peg of alcoholic drink. This play also reveals the unlimited desire of a blind man for alcoholic drinks.

The setting itself in The Playboy of the Western World is a "country public-house or shebeen" (177) where, with other things, alcoholic drinks are sold. A place "Licensed for the Sale of Beer and Spirits, to be Consumed on the Premises" (186). In the very first scene itself Margaret Flaherty writes about "three barrels of porter" (177) to be sent to their shop.

Alcoholic drinks go common with the consumer goods here as a daily necessity of life. Later, Widow Quin praises that place calling it "... a place with fine trade, with a license, and with poteen too" (246).

Michael James Flaherty is a chronic addict. He is ready to leave his daughter Margaret Flaherty alone and go to the Kate Cassidy's wake, mostly for the love of the drinks he will get there. This is also true with his friends Jimmy Cullen and Philly Farrell. They like only beer and skittles. They go to drink at the wake rather than to mourn. When they appoint Christopher Mahon as the pot-boy of the shop, Jimmy "jumps up" and says, "Now, by the grace of God, herself (Margaret) w1l1 be safe this night, with a man (Christopher Mahon) killed his father holding danger from the door, and let you come on, Michael James, or they'll have the best stuff drunk at the wake" (194). This also provides firm proof of their craving for drinks even if it be in the house of death.

When Michael James comes to know about Christopher's father's death and his burial without a wake, he says,

It is, then; and aren't you a louty schemer to go burying your poor father unbeknownst when you'd a right to throw him on the crupper of a Kerry mule and drive him westwards, like holy Joseph in the days gone by, the way we could have given him a decent burial, and not have him rotting beyond, and not a Christian drinking a smart drop to the glory of his soul? (254)

Here, their drinking habit is given a glorified status. It has even become a religious ritual, capable of glorifying the soul. The drinking habit has taken such deep roots in the society that it is believed to lend glory to the dead person's soul.

Michael James talks at length to Christopher Mahon about the wake, saying, "...wasn't it a shame I didn't bear you along with me to Kate Cassidy's wake, a fine, stout lad, the like of you, for you'd never see the match or it for flows or drink..." (254). Michael James gives more importance to drink than to the actual mourning attached to death.

Even though Michael James is always under the influence of alcohol, initially, he is not willing to give his daughter to Christopher Mahon in marriage. He says, "Are you thinking, if I'm drunk itself, I'd leave my daughter living single with a little frisky rascal is the like of you?" (255). He also criticizes his daughter, Margaret Flaherty, for her decision to many Christopher Mahon. He says, "Oh, aren't you a heathen daughter to go shaking the fat of my heart, and I swamped and drowned with the weight of drink?" (256). But, alter all these words, he agrees to give his daughter to Christopher Mahon. So, it is clear alcohol has finally done its rowdy work.

At the end of the play, when Christopher Mahon leaves the place, Michael James says, "By the will of God, well have peace now for our drinks. Will you draw the porter Pegeen?" (271). Here, again Michael James Flaherty's interest revolves around alcoholic drinks only.

When Christopher Mahon enters the shebeen, he first asks for a drink. He says, "I'd trouble you for a glass of porter, woman of the house" (186). Later in the play, so also Old Mahon comes in, and asks for a drink. He asks, "Give in a supeen and I'll tell you now" (240). When she does not give it immediately, he repeats his demand and again asks, "And let you give me a supeen, for I'm destroyed traveling since Tuesday was a week" (241). When Widow Quin offers drink and says, "There now is a drink for you, and may it be to your happiness and length of life" (241). Therefore in this society drunkenness is believed to bestow a blessed state of life.

Christopher's father, Old Mahon, is also a hard drinker. One infers this from the words of Christopher, when he says, "H's that you'd say surely if you seen him and he after drinking for weeks, rising up in the red dawn, or before it maybe, and going out into the yard as naked as an ash-tree in the moon of May, and shying clods against the visage of the stars he'd till put the fear of death into the banbhs and the screeching sows" (200). This not only shows Old Mahon's brazen behaviour but also the influence of the alcoholic drink on a man. Christopher also says that his father, Old Mahon was "... three weeks with the Limerick girls drinking ..." (247). This also shows Old Mahon's addiction to alcoholic drinks. He also boasts about his superiority over his son in drinking, by saying, "And he a poor fellow would get drunk on the smell of a pint" (231).

For Christopher Mahon, drinking is like a regular duty or daily chore. He says "Up to the day... I there drinking, waking, eating, sleeping, a quiet, simple poor fellow with no man giving me heed" (198).

As Christopher Mahon is believed to have killed his father, Father Reilly and others expect him to go rowdy with drink in his hand. "... they fearing by this time he was may be roaring, romping on your hands with drink" (202) says Widow Quin. This paints in vivid hues as to what could be the expected accompaniment of a criminal act. This picture appears to be quite familiar and expected of many, obviously because of the wide prevalence of alcoholism in that locality and of its inevitable consequences, of which they know and which they accept, though macabre.

Later Christopher Mahon says to himself, "... I'm thinking, to drunken all the wealth and wisdom of the county Clare" (208) "... and drinking my fill ..." (208), lay bare Christopher Mahon's unquenchable thirst for drink. L1ter Christopher Mahon joins hands with Widow Quin, Susan Brandy, Sarah Tansey and Honor Blake in drinking. Sara Tansey proposes the toast saying, "Drink a health to the wonders of the western world..." (216). This is almost a ritual to the wine god!

So, almost all the characters in the play except Shawn Kelogh are given to drinking, which appears to be a routine exercise of their daily life. Many of them are strong alcoholics. The harvest boys who are staying near their place are also drunkards. Margaret Flaherty makes a reference to this saying, "Isn't there the harvest boys with their tongues red for drink ..." (183).

­So, these characters drink as well as encourage the habit of drinking in others. They require the brew for performing their daily rough chores with briskness and promptitude, often bordering on rudeness and violence.

In Deirdre of the Sorrows, when Naisi and his brothers enter Deirdre's house, they immediately ask for wine. Naisi asks. "May we drink? Whose wine is this that we may drink his health?" (292). Naisi "Pouring out wine for the three. They drink" (292). Hence this is a regular feature.

So throughout Synge’s plays, there is an underlying current of alcoholism, dominating the day-today life of the people. Most of the characters crave for drinks and others do not object to or hate drinking – rather. they accept that as a social necessity.

Alcohol is also like a 'totem' to these people. Totem is any species of living or inanimate thing regarded by a class or kin with a local tribe with superstitious respect as an outward symbol of an existing intimate unseen relation. Wayne Poley, Gary Lea and Gail Vibe say, "The attitudes of a society towards alcohol will be reflected in the customs (or norms) surrounding drinking" (34). Here, most of the characters respect alcoholic drinks and
there exists an intimate unseen relationship.

Alcohol and Violence

One can conclude that alcoholism is the sustenance of the society portrayed in the plays of John Millington Synge. It is the motive spirit and guiding power of every conversation and interaction of the people of the Irish islands as they emerge in Synge's plays. No play is complete without wine bibbing or at least without a reference to it. In a society given to so much of alcoholism, one can expect only a free play or rudeness and violence at its highest. The intoxicated characters have very little of rationality left in their thinking. Under the influence of alcohol they hardly realise the consequence of their reckless speech or actions. The fury of the waves of the sea poses no threat to them as they ride to the edges of the deep sea, as they are under the influence of alcohol. They can readily join the company of mourners on a wake solely for the love of liquor. They join happily, even the worst of their adversaries, over a pint of drink. A man who, in the height of doubt could feign even death to catch his wife in infidelity could not suppress his thirst for alcohol as his first cry is for a drink even before he achieves his goal. He also brandishes a stick in violence, while he is accelerated by the power of alcohol in his belly. A man with his wits dulled with brew does not hesitate to propose to another man's wife, even over the corpse of the 'dead' husband.

In The Tinkers Wedding also, the characters interact with roughness, after alcohol enters their system. even priesthood is no exception - probably a sip or two is required for the religious heads also to deal with the violent and irrational flock that they are tending, lest they would easily intimidate the man of God, to perform an illegal or undesirable marriage. The "drops" are needed for Mary to carry out her tough job of removing the can (an act of stealing) and putting an end to the unwanted marriage. We see Old Mahon as capable of putting the fear of death in Christopher Mahon, when he indulges in drinking "for weeks" as portrayed in The Playboy of the Western World. Similarly, violence of a high order is expected from Christopher Mahon also in the company of alcohol. He joins hands with Widow Quin in drinking alcohol. Thus alcoholism is a routine aspect of the Irish society displayed in Synge's plays and one cannot deny that the rudeness and violence prevalent in this society is the inevitable result of their intoxication which dominates their thoughts, words, deeds and interactions.

Social psychologists also agree that alcohol is directly associated with violence. In the words of John C. Brigham in Social Psychology: "After drinking, many individuals become impulsive and less concerned with the norms of conduct they usually obey" (251). He also says, "A number of surveys have found a strong relationship between assualtive crime and alcohol" (251). Writing on the same lines, Wayne Poley, Gary Lea and Gail Vibe in Alcoholism: A Treatment Manuel say, "A number of studies have also directly implicated the prior use of alcohol in crimes of violence" (30). So alcohol also instigates violence in the society. This holds good for the Irish people also.

Therefore one of the reasons for the prevalence of violence in Synge's plays is not far to find. It is the direct result of their alcoholic life. One can say that rudeness and violence exhibited by the characters in Synge's plays required alcohol to sustain it and maintain it at such a highly palpable level that one could say that violence is a dominant aspect of Synge's plays; so also is alcoholism in these stories. One may therefore accept that violence and alcoholism are equally conspicuous and that they are inevitably interdependent for their dominance.


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(December 1907), a two-act play, (1911) and Note Books (an autobiographical work). A collection of poems,