The Cripple of
Inishmaan is a play by the well-acclaimed playwright, screen writer and
film director Martin McDonagh who has both British and Irish citizenships.
McDonagh’s plays often deal with the themes that reflect the conditions and
realities under which the Irish people live in Ireland.
Set on the little Aran Islands in
the Western Coast of Ireland, The Cripple
of Inishmaan is the first play of The
Aran Islands Trilogy. Like in The
Lieutenant of Inishmore and The
Bahshees of Inisheer, The Cripple of
Inishmaan reflects the difficult circumstances that the Irish society
encounters and the desire of Irish people to leave their country for a better
future. The play takes its story from the real life filming of the documentary Man of Aran and diligently treats to the
story of a boy named Billy Claven, called ‘Cripple Billy’ for the fact that his
one arm and one leg are crippled. One can claim that there are three different
meanings in the title of the play: The first one is that the title refers to
the physical disability of the protagonist, secondly it reflects the bad
(crippled) conditions of the people living on the Aran Islands, and thirdly it
implies that the Aran Islands are the place that opens the doors to the world
for the Irish people who want to leave the country and make their dreams come
true under better circumstances.
Firstly, the protagonist of the
play, Billy Claven, is often called ‘Cripple’ Billy by the other characters and
the title of the play is more likely designed to reflect this situation. In the
first scene, when Billy returns to the shop from his favorite activity, “cowwatching”,
and is asked why he watches the cows at the Darcy’s Fields, Johnny’s theatrical
efforts to give the third piece of news are somewhat interrupted by the
“talking of the cows with a fecking eej!” At this point, Johnny calls him
“Cripple Billy” and we, as the readers of the text, understand that Billy’s sad
condition is not something pitied by the other people around, bur rather a matter
of mocking and humiliation. Billy’s answer to that epithet, “don’t call me
Cripple Billy,” shows that he is not happy with that nickname although it is
the sad but true reality as reflected in the words of Johnny: “isn’t your name
Billy and aren’t you a cripple?” The title of the play is also assumed to be
reflecting this reality of Billy. He is a cripple and he lives in Inishmaar. No
matter how strong he tries to escape from it, it is a reality that he has to
live with. Therefore, McDonagh may be directing the audience to this reality
and forcing them face with the bitter conditions of the protagonist by
reflecting them in the title of the play.
Secondly, Martin McDonagh is known
to be the intellectual voice that brings light upon the problems that the Irish
people have been facing and therefore, the title of the play may be reflecting
the bad conditions under which the people on the Aran Islands live. The word
‘cripple’ in the title can be interpreted as a metaphor that stands for the
tough conditions –mostly economic- which makes the lives of the people on the
Aran Islands very hard and unendurable. For example, the dialogue between Kate, Eileen and Johnny
in the first scene reveals that even a “bit of bacon” is a matter of discussion
amongst the people on the Islands. In the end, Johnny comply with the offer;
the “bloody peas.” For that reason, the word ‘cripple’ in the title refers to
the people on the Islands in general. The Irish people are suffering from
economic difficulties and they are unable to do something to change it, except
for escaping from it. Martin McDonagh, as the intellectual voice that reveals
such problems, invites audience to think about the hard conditions of the Irish
people by resembling the conditions under which the Irish people live to the
condition of a crippled person.
Thirdly, the story of the play
suggests that the Aran Islands is now a place where the young people can have
hope for their future. However, this hope is not about developing and bettering
the conditions on the Islands, but escaping from it for a brighter future. In
the play, as soon as Billy hears that a film crew is going to come to Inishmaar
for shooting a documentary, he starts to think about it as a chance of escaping
from the place where he is stuck. To the surprise of the other people in the
town, Billy gets the chance to be a part of the documentary and uses it for the
long-desired escape. Therefore, the word ‘cripple’ in the title can be understood
with its other, far-fetched meaning: Pier.
In this sense, one can claim that the title of the play refers to the film crew
who are the pier of Inishmaar for the young people of the Island.
To sum up, there are three different
metaphorical meanings in the title of the play: One is the sad condition of
Billy, second is the tough conditions on the Island, and the third is the film
crew as a means of a pier, opening the doors for escaping from the Aran
Islands. However, one way or another, Martin McDonagh shows us the lives of the
Irish people on the Aran Island with a perfect atmosphere of the local colour
and almost with the real-life characters. In the end, I’d like to state that
reading The Cripple of Inishmaar was a
door to the Irish culture and way of life rather than a simple amusement for
me. I’ve found the play politically-engaged and bitter as the themes are hovering
around the social-realist approaches of the play writing tradition.
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