"The Well of the Saints" and "The Tinker’s Wedding" and why they can be considered as companion pieces

Abstract or Introduction

In this essay, the author will attempt to analyse and compare the two plays “The Well of the Saints” and “The Tinker’s Wedding” by John Millington Synge. The playwright, who played an important role in the Irish literary renaissance at the beginning of the 20th century, published “The Well of the Saints” (his first three-act play) in 1905 and “The Tinker’s Wedding” two years later in 1907. These two plays are very similar to each other, and neither of them was as successful as Synge’s other plays, especially the latter had been rather disregarded for a long time. One of the reasons for this was that Synge’s play from 1907 was a much more radical version of “The Well of the Saints”.

In the first section, the author will aim to give some short general information about both plays, e.g. about the content or its characters. The following chapter will be focused on the comparison of these two rather unpopular works. The question, which has to be addressed in this essay, is the following: Can “The Well of the Saints” and “The Tinker’s Wedding” be considered as companion pieces and if so, what makes them similar to each other, but different from the rest of Synge’s plays?

To research this, the author will analyse the most important themes in both plays, which are often part of Synge’s other works, for example religion, poverty or violence. Their significance however varies from play to play, which is also part of the explanation why these similar plays were Synge’s least successful ones: the Irish people did not like the depiction of the themes mentioned in both plays.