Purgatory

-W.B. Yeats

Summary of the play:

Purgatory is a symbolical poetic play which is open to wider perception. The play is based on the concept and theme that the souls in purgatory revisit the scenes of their earthly activities and relieve their transgressions and thereby understand them. Its message is that if human beings fail to understand their actions on the earth, they will be condemned to other unhappy lives. In the play, a spirit suffers because of its share, when alive, in the destruction of an honored house, which may be interpreted as the symbol of Ireland.               

This play consists of mainly two characters: the old man and the boy. They are the father and his son. We also come across the shadows or the ghosts of the old man's parents as the dialogue goes on.           

When the curtain rises, the old man is with his 16 year old son in front of a ruined house where a bare tree is standing. The old man describes how and why he killed his father (the boy's grandfather). The play is about the crime and confession. The old man says that his mother (the boy's grandmother) was rich and aristocratic lady who owned the house, kennel, stable with several horses and many hounds. His father was then a groom in a training stable. She suddenly fell in love with him and finally married him. But unluckily, she died when the old man was born. The mother got miserable condition because the old man's father did worst things and he was a drunk. So the old man, when he was 16, he killed his own father. The old man's father had wasted all the money and properties of his wife after her death playing cards, betting on horse-races, drinking alcohol and on women.           

The old man regretted that he never went to school. The boy complains that his father didn't send him to school. The old man says that the boy was not sent to school. The old man says that the boy was not sent to school because he was the son of an unmarried low-class woman.

When the Old Man was 16, the old man's father burnt down the house when he was drunk. He then killed his father throwing him into the burning fire after stabbing him with the knife which he used to cut his vegetable in the kitchen. But the old man was not arrested and after the murder he ran away from the house to become a travelling seller or hawker or peddler.           

The action of patricide happened long ago. The Old Man now tells his son to listen to the hoof-beats. It is a moonlit night. He says that it is the anniversary of his mother's wedding night, which was the same night he was conceived. His mother was then a beautiful young girl. She died seeing the destruction. As the old man tells his story, the ghost of the young lady (his mother) appears and intensifies the action. The boy says he can see nothing. He calls his father a mad. The old man continues his story and tells his son that he hears the hoof-beats of his father's horse coming from the public house. After the return they involve in sexual act. Thus the old man was born.          

The old man feels pain at his heart. The pain is busy tormenting his self when he looks at the ghosts of his parents at the window. The Boy steals the moneybag. The old man asks his son to give him the bag. The boy complains that he's not got his share. Meanwhile they both struggle for the bag. The money gets scattered. The boy threatens the old man to death. At the back of the stage a light comes on in the window. The old man stares at the window and sees the ghost of his father. Then the old man stabs his son several times and kills him with the knife. Now it's dark in the window.           

The old man believes that he has broken the cycle of violence. He kills the boy because he doesn't want the boy to have a son. He thinks any of the boy's sons would also become murderer.           

He cleans his knife and begins to pick up his money. He hears the horse-hooves again. This indicates that his mother is still suffering in purgatory and that the two murders of his father and his own son have been for nothing. He cries out to God asking him to release his mother's soul from purgatory.         

After all this is done, he wishes to make a pilgrimage somewhere in a far-off land and will tell the old jokes among new men.

Questions and answers:

1.   Why did the old man kill the boy?

► The Old Man had known the whole history of his family. In the past, the family was a prestigious one. Many great people lived and died in that house. The house was burnt and destroyed by his father, one day when he was over drunk. The house was unpardonably polluted by the crimes committed by his father. So the sole motive to kill the boy was to finish off the family line (lineage) that was a polluted one. The Old Man thought that if the boy was allowed to grow up he would enact the same drama like that of his grandfather. By killing his son he wished to end the pollution to be passed on to the future generation.

2.   What is the theme of the play' Purgatory'?

► The main theme of the play 'Purgatory' by W. B. Yeats is that the crime of a father may be repeated by his son in an endless cycle of violence. The theme is related to the crime of patricide (killing of one's father) and its confession. There is a tragedy in the family line because of the destructive will of the family head. The Old Man and The Boy feel isolated and rootless. The old man tries to be careful and finishes the line of pollution to be passed onto the newer generations and finally prays to God for the purification of the dead's soul with the reduction of the regret of the living.

3. Sketch the character of the Old Man.

►  The Old Man in the play is one of the two main characters .He seems to be very worried and disgraced with the death of his mother. He describes about killing his father, inheriting his property and setting the house on fire because his father mistreated his mother and as a result she had to die. He seems to be an antagonist and superstitious man because he believes that by murdering his son, he has stopped the boy to have a son of his own who would kill him after attaining 16 years of age, thereby breaking the endless cycle of violence. He also believes that by killing his son, he helps his mother’s soul to get released from purgatory.

      The Old Man in the play is oversensitive towards  the familial future consequences. He has known the whole history of his house where great and prestigious personalities used to live die. The Old Man is also very much familiar with the destructive nature of his father who had lost at gambling and wasted the familial properties on horses, alcohol and women. The Old man is very sensitive towards the consequences of crimes committed by his father. He therefore wants to finish off the family line by killing his son so that the pollution generated by his father can’t pass onto the future generations.

      The Old Man has a great belief in Christianity. He believes that the soul which is not forgiven by God after someone's death, lies somewhere in between heaven and hell and remains as a ghost for several years until his sins or crimes are forgiven. The place where such soul remains in painful situation is called purgatory. The Old Man knows that his mother got a painful death because she suffered from both physical and mental torture. When the Old Man grew up in the course of time, he saw every worst thing done by his drunkard father. So he develops a sense of hatred towards his father because his father was the cause of his bankruptcy. So the old man feels himself robbed of his tradition and heritage and thus he was compelled to kill his father because of his inhuman actions.

      The old man feels pain at heart because his mother is still suffering in purgatory. His self is highly tormented. So he decides to kill his son to end line of pollution to be passed onto the newer generations. He thinks if he lets his son to grow up he may enact the same drama like that of his grandfather. He himself too regards as a useless, wretched and foul too old man to do anything significant. He then wishes to make a pilgrimage somewhere in a far-off place and will tell the old jokes among new men.

      At the end, he prays to God to release his mother's soul from purgatory so that he can reduce the misery of the living and the regret of the dead.

The End