Purgatory
William Butter Yeats
Theme:
In this supernatural play, W. B. yeast has expressed his faith on the existence of any supernatural power and life after death. Purgatory is a mythical place the soul of a dead man is purified from his sin to send towards heaven. In Roman Catholic Christianity, when a man dies he goes either to heaven or to hell according to his deeds. If he has done neither good nor bad work, his soul goes to purgatory. It remains as a ghost there until it wouldn’t be purified after punishment. The soul remains in the purgatory until the cycle of crime wouldn’t be stopped in the family.
The boy and his father walk on the moonlight night; they are near a ruined house. Pointing towards the house, the old man describes the past of it. The house used to be occupied by his mother and her husband. The mother of the old man had married with the groom of the stable as soon as she met him. The man later turned out to be a drunkard and gambler. Due to drinking and gambling he emptied everything she had. The mother died during giving birth to him. The father continued his misdeed, which at last resulted into the complete destruction of house. Because of fear-the fear of his son becoming greater than him, he didn't send him to school. When he was sixteen, his father burnt down the house. This situation creates anger in the boy. As a result the old man got killed with a knife. The boy then became a peddler. The old man tells his bastard son that the night is the anniversary of mother's wedding. As he finishes telling his son about the past, a shadow appears to which the man can only see. A little later her husband also appears, and they both proceed towards room. The old man objects to the way they go inside. After the incident is over the boy talks about property he has acquired. The bastard son demands for his share in property of his father, which is denied by him. I arises anger in him. As a result he takes moneybag from his father. A quarrel starts between them; the boy gets killed at last with the knife of the old man. The old man, after it, addresses his mother and claims that he has ended the consequences. He hopes that the soul of mother would be purified.
Q. What is the central idea of the play?
In this supernatural play, W. B. yeast has expressed his faith on the existence of any supernatural power and life after death. Purgatory is a mythical place the soul of a dead man is purified from his sin to send towards heaven. In Roman Catholic Christianity, when a man dies he goes either to heaven or to hell according to his deeds. If he has done neither good nor bad work, his soul goes to purgatory. It remains as a ghost there until it wouldn’t be purified after punishment. The soul remains in the purgatory until the cycle of crime wouldn’t be stopped in the family.
Q. Why does the old man killed his son?
Q. Why is the old man’s motive in murdering the boy?
The old man killed his son to stop the cycle of crime. If he wouldn’t kill his son the cycle of crime wouldn’t be stopped. The boy would surely kill the old man and the cycle of crime would be continued. The boy had threatened him that he would kill the old man because he didn’t have given him property and education. The boy’s son would kill him later and the ghosts of his parents would not get salvation. His soul would remain in purgatory as the ghost of his parents. So to stop the cycle of crime, the old man killed his son.
Q. “We are always punished for our sins.” Elaborate this statement.
The statement ‘We are always punished for our sins” extracted from Purgatory by W. B. Yeats expresses that any person will be ultimately punished for his/her bad and criminal activities. It means all sinners must be punished and punishment is necessary for all defaulters. Yeats makes the speaker say this so to strengthen his idea about punishment and sinners. It is obviously a spiritual and religious expression towards the bad or sinful works and punishment from god. The speaker accepts the reality that every sinner deserves to be punished. God is not blind to punish everybody randomly. He punished only those who commit sins. It gives also idea that no one should make sins or mistakes. God discriminately punishes the sinners. No sinner is excused in his/her life. That’s why, every spiritual factor of religious belief inspires people to remain sacred and mistake less. And every sinner must be ready to accept any kind of punishment.
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Credential: Dr. Ramesh Adhikari
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