Juno and the Paycock

Juno Boyle is the 45-year-old matriarch of the family with O’Casey describing her as a woman who once was attractive, “but her face has now assumed that look which ultimately settles down upon the faces of the women of the working-class” (435). She keeps her family, particularly her husband, in line with her tough-love approach. Jack and Joxer often label her a nag, but Juno feels that Joxer is a terrible influence and thinks Jack should help sustain the family. Juno isn’t fooled by Jack’s excuses and can get a little cheeky with him, “…If you think you’re able to come it over me with them fairy tales, you’re in the wrong shop” (438).

Even though Juno can be blunt and direct, she also displays a nurturing side, especially to her young adult children—Johnny, who is suffering mentally and physically from battle; and Mary, who finds herself pregnant out of wedlock. Juno also expresses empathy for the loss of her neighbor Mrs. Tancred’s son when Johnny dies and even wishes she had been more empathetic sooner.

Despite the struggles Juno faces in her home life, she appears to have found a bit ‘o luck in June, at least her husband thinks so, hence her nickname. She presents herself as an independent woman capable of caring for herself and a family without a man’s income and of keeping up with political discourse about Ireland in the company of others. If circumstances had been different, she might have had a fulfilling career.

Mary Boyle is “a well-made and good-looking girl of twenty-two” and the eldest of the Boyle children (435). She is the embodiment of a contradiction between the working-class environment and her interest in reading and higher education. Her father finds the works of playwright Henrik Ibsen on the table and thinks Mary only reads “trash.” At the beginning of the play, she is on strike from her job, telling her mother, “A principle’s a principle” (436).

On a personal level, Mary is able to capture to hearts of two men, Jerry Devine and Charlie Bentham. In fact, she gives up the devoted thinker Jerry for the teacher-turned-lawyer Charlie, who ends up leaving her. After a month of not hearing from Charlie, Mary says to her mother, “…[Charlie] wasn’t the man poor Jerry was, but I couldn’t help loving him, all the same” (451). Her love for Charlie leads to her pregnancy and single motherhood, which leaves her emotionally fragile at the end of the play. Yet, with her mother’s support, she toughens up and carries on, facing both impending motherhood and the news of her brother’s untimely death.

Johnny Boyle is the younger brother of Mary whom O’Casey describes as having a “tremulous look of indefinite fear in his eyes” (436). He is fiercely loyal to Ireland, particularly the country’s fight for complete independence from the British, even though the wars have left their mark on him: a bullet in his hip and the loss of his left arm. Johnny says about his fighting, “I’d do it agen, Ma, I’d do it agen; for a principle’s a principle” (442). However, Johnny expresses doubts about his patriotism and is unable to talk about the death he witnessed. When the Young Man asks Johnny to meet him later that night to discuss Robbie Tancred’s death, Johnny responds with “Haven’t I done enough for Ireland!” (450). The epitome of his doubts and fears comes to a head when Johnny has visions of Robbie Tancred in Act II. Most of the family does not know how to react to Johnny’s outburst. He seems to be an object of mockery and pity rather than empathy.

Without an arm, Johnny’s ability to perform labor and make money for his working-class family no longer exists. Juno acknowledges this sad reality out loud in Act I. However, when she learns of Johnny’s death at the end of Act III, she only mourns his loss, not thinking about the economic or political aspect of Johnny’s existence.

Johnny often butts heads with his father, and the two seem unable to have a genuine father-son relationship. In fact, Johnny seems to have hard words for everyone around him, including his pregnant sister Mary and, mostly, himself. If this play were written post-1920s, O’Casey might have directly addressed Johnny’s PTSD.