J. M. Synge is one of the most prominent Irish writers of the twentieth century; his writing characterizes a broad, multifaceted range of political, social and religious anxieties shaping Ireland for the duration of its most remarkable period of change, which transformed the place from a relatively peaceful country to a more political and aggressive location. The picture Synge creates shows us that the question of identity relating to Ireland is problematic; however it has produced and provoked some of the greatest literature of the century. As G. J. Watson has asserted:

"However painful the question of identity may be for the Irish in real life, it has functioned, deeply embedded as it is in the Irish political and literary situation, as a superb catalyst to the production of some of the great art of the century, reaching out of Ireland to the world."

Synge's upbringing was a...