John Millington Synge, the famous 20^th century playwright, was a prominent member of the Irish Theatre Movement. His life span was very short, just about thirty-eight years, with just about seven years of active writing career, but he could establish a unique position for himself on the horizon of Irish drama. He has penned six brilliant dramas which have earned him immense fame and popularity. But all this did not come to him instantly. Synge was not a deliberate feminist, but his plays contain some very bold, daring and unconventional female characters, and who find themselves caught in strange situations. His plays dealt with some bold issues prevalent in the rural Irish society. And therefore, initially, he was greeted with much criticism. “He was accused of making a deliberate attack on national character, whatever that be.”He borrowed all these characters, language and situations from the life of peasants living in Aran Islands, which he visited at the behest of his contemporary, W. B. Yeats. “The Aran Islands became the well from which the plays of Synge sprang.”

[1] Ex-Principal & H.O.D. (Dept of English), L&C Mehta Arts College, Ahmedabad.