Character Analysis of Ragged man in “The Rising of the Moon”
OR
Sketch the character
of the Ragged man as you find him in the one-act play “The Rising of the Moon”
by Lady Gregory.
The Ragged man is an interesting character of the one act
play “The rising of the moon” written by Lady Gregory. He is a rebel of heroic
qualities. He is a clever man, a true leader, a psychoanalyst, a true patriot
and a passionate lover of his country.
The man appears at the quay on the seaside in the guise of a
poor ballad singer. He can sing ballads in the most appealing passion to touch
the heart and the spirit of the ardent police officer. His make-up of a ballad
singer is so perfect that even in the course of his conversation, smoking,
singing and sitting together back to back on the barrel the Sergeant can’t
suspect and detect him until he finally reveals his identity. He tries his
tricks one after another to deceive intelligent and dutiful Sergeant.
At first the Ragged man sings a love song to please the
Sergeant but he fails to fulfill his purpose. Then he tries his second trick to
hold the Sergeant w9thin his intellectual grip. He reels off a number of
fictitious stories about the unusual physical strength and also about his
dreadful deeds. Thus he succeeds in exercising his wit and intelligence to be
fool the dutiful Sergeant. He talks and smokes with the Sergeant in a very
intimate and friendly manner. The charm of his lovely talks and magic spell of
his patriotic song meet the hard heart of the Sergeant in the spirit of
patriotism. Finally he appeals to the
patriotic feelings of the Sergeant hot to betray the friend, the Sergeant can
not but turns himself into a friend of Ireland and allows to escape safely.
Right from the very beginning of the play we find the Ragged
man on the top of his wit. He made friends among the jailors to come out of the
goal; now he makes the Sergeant friend again to escape arrest and imprisonment.
Thus he proves that he is really a wonder but he does not forget the help and
association of the Sergeant. So before departure he expresses his gratitude to
the Sergeant with an empathetic note of optimism, he will surely pay back the
good turn done to him by the Sergeant when the rules of the day will of down
and the ruled will come up at the rising of the moon.
