Explain Widow Quin as a counter weight character in Synge's The Playboy of the Western World.

A counter weight character is one who balances the
extremes of a major character. An example is Enkidu as a counter weight character to
Gilgamesh in The Epic of Gilgamesh. By himself, Gilgamesh is a
rash, hard-driving, demanding ruler who exhausts his people and resources. Enkidu
balances these things in Gilgamesh by refocusing his energy and calming him down: Enkidu
counters Gilgamesh's tendencies by influencing him to move toward countering
behaviors.

In The Playboy of the Western World,
Widow Quin is a counter weight character to Christy. She also attempts to be a
countering influence to Pegeen and the other villagers but is not successful as they
never exhibit improved behaviors. Christy first tells the whole story of his father's
end to Widow Quin. One of her comments is an ironic remark aimed at influencing him to
take a better view of himself and not be swept away by the myth around him and the force
of group mentality:

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WIDOW QUIN -
Don't be letting on to be
shy, a fine, gamey, treacherous lad the like of
you.

Another example of Widow
Quin's countering influence is her attempt to persuade Christy to accept Shawn's offer
to get out of town and stay out. She does influence him in some regards, for example, to
participation in the sports games, which is where he eventually gains his title of
Playboy of the Western World. As a whole though, Widow Quin is not very successful in
her task of influencing Christy to behave in a less excessive way. Christy's exit from
the play demonstrates her failure:

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CHRISTY. Go with you, is it? I will then, like a
gallant captain with his heathen slave. Go on now and I'll see you from this day stewing
my oatmeal and washing my spuds, for I'm master of all fights from now. (Pushing Mahon.)
Go on, I'm saying. ... I'll go romancing through a romping lifetime from this hour to
the dawning of the judgment day.