The main point of action occurs towards the end of the play when Sergeant and ‘Man’ are abruptly interrupted by Policeman X and Policeman B. The Sergeant quickly hides the hat and wig of this wanted man. His colleagues inquire about the lawbreaker but Sergeant adamantly denies that he has spotted him. This is an obvious lie because the very person they are looking for is hiding behind the barrel. At this point, the audience gets nervous because they realize that the Sergeant’s lies could be detected and the lawbreaker could be found by his counterparts (Gregory, 9). However, the Sergeant successfully covers for ‘Man’. He also manages to avoid Policeman B’s inquisitions. At first Policeman, B suggests that they should remain there with the Sergeant to wait for the wanted man. The Sergeant wittingly tells them that doing so would create too much noise and it would scare away the offender. Nonetheless, Policeman B does not stop at this point; he insists on giving Sergeant the lantern. If the Sergeant would have reached out for the lantern then he would have exposed the hat and wigs that ‘Man’ wore which would have blown his cover. Policeman B also makes it worse by trying to place it near the barrel where the lawbreaker is hiding. Sergeant gets tougher and immediately orders them to leave. They obey his orders and do so thus saving ‘Man’ from arrest.
There are several reasons for selecting this part of the play as the main point of action. First of all, it is a point of tension-all the convincing that had been done by ‘Man’ could have easily gone to waste if the Sergeant exposed him to his colleagues. The possibility of this occurrence makes it an important part of the play because it leads to apprehension. Also, at this stage, one immediately detects the Sergeant’s change in heart. He does something out of the ordinary because instead of respecting his obligations as an officer, he decides to act humanly. The conversations held throughout the play eventually lead up to this point because the policemen are after a wanted man. By choosing to let ‘Mango, the Sergeant indicates that he is a man who thinks for himself and doesn’t just follow orders blindly.
Policeman B and Policeman X contributed to this main action when they left the scene of the barrel to put placards in other areas (Gregory, 2). This gave ‘Man’ enough time to talk to the Sergeant. It is unlikely that he would have achieved the same success if he had met all three policemen. As the play proceeds, ‘Man’ drives towards this point of action by posing as a singer. Furthermore, he claims to know the man on the placard so that he can rouse the interest of the Sergeant. He could simply have chosen to walk away and come back to the boats some other day when the officers were there but he chose not to do so. This action led to the final developments in the play because it is after grabbing the Sergeant’s attention that he manages to convince him about the cause. In fact, their conversation was one of the major determinants of the officer’s change of heart. He made Sergeant realize that the wanted man was actually a product of his society and that he was fighting for freedom. The lawbreaker also made Sergeant recognize that things could change and he would one day need ‘Man’s’ help. The main action, therefore, became an act of self-preservation, patriotism and compassion by the Sergeant. Lastly, the other two policemen serve to complicate the plot by coming back to the Sergeant before he releases ‘Man’. ‘Man’ needed to get to a boat that would take him to a safe place and his predicament was to do so despite the heavy police presence near there. One may have assumed that after winning the Sergeant’s heart then ‘Man’ had accomplished his mission but greater adversities awaited him when the two policemen came. They complicated the plot but Sergeant managed to work through this issue.
Works Cited
Lady Gregory. The rising of the moon. Web.