Are the real themes of The Playboy of the Western World love and marriage, not patricide?

It seems a little difficult to think of patricide as the
real theme since Synge's play is a humorous satire meant to evoke laughter. While
patricide is a common theme in tragedy, (e.g., Oedipus Rex), it
seems incongruous for Synge to introduce it as an important theme in a satirical comedy.
Patricide would more plausibly be analyzed as (1) the off-stage dramatic inciting
incident and (2) a motif related to the themes of impulsivity, imagination, and group
mentality. Love and marriage may be considered a theme, however, they seem to be
secondary ones that support the significant theme of impulsivity since impulsivity is
the thematic motif that comprises the off-stage inciting
action.

The theme of impulsivity has weight because it is
Christy's impulsivity that caused him to strike his father; it is the villagers'
impulsivity that generates each of their changeable reactions to Christy; it is Pegeen's
impulsivity that causes her to accept Christy's proposal of marriage; and it is the
villagers' impulsivity that crowns Christy the Playboy of the Western
World.

WIDOW
QUIN — [with the shade of a smile.] —
They're cheering a young lad, the
champion Playboy of the Western World. [More
cheering.]

The most powerful
themes are those of imagination and group mentality. It is imagination that forces
Christy to cry out that he had only killed his father as a defence against all manner of
other imagined offenses impulsively suggested by the villagers' group
mentality.

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CHRISTY —
[twisting round on her with
a sharp cry of horror.] — Don't strike me. I killed my poor father, Tuesday was a week,
for doing the like of
that.

Further, it is group
mentality that imagines Christy as the Playboy of the Western World. While other themes
include rebellion and social convention, imagination and group mentality, closely
associated to the theme of myth making, by far carry the greatest weight. Bear in mind
that group mentality is defined as expressions of ideas and feelings of the moment, as
exemplified by the reaction to Kennedy's speech at the Berlin Wall, while social
convention is represented by traditional behavior.