Riders to the Sea Summary

Introduction

Irish playwright and poet John Millington Synge is prominently known for the revival of Irish Literature. His writings have contributed greatly to British Literature as he wrote mostly about bourgeois or working-class Irish people and their simple and unsophisticated manners. He was a licensed attorney residing in England when he changed his profession and became an Engineer. After some time, he was attracted to academia when he shifted to the USA.

His one-act play 'Riders to the Sea' was first published in 1904, marking the beginning of the Irish Literary Renaissance. It was first performed in Molesworth Hall, Dublin. Based on the major themes of spirituality, the hardships of a middle-class Irish family, and the power of nature, this play captures the public attention with the tragic turn of events.

Characters

• Maurya- An old widow
• Bartley- Maurya's son
• Nora- Maurya's youngest daughter
• Cathleen- Maurya's elder daughter
• Other characters - An old man and a woman

Summary

The play is set in Aran Islands, located on Ireland's west coast. The scene begins with displaying the nets and oil skins, suggesting that the chief occupation of the family is fishing. Cathleen is a twenty-year-old girl preparing food for her family when her younger sister, Nora, asks her about their mother's situation. Cathleen responds that she might be sleeping and asks about the bundle that Nora is carrying. Nora tells her that the young priest had passed the bundle to her and that the clothes in it might belong to Michael, their brother. A body had been discovered at the Donegal, and it could be Michael's because he had been missing for almost a week. The priest gave Nora false assurances through Godly clich�s that Michael might have found peace as "he got a clean burial".

The girls want to hide the bundle from their mother, Maurya, as she has already lost her husband and four sons to the sea and fears that her mental health is already on the decline. Cathleen finishes hiding the bundle in the turf loft right when Maurya comes out of her room. She is convinced that Bartley, her only son, wouldn't go to the sea because the tides are high and the wind is picking up speed.

Bartley wants to go to Connemara to sell the horses at a good price, and there is one boat that is going to the fair for two weeks. He had come back to the cottage to get the rope to make a halter for his mare. Maurya argues with him not to go to the sea as she does not want to lose her last son to the boundless sea. Being a determined man, Bartley leaves even when his mother starts talking about Michael's funeral preparation to deter him. Bartley wishes farewell to his sisters, but his mother refuses to give him her blessing. According to Irish traditions, it is unfortunate if the son does not receive felicity from his mother, and therefore, Cathleen persuades Maurya to go after Bartley to give him food as well as wish him "God speed you".

As Maurya slowly walks out of home using the stick, the two sisters decide to check if the clothes are Michael's. Nora checks the stitches on the stockings that were added by her and confirms that they were indeed her brother's. Both sisters lament the loss of their brother, whose body has already been buried by the priest. They hear the footsteps of their mother and expediently hide the bundle again. They had thought that their mother would be relieved after blessing Bartley, but after her return, Maurya starts talking fearfully about how she saw Michael descending on a grey-coloured pony running after Bartley and, therefore, couldn't give her blessing to him. The girls then confess that Michael's body was found in the north, and he had received a ceremonious Christian burial. At Nora's question about God leaving Maurya destitute by taking all her sons, she answers that the people, like the young priest, don't know the cruelty of the sea. She permits the girls to make a good coffin for Bartley because, like others, he has also drowned.

As Maurya start reminiscing about all her sons who are lost to the sea, the villagers start approaching their cottage while carrying a thing from which water is dripping. It was Bartley's body who had drowned after the grey pony crashed into his mare and he fell into the sea. Maurya calmly pours holy water on Bartly's corpse and Michael's clothes and resigns herself from praying by saying that now she has no one to cry for or pray for their well-being. The sea had taken every man of their family, and now she wouldn't have to care which way the tides went and in which direction the winds blew so she could wait for the arrival of her sons. The whiteboards that were preserved for Michael's funeral were to be used for Bartley's burial now. At last, Maurya prays for the contentment of the souls of her husband, his father, and her six sons, all claimed by the sea.

In an ironic way, she states now that Michael is buried in the north by others, Bartley can have a proper burial, or she would not have had the money to bury both sons. Death is the ultimate truth and reality, and humans are supposed to accept it because no man can live forever. With this pronouncement, the curtain falls.

Significance

Like many other works of Synge, this play also deals with the ordinary lives of Irish peasants who have no control over their fate. This play can be categorized as a tragedy because it deals with human suffering to add appeal. Natural elements, such as the sea, have been depicted as dangerous and unpredictable against humanity. The storyline remains simple throughout the play, but the deeper issue of the poor fighting the unknown so their family can survive can be considered a universal struggle. The sea in this story symbolizes the cruel fate that can never be avoided by humans. The suffering of the family does not end at last, but they have nothing to lose anymore because all the men of the house have sacrificed their lives to the sea.

Controlling the sea is impossible for any human, but as the community is settled on an island, they have to cross it if they want a better life. Unlike Shakespearean tragedies, the ultimate flaw does not lie in character but in the fate of characters who try to fight it unconditionally. At some point, the three women in the play, particularly Maurya, realized this fact because they had arranged the boards to make a coffin even before they came to know that Michael was dead.

Themes

The play consists of major themes delineating the Irish culture and deprivations deeply. The unnatural subjects such as untimely deaths, poverty, fate, melancholy, and faith are displayed in this act.

1. The Generation Gap

The differences in opinions of Maurya and other younger characters, such as the priest, Bartley, and Cathleen, had been transparent from the beginning. The priest is superstitious yet hopeful and modern. Even though Maurya is a Catholic woman, her belief in God and devotion are weakened till the end. The new ideas of Catholicism are not as acceptable to her as to her children. The modern world and the rural population of the island are separated by the sea. Being the only man in the house, Bartley takes responsibility to cross the sea and seek new opportunities.

Cathleen and Nora saw their mother as delusional and an obstinate traditionalist. At last, modernism is successful in attracting young Bartley towards the sea and ending his journey before it even began.

2. Sea- The Cause of Adversity

The most villainous factor included in this play by Synge is the sea. It is present right outside the Maurya's cottage. It challenges sailors with its huge tides and feeds on the lives of boatmen. Bartley was only advancing towards the sea when he was knocked by another pony into it, and the tides swept him away. His death was no heroic adventure but a terrible and unexpected accident. For Maurya, the sea will remain an enemy as she had seen so many deaths of her family members due to it that she had also lost her faith in the Almighty.

3. Constructedness of Gender in Society

Throughout the play, Maurya is concerned about her sons, and when they die, it seems like her will to hope has ended with them. Cathleen cooks, takes care of the house, and worries about her mother, while Nora appears hesitant. Maurya's son was her last hope to extend the lineage, and with him gone, she acts like all her children are gone because the girls are useless to her as they cannot earn a living. While she laments the loss of Bartley and has flashbacks about her other sons' birth and death, it is Cathleen who has to take responsibility for the funeral rights. The roles for the girls and boys were already established when they were born. Cathleen also commented once that the life of a man is all about going to the sea. To Maurya, the girls are more like baggage as no man is left to support the family now.

4. Faith and Grief

The devout Catholic community has to face the harsh realities of life and at the same time maintain its courageous face. The rituals like sprinkling holy water, blessing, and consulting the priests, come together to form a superstitious yet religious belief system. The religion illustrated in the play is the fusion of paganism and Catholicism. Maurya's beliefs coerce her to trust the natural signs, such as stars, more than the priest's na�ve reassurances. It's not mentioned in the play, but the priest seems to be younger than Maurya because he is only addressed as a young priest. She knows more about life than he does and has experienced more grief than anyone could ever imagine. Even though he is considered the messenger of God, Maurya believes in the power of the sea more than their prayers. In the end, after losing the battle with the sea, Maurya returns to her worshipping ceremonies as she doesn't fear the sea anymore and doesn't need anything from God as well.