Riders to the Sea’ is a one act tragedy, first performed in Dublin (Ireland) in 1904. The play is written by the Irish playwright John Millington Synge. The play focuses primarily on the plight of the poor rural folks in Ireland. Before I continue, I wish to state that this is far from an all-encompassing analysis of the play, but focuses more on the relatively prevalent themes throughout the piece.
In the play, there are very few characters playing an important role; Maurya (The mother of the household), Michael (Her missing son), Cathleen and Nora (two of her daughters), and Bartley (Her only remaining son). The play opens with Maurya grieving over the loss of her son Michael, presumed dead at sea. Upon Maurya falling asleep, a young priest arrives at the cottage and gives Nora a parcel of clothes, recovered from a young man, washed up on the northern shore of the island for identification purposes (to see if they belong to Michael, thus confirming his death). Not wanting to further upset the already grieving mother, the daughters keep the parcel hidden, deciding to inspect the contents when the mother is not around. The remaining son Bartley is intent on going to the fair on the neighboring island to sell a horse, despite the pleading of his mother. Eventually, despite her beseeching, Bartley leaves, without taking her blessing.
Almost instantly feeling remorseful for not giving her son her blessing, Maurya, following the suggestion of her daughters, is persuaded to intercept him before he leaves to give her blessing, and a lunch prepared by the sisters. Upon Maurya’s departure, the girls open the parcel and confirm that the clothes are indeed Michael’s. Their only comfort lies in the knowledge that, owing to his being washed up in the north; he will be given a respectable Christian burial.
At this point the mother returns frightened, a result of a terrifying vision she had of Bartley’s soon coming death. The vision was of Michael (The deceased older son), riding a horse behind Bartley. This, combined with the fact that she had been unable to give Bartley her blessing, results in her certainty about Bartley’s death. Upon being told that Michael’s body has been found in the North, her only response is that at least the boards that the family had bought for Michael’s funeral could be employed for Bartley’s burial. At this point, men walk in the door of the hut, carrying the body of Bartley who had been knocked off the cliff onto the beach below by the horse he was riding. The play closes with the following chilling words of Maurya:
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“Michael has a clean burial in the far north, by the grace of the Almighty God. Bartley will have a fine coffin out of the white boards, and a deep grave surely. What more can we want than that? No man at all can be living for ever, and we must be satisfied.”
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The usage of the word “must”, in the final line is indicative of not only her, but all humans’ helplessness in the face of calamities and accidents brought on by Mother Nature. Further reading into this line of thought gives rise to the Stotic philosophy present throughout the course of the play, a theme that will be dealt with later on in the analysis.
First and foremost, before attempting to analyze the script, we must take a closer look at the history of the Irish, a recurring presence throughout the piece.
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From prehistoric times up until the 11th century, Ireland consisted of a patchwork of numerous territories, each controlled by Kings or Chieftains. Occasionally, rare as it was, a powerful ruler was acknowledged as High King of Ireland. Thus, owing to the incredulously long time in which Ireland had little to no exposure to the outside world, Ireland developed an unbelievably rich history and culture. However in the early 1100’s, French warlords (Refered to here on as Normans), invaded England, overthrowing the local British warlords (Saxons), and establishing their own command. Under the Normans, large chunks of Ireland were distributed to warlords and governors. The king of England claimed sovereignty over this entire island, labeling the island as, “The Lordship of Ireland”. (Lordship, in this context, refers to a form of colony). Under the rule of Henry the Eighth in 1541 however, Ireland was changed from a Lordship to a full Kingdom, an extension of the British kingdom. However, due to the British’s attitude of haughty sovereignty and the way that they never treated the Irish as fellow beings resulted in loathing from the Irish and disdain, towards the Celts, from the British.
As this play sympathizes extensively with the plight of the Irish, rather than merely mock them (as was the case with most British made plays at that time), it made a mark, gaining popularity with the lower class as well as the upper class Irish. Another important aspect of the play is the way that it portrays that, even in the face of overwhelming odds and seemingly unavoidable defeat, the Irish family in the script, manages to carry on with a sense of dignity; refuting the idea of Irish being sub-human and savage (as was the colonial view held by most British at that point of time).
Another important theme of the play is the ruthlessness of the sea in the dispatching of Maurya’s family members, primarily her husband and sons. As we can see by reading the play, the roles of Genders are rigid in the family depicted. Women tend to cooking and household chores, whereas men tend to fishing, trading and farming. The death of her last remaining son Bartley, ends the play on an incredulously depressing note, not just because of the bond of family and the grief of the survivors, but because there is little to no hope for the remaining family members: owing to the clear-cut gender roles in society, a family consisting fully of women would find it exceptionally hard to make a living.
The aspect of the language difference is an important one throughout the play. In stark contrast to the other contemporary plays, ‘Riders to the Sea’, is written (and intended to be enacted in) the Gaelic English style. Gaelic (or Irish), the traditional language of Ireland is entirely different from English and is spoken even today in much of Non-UK Ireland. (Clip of an Irish TV reporter):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR5YS7k9eL8
Thus, many of the so called ‘Irish Slangs’, are no more than colloquial Irish phrases having lost a substantial amount of their essence in translation. As can be seen by even a quick glance at the play, the difference in the English used is prominent. By styling the characters’ language after the traditional Gaelic tongue, the writer seeks to comment on the richness and beauty of, not only the Irish tongue, but also the people; a beauty callously ignored by the British for much of their rule.
The aspect of the supernatural in the play could be interpreted in a number of ways. One argument is that it is merely a ploy through which the author comments on the complex blend of pagan, catholic, and protestant cultures and religions in colonized Ireland. The British attempted, without much success, to convert Ireland to Protestantism, while under the rule of Henry the Eighth who converted the Country’s official faith to such. Later on attempts were made to catholicize the island, leading to the formation of the Angelican (Irish Catholic) church. The blend, of Christianity with the pagan religions and accompanying superstitions of the Irish, is visible throughout the play: emphasized by the contrast between the family’s relief for their son’s (Michael’s) Christian burial, and the visions of a pagan nature seen, and quickly believed, by the mother.
Another means of interpreting the supernatural element is by interpreting them as naturalistic concurrences. Men fishing on the open sea in small boats lead dangerous lives, and many often died. In the case of Maurya, and the sheer number of loved one’s that she has seen die in her lifetime, the inescapable helplessness and unavoidability, could be the cause for religion and superstition in her life, giving reason and logic to the incomprehensible forces of nature.
Finally, as mentioned in the beginning, Maurya’s acceptance of fate, without unnecessary mourning, is indicative of a Stoic philosophy. In brief, a Stoic philosophy is an acceptance of fate made possible by the logic that, “What must happen will happen”. The unimaginable suffering Maurya’s endured throughout her life, has not numbed her to the pain of losing a loved one, as one might think by shallowly reading the text. Rather, the pain is still there, its cry stronger than before; but muffled by the pervasive blanket of helplessness and inability to change the past, a wall through which no tears can seep.
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