From the beginning of the play until the end, Nora and her family are victims of fate. They are stuck in a rut and the sea, their enemy, is personified through their suffering. Fate insists that fighting against the sea is futile. Nora knows this and she tries to convince Bartley before the sea takes his life. From this perspective, we see how mankind has no control over his destiny; he lives at the mercy of the universe.
The theme of death and the failure to overcome fate establish this play as one with a naturalist perspective. The characters in this play cannot overcome the elements of their environment. In fact, each one is picked off in a similar fashion and regardless of how these men think they can outsmart the sea, they fail. Bartley is hopeful when tells his mother and sister, "I'll ride down on the red mare, and...
Nora knows this as she says, "When the black night is falling I'll have no son left me in the world" (90). These people are helpless to the hand life deals them.
Riders to the Sea is a short but eye-opening play about the randomness of life. The play is dark and realistic as it looks to the cold, hard facts about life. These facts include the notion that death cannot be escaped and fate is cruel. These aspects make the play naturalistic in it approach. Many times, we turn to fiction to escape the reality of the world but sometimes we need to be reminded about the cruelty of life to help us appreciate what we have. Riders to the Sea is such a reminder.
Works Cited
Synge, John. Riders to the Sea.
