Riders to the Sea John Millington Synge\'s

¶ … Riders to the Sea

John Millington Synge's one act play "Riders to the Sea" details the hardships that a family has to go through and the risks and sacrifices that they have made in order to survive. "Riders to the Sea" takes a lot of its inspiration from Synge's personal experiences and observations from living on the Aran Islands in Ireland "for a number of years…with peasant seamen and their families" (J.M. Synge, n.d.). Despite its length, "Riders to the Sea" is able to show "a window in to the life of the people in ancient times: the life of the Aran community is archaic: untouched by modern life, untouched by colonialism" (Notes on Synge's "Riders to the Sea," n.d.). In "Riders to the Sea," Synge provides a commentary on the power that the sea holds over the people that have been isolated because of it -- the sea is both a force that provides for people and also a force that can take away life. Through the play's structure, narrative, and use of irony, Synge is able to show how a family sacrifices everything that they have in order to survive and how despite everything that they have lost, still hang on to their faith.

The structure of "Riders to the Sea" is unique in two aspects. One of the ways that it is unique is that is able to embody many elements of a tragedy and a second aspect in which it is unique is that it is able to capture these elements in a short, single-act format. The play adheres to Aristotle's beliefs that tragedy should have unity of place, unity of time, and unity of action. In the play, all the events take place in a single location and what is more, the play focuses on a single family and the women that are left behind by the sea's cruelty. Secondly, all the events take place during the course of a single day; by the end of the play, Maurya is informed that Bartley, her last surviving son, had been killed on the journey that he embarked upon earlier in the day. Lastly, unity of action is maintained by Synge focusing on a single family and the events that occur during the course of the day, specifically how the sea has impacted their family and how it has deprived Maurya of her sons (Chapter 14; Synge, 1902).

One of the most interesting aspects of the play is how tragedy and social commentary is intertwined. At the end of the play, Maurya has lost all the male members of her family to the sea. These men had no other option than to risk their lives for the benefit of the family because the livelihood of their family depended on the males' ability to travel. For instance, Maurya's last remaining son, Bartley, is on his way to Connemara to sell a horse in order to get money to help his family survive. Despite knowing the risk, Bartley's determination to go to sell the horse highlights Synge's commentary on the social issues of poverty. Furthermore, religion plays a major role in the decisions that are made by Maurya and her sons. For example, upon Bartley's departure, Maurya exclaims, "He's gone now, God spare us, and we'll not see him again. He's gone now, and when the black night is falling I'll have no son left me in the world" (Synge, 1902). Additionally, despite the fact that Maurya is stripped of all her sons -- Shawn, Sheamus, Patch, Stephen, and Michael -- a young priest reassures her that "the Almighty God wouldn't leave her destitute with no son living?" (Synge, 1902). Even though Maurya is indeed left with no son living after Bartley is killed at sea on his way to sell the horse, she cannot bring herself to abandon her beliefs or her religion, another commentary on society. The priest's contention that religion has the power to overcome the powers of nature is significant because it demonstrates that the people of the Aran Islands, including Maurya and her daughters, Nora and Cathleen, hold their beliefs above all else regardless of what they have witnessed nature do to their livelihoods and despite seeing how the sea has dictated how they have to live their lives. Synge highlights the vast sacrifices that the people in this remote location have been forced to make in order to make it through one more day and how they continue to live on regardless of the tragedies and impedances that they are continually forced to face. Maurya comments, "In the big world the old people do be leaving things after them for their sons and children, but in this place it is the young men do be leaving things behind for them that do be old" (Synge, 1902).