Riders to the Sea the One Act

Riders to the Sea

The one act play Riders to the Sea by John Millington Synge is a recognized classic, often utilized as an expression of the iconic place and time of its setting, early 18th century Aran Isles. Synge himself writes about his visit to the Aran isles, which became the inspiration for many of his dramatic works, that the struggle between man and the sea,

The maternal feeling is so powerful on these islands that it gives a life of torment to the women. Their sons grow up to be banished as soon as they are of age, or to live here in continual danger on the sea; their daughters go away also, or are worn out in their youth with bearing children that grow up to harass them in their own turn a little later (Synge, 1907).

Analyzing the work itself illuminates to this reader three literary devices that are interesting as well as influential on the reader's impression of the whole work. Those devices or elements are foreshadowing, connotation and catharsis.

Foreshadowing is the first and most obvious element of the work as the daughters (Cathleen, Nora) and later the mother (Maurya) intermingle the news of the body washed ashore with the frustrating inevitability of the only remaining son about to take to the sea to go to fair and sell a horse. The intervention sought by the mother and sisters of the young priest to stop her only remaining son (Bartley) from sailing, in bad weather, does not pan out, as the priest expresses that he will not stop the boy because god would not be so cruel as to leave the mother of six boys with no living son. This same priest is also the man who has given the clothing, from the washed up corpse, to Nora to take to Cathleen for examination to determine if it is their 5th brother most recently disappeared, Michael, so he might have a Christian (clean) burial far to the north where his body came to rest. All this information as well as more leads the reader to contend that clearly the death of the final son is looming. Maurya's language after his departure, despite her attempts to convince him to stay "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," are a clear indication of the outcome. Finally, the foreboding dream that Maurya has where she sees Bartley as Michael, and then the girls tell her about the clothing and the fact that Michael is indeed dead washed up far to the north, the message is made clear, Bartley is all but dead.

Connotation is also a strong element in this work as words simply mean more than they do on the surface. Words like rope, which in a last moment at home Bartley asks his sister to retrieve to make a bridle for the horse he is taking to market. His mother tells him that he would be better to leave the rope at home given that it will be needed if Michael's body washes up anytime soon. The sister gives him the rope and the rope comes to signify a rope that will be the boy's noose. His mother has said that the rope is for the dead not the living and this message becomes the truth when Bartley is killed by his own horse kicking him into the sea. The boy did not even have to get in a boat to be killed. Then the girls discover that Bartley has inadvertently put on Michael's flannel shirt, the same one they need to examine to determine if the clothing of the body is Michaels, they find another garment of the same cloth to compare and think nothing more of it, yet Bartley has put on a dead man's shirt (Synge, 1904).

The final literary device that is used by Synge to influence the whole of the work is catharsis. The final resignation of Maurya in her last statements to the audience resound catharsis and sadly catharsis with no resolution, simply resignation.

They're all gone now, and there isn't anything more the sea can do to me.... I'll have no call now to be up crying and praying when the wind breaks from the south, and you can hear the surf is in the east, and the surf is in the west, making a great stir with the two noises, and they hitting one on the other. I'll have no call now to be going down and getting Holy Water in the dark nights after Samhain, and I won't care what way the sea is when the other women will be keening. (Synge, 1904)