30 pages • 1 hour read
John Millington SyngeRiders to the Sea
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1904A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Contrast Between Christianity and Pagan Mysticism
In Riders to the Sea, John Millington Synge contrasts the values and practices of English/Anglo-Irish so-called “civilized” Christian society with the remnants of Irish pagan mysticism, which often deeply affected the type of Catholicism that took hold in Ireland. Through this contrast, Synge both reveals the interplay between Irish and English cultures, even in isolated islands, and returns a sense of dignity to the lives of those who retain elements of mysticism in their culture and religion, despite English and Anglo-Irish disdain and misunderstanding.
Synge uses the characters of Maurya, Cathleen, and Nora (Maurya in particular) to reveal the importance their community places on superstitions while still upholding other elements of Christianity. Followers of Catholicism in Ireland historically retained far more influence from paganism than other European branches of Catholicism. Ireland long retained stories of fairies and adherence to the superstitions of old. To many English and Anglo-Irish, however, such supernatural beliefs “were considered to be an indication of a backward and uncivilized consciousness: the very opposite of rectitude and propriety, the sine qua non of Anglo-Irish and English culture” (Collins, Christopher. “‘This World of Inarticulate Power’: J.M. Synge’s Riders to the Sea and Magical Realism.” Beyond Realism: Experimental and Unconventional Irish Drama Since the Revival. Rodopi, 2015). Synge, though, returns a sense of dignity and respect to those steeped in the remains of Irish mysticism and reveals how much the old supernatural beliefs and the relatively newer Christian practices became intertwined in both daily life and the Irish imagination in certain parts of the country.
The story addresses Christianity first through the priest, who serves their entire community and who also determines that he will allow Bartley to go to sea and that God will not let harm befall him. Cathleen and Nora are hopeful that this is true, while Maurya is in extreme distress about Bartley’s departure. Mysticism then arises in the superstitions present in their household, including Cathleen’s insistence that it is a bad omen to send Bartley off without a blessing. Maurya, then, believes in the accuracy of the vision showing her dead son Michael. At the end of the story, Maurya directly references terms from both parts of their heritage, crying out to the Christian God and using holy water to bless Bartley even as she references Samhain, a Gaelic autumn festival, usually taking place around the same time as Halloween.
Riders to the Sea paints the picture of a community influenced by both English/Anglo-Irish culture and pagan mysticism, and this reality is shown in an emotionally visceral light. While both belief systems exist in the community and carry significant weight, neither can counter the apathetic, harsh natural world and stop the deaths that haunt Maurya’s family. Religion and spirituality, thus, do not provide safety from the harm that follows the islander’s economic dependence on an untamable, unpredictable sea.
The Role of Place and Nature in Irish Culture
The characters’ relationships to the natural world in Riders to the Sea reflect the contradictions inherent in Irish citizens’ relationships to their own land. Having lived with the inhabitants of the Aran Islands for multiple extended visits, Synge saw firsthand “the influence of a specific locale over time on the minds and spirits of its inhabitants” (Davy, Daniel. “Tragic Self-Referral in Riders to the Sea.” Éire-Ireland: A Journal of Irish Studies. 29:2, 1994). Life on the Aran Islands was not easy, and Ireland as a whole experienced hardships that complicated the people’s relationship with their own land. Nature and humans are deeply interconnected, yet the land was both a provider for and killer of those living near it (Kennedy, Joy. “‘Sympathy Between Man and Nature’: Landscape and Loss in Synge’s Riders to the Sea.” Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment. 11:1, 2004). The danger became heightened when many men living on the islands refused to learn how to swim, despite the nature of their occupations. Nature has been brutal for the Irish, especially for those displaced by the English and Anglo-Irish to even less “hospitable” parts of Ireland.
This conflict is central to the tragedy of Riders to the Sea. Every one of Maurya’s sons, her husband, and her father-in-law earned a living by the sea; every one of them also died by the sea. Bartley is the last living son, and Maurya begs him not to go out to sea on a day of somewhat rough weather, but Bartley, Cathleen, and Nora all know that their survival depends on his ability to sell goods on the mainland. This reality creates a tragic conflict—their lives must be risked before their needs can be met.
The Irish countryside and island environment became associated with poverty and lack of societal progression as the remaining inhabitants made do with the difficult land they had. While it is not made clear in the play, Maurya’s family is tied to the land either because of financial limitation or cultural belonging—or both. Despite the harsh duality of life on the island, the isolation of the place drove bonds of community. This sense of community is clear through both the presence of the men and women who carry Bartley home and help the family grieve through their keening and through the constant presence of the sea.
The Relationship Between Tragedy and Catharsis
Riders to the Sea reveals the real tragedies families such as Maurya’s experienced living on the difficult lands of places like the Aran Islands. Through the tragedy of the play, Maurya and her daughters, like other tragic figures, experience catharsis; this sense of catharsis brings with it an increased acceptance of and passivity toward the inherent dangers of their lives on the island. Synge’s portrayal of Maurya and her family reveals how catharsis can follow tragedy, allowing characters to accept their situations and find relief despite their sorrow.
The dramatic structure of the play supports the theme of catharsis. Despite the condensed plot and run-time and the seeming lack of action in Riders to the Sea, the play nonetheless follows the typical five-part structure of tragedies: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement. Riders to the Sea contains each of these elements, although they are condensed into one act rather than the typical two or three. Cathleen and Nora’s conversation about the clothing that the priest believes belonged to their missing brother, Michael, provides the exposition. Bartley’s arrival, and the conflict that develops as Cathleen urges an unheeding Maurya to wish Bartley a safe journey, provides the rising action, or the increase of tension. Tension continues to increase until the climax when Maurya returns with news of her vision. Maurya’s monologue and the arrival of members of the community with Bartley’s body constitute the falling action of the play. Finally, the denouement is the piecing together of the family narrative by Maurya, Cathleen, and Nora. They each provide strands of plot and self-awareness that, when drawn together, explain the futility of their situation and the reality of life on the islands, and they accept their lives and losses. Within a single act, Synge reveals the real-life tragedy of those tied to a desolate and isolated land. He also integrates tragedy with everyday life, joining other artists in a challenge of literary history’s tendency to avoid representing the daily lives of lower classes as tragic or worthy of representation.
Maurya’s catharsis is an expurgation of feeling that leads not to a renewal of life but rather to an increased sense of passivity in response to the tragedy inherent in a life dependent on a dangerous, violent sea for sustenance. Despite that passivity and sense of “giving in” to life, Maurya’s catharsis provides relief: for all her sorrow, Maurya is comforted by the prospect of no longer spending her nights praying and worrying over her sons. The worst has already happened, so there is no more anxiety, only grief. Her catharsis seems almost fated—as soon as she discovers Bartley is dead, a sense of calm comes over her, and her dialogue centers around the release of her burdens.
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