Riders to the Sea
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Riders to the Sea is a play written by Irish playwright J. M. Synge. It was first performed on February 25,1904 at the Molesworth Hall, Dublin by the Irish National Theater Society. A one-act tragedy, the play is set in the Aran Islands, and like all of Synge's plays it is noted for capturing the poetic dialogue of rural Ireland.
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[edit] Important Characters
Only four characters are named: Maurya, an elderly Irishwoman, her daughters Cathleen and Nora, and her son Bartley. Also mentioned are Maurya's deceased sons Shawn, Sheamus, Stephen, Patch, and Michael.
[edit] Plot Synopsis
Maurya has lost her husband, father-in-law, and five sons to the sea. As the play begins Nora and Cathleen receive word that a body that may be their brother Michael has washed up on shore in Donegal, far to the north. Bartley is planning to sail to Connemara to sell a horse, and ignores Maurya's pleas to stay. As he leaves, he leaves gracefully. Maurya predicts that by nightfall she will have no living sons, and her daughters chide her for sending Bartley off with an ill word. Maurya goes after Bartley to bless his voyage, and Nora and Cathleen receive clothing from the drowned corpse that confirms it as their brother. Maurya returns home claiming to have seen the ghost of Michael riding behind Bartley and begins lamenting the loss of the men in her family to the sea, after which some villagers bring in the corpse of Bartley, who has fallen off of his horse into the sea and drowned.
[edit] Quotes
- "They're all gone now, and there isn't anything more the sea can do to me." - Maurya
- "No man at all can be living forever, and we must be satisfied." - Maurya
- "what is the price of a thousand horses against a son where there is one son only?"- Maurya
- "she's lying down, God help her, and may be sleeping if she's able."-Cathleen
[edit] References
Synge, J.M.. The Complete Plays. 1st. New York: Vintage Books, 1935.
