Conflict between sea and humanity in Riders to the Sea

Man's Constant Struggle for Survival Riders to the Sea is the stage craft of not only Maurya's family,

but it can happen to any family on the island, where young people still endanger their lives to fulfill the 'primitive necessities' of earthly existence. The setting of the story might be Aran Island, yet its appeal is universal. It does not deal with the external affairs of the natives; rather, the psychic reality of the lives of the people fascinates him most. The main reason for the loss of'male people on the island is utilitarian, as the young people earn their livelihood by catching fish from the sea, and sometimes they cross the sea to visit the mainland for business purposes. Even the storms in the sea cannot stop them from doing their duty, as is evident from Cathleen's remarks in Riders to the Sea: "It's the life of a young man to be going on the sea."

Sea and Humanity

Sea: As a Protagonist

Conflict is the essence of every tragedy. As T.R. Henn says, "Of this archetypal nature is the conflict of man with the sea, the giver and taker of life. The Islanders must be constantly aware of its menace, its moods, and its protection......" It is quite ironic that man is fully aware of the temporalities of the sea, but the sea is quite indifferent to man. It does not have pity on poor Maurya, who was sometimes the mother of "six fine men" in the end.

"........I've had a husband, six fine men, though it was a hard birth I had with every one of them and they coming to the world—and some of them were found and some of them were not found, but they're gone now the lot of them........" So, we see that the most active character in the play is the sea, and it is not exaggerated to say that the sea is the protagonist of the play, which is impersonal and devoid of human attributes.

Nature vs. God

Riders to the Sea A one-act tragedy gives us a glimpse of the tension between nature and God. Nature, in the present play, is a kind of sea that is malignant and monstrous. It remains invisible in the stage action but is all-pervasive in the minds of the audience and reader. Some critics have found a close affinity between the sea and the Inmanet Will in Hardy's novels. It is almost impossible to reach the conclusion that the sea is independent or works on the order of God. Synge does not get entangled in the issue; he just treats the play as a tragedy, where Sea is the villain who fulfills the playwright's purpose, to render the play a tragic look. Sometimes, we may have filled with doubt about the presence of God, but the last speech of Maurya not only reveals her greatness of character, but we also get a reply to most of our questions when she says, ".....What more can we want than that.....?"

Read More: Maurya as a tragic character

The Theme of Female Loneliness and Helplessness

Synge's description of the life of the people on the island tells us that "the men were in constant danger of being destroyed by the sea and thus of leaving the women to suffer the loss of the breadwinner." Women on these lands, who live only for their children,' are the passive sufferers. Synge says, "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 have them on their own then a little later." So, how piteous is the situation where the females, when they are children, lose their fathers and brothers, and when youth comes and they get married, we are left alone by husbands and later children? Thus, on the island, this is the continuous drama of women's isolation, which is hallmark of Synge's Riders of the Sea.

Englightenment through suffering

Deep analysis of the play Riders to the Sea suggests that the central theme signifies man's struggle with the sea, where it is the sea that triumphs over the human being, but only at the surface level. A profound study of the climax of the drama conveys to us that, in spite of enduring unbelievable suffering, Maurya stands as a superhuman who challenges the sea in the following words: "......There isn't anything more the sea can do to me......" Her stoic acceptance finally lifts her from an ordinary human being to a person with outstanding features.