ENGLISH THEATRE OF 19th AND 20th CENTURIES GROUP A
SURNAME: Giarratana NAME: Melania
J.M. SYNGE
RIDERS TO THE SEA
A PLAY IN ONE ACT
First performed at the Molesworth Hall, Dublin,
25th February 1904
There are five main
characters in this play: Maurya, an old woman and her
three children Bartley, Cathleen and Nora.
Maurya is a woman who has lost her husband
and all her sons. Bartley was always out
at sea and the fact that they where all sailors. Bartley is a sailor like his
brothers while Cathleen and Nora stay at home doing the housework, cooking and
spinning.
The story of this
family is simple and tragic: Maurya has just lost her
son Michael and she is still waiting for his body to be found in the water. The
problem is that they are poor and Bartley wants to go sailing to gain some money,
but Maurya does not want him to go sailing because
she is afraid of loosing him too. In the meanwhile, someone brings
Michael’s clothes that have been found into the sea. Bartley goes off
sailing and Maurya gets angry, does not give him her
blessing, and forgets to give him something to eat during his sailing. Cathleen
and Nora convince Maurya to try to go and give him
the blessing and his food, but it is too late, Bartley has just gone sailing,
so she comes back with the premonition that she will never see him alive again.
In fact, later a group of people brigs Bartley cadaver at home and Maurya, Cathleen and Nora remain by themselves.
The play is a tragedy
about the courage of women, who are capable to face even the worst problems of
life, even the loss of almost her entire family. The entire story develops in Maurya’s house and there are few references to the
outside; the author gives us just a little description of the small house.
He gave pride to the
Irish language with the particular translation he made into the English one. He
brought the Irish legends and anecdotes to the stage, making them famous all
over the world although many times the audience accused him of offending the
Irish women as happens when he say “The shadow of the Glen” was performed.
He took his inspiration from the journeys throughout the Inis Islands
where he was in strict touch with the people and the legends of that place.
Despite the simplicity of the plot, Synge’s stories are permeated with
mystery, courage and sadness as testimony of poor people’s lives. (Tim
Robinson introduction to the 1992 Penguin Edition of Synge’s “The
Aran Islands”; Eugene Benson “J.M. Synge”. http://www.samk.demon.co.uk/syngebi.htm
01/23/2006)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
J.M. Synge “Riders to the sea”
Auto-evaluation: Notable
Academic year 2005/2006
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés
López
© Melania Giarratana
megia@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de Valčncia
Press