In this play Fate is synonymous with Nature, taking a heavy toll of human life. Synge embodies this malicious aspect of Nature through the sea. Fate appears as the roaring sheet of water that plays the offstage protagonist, predetermining the lives of the characters.
Comparable to the tragedies of Sophocles, Synge creates a looming tragic atmosphere through his premonitions of the future. The application of dramatic ironies such as the case of material brought by Maurya for Michael’s funeral being used for Bartley’s instead, adds to the tragic air of the text.
The final element of the Greek Tragedy that has been adhered to is the non-staging of the main act. The audience never really sees the dead body of Bartley but only hears of it from …show more content…
Riders to the Sea highlights the status of the epic in the modern world. In the modern day we have erected multiple layers between the primal and ourselves. Our lives have become a lot more tiered and the nature of the tragedy has been altered. Life and death exist simultaneously but on extreme ends of the spectrum.
The theme of the ‘alien runs’ thorough the course of Riders to the Sea. This alienations stems from the intensity and raw nature of life. Modernism views life as a mechanical progression with several milestones that have to be crossed. However Synge has created a lifestyle that exists only between life and death with starvation as the mid-point. In contrast to other modern texts we observe the characters in Riders to the Sea constantly being preoccupied with the idea of death. Human agency is a key marker of modernism and the absence of it from the play defines the genre of drama and tragedy and lends itself to the concept of the …show more content…
It is through catharsis that the work of literature finds resolution and attains transcendence. At the tail end of the play Maurya sees a vision of Michael, at a time when she isn’t certain of his death. Her daughters have been hanging the bundle of clothes given to them by the priest in order to shield their mother from the truth. However Muarya at a point when she isn’t using her rational faculties has gained access to this supernatural knowledge through catharsis while her children hide facts from her. Catharsis in this text is the coming to terms with the belief that everything had been lost. This is the point when agency shifts from extraneous variables like God, faith and love to
Comparable to the tragedies of Sophocles, Synge creates a looming tragic atmosphere through his premonitions of the future. The application of dramatic ironies such as the case of material brought by Maurya for Michael’s funeral being used for Bartley’s instead, adds to the tragic air of the text.
The final element of the Greek Tragedy that has been adhered to is the non-staging of the main act. The audience never really sees the dead body of Bartley but only hears of it from …show more content…
Riders to the Sea highlights the status of the epic in the modern world. In the modern day we have erected multiple layers between the primal and ourselves. Our lives have become a lot more tiered and the nature of the tragedy has been altered. Life and death exist simultaneously but on extreme ends of the spectrum.
The theme of the ‘alien runs’ thorough the course of Riders to the Sea. This alienations stems from the intensity and raw nature of life. Modernism views life as a mechanical progression with several milestones that have to be crossed. However Synge has created a lifestyle that exists only between life and death with starvation as the mid-point. In contrast to other modern texts we observe the characters in Riders to the Sea constantly being preoccupied with the idea of death. Human agency is a key marker of modernism and the absence of it from the play defines the genre of drama and tragedy and lends itself to the concept of the …show more content…
It is through catharsis that the work of literature finds resolution and attains transcendence. At the tail end of the play Maurya sees a vision of Michael, at a time when she isn’t certain of his death. Her daughters have been hanging the bundle of clothes given to them by the priest in order to shield their mother from the truth. However Muarya at a point when she isn’t using her rational faculties has gained access to this supernatural knowledge through catharsis while her children hide facts from her. Catharsis in this text is the coming to terms with the belief that everything had been lost. This is the point when agency shifts from extraneous variables like God, faith and love to