Reasons to Regard Maurya as a Tragic Character in JM Synge's Riders to the Sea
Would you regard Maurya as a tragic character? Give reasons for your answer
Ans. Maurya, as portrayed by I. M. Synge (1871-1909) in ‘Riders to the Sea’ (1904), is truly an unforgettable character who wins our admiration by her unusual power of endurance, by her capacity to withstand her misfortunes, and by her dignified behaviour at a time when she has suffered the most painful bereavement of her life. She is often compared to Meda and cleopetra. When the play opens, Maurya is feeling sorrow-stricken because of the reported death by drowning of her son Michael. But Maurya has not been prosprated by grief, as we find when she comes into the kitchen from the inner room of the cottage.
Maurya is strongly opposed to Bartley’s undertaking the trip to the mainland. She tries to dissude him from going, and gives two reasons why he must not go. In the first place, he may be needed in the house to help in making a coffin for Michael in case michael’s dead body.
Secondly, there are indications that a storm will soon blood on the sea, and Bartley should not take rusk in crossing over the sea. She says :
“A star is up against the moon
And it rising in the night.”
Her deep affection for Bartley is dearly, revealed in her following speech :
“If it was a hundred horses or
A thousand horses, you had itself,
What is the price of or thousand horses
Against a son where there’s one son only?”
Maurya has a premonition of Bartley’s death. Perhaps, it is her past experience of the sea which gives rise to this fear in her mind. As Bart;eu os ;eavomg. Sje ex[resses a dee[ a[[rejeisopm anpit jos safety, and she feels almost certain that he is leaving the house forever.
She says—
“He’s gone now, god spare us, and
We’ll not see him again. He’s gone now.”
Nora gives her mother a stick with which she can support herself while walking to the spot specified by Cathleen. This stick had been brought by Michael from Connemara. Michael himself having been drowned,
Ans. Maurya, as portrayed by I. M. Synge (1871-1909) in ‘Riders to the Sea’ (1904), is truly an unforgettable character who wins our admiration by her unusual power of endurance, by her capacity to withstand her misfortunes, and by her dignified behaviour at a time when she has suffered the most painful bereavement of her life. She is often compared to Meda and cleopetra. When the play opens, Maurya is feeling sorrow-stricken because of the reported death by drowning of her son Michael. But Maurya has not been prosprated by grief, as we find when she comes into the kitchen from the inner room of the cottage.
Maurya is strongly opposed to Bartley’s undertaking the trip to the mainland. She tries to dissude him from going, and gives two reasons why he must not go. In the first place, he may be needed in the house to help in making a coffin for Michael in case michael’s dead body.
Secondly, there are indications that a storm will soon blood on the sea, and Bartley should not take rusk in crossing over the sea. She says :
“A star is up against the moon
And it rising in the night.”
Her deep affection for Bartley is dearly, revealed in her following speech :
“If it was a hundred horses or
A thousand horses, you had itself,
What is the price of or thousand horses
Against a son where there’s one son only?”
Maurya has a premonition of Bartley’s death. Perhaps, it is her past experience of the sea which gives rise to this fear in her mind. As Bart;eu os ;eavomg. Sje ex[resses a dee[ a[[rejeisopm anpit jos safety, and she feels almost certain that he is leaving the house forever.
She says—
“He’s gone now, god spare us, and
We’ll not see him again. He’s gone now.”
Nora gives her mother a stick with which she can support herself while walking to the spot specified by Cathleen. This stick had been brought by Michael from Connemara. Michael himself having been drowned,