Monday, February 26, 2018

How does the play Riders to the Sea fulfill the themes of resignation and reconciliation?

The famous Irish play Riders to the Sea explores the themes of resignation and reconciliation in the relationship of the mother to the sea and to her own heartbreak. When a body washes up on shore, Maurya and her daughters know that it is likely her husband. When it is finally revealed that it is in fact her husband, she resigns herself to the tragedy that has happened. Maurya also argues vehemently with her son Bartley about his departure to sell a horse. She asks him not to travel on the sea, because it will kill him—the sea has cursed Maurya and is taking all of the men from her life. When Bartley nonetheless departs, she resigns herself to his ultimate fate, and she is proven correct when he falls from his horse and drowns in the sea.
In the end, Maurya reconciles herself to her loneliness, to God, and to the sea. She is broken-hearted, but she knows now that the sea can do her no more harm. She "forgives" it, in a sense, knowing that it has no more power over her after all of the men are deceased. She reconciles herself to God, after being angry with him, by bringing out holy water and praying over her own life and the souls of her sons and husband, and in the end, she accepts the solitary life that has befallen her.

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