RIDERS TO THE SEA
by John Millington Synge
Synge, Women and Love
[link]
by Ann Saddlemyer
Throughout his life Synge was surrounded by
women – brought up by his mother (who
became the model for old Maurya) and
grandmother, living next door to his only
sister, his closest playmate a cousin with
whom he experienced the first childish flush
of passion and rejection, his mother’s
houseguests a series of dedicated women
missionaries. His first marriage proposal was
refused by Cherrie Matheson, a member of
the Plymouth Brethren who lived just three
doors away…
…When he fell passionately in love with the
young actress Molly Allgood his mother was
deeply troubled by the difference in age (he
was 35, she was 19), religion (Molly a Roman
Catholic, he a non-believer) and social status
(he from the professional classes, she from
the workers).
Molly Allgood as “Pegeen Mike” in
Synge’s THE PLAYBOY OF THE
WESTERN WORLD.
Background of the play
Riders to the Sea is a play written by Irish
playwright John Millington Synge. It was
first performed on February 25, 1904 at
the Molesworth Hall, Dublin by the Irish
National Theater Society. A one-act
tragedy, the play is set in the Aran
Islands, and like all of Synge's plays it is
noted for capturing the poetic dialogue
of rural Ireland. The very simple plot is
based not on the traditional conflict of
human wills but on the hopeless struggle
of a people against the impersonal but
relentless cruelty of the sea.
Sara Allgood as Maurya from
a 1938 production of the play.
Characters in the play
Only four characters are named:
Maurya, her daughters Cathleen and
Nora, and her son Bartley.
Also mentioned are Maurya's
deceased sons Shawn, Sheamus,
Stephen, Patch, and Michael.
The young priest is also important to
introduce controversies about
Maurya's sons, e.g. whether the
clothes are from Michael's body,
whether the young priest let Bartley
go to sell his horse, etc.
Annie, Sara and Molly Allgood in Abbey Theatre production
of “Riders to the Sea” (1906)
The Aran Islands.
Inishmor, Inishmaan, Inishere
are the three largest.
Photos of the Aran Islands
Where Synge stayed while living on the Aran Islands.
Galway
Coast near Galway
Donegal Bay
MAN OF ARAN (1934)
Man of Aran is a 1934 British fictional documentary
(ethnofiction) film directed by Robert J. Flaherty about
life on the Aran Islands off the western coast of Ireland.
It portrays characters living in premodern conditions,
documenting their daily routines such as fishing off high
cliffs, farming potatoes where there is little soil, and
hunting for huge basking sharks to get liver oil for lamps.
Some situations are fabricated, such as one scene in
which the shark fishermen are almost lost at sea in a
sudden gale. Additionally, the family members shown are
not actually related, having been chosen from among the
islanders for their photogenic qualities.
The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh is a play
set on the Aran Islands at the time of the filming of Man
of Aran. The film won the Mussolini Cup for best foreign
film at the 2nd Venice International Film Festival.
Fishing boats - Inishmaan
A photo by J. M. Synge of life on Aran Islands
Men and boys of the Aran Islands
Mother and Daughter of Aran
A photo by J. M. Synge of life on Aran Islands
Girls at the waters edge - Aran
A photo by J. M. Synge of life on Aran Islands
A photo by J. M. Synge of life on Aran Islands
A photo by Synge, gathering turf on Aran Islands
A photo by J. M. Synge
of life on Aran Islands
Sligo peelers with a poteen still.
Opening scene from “Riders to the Sea”
MAURYA from “Riders to the Sea”
Bartley and Maurya – “Riders to the Sea”
Bartley’s body is returned from the sea.
SAMHAIN (October 31)
Maurya: …I’ll have no call now to be going down and
getting Holy Water in the dark nights after Samhain,
and I won’t care what way the sea is when the other
women will be keening…
The Samhain holiday is more
commonly known to us as
Halloween. It originated in the
Celtic lands of Northern Europe
many centuries before the birth
of Christ. Along with its sister
holiday Beltane, Samhain was a
major seasonal event celebrated
by the Celtic people.
KEENING
Keening is a form of vocal lament associated with mourning that is traditional in Ireland,
Scotland, and other cultures. The principle of improvised vocal lament is in no way reserved
to the Gaelic world and that laments are documented from various cultures around the
world. The Irish tradition of keening over the body at the burial is distinct from the wake the practice of watching over the corpse - which took place the night before the burial. The
"keen" itself is thought to have been constituted of stock poetic elements (the listing of the
genealogy of the deceased, praise for the deceased, emphasis on the woeful condition of
those left behind etc.) set to vocal lament. While generally carried out by one or several
women, a chorus may have been intoned by all present. Physical movements involving
rocking, kneeling or clapping accompanied the keening woman ("bean chaoineadh") who
was often paid for her services.
An Irish keener
"The keener is almost invariably an aged woman; or
if she be comparatively young, the habits of her life
make her look old. We remember one, whom the
artist has pictured from our description; we can
never forget a scene in which she played a
conspicuous part. A young man had been shot by
the police as he was resisting a warrant for his
arrest. He was of 'decent people,' and had a 'fine
wake.' The woman, when we entered the
apartment, was sitting on a low stool by the side of
the corpse. Her long black uncombed locks were
hanging about her shoulders; her eyes were the
deep set greys peculiar to the country, and which
are capable of every expression, from the bitterest
hatred and the direst revenge to the softest and
warmest affection. Her large blue cloak was
confined at her throat; but not so closely as to
conceal the outline of her figure, thin and gaunt, but
exceedingly lithesome. When she arose, as if by
sudden inspiration, first holding out her hands over
the body, and then tossing them wildly above her
head, she continued her chant in a low monotonous
tone, occasionally breaking into a style earnest and
animated; and using every variety of attitude to give
emphasis to her words, and enforce her description
of the virtues and good qualities of the deceased."
From Ireland, Its Scenery, Character, &c, by Mr &
Mrs S. C. Hall, circa 1850.
The language of the play is an extremely important
element and reflects Synge’s interest in Irish. He is
using the dialect of the people in Aran in a highly
exaggerated manner. Part of the effect has to do
with the way in which Gaelic translates into English,
that is, some of the original syntax is retained. As a
dramatist, Synge has pulled off the improbably trick
of seeming to write in two languages at the same
time. To quote Tim Robinson in his introduction to
The Aran Islands: “the elegiac rhythms of Synge’s
dialogue are those inherent in the English of native
Irish speakers, an English the grammar of which has
been metamorphosed by the pressure of Irish, and
the works of which have therefore been galvanized
into new life by syntactic shock.” An example given
is that there is no word for “yes” in Irish. Instead
one repeats the verb of a question: “Is it Bartley
that is there? It is.” This feature involves repetition
and rhythm when imitated in English. Also prevalent
in Irish, and thus in translation, are little tags and
pieties that prolong a sentence or question: “It is,
surely, God rest his soul.”
[To be] "after" doing something in Irish English
Past-tense verb formation
The Irish-English past-tense is peculiar within the English language, its
manifestations a vestige of Gaelic Irish.
In the simple past tense, the Irish say "[am/is/are] after [doing something]
Example: "He's after writing a letter." This is equivalent to the standard
English expression "He wrote a letter."
To form the "recent news" past tense, the Irish say "I'm only after [doing
something.]"
Example: "I'm only after getting here."
In the perfect past tense, the form that in standard English uses "had [done
something,]" the Irish say "(was/were) after [doing something.]"
Example: "I was after buying the paper" means "I had bought the paper
(when [something else happened.])”
It is also common that the past-tense conditional is quite Irish — "would have
been" is often expressed as "were/was."
Example: "One more step and you were dead."