원문정보
초록
영어
Riders to the Sea is about a fate-ridden mother, Maurya, facing the tremendous destructiveness of the Sea which has drowned the last of her six sons. It describes the real lives of people, their language and their social customs in Ireland, and may seem to be a simple disaster of a family, not a tragedy. Although the raw material is present in his essay The Aran Islands, Synge presents an unimpassioned telling which is unified, focused and given wider context for the purpose of his dramatic recreation. J. M. Synge gives the simple incident story divisive and extended meanings, using his peculiar tragic view and symbolic realism and a rich verbal
expression which makes the play poetic.
The story is based primarily upon his observation of an actual incident in Inishrnaan, the middle island of the Aran Islands. Synge artistically compresses the thirty year history of struggle between the hostile ocean and Maurya into a short one-act tragedy of classic simplicity. Synge transforms Maurya fiom an old and miserable woman into a tragic heroine, by evoking a mood of stoical acceptance that dignifies the primitive humanity of the helpless survivor. Maurya becomes a noble figure of stark, epic dignity who maintains her self-restraint.
Although the loss of all six sons, as well as her husband and her father-in-law is dramatized in the sorrofil mood of resignation, her individual fate is extended to the fate of all left behind when fisherman meets tragic ends at sea. The heavy loss of life among the Aran fishermen in the turbulent ocean and a mother's intense sensitivity to universal tragic meanings produce in Maurya a new awareness of the real meaning of her life.
To emphasize the fundamental tragedy of life, Synge dramatizes banal lives in Ireland through poetic and symbolic forms. Especially, Synge makes effective use of poetic dictions and expressions from the colloquial dialogues of primitive Irish society. The various forms of native speech or peasant idioms and syrnbolistn work as a tragic device in the play, and may be said to be an organic aspect of his tragic theme.