Maurya as an Archetypal figure in Riders to The Sea

To uplift the play from the regional appeal to universal appeal, it was
necessary to render the character with symbolic significance. If Bartley represents
the whole youth class on the island, while Maurya is a symbol of motherhood.
What happens to Maurya can be occurred in any family in the universe. Maurya
suggests the whole class of women, who are left alone in the world to endure more
sufferings which the destiny has restored for them.(Sen,. P. 159)

Maurya’s horror of old age, is symbolic of the frustration and horror of

peasant Irish women. A sample of these inhabitants is exemplified in the male
members of Maurya's family who are all riders to the sea. Out of necessity and
need, the men folk of the family go to the sea in almost the same manner of riding
horseback, and take cattle and horses which they hope to sell in neighboring
markets in order to provide for their family. Having no other alternative route,
those helpless riders wrestle with the turbulent sea, the antagonist of the play, and
they meet their tragic death. The poor peasants, like the rest of the islanders, are
defeated and crushed not because of any flaw inherent in them, but because they
are struggling against a fierce adversary, the sea, which devours them mercilessly.
(Course hero)

The four people in Riders to the Sea are the representative of this community.
Maurya’s loss of her husband and sons encapsulates the tragic fate of this group of
people who are almost lost in the immensity of the Atlantic Ocean and who have to
fight against the cruel, hungry foam of the sea eternally. It is the sea or nature that
fashions this attitude to life. As the cloud of death overhangs their lives, as the tide
of the ocean snatches away their near and dear ones every season, their philosophy
of life is bound to be pessimistic. They accept the deaths with calm resignation and
stoic attitude because no other reaction is possible.

The people of the island are devout Christians; they are Catholics. Maurya and
her children believe that God will give them sustenance. Maurya even believes that
God will not be so unkind as to take away her last son also. Nora says to her
sister: “Didn’t the young priest say the Almighty God won’t leave her destitute
with no son living?”(Synge,. P.19) After Bartley has departed, Maurya starts
speaking in a prophetic mode about the imminent death of Bartley. She enumerates
the deaths in the family on by one:

“Bartley will be lost now, and let you call in Eamon and make me a good coffin
out of the white boards, for I won’t live after death. I’ve had a husband and
husband’s father, and six sons in this house – six fire men, though it was a hard
birth I had with every one of them and they coming to the world – and some of
them were found and some of them were not found, but they’re gone now, the lot
of them…”(Synge, .P. )

Maurya struggles hard to keep her son from the sea and we witness, as Alan
Price points out, "a battle of wills, with the mother trying desperately to break her
son's resolve to carry on the ageless tradition of their kind, of wresting a living
from the sea; a battle more tense because it cannot be fought openly and directly
but is carried on by nuance and suggestion"(Price)

The tragic status of Maurya is ascertained. Maurya is traumatized by specific

practices, economic in her case, and the play reveals how the helpless mother and
her daughters see their men folk risk their lives to earn a living away from home.
Maurya's struggle with forces too great for her to overcome is remarkable as is the
peace of reconciliation she displays at the end when she expresses her stoic
acceptance of the fate that has befallen her: "Michael has a clean burial in the far
north, by the grace of the Almighty God.

Bartley will have a fine coffin out of the white boards, and a deep grave
surely. What more can we want than that? No man at all can be living forever, and
we must be satisfied" (Synge,. P.24). With such a declaration, Maurya proves
herself, as Price suggests, " the true tragic protagonist"(Price) who has attained
"tragic stature and insight" through the pain and suffering she has experienced, and
"reached that final illumination which sees life as essentially tragic, and accepting
this fact, gains thereby 'calm of mind all passion spent'" (Price,.P.181). Her agony,
endurance and reconciliation lift her beyond the borders of the Aran Islands and
she becomes, as Spehn notes, "not only a fisherman's aged wife who has lost her
sons to the sea but a representative of motherhood everywhere; in her dignity and
resigned acceptance of fate she is akin to the characters of an Aeschylean
tragedy"(Sphn,. P.70)
 Synge draws attention to Maurya's remarkable endurance in the play. After
Michael is reported found in the far north, and Bartley's drowned body is brought
in by the villagers, Maurya starts keening and recounting the numerous times this
scene has repeated itself with the men folk of her family. She expresses a sense of
relief and a calm acceptance of her fate:

They 're all gone now, and there isn't anything more the sea can do to me. …
I'll have no call now to be up crying and praying when the wind breaks from The
south, and you can hear the surf is in the sea. … 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 other women will be keening. … It's a great rest I'll have
now, and great sleeping in the long nights after Samhain, if it's only a bit of wet
flour we do have to eat, and maybe a fish that would be stinking (Synge,. P.23).

Despite her tragic condition, Maurya is able to see beams of hope in her dark
situation, her anxiety is relieved and peace prevails after she resignedly perceives
the death of her men folk as a blessing that will bring them all together. While
sprinkling Holy Water over Bartley's dead body and Michael's clothes, she asks
God to have mercy on herself, her family living and deceased, and on everyone
that is still living in the world. Her tragedy has taught her the invaluable lesson of
resignation as she realizes that death is inevitable.

The rise of the Irish national movement at the end of the nineteenth century
stimulated Irish playwrights "to draw upon their native traditions and define their
country's violent political and social upheaval" (Watt). Rural Ireland and the Irish
peasant gained prominence in most of the works presented in the Irish Literary
Theater. The image of the mother in Riders is related to the traditional Mother
Ireland figure presented in various Irish literary works as "an old woman to be
rejuvenated by the sacrifice of her young male patriots" (Grene,.P. 216).

Synge contributed to the narrative of Irish nationalism in his own democratic

way. Instead of indulging himself in the expression of conventional political issues
and getting involved with revolutionary and semi-military movements, he focused
his attention, as Mathews observes, to writing plays, essays and poetry that treat
"the details of the material and cultural impoverishment of life among the most
marginalized of people in remote rural Ireland" (Mathews ,. P.10), people who live
in contemporary times, yet the life they lead is archaic, old-fashioned and free of
any struggle with colonialism. Frawley suggests that the particular delineation of
Maurya's character enables Synge to criticize contemporary Irish culture and shed
light on "the strain that results from insisting that women remain merely symbolic
for a nationalist and chauvinist society" (Frwely,. P.26). Feminine traits such as
dependence, submissiveness, passivity and self-denial exemplified by the females
in Riders, especially Maurya, are sometimes ascribed to the Irish as a result of their
colonialisation experience.

The female figures meet the requirements of the true Irish woman propagated
by Irish writers4. All the women in Riders stay at home and do traditional house
work like kneading, cooking and spinning while the men are in charge of providing
for the family through riding the dangerous sea to sell and buy in remote markets.
By presenting them under this light, Synge burlesques the nationalists' ideals for
motherhood through questioning "the efficacy of maternity itself as a means of
regenerating, restoring and reproducing Ireland" (Harris,.P. 110) since it only leads
to a catastrophe as shown in the play. In addition, Synge stresses the idea that
maternal feeling is a source of torment to the women of the peasant society
depicted in his play. After going through the hard experience of bearing and raising
up their sons, these mothers watch with agony how their sons are lost to the sea
while attempting to earn a living .

The traditional Mother Ireland figure of Cathleen ni Houlihan has become a

bed-ridden crone in Murphy's Bailegangaire for whom many family members have
died because of her stubbornness. However, their sacrifice will not rejuvenate the
senile old woman who is obsessed with her past and cannot conclude her story and
this brings to mind Ireland's buried children and history. Though Murphy's image
challenges the idealizing myth of the Cathleen ni Houlihan tradition, it is not
wholly grim as the audience sympathizes with Mommo's losses and understands
the reasons of her tragedy. The characters of Mary and Dolly, who "stand for the
Ireland of the 1980s" (Grene,.P. 214) are used to create a sort of discourse between
past and present.

The sorrowful conclusion of the common islanders should be seen as tragic as

that of people who belong to deep rooted families. Maurya’s family affiliation to
the proletarian class represents no pretext not to pay attention to its suffering.
 Maurya, who is primarily an old woman living in a specific locality during a
specific period of time; stand to be typical of the enduring characteristics of her
kind. She represents not only the whole community of the islanders but also all
humanity. “She is an image of humanity facing a hostile universe, and through her
Synge hints... that life is essentially tragic and the final reality is death...”(Price,.
P.191) Synge was able alter the old peasant woman to a universal mother. Maurya
was introduced to occupy tragic glory situation rather than to be a victim of the
oppressive strength.

The Agony of Maurya

Suffering is something universal which means suffering can be found in every
community as well as individual. As long as there is life, especially human life,
suffering will persist. Suffering is like a shadow that always follows a person’s
standing. Wherever the person walks, his shadow will always follow him, as well
as the suffering that always follows every step taken by a human being. Cassel,
Chapman and Volinn in Anderson (2013), define suffering as perceived threat or
damage to a sense of self; here suffering is defined as distress resulting from threat
or damage to one’s body or self-identity. Suffering can vary in intensity, duration,
awareness and source. Physical suffering is the subset of distress resulting from
threat or damage to one’s physical being, whereas mental suffering is distress
perceived as originating in one’s cognitive or affective self-identity. Suffering has
become integral part of Maurya who has again lost a son, Michael at the sea. His
last surviving son, Bartley, is getting ready to travel to the mainland. Maurya does
her best to prevent him from going because she is worried that Bartley might also
get lost. But fate has decided that Maurya should have no more son left, and she
cannot escape her fate. While his fate is touching everyone, her case is not unique.
Women around the world are suffering the same kind of agony. Feelings of loss for
a mother and grieving sorrows are everywhere. Maurya is a universal mother,
whining and lamenting for the brave sons who go to war against the world, never
to return. The sufferings experienced by Maurya keep on going and this can be
seen from the following quotes:

CATHLEEN: She’s lying down, God help her, and maybe sleeping, if she’s
able(Synge,. P.15)]. This is said by Cathleen, Maurya’s daughter, who feels deeply
moved by the anguish of her mother. Maurya cannot sleep well; she is always
nervous and when Cathleen sees her mother lying down, Cathleen hopes and also
prays that her mother could have a good rest. Maurya has actually been very
depressed. A person with a healthy mind can use his or her potential to maximally
face life challenges and establish positive relationships with others. Conversely,
people who are mentally disturbed will experience mood disorders, thinking skills,
and emotional control that can ultimately lead to anxiety behavior and cannot calm
the heart so that it can lead to sleep problems. This is what Maurya experiences
now. The most severe suffering felt by Maurya is when Bartley goes out to the
horse bazaar.

MAURYA: (crying out as he is in the door) He’s gone now, God spare us,
and we’ll not see him again. He’s gone now, and when the black night is falling I’ll
have no son left me in the world.(Synge,. P.19)

Maurya cries and screams hysterically at the door when Bartley leaves. She
has tried to persuade Bartley not to go to Connemara. She even asks a priest to
persuade Bartley not to leave. But all her efforts do not work because Bartley
insists on going to the horse bazaar. Basically Bartley does not mean to argue with
his mother, but their needs exceeds his obedience to his mother. He must go to sell
horses to meet their needs. Maurya, on the other hand, fears of losing his only
surviving son. She does not want to lose Bartley. And this is the culmination of
Maurya’s suffering. She feels that she is driving Bartley to death.

Maurya is not content in their relation with their female offspring. Being the
older of the two sisters, Cathleen, in Riders, is the one who takes the lead in
running the household affairs. She prepares the food, spins at the wheel and does
most of the arrangements inside the house. Her practical down-to-earth attitude to
life puts her in direct contrast with her mother when she impatiently complains:
"There's no sense left on any person in a house where an old woman will be talking
forever" (Synge,. P.18). Her sympathy and understanding of Bartley's motive to
ride the sea make her urge the grieved mother to follow the son with the forgotten
bread and formerly withheld blessing. Grene argues that Maurya displays a rough
behavior towards Cathleen due to her "normal old mother's jealousy of the
daughter who has succeeded her as domestic manager" (Politics,.P. 228). That is
why Maurya tries to underestimate Cathleen's ability to manage the tasks to be
done during Bartley's absence: "How would the like of her get a good price for a
pig.

Through focusing The attention on the image of the agony of the mother,
Synge is able to handle the theme and issue that has interested him. The experience
of colonial rule had a profound effect on the Irish nation. Since the founding of the
Abbey Theater and the Irish Literary Revival, dramatists sought to resist the
colonizing power through the composition of plays that highlight the Irish identity.
The works of the first generation writers of the Abbey Theater depicted how
Ireland was searching for a national identity; for once this identity is asserted, the
Irish would secure a position in the world, and would stop believing that they were
merely a conquered nation that has no identity. It is essential, however, that before
establishing a national identity, the Irish should be urged to find their own
individual identities and understand who they are. In fact, this was the very same
reason that made Synge sojourn Europe and finally land in the Aran Islands where
he mingled with the peasants there. Having spent a great deal of his life looking for
"a group of people he could belong to," Synge realized that the Arans were those
people through whom he "found a way to express his own identity and, moreover,
an identity of the Irish people" (Rackwitz).

In Riders, mourns the loss of her men folk and becomes the martyr mother
who stoically accepts her fate. The message Synge wants to convey to his audience
is assumed from Maurya's final resignation and acceptance that "No man at all can
be living for ever, and we must be satisfied"(Synge,. P.24). The characters in
Murphy's play do not accept this passive attitude and aspire to free themselves of
all sorts of oppression and make an active, empowering change. To achieve this
stage of maturity and adulthood, grief becomes a very important experience which
is often initiated by the loss of a dear relative.

Synge and Murphy are classified under the first category. Despite the idea that
the characters in Riders quite often invoke God for help and protection and the
play concludes with Maurya's prayer for mercy, the authority of the village priest is
questioned and his testimony that "the Almighty God won't leave her destitute with
no son living" is doubted by Maurya who is firm in her conviction that "It's little
the like of him knows of the sea" (Synge,. P.21). Therefore, if Synge is considered
one of the Irish playwrights who encourages the Irish people to look in the mirror
and understand that God would not save them, as Farrelly contends, then it seems
that, by ending his play with the heroine's resignation, he "wanted the Irish to shout
at Maurya, "We must not be satisfied – we must not be resigned to live a life of
suffering" (Farrely,. P.35). In fact what Synge is really criticizing is the Irish
desperate acceptance of the suffering of Mother Ireland and their ineffective
invocation to God to save the people of Ireland. Banning religion would not solve
the nation's suffering. Instead, the Irish should be encouraged to probe into the
causes of their problem and find effective solutions.

In contemporary Irish theater, the act of narration is considered one of the

most interesting formal tendencies encouraged by the pioneers of the Abbey
Theater who sought, through their plays, "to turn the theater into a place in which
the revival of an oral presentation of literature could be started" (Wehemann,.P.
246). The two mothers are preoccupied with narrating the family's past history.
Maurya, in Riders, gives different accounts of the family's life suffering and
conflict with the sea.

The memory of the poor old mother is busy not only with past events but also
with present and future happenings. When Cathleen and Nora send their mother
after Bartley to give him her blessings and the forgotten piece of cake, Maurya
returns terrified after seeing Michael's ghost: I went down to the spring, and I stood
there saying a prayer to myself. Then Bartley came along, and he riding on the red
mare with the grey pony behind him. [she put up her hands as if to hide something
from her eyes.] … I seen Michael himself… I'm after seeing him this day, and he
riding and galloping. Bartley came first on the red mare, and I tried to say 'God
speed you,' but something choked the words in my throat(Synge,. P. 22)

He went quickly; and "The blessing of God on you,"(Synge,. P.12) says he,
and I could say nothing. I looked up then, and I crying, at the grey pony, and there
was Michael upon it – with fine clothes on him, and new shoes on his feet (Synge,.
P.21). Maurya compares the fearful vision she has seen to that of Bride Dara who
has "seen the dead man with the child in his arms" (Synge,.P.21). Both Maurya and
Bride Dara experience the vision of loved ones who are dead; when the legendary
goddess sees a dead man carrying a child in his arms, she loses her son in the
battle, just like the deceased Michael who significantly comes from the dead to
lead his brother to the other world. It is not only Bartley's death that Maurya
perceives, but her own end as well: "Bartley will be lost now, and let you call in
Eamon and make me a good coffin out of the white boards, for I won't live after
them" (Synge,. P.21).

I have had a husband, and a husband’s father, and six sons in this house-six
fine men, though it was a hard birth. I had with every one of them and they coming
to the world-and some of them were found and some of them were not found, but
they’re gone now the lot of them.... There were Stephen, and Shawn, were lost in
the great wind, and found after in the Bay of Gregory of the Golden Mouth, and
carried up the two of them on one plank......(Synge,.P.15)

This is an almost intolerable picture of a mother’s sufferings. The other edge

to the problem of the loss of males in the family is a utilitarian one. The death of
the last bread-winner will make the already-hard life of the females almost
impossible to continue. Maurya harps on this aspect of the loss more than she does
on the other aspect- the emotional one. Before his final exit to Connemara, Bartley
advices his sister. Let you go down each day, and see the sheep aren’t jumbing on
the rye, and if the jobber comes you can sell the pig with the black feet if there is a
good price going. His detailed instructions to his sisters for managing the routine
activities of his family during his absence against the background of a bewailing
mother surely gives us a impression of Bartley’s callousness, and unless we refer
to Synge's description of life in Aran Islands, Bartley’s behavior would look
unconvincing. As Synge remarks :

............. although these people are kindly towards each other and to their children,
the.' have no feelings for the suffering of animals, and little sympathy for pain
when the person feels it is not in danger. (The Aran Island,. P. 300)

Even without relying exclusively on Synge’s Aran Islands as a source of our

interpretation, we can see the bitter realities of life where the sole concern seems to
be the mere existence on a day to day basis, Bartley’s cruelty is in keeping with the
mission of life, Synge wants to present. Moreover, Bartley is the sole bread-winner
of the family and his lack of sentimentality can perhaps be the only source of his
strength for struggle. Maurya’s anxiety at its climactic point yields to her almost a
prophetic vision. The death of Bartley appears to her a foregone conclusion :
 It’s hard set well be .surely the day you're drowned with the rest. What way will I
I do and the girls with me, and I am an old woman looking for the grave ?(Synge,.
P.17)

The two anxieties-emotional and utilitarian-are thus fused in such a way that
Maurya’s life seems in the nature of one prolonged agony.

The Stoical Acceptance Of Maurya

Stoicism, which has its deep roots stretching back to the beginning of the fifth
century BC, passed various historical stages of development started with the
classical Athenian philosopher Socrates (470 to 399 BC). He immensely
influenced his disciple Antisthenes (446 to 366 BC) who used to advance the
Socratic ethical principles to reach a new range. Despising sensualism, Antisthenes
maintained that pain can be a source of enormous good asking people to delight
virtue rather than physical beauty. Virtue, according to him, is sufficient to achieve
happiness. Diogenes, Antisthenes’ pupil who was called the Cynic for his strange
style of living, having nothing but a clock and a sack of food, sleeping in a tub, and
using his body to act impolite exercises in front of people, took his tutor’s
teachings to its logical extension. His contribution was what is called Cynicism, a
philosophy that proclaimed that one has to live quite literally in accordance with
nature by departing from the trappings of civilization as much as he can. Diogenes’
aim is to fortify the natural power of man.

The name of Stoicism was taken from the place where its founder used to
teach. Zeno customarily taught his students outside a classroom on the porch of a
public building called the Stoa Poikile, translated into English as the painted porch,
and that is what leads people to call Zeno’s followers Stoics or philosophers of the
porch. Recently, the word Stoic is used to describe “someone who does not give a
shit about the stupid things in this world that most people care so much about.
Stoics do have emotions, but only for the things in this world that really
matter.”(Wallace, Larry. “Indifference is a Power,”).

Stoicism donated so much concentration on goodness and relief of mind that

come as a result of living virtuous life that keeps pace with nature but not against
it. Good life is subject to the realization of the natural order precepts for the reason
that each thing has its origin in nature. It means that one’s actions should be
rationally conformed to the real conditions of the natural world. The aim of
Stoicism is to teach people how to be calm while dealing with suffering. It stands
for a means that augment one’s physical and mental vigor and that is what enables
a person to avoid tension, to develop obvious judgment, and as a result to keep
attention on significant things away from injurious sentiments. Extinguishing the
harmful emotions that arose from errors in judgment as well as carrying out the
correct choice is the best way to achieve happiness.

One should be indifferent to any matter that occurs outside authority and that
is what helps to found one’s self-sufficiency and personal independence and to
maintain a will to live in conformity with nature. Stoicism varied from other
existing philosophical schools for being practical. “It’s built for action, not endless
debate.”(Holiday, Ryan. “Stoicism 101) It is not just a set of principles that deal
with the complicated theories of the world, but rather a process of developing self-
control and stamina as an implement to triumph over destructive emotions. It does
not look for the entire suppression of emotions, it announces to convert them from
interesting in mundane pleasure and that is what is necessary to promote inner
calm and then relief of mind.
Maintaining the idea that one’s life should go on keeping pace with nature and the stoic should be
calm and brave in facing calamities, stoicism is clearly reflected in Riders to the
Sea. J. M. Synge succeeds to employ the female characters, especially Maurya, to
show the audience the positive role of the stoic philosophy in shaping one’s
personality. Maurya is used to stand for an example of the stoic who is able to
create powerful individuality and to continue strong apart from the negative
influence of one’s emotions while dealing with suffering.

Using Maurya’s character, Synge enables the audience to have a deep glance
into the vigor of human spirit which spiritually helps one to overcome misfortunes.
At the time that the action of the play concerns what has come about the family
men, Synge thrives to make much concentration on the consequences that the
stoical characters, the brave mother and her daughters, should confront. Maurya,
the tragic heroine of Riders to the Sea, is a poor peasant old woman dwelling on
the Aran Islands with her two daughters, Cathleen and Nora, as well as her sole
residual son Bartley. In the very opening, the unlucky mother who has forfeited her
husband and father in law in addition to four sons, is now anticipating to find the
corpse of the fifth son, Michael, who has been lost nine days earlier. Actually,
Michael’s decease is asserted by the clothes sent by the young priest and
recognized by Michael’s sisters who prefer not to inform their mother at that
moment for she is tired because of her irksome waiting for Michael’s cadaver.

Being a “cruel man [who] won’t hear a word from an old

woman,”(Synge,.P.22 Bartley ignores his mother’s request to remain. He wants to
sail to Connemara for the aim of selling a couple of horses at the cattle fair. He
thinks that it is his responsibility to take care of his family because, “it’s hard set
we’ll be from this day with no one in it but one man to work.” (Synge,. P. 22) As a
bid for stopping him, the desperate mother who does not receive Michael’s
remains, is forced to acknowledge his death so as to be used as an excuse to delay
Bartley. She says, “if Michael is washed up ... for it’s a deep grave we’ll make
him...” (Synge,. p. 21) While she tries to present a reason to justify her dissenting
opinion by emphasizing the importance of Bartley’s attendance for arranging his
brother’s funeral, Bartley confirms his intention to navigate addressing Nora that
he has “half an hour to go down...” (Synge,. p. 22)

When no pretexts are adequate, the woman who entirely devoted her life to
take care of her sons frankly asks her adamant son not to ruin his mother’s heart by
doing unnecessary action that will cause his death. She says, “what way will I live
and the girls with me, and I an old woman looking for the grave?” (Synge,. p. 22)
By saying so, the mother endeavors to impose psychological influence to change
her son’s mind, but her efforts are in vain. As Bartley departs on a voyage,
Maurya, who is very much aware of the real vigor of the sea, predicts Bartley’s
tragic end saying, “I’ll have no son left me in world.” (Synge,. p. 22) He is
drowned and his dead body is fetched home.

Bartley’s death represents no unexpected event for the mother who has got the
mortifying expertness of beholding her dear men successively swallowed one by
one by the fury of the sea. She received the indication of Bartley’s doom while on
her way to the sea shore to reach Bartley for granting him food and benedictions.
Maurya has “seen the fear fullest thing.” (Synge,. p. 26) She sees the apparition of
her missing son, Michael, riding on the grey horse behind Bartley on his red mare.
The interpretation of this vision, for their mother, is that Bartley will be ruined.
Maurya informs Cathleen and Nora about the vision telling them that it is more
dreadful than what is told in the Irish myth about Bride Dara who had “seen the
dead man with the child in his arms.” (Synge,. p. 26) This vision becomes a fact
immediately as Bartley is brought home dead. Maurya’s elementary reaction
towards her last son’s death apparently indicates her sublimity and intrepidity to
sustain irreparable casualties and that is what represents an important stoical
defiance against her emotions.

Maurya is scared as long as her remaining son is alive. She did her best to
keep him away from dangers, but she cannot because it is “the life of a young man
to be going on the sea...” (Synge,. p. 22) At the moment that Bartley’s corpse is
brought by some villagers, Maurya’s fear is vanished. She grows into a woman
who fears her enemy no more. The sea, which has wiped out all of Maurya’s sons,
cannot hurt her henceforth. Although it seems that she has lost the confrontation
with the sea which appears as a triumphant, she is the real victorious. She is aged,
but, at the same time, Maurya is a combatant mother who has the fighter-spirit, and
so do her two daughters. “She may be beaten, but she is unbowed.”(Saxena,Ritu.
“Feminism in Synge with Special Reference to Riders to the Sea” .p. 2 of 4)
Maurya does not mourn or lament. She does not meditate to leap into the sea. She
becomes in peace with herself for the reason that, as she mentions, “they’re all
gone now, and there isn’t anything more the sea can do to me...” (Synge,. p. 29)
The sea did its worst injury and there is nothing greater to be done. The situation of
Bartley’ death represents a turning point for being the climactic moment of the
events, Bartley exhibits inability to live in accordance with nature.

It appears as if the writer wants to shed much light on Maurya as a stoical

character. He compares Bartley’s unreasonable conduct to Maurya’s stoicism and
the aim is to glorify her ability of fortitude. To shun impasse is to be prudent. Men
of the islands are usually careful in dealing with the moods of the natural power
which dominates their lives. Sometimes they use to delay their voyage for avoiding
critical situations. The stoics confirm that in case the alternatives for doing an
action are available, one has to be judicious. Incorrect decision should be avoided.
Bartley’s life could be rescued if he had paid attention to his mother’ admonition.
His death occurred because of his irrational behavior. He is no more than a foolish
who disregards the cautions of an experienced and rational woman who has tried
strongly to convince him not to go to the sea, but “who would listen to an old
woman...” (Synge,. p. 22) The tragic conclusion comes as a consequence of
Bartley’s stupidity rather than the inescapable destiny.

As a stoic, Maurya offers her silly son the rational reasons that he needs to
cancel his voyage. She reminds Bartley about the “wind is raising the sea,” and the
bad omen, “there was a star up against the moon.” (Synge,. p. 21) Bartley, either
because of his unreasonable zeal or being a young man who is not able to take the
lesson and put in his consideration the tragic ends of his relatives, cannot read the
situation correctly and that is why he has to suffer the bad consequences and the
miserable mother should endure Bartley’s unnecessary death.

Maurya has suffered so much distresses and that is what creates a type of
impregnability against agony starting to behave as if nothing unhappy has
occurred. The death of her sons appears as it is something normal when she tries to
find consolation saying, “Michael has a clean burial in the far north, by the grace
of the Almighty God. Bartley will have a fine coffin out of the white boards, and a
deep grave surely. What more can we want than that?” (Synge,. p. 30)

Lary Wallace states that stoicism is “a philosophy of grim endurance, of

carrying on rather than getting over, of tolerating rather than transcending life’s
agonies and adversities.”(Wallace,Lary. “Indifference is a Power,”.P.2 of 11)
Relying on Wallace’s opinion, Maurya should be regarded as an ideal stoical
character. The whole play is a story of her sadness. During her life, disasters have
heaped up one over another. But Maurya’s mourning does not crack her
individuality. As a true stoic, she is of outstanding courage in dealing with the
worst catastrophes that a mother may withstand.

It is Maurya’s stamina that enables her to stand stout bearing shocks one after
the other. This stamina originates from her perception of the reality that no one at
all “can be living for ever, and that we must be satisfied.” (Synge,. p. 30) She
attempts to come across solace in the truth that she needs not to watch the sea
moods and shed tears or pray for anyone and that is what represents a type of long
rest for her. Cathleen and Nora can be regarded as stoical characters for the reason
that they share their mother all the accidents and calamities brought on by the
forces of nature
 They experience abreast of Maurya their brothers’ painful deaths along with
that of their father and grandfather. Similar to Maurya, the young girls are of great
ability of endurance. In the situation where they receive a bundle of clothes for
making sure that it belongs to Michael, they express exceptional fortitude when
they hide a huge secret for the aim of keeping the old woman, who is about to
sleep after long duration of staying awake, away from new suffering.