An Analysis Of Symbols In John Millington Synge’s Riders To The Sea

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AN ANALYSIS OF SYMBOLS IN JOHN MILLINGTON SYNGE’S RIDERS TO THE SEA

A THESIS

BY:

VIVI ANGGRENI REG. NO. 110705080

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

FACULTY OF CULTURAL STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA MEDAN 2015

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AN ANALYSIS OF SYMBOLS IN JOHN MILLINGTON SYNGE’S RIDERS TO THESEA

A THESIS BY:

VIVI ANGGRENI REG. NO. 110705080

Supervisor Co-supervisor

Dra. Martha Pardede, M.S Drs. Siamir Marulafau, M.Hum NIP. 19521229 197903 2 001 NIP. 19580517 198053 1 003

Submitted to Faculty of Cultural Studies of Sumatera Utara Medan in partial fulfillment of requirement for the degree of Sarjana Sastra from Department English

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

FACULTY OF CULTURAL STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA MEDAN 2015

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Approved by English Department of Faculty of Cultural Studies

University of Sumatera Utara (USU) Medan as a thesis for The Sarjana Sastra Examination

Head Secretary

Dr. Muchizar Muchtar, M.S Rahmadsyah Rangkuti, MA. Ph.D NIP. 19541117 198003 1 002 NIP. 19750209 200812 1 002

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Accepted by the Board of Examiners in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Sarjana Sastra from the English Department, Faculty of Cultural Studies University of Sumatera Utara.

The examination is held in the Faculty of Cultural Studies University of Sumatera Utara on Saturday May 23, 2015.

The Dean of Faculty of Cultural Studies University of Sumatera Utara

Dr. H. Syahron Lubis, M.A NIP. 19511013 197603 1 001

Board of Examiners

Dr. H. Muhizar Mucthar, M.S ………..

Rahmadsyah Rangkuti, MA. Ph.D ………..

Dra. Martha Pardede, M.S ………..

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v AUTHOR’S DECLARATION

I, VIVI ANGGRENI DECLARE THAT I AM THE SOLE AUTHOR OF THIS THESIS EXCEPT WHERE REFERENCE IS MADE IN TEXT OF THIS THESIS. THIS THESIS CONTAINS NO MATERIAL PUBLISHED ELSEWHERE OR EXTRACTED IN WHOLE OR IN PART FROM A THESIS BY WHICH I HAVE QUALIFIED FOR AWARDED ANOTHER DEGREE. NO OTHER PERSON’S WORK HAS BEEN USED WITHOUT DUE ACKNOWLEDGMENT IN THE MAIN TEXT OF THIS THESIS. THIS THESIS HAS NOT BEEN SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF ANOTHER DEGREE IN ANY TERTIARY EDUCATION.

Signed :

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vi COPYRIGHT DECLARATION

NAME : VIVI ANGGRENI

TITLE OF THESIS: AN ANALYSIS OF SYBOLS IN JOHN MILLINGTON SYNGE’S RIDERS TO THE SEA

QUALIFICATON : S-1 / SARJANA SASTRA

DEPARTMENT : ENGLISH

I AM WILLING THAT MY THESIS SHOULD BE AVAILABLE FOR REPRODUCTION AT THE DISCRETION OF THE LIBRARIAN OF DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FACULTY OF CULTURAL STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA ON THE UNDERSTANDING THAT USERS ARE MADE AWARE OF THEIR OBLIGATION THE LAW OF THE REPLUBIC OF INDONESIA.

Signed :

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vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First of all, I would like to thank and praise to Allah SWT, the Almighty God who has given grace and ease to complete this thesis in the Bachelor S1 degree in Department of English Literature in this University of Sumatera Utara. I would also like to thank to my beloved parents who I love about most, to my beloved father, Ir. Anwardi a leader who always care and give the support to me. And to my beloved mother, Dra.Sundari who has given birth, rearing and always give prayers to me. And also thank to my little sister Mutia for cheer me up in doing this thesis.

And also thanks to all the lecturers in this Department of English Literature, all of which I obtained solely unlikely to be realized without the help some wonderful people who support me. Firstly, I am very thankful to the dean of the faculty of Cultural Studies, Dr. Syahron Lubis. Then thank to Dr.H.Muhizar Muchtar, M.S and Rahmadsyah Rangkuti, M.A, Ph.D as the chairman and secretary In Department of English Literature. I wish to express the deepest gratitude and appreciation to my thesis supervisor Dr. Martha Pardede,M.S and Drs.Siamir Marulafau, M.Hum who have taken their precious time giving their dedication to guide, advise and fully supported me in completing this thesis properly. It has been my great pleasure to know and to be advised by them. I luckily also got your expertise, kindness and a bit of friendship for being my supervisors to bring me up finishing this thesis. May God bless you, Mam.

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viii I owe special gratitude to all my friends at English Department. I will not forget the kindness of my gorgeous friends, Dessy, Multa, Sheila, Florence, Nurul, Irma, Ridho, Fachruni, Yudha, and especially Maya and Nanda who give a lot of positive supports for me, time, and energy. I would like to sincerely appreciate those unforgettable friends for their love, help, supports and suggestions in completing my study. I learn from them many thing I‘ve never learned from anyone else. Thank you for all.

Lastly, to my very special person, Muhammad Frandana Syahputra S. Brahmana S.Kom. Thank you for your prayers, support, encouragement, love and attention all the time. You showed me love and may this will last forever. Thank you for everything.

Medan, May 2015

The Writer

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ix ABSTRAK

Skripsi ini yang berjudul An Analysis Of Symbols In John Millington Synge‘s Riders to the Sea membahas beberapa simbol-simbol yang terdapat di dalam drama tersebut. Penulis dari drama tersebut menggunakan beberapa simbol untuk menyampaikan makna-makna yang tersirat kepada pembaca. Simbol-simbol tersebut adalah simbol yang dibuat dari alam, material, hewan-hewan, figure, nama, dan arah mata angin. Tujuan dari penulisan skripsi ini adalah untuk membantu pembaca drama tersebut memperoleh interpretasi dari masing-masing simbol tersebut. Didalam tulisan ini penulis menggunakan teori dari Charles Sanders Peirce tentang tanda dan menggunakan metode deskriptif kualitatif yang menjelaskan analisis sesuai dengan uraian hasil penelitian yang dikaitkan. Dan dari hasil analisis, penulis memperoleh kesimpulan bahwasanya setiap simbol mempunyai makna lain yang menjelaskan hal lain pula.

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x ABSTRACT

This thesis entitled An Analysis Of Symbols In John Millington Synge's Riders to the Sea discusses some of the symbols that found in the play. The author of the play uses several symbols to convey the implied meanings to readers. These symbols are symbols that are made from nature, materials, animals, figures, names, and points of compass. The purpose of this thesis is to help readers gain the interpretation of each of the symbol. Within this thesis the author uses the theory of Charles Sanders Peirce about signs and using qualitative descriptive method that describes the analysis according to the description of the results of the study that are attributed. And the results of the analysis, the writer gets the conclusion that each symbol has another meaning that explain other things as well.

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xi TABLE OF CONTENTS

AUTHOR’S DECLARATION ………. v

COPYRIGHT DECLRATATION ……… vi

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ………. vii

ABSTRACT ……… ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS ……….. xi

CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION ……….…….. 1

1.1 The Background of the Study ………. 1

1.2 The Problems of the Study ……….. 4

1.3 The Object of the Study ……….. 5

1.4 The Scope of the Study………. 5

1.5 The Significances of the Study ……… 5

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ……… 6

2.1 Definition of Play ……… 6

2.2 Kinds of Play ……… 8

2.2.1 Tragedy ……… 9

2.2.2 Comedy ……… 11

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xii

2.3 Definition of Symbols ………. 12

2.3.1 Conventional Symbols ………... 16

2.3.2 Personal Symbols ……….. 17

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ………. 18

3.1 Research Method ……… 18

3.2 Data Collection ……….. 19

3.3 Data Analysis ………. 19

CHAPTER IV : AN ANALYSIS OF SYMBOLS IN JOHN MILLINGTON SYNGE’S RIDERS TO THE SEA……….... ₂₁

4.1 Introduction ……….. 21

4.2 Nature ……….. 22

4.2.1 Sea ………. 22

4.2.2 Riders to the Sea ………. 26

4.2.3 Holy Water ………. 28

4.3 Materials ……… 29

4.3.1 White Boards and Nail……… 29

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xiii

4.4 Animal and Color ……….. 35

4.4.1 Grey Pony and Red Mare ………. 36

4.4.2 The Pig with Black Feet ………... 37

4.4.3 Black Birds……… 38

4.5 Figure ……… 39

4.6 Names ……….... 41

4.6.1 Maura (Old Woman) ……… 41

4.6.2 Young Priest………. 42

4.6.3 Bride Dara………. 42

4.7 Points of the Compass ………. 44

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS……… 46

5.1 Conclusions ……… 46

5.2 Suggestions ……… 48

REFERENCES……… 49 APEPENDIXES: APPENDIX 1: Biography of John Millington Synge

APPENDIX 2: John Millington Synge's Works APPENDIX 3: Summary of Riders to the Sea

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ix ABSTRAK

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x ABSTRACT

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1 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1.Background of Study

The twentieth century has witnessed the birth of a new member into the family of drama the one-act play. For more than a century there had been no dramas written that were worthy of note. Talented playwrights again begin writing dramas, and plays become rich in content and deep in purpose. As the plays become better, the audiences grew to be more intelligent and more critical. John Millington Synge is one of the most important playwrights of the Irish Renaissance. Nowadays, it has been argued that his plays are far more deeply rooted, thematically and aesthetically, in the ancient native literature than was previously believed.

John Millington Synge’s Riders to the Sea is a play that only has one act. A one-act play can scarcely more than indicate the result of a struggle.Riders to the Sea serves to illustrate the essential difference between the one-act play and the play in two or more acts: since the former is almost always concerned with but a single incident, it is capable of very little development. Riders to the Sea intends the audience not only through the speeches of characters but also through the different symbols and images. The information that should be obtained in the Riders to the Sea is not enough through the dialogue because of the limited time, so symbols are obtained by the playwright. A number of symbols are used to help the reader to understand the storyline and develop a visceral, or gut reaction to the play. In Riders to the Sea, different symbols and images help the story move forward. Such symbols and images contribute to the right mood of the story. The audience is expected to be

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2 able to interpret each symbol that contained in the play. That is why this play is interesting to analyze.

Play is one of literary genre. There is the difference between play and drama. Play may also be regarded as a piece of literature which is read for pleasure. While drama is a work of literature or composition describes life and man activity as means of presenting various actions of dialogue between a group of characters.

A symbol has role in play. A symbol in play is the effort of the playwright to give much information to the audience, because a symbol stands for the idea. A symbol, according to Harmon and Holman (1996:497) is something that is itself and also stands for something else. That means symbol in play for example, doesn‘t merely means itself, but has another wider meaning and has a function for certain intention.

There are many symbols found in the play Riders to the Sea that makes it interesting and unique to be analyzed. Peck and Martin (1984:72) explains that :

―A symbol is only used when a writer wants to express an apprehension of something in his mind which is not directly observable in the everyday world. Symbol is not expressed directly by the author but it is expressed by the object, figures, characters and colors where it represents abstract ideas or concept‖.

Symbol can expressed as the object to represent in its absence. A symbol may be defined as any object that suggest a larger meaning than itself or as applied specially to literature. For example the word ladder which can represent the relationship between heaven and earth or ascension. Simple colors can also be symbolic, depending on location, or the context in which is used. For example, in

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3 Asian countries, red symbolizes happiness, marriage, and prosperity; in some countries the color of mourning is white. Colour symbolism is used to convey a deeper message to the readers and help us understand the characters true colours.

Symbols are widely used in the play as well as in Riders to the Sea. The Sea is also the symbol of supernatural or something beyond the logic because several time some natural powerful forces and calamities which destroy the happiness of human and also life in various ways. On the other hand the sea also provides the livelihood of the human who go to the sea and live beside the sea by providing many things.

According to T.R. Henn (1963), ‗This general play has become the best tragedy by the help of the symbols‘. This play has a short scene, but the events last long. T.R Henn describes this symbolism as the product of the creative imagination of Synge which apprehends or corresponds between myths, legends, events or things. The language which is used in Riders to the Sea is effective, and there are numerous of symbols used. It is known that, symbolism is the main element of any kinds of arts. That makes the play becomes interesting to analyze, which is not the same with other plays which have a long scene and acts.

Riders to the Sea is one-act play by John Millington Synge, an Irish playwright which was published in 1903 and produced in 1904. Riders to the Sea is set in the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland and is based on a tale Synge heard there. It won critical acclaim as one of dramatic literature‘s greatest one-act plays. The play is about Maurya, an old woman who has lost to the sea all the male members of her family except Bartley, the last of her six sons. In the course of th e play he too drowns.

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4 (Quoted from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/727971/Riders-to-the-Sea).

Symbolic meaning, according to Shipley (1970:217) is word or communicative thing such as gestures or pictures that stand for something else. A symbol has complex meaning. It does not only have ―literal‖ meaning, but also additional meanings beyond the literal. A symbol may have more than one meaning. In fact, the most significant symbol do convey an indefinite range of meanings. Symbols may have very narrow or quite wide ranges of meaning. It is the way to communicate with others and explain more about something.

The misunderstanding of the symbols will make the real meaning and the purpose of the symbols irrelevant and brings the wrong interpretation, conclusion and comprehension to the reader. This thesis will try to analyze the symbols found in Riders to the Sea by John Millington Synge and give the description of the symbols to the reader in order to avoid the wrong comprehension of the symbol‘s meaning.

1.1.2. Problems of the Study

During the process of study, it is important to know the problems that are going to be analyzed in that play. Deciding statement the problem would help the writer in collecting data for the analysis.

1. How do the kinds of symbols stand for?

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5 1.1.3. Object of the Study

The objective of study is one thing that we must achieve or the statements about what we have done in object that we are going to analyze depend on the problem of analysis. So, the object of the study are as below:

1. To find out how the symbols are there to stand for.

2. To explain what are the function of those symbols.

1.1.4. Scope of the Study

When doing analysis of literary works, actually there should be a scope of analysis, so that the object that are analyzed become clear and the purpose of the analysis is easy to understand by the readers being.

It is important for the writer to limit the analysis. Therefore, she only focused this analysis on symbols that found in John Millington Synge‘s Riders to the Sea.

1.1.5. Significance of the Study

This study will help the readers more understand the story by explaining how the symbols used in play Riders to the Sea. This study can be a lesson, especially to know the symbols, also to enrich the study of literature especially about symbols in the play.

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6 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1. Definition of Play

Play is one genre of literary works, it is the art of representing for the pleasure of others events that happened in our real life or that we imagine happening. The basic elements of play are characters, represented by players or the actor of a play; action described by gesture and movement; though, implied by dialogue and action spectacle, represented by scenery and costume; and finally audience, who respond to this complex mixture.

When we are in the theater we see the actors, hear the lines, are aware of the setting, and sense the theatrical community of which we are a part. Even when reading a play, we should imagine actors speaking lines and visualize a setting in which those lines are spoken. Play is an experience in which we participate on many levels simultaneously. On one we may believe that what we see in a play is really happening in our daily life; on another level, we know it is only make-believe. On one level we may be amused, but on another we realize that serious statement about our society are being made. Usually play called as mirror of life mean that we can see our life reflected by one play.

Kasim (1999: 79) explains that the word drama derives from Greek word ‗dran‘ which means ‗ to do, to act‘. The word ‗drama‘ seems to be interchangeable with the word play. That is why the well known Shakespeare can be said as a

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7 dramatist or a playwright. The former suggests a performance and a stage in terms of theatrical viewpoint, the latter is the written drama or closet drama which functions as reading material. To say short, the dramatist invites audience and the playwright gathers the reader.

Drama is an important point to understand. Commonly, there must be two ideas of understanding drama that is doing and seeing. The act of doing and seeing is complementary and defines the area of the study of drama or play in its largest sense. The sense that includes both the play and the performance lie behind the common pairings that repeatedly appear in dramatic criticism: play and performance, script and production, text and staging, author and actor, creation and interpretation, theory and practice. In short, the rood ideas contain the essence and the range of the whole field of the study of drama or play, to quote Tennyson (1966: 1).

John Dryden in Tennyson (1967: 1) states that a play ought to be a just and lively image of human nature, reproducing the passions and humors, and the changes of fortune to which it is subject, for the delight and instruction of mankind. Not the presentation of a passion for itself but of a passion which leads to action is the business of dramatic art; not the presentation of an event for itself, but for the effect on human soul is the dramatist‘s mission. Thus, a play or drama is a presentation of an action or closely linked series of actions, expressed directly by means of speech and gesture. Its subject-matter is the action and reaction of human will and it is treated with a view, not to the sequence of events, but to their essential relations as causes and effects.

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8 From the explanation above, it can be simplified that a play is not really a piece of literature for reading. A true play is three dimensional; it is literature that walks and talks before our eyes. The material process of verbs ―walk‖ and ―talk‖ show the characteristics of play as one genre of literature. In accordance to this, in a play there must be an action; that is, events and situations must be presented with accompanying tension, sudden changes and climax.

In broadest term, play can be grouped into sub-genres such as tragedy, comedy, tragicomedy and melodrama, to say a few. Tragedy implies the tragic events which arise sense of pity and fear. In general, tragedy tends to invite death as final end though it should not be always so. In short, tragedy contains sad ending as the solution or the effect of the tension. Different from tragedy, comedy is a happy ending story. It is filled with humors that invite laugh rather than something serious. The combination of the tragedy and comedy is called tragicomedy which contains some serious matter and the other light matters. Melodrama tends to be semi God-like character which emphasizes romantic situation by combining songs to end the happiness through the escape from bitterness or attempts of life.

2.2.Kinds of Play

Most of the world‘s great plays written before the twentieth century may be regarded as one of two kinds: tragedy or comedy. Roughly speaking, tragedy dramatizes the conflict between the vitality of the single life and the laws or limits of life (the tragic hero reaches his heights, going beyond the experiences of other men, at the cost of his life), and comedy dramatizes the vitality of the laws of social life (the

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9 good life is seen to reside in the shedding of an individualism that isolates, in favor of a union with a genial and enlightened society). A third kind of drama, somewhat desperately called tragicomedy, is harder to epitomize, but most of the tragicomedies of our century use extravagant comic scenes to depict an absurd, senseless world.

2.1.1. Tragedy

The word‘ tragedy‘ derives from two Greek words ‘trago‘ and ‗oide‘. Trago means goat and oide means song. In Greek term ‗ goat song‘ means the death just as the sacrifice of goats, totems of primitive people or the worshippers of the god dressed in goatskin, done in ancient rituals. In Latin, it is called ‗ tragodia‘ whereas in Old French called ‗tragedie‘.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_drama)

Tragedy is defined as play in which the protagonists fall to disaster through the combination of personal failings and circumstances. The story of a tragedy must be ended with disaster or the characters undergo a sad event or an unfortunate aspect of something. It also describe the chief characters, misfortune and errors and in the ending with calamity, destruction even death that which cause extreme grief.

The simplest definition of tragedy is that it is a play that ends with deaths of the main character. The concept of tragedy was related to the belief of ancient Greek people. The Greeks had no holy book that might have guided their life. They were forced to rely on their own intellect for a solution of goon and evil, no revelation. In their search for controlling principles by which to conduct their life, they developed

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10 moral and religious codes derived from strict legal codes. The controlling principles were harmony, balance, proportion, and justness.

The central personage of Greek tragedy was warrior hero. He was the embodiment of the old ideal ‗ arete‘ , a prowess or strength that had brought him glory and fame an made him a leader. He appeared as one who had achieved everything in his life, both fortune was apparently revealed as hollow, the hero was brought to suffering and ruin. He was trapped in a situation in which any action taken by the hero would be morally unacceptable. He attempted to fight, because he didn‘t want to give up , but his attempt ended failure.

The above explanation show us some important points out Greek tragedy such as, the hero is person who never gives up. He will fight, although he realize that his opponent is stronger and more powerful and that he will finally be defeated. The Greek hero always feels responsible for what he has done. He never tries to escape from his responsibility. The Greek hero or heroine meets his or her fate with such dignity and determination.

2.1.2. Comedy

The word "comedy" is derived from the Classical Greek κωμῳδ α, which is a compound either of κῶμος (revel) or κώμη (village) and ᾠδ (singing): it is possible that κῶμος itself is derived from κώμη, and originally meant a village revel. The adjective "comic" (Greek ωμ ός), which strictly means that which relates to comedy is, in modern usage, generally confined to the sense of "laughter-provoking". The word came into modern usage through the Latin comoedia and Italian commedia and

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11 has, over time, passed through various shades of meaning. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy_drama)

Greeks and Romans confined the word "comedy" to descriptions of stage-plays with happy endings. In the middle ages, the term expanded to include narrative poems with happy endings and a lighter tone. In this sense Dante used the term in the title of his poem, La Divina Commedia. As time progressed, the word came more and more to be associated with any sort of performance intended to cause laughter.

A comedy of manners typically takes as its subject a particular part of society (usually upper class society) and uses humor to parody or satirize the behavior and mannerisms of its members. Romantic comedy is a popular genre that depicts burgeoning romance in humorous terms, and focuses on the foibles of those who are falling in love.

2.1.3. Tragic Comedy

Tragicomedy is fictional work that blends aspects of the genre of tragedy and comedy. In English literature, from Shakespeare's time to the nineteenth century, tragicomedy referred to a serious play with a happy ending. A play dealing with a tragic story which ends unhappily, but which contains certain elements of comedy and

the remote possibilities of a happy ending.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragicomedy)

There is no complete formal definition of tragicomedy from the classical age. It appears that Aristotle had something like the Renaissance meaning of the term (that

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12 is, a serious action with a happy ending) in mind when, in Poetics, he discusses tragedy with a dual ending. In this respect, a number of Greek and Roman plays, for instance Alcestis, may be called tragicomedies, though without any definite attributes outside of plot. The term itself originates with Plautus: the prologue to Amphitryon uses the term to justify the play's bringing gods into a predominantly bourgeois play.

2.4 Definition of Symbols

The word symbol and symbolism are derived from the Greek word meaning ―to throw together‖ (syn, together, and balleirt, to throw). A symbol creates a direct meaningful equation between (1) a specific object, scene, character, or action and (2) ideas, values, persons, or ways of life. In effect, a symbol is a substitute for the elements, being signified, much as the flag stands for the ideals of the nation, to quote Roberts (1995:322).

According to Charles Sanders Peirce in his theory about sign in ―Ikonisitas: Semiotika Sastra dan Seni Visual‖:

―…symbol adalah tanda yang representamennya merujuk pada objek tertentu tanpa motivasi (unmotivated); symbol terbentuk melalui konvensi-konvensi atau kaidah-kaidah, tanpa adanya kaitan langsung diantara representamen dan objeknya …‖ (Budiman, 1999:57)

(―…symbol is the sign of representament that refers to a particular object without motivation (unmotivated); symbol formed by the conventions or rules, without a direct link between the representament and the object ...)

From the quotation above, symbol does not have directly relationship between the object and the representament. In stories, symbols are verbal descriptions of

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13 persons, objects, places, actions, and situations. Each symbol has its own objective identity, and may function at an ordinary level. Therefore, there is often a close topical relationship between the symbol and it‘s meaning, but the symbol also has no apparent connection. What the important is that symbol extend beyond their immediate identity and point toward additional levels of meaning.

Peirce‘s sign has been defined as something that relates to something else for someone in some respect or capacity. Peirce‘s sign sports three components What usually goes for a sign in everyday talk Peirce called a representamen. The representamen is something that enters into relation with its object, the second component of the sign. The most basic classes of signs in Peirce‘s menagerie are icons, indices, and symbols. An icon is a sign that interrelates with its semiotic object by virtue of some resemblance or similarity with it, such as a map and the territory it maps (a photograph of Churchill is an icon of the original item). An index is a sign that interrelates with its semiotic object through some actual or physical or imagined causal connection. A weathervane obediently moves around to point (indicate, index) the direction of the wind due to the action of the wind on the object (smoke was for the Ranger an index of fire). A symbol is somewhat more complicated. The series of signs in the above paragraph highlights with a symbol, ‗Coke‘, a sign whose interpretation is a matter of social convention. All the explanation strengthen my analysis about symbol in Riders to the Sea

X.J. Kennedy (1983:147) says that symbol is an object, animate or inanimate, that stands for or points to a reality beyond itself. A sunrise, for example, it is not only represents new beginnings but also the beginning of a new day. The seasons are

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14 perfect example. Winter represents aging, decay, and death; spring is often used to represent energy, birth, and hope; summer is symbolic of childhood, fun, and laughter; autumn stands for maturity, wisdom, and fulfillment. Other typical examples include the scales to symbolize justice; a dove for peace, the rose for purity, the stars and stripes for America; and so on. Sometimes symbols can be straightforward, but more often it is not easy to say exactly what they symbolized.

Symbol appears as a term in logic, in mathematics, in semantics and semiotics and epistemology; it has also had a long history in the worlds of theology ( ‗symbol‘ is one synonym for ‗creed‘), of liturgy, of the fine arts, and of poetry. The shared elements in all these current uses is probably that of something standing for, representing, something else. But the Greek verb, which means to through together, to compare, to suggest that the idea of analogy between sign and signified was originally present. It still survives in some of the modern uses of the term. (Wellek and Warren in Theory of Literature (1956:188)

Symbol, as stated by Shipley (1970:321) is something that stands for something else (not by exact meaning, but by vague suggestion, or by some accidental or conventional relation). This means that the symbol is not chosen to be inserted in the work by looking for the closest thing in which the reader can see the likeness or similarity easily, but instead the clear reference to something that can not be reach by the reader. So, it is encouraging and so easy thing to find out what a symbol tries to point something out.

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15 Symbol, as stated by Hary Shaw,1976:266 is something used for or regarded as representing something else. More specially, a symbol is a word, phrase, or other expression having a complex at associated meaning, in this sense a symbol is viewed as having values different from those at whatever is being symbolized. For examples, a flag is a piece of cloth which stands for (is a symbol of) a nation; the crescent and star is a symbol of Moslem.

In this thesis, the writer focuses on understanding symbols in the play Riders to the Sea. It‘s important to understand the real meaning and the purpose of symbols are irrelevant to get deep explanations and descriptions of the symbols in order to avoid the wrong explanation and comprehension of the meanings of symbol. Peck and Martin Coyle, 1984:71 say that symbol is an object, which stands for something else. In a play, it is a word, which, while signifying something specific, also signifies something beyond itself. There is the differences between image and symbol we have to infer the meaning and associations. According them, the symbol is used when writer wants to express an apprehension of something in his mind, which is not directly observable in everyday world. The writer has to use a symbol because he can only convey his non rational apprehension of something by using objects and words the familiar word.

Something becomes a symbol when it consistently refers beyond itself to a significant idea, emotion, or quality or the usual clue that something is symbolic if it is conspicuous for some reasons than its factual importance. The author may also make a detail conspicuous by describing it more fully than its factual importance deserves by making it unusual for no apparent reason, by mentioning it in the title or

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16 by some other means. Whatever the author represents the symbol, if a detail is conspicuous for any reason other than its importance in the plot, it may be a symbol.

Klarer (1976:140) says a symbol is a thing that suggest more than its literal meaning in a literary text. He divides symbol into two kinds; they are conventional and private symbol.

2.3.1 Conventional Symbols

Conventional symbol is symbol that has an understood or widely accepted interpretation. There are some conventional symbols that are easily recognizable, for example, a flag which is a physical, tangible representation of a country. Even as children people know that the flag isn‘t the country, but that it stands for a country. Conventional or traditional literary symbols work in much the same way, and because they have previously agreed upon meaning, they can be used to suggest ideas more universal than the physical thing itself. Conventional symbol has meaning that recognized by a society for example: Red can symbolize blood, passion, danger, or immoral character and stars are the symbols of Moslem.

The following objects have been considered bearing conventional symbols for centuries, some of which are reflected in religious practice and can also be found mythical story and literature, they are crescent and star are the symbol of Moslem, water are the symbol of purification and redemption, garden are the symbol of paradise, desert are the symbol of spiritual aridity, morning are the symbol of hope,

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17 red are the symbol of spirit, passion, green are the symbol of growth, hope, wing are the symbol of inspiration, relief. There are, of course a lot more of objects that might bear traditional symbols, and the examples are by no means exhaustive.

2.3.2 Personal Symbols

Some authors do not use commonly accepted symbols ( conventional symbols), but create their own symbols. The problem with non – traditional symbols is that readers do not inherently understand them. Since that symbol can work only when there is a consensus of meaning between the author and readers, the author must present or create his own symbol using the context of the literary work to make the symbol clear. Non – traditional symbols are sometimes called personal symbols. He or she must be both efficient and effective. He or she must do something to give valuable to symbol. He or she gives us a little pieces information that serve as clues or pointers for symbols. E.g. In Day September by Faulkner, dust is the symbol of spiritual drought, in the Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, wing field photograph of the symbol of Amanda‘s youth when she was in Blue Mountain.

The problem with private symbol is the readers do not understand much about the symbol. It is a relation between the reader and the author because The author needs to present or create a symbol using the context of literary work and the reader understand the symbol according context of text, the reader must recognize an object or things as a symbol. The explanation also strengthen this thesis to analyze the symbol found in Riders to the Sea in order to help the readers of this play understand about the symbol in Riders to the Sea.

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18 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Method

In analyzing the symbols in the play Riders to the Sea by John Millington Synge, the descriptive qualitative method is used. Descriptive qualitative method is conducted by describing and analyzing the data which come from the text of play that have been selected; and within the same time explanation and interpretation is made. Interpretation deals with clarifying the meaning of the symbol in the play stands for.

Surachmad (1980:139-140), states that ―metode deskriptif tidak terbatas hanya sampai pada pengumpulan dan penyusunan data, tetapi meliputi analisa dan interpretasi tentang arti data itu‖ (Descriptive method is not only to collect and structure the data, but it also to analyze and interpret the meaning of the data).

In this thesis, play of Riders to the Sea is used as the main source of the data. The information that collected in this study by reading and studying as many as possible to get the information in order to support the research. Library research is conducted in this thesis. The information is taken from some text books, articles, and journal from internet and other source that relates in this study. The last is this thesis will give some conclusions taken from the analysis.

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19 3.2 Data Collection

In collecting the data, all references that are read and collected are the data to support in order to get the information for the process of completing this thesis. The data of this thesis is symbol that found in the play John Millington Synge‘s Riders to the Sea. First, the play is read carefully and then the words are identified, person, object or non object thing in the play that can be a symbol. Something is considered as a symbol if it has idea, or emotion that make it conspicuous for some reasons and stands for something else.

3.3 Data Analysis

The data analysis is applied when all important data from the play Riders to the Sea as the source of the data in this thesis is collected. The data will be analyzed by some steps. First, this thesis will give explanation about person, words, object or non-object thing which are considered as the symbol. Second, this thesis will be analyzed to give the interpretations about the symbol. The interpretations will be supported by quotations from play, books, encyclopedia, and documents from internet. Finally, the conclusions will be taken from the analysis.

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20 Source of Data

Play John Millington

Synge’s Riders to the Sea

Data Symbol

Conclusion

Personal

Culture Universal

Interpretation Analysis

Descriptive Qualitative

Below are the systematic of Analysis:

Researcher

Analysis of Symbol

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21 CHAPTER IV

AN ANALYSIS OF SYMBOLS IN JOHN MILLINGTON SYNGE’S RIDERS TO THE SEA

4.1 Introduction

In Riders to the Sea, the main theme concerns about the power of the sea. As an island, Ireland has a very powerful connection with the sea which has incredible power both as a giver and a taker. Riders to the Sea stands as a perfect articulation of themes and ideas that appear in later plays. Events take place entirely in a single room as two sisters, Cathleen and Nora, hide from their mother, Maurya, the news that their brother Michael, a fisherman lost at sea, has washed ashore far north of their cottage. The remaining son, Bartley, sets off to sign on with another departing fishing vessel, after Maurya fails to persuade him to stay. No sooner is Michael‘s death confirmed than Bartley is thrown from his horse into the sea, where he also drowns. The theme has connecting with the symbols that are going to be analyzed.

Symbol is simply defined something that means something else, and also symbol is used repeatedly as pictured in this play. Symbol can be universal or personal. It is conventional symbol because it is made through consensus, and its meaning has recognized by a society. In Riders to the Sea, there are symbols made of nature which consists of sea, riders to the sea, and holy water; symbols made of materials which consists of white boards and nail, rope, nets, spinning wheel, cake and pot-oven; symbols made of animal and color which consists of grey pony and red mare, the pig with black feet, black birds; symbol made of figure which consist of

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22 number nine; symbols made of points of the compass which consist of south, east and west; and symbols made of name which consists of Maura, young priest, Bride Dara.

4.2 Nature 4.2.1 Sea

At the very opening of the play, the sea enters as a terrorizing living personality. Its power is the main theme of the play, illustrated for the audience by the tearing open of the door at the beginning, and by the descriptions given by the girls. Their sense of time, of direction is determined by the sea. Sea is the symbol of power beyond our logic. The sea is also the route to the people‘s survival even though it holds the people‘s death. This accounts for reason Henn sees the sea in its ambivalence as ―the giver and taker of life‖ (Henn, 1963:39).

Symbol of nature is conventional symbol. The dramatic structure of the play centres around the sea: in the beginning there is suspense as to whether the sea has given back the dead body of the young man it has taken, as Nora says: ―We're to find out if it's Michael's they are; some time herself will be down looking by the sea.‖ (Synge, 1903:39)

It is clear that sea is symbol of something beyond our logic because sea can be the giver and taker of life. The sea is a supernatural entity over which even the Almighty God of the Christians has no control. The islanders depend on it for their sustenance but it also snatches the live that it gives. Every symbol in Riders to the Sea is directly or indirectly connected to the Sea – the auxiliary of death. The sea, therefore, pervades the play, contributing to the tragic mood. For Maura, the only escape is to lose every male in the family. Before the death of Bartley all the

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23 characters in the play except Maura, are hopeful that he will not become a victim of the sea. Even the young priest has hope that God will not do wrong with Maura;

Nora: "I won't stop him," says he, "but let you not be afraid. Herself does be saying prayers half through the night, and the Almighty God won't leave her destitute," says he, "with no son living." (Synge, 1903: 40).

But the young priest forecast proves to be wrong when we hear the death of Bartley. This wrong forecast is ironical and enhances the intensity of Maura‘s grief as well as shows the cruelty of the sea, a symbol of destroyer, by showing how Maura is left ―with no son living.‖ The wrong forecast of the young priest and its acceptance by Cathleen and Nora shows their ignorance of the power of the sea. It is only Maura who knows and understand well the real power of the sea. Bartley‘s death gives a lesson to the islanders that if they want to live in harmony and peace with the sea, they should be aware of the various moods of the sea. If the sea is calm she plays the role of giver so the fisher men should seek their livelihood in the sea at this time. If the sea is not calm and the weather is not good, they should not go into the sea because this time the sea is in the role of a taker.

The men of the family, past and present, were and are trapped, in a sense. To make a living, they must go to sea. But the sea is the bringer of suffering and tragedy. They are, in effect, in a no-win situation. They must go to sea to survive economically, but death on the sea is so common that all of Maurya's sons, as well as her husband, are killed on it. Maura‘s male members are not aware of this. So, they are drowned.

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24 It seems, Maura is aware of the kindness, cruelty and various moods of the sea. So, she is anxious about the safety of her males and struggles with the sea but is defeated surrenders herself to the sea, the uncontrollable power of the sea. To Maurya the sea is the enemy, the destructive principle, and destroyer of human and family continuity. Sea represents the unpredictable forces of nature with which men have to contend for their lives, as she says;

Maura: ―If it wasn't found itself, that wind is raising the sea, and there was a star up against the moon, and it rising in the night. If it was a hundred horses, or a thousand horses you had itself, what is the price of a thousand horses against a son where there is one son only?‖ (Synge, 1903:41).

It describes that the sea provides a living, such as it is, for the characters of the small cottage. Unfortunately, it is also that which causes their suffering. The sea, in the play, has been presented as both kind as well as cruel. It is kind because it provides livelihood to the inhabitants of the island. They earn their livelihood by catching fish and collecting sea weeds from the sea. It is cruel because it also takes the lives of the people. The people die in it that the sea in this play is giver as well as taker. The sea, in this play, represents a powerful force of Nature over which nobody has any control. If someone opposes the power of the sea, he will be loser. Maura‘s sons are drowned because they have gone against the rule of the sea, they have sailed during the high winds and high sea. They have broken the law of the sea and so the sea has punished them. The people, living on the sea coast must obey the law of the Nature. They must be aware of the sea and its various moods.

Thus, among all the other symbols that add to the gloom and horror of the play, the symbol of the sea appears to be the most prominent and enduring.It is important to note that the sea is a symbol of life and its ordeals. Aboelazm suggests

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25 that the sea symbolically represents the evils of life that surround the island dwellers. The sea ―is the enemy, the destructive principle, and destroyer of human and family continuity‖ (Aboelazm, 2011:296).

The play details the struggles of the dwellers of the island against the forces of nature, which are beyond their control. The people cannot do without the sea, even though the sea holds disaster for them. The paradox is that the sea is their major means of survival and at the same time, their death trap.

The fishermen struggle to get a living out of the sea in tiny, frail boats made of tarred canvas, which they make themselves. Synge has chosen to make the sea the architect of Mura's cruel fate. The sea is an archetypal symbol and has a universal significance. The hostility between man and the sea has been gone on since times immemorial. The sea is no respecter of ranks. Maura's men folk are poor fishermen. But people of all ranks and classes are drowned in the sea. In other words, the hungry sea devours the rich and the poor, kings and nobles, as well as poor fishermen and sailors. The suffering of the mother would be the same whether Bartley is a poor fisherman or a rich prince. Thus, the suffering caused by the sea is a common experience of man.

The sea is one of those universal symbols which is not decoded by one culture much differently from another as it is a common reference to all. First, it represents the source of life, the primeval origin of all creatures; it is the "womb of the world." Antithetically, by its sheer strength and power of destruction it represents death as well. Thus an everlasting "womb-tomb" cycle takes form, with both life and death forces taking equal part.

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26 This idea comes over very strongly throughout this play. The sea is both the source of substances for the family and the reason for its destruction, as one by one Maura's sons give up their lives to the sea. There is first pathos created by the senseless fatality of their deaths, then resignation to the inevitable. She finds a sort of peace when she loses everything she has to lose. Having nothing left for the sea to take, Maura no longer has reason to fear it.

4.2.2 Riders to the Sea

Synge‘s choice of title is the superb brainwork of his genius. The title Riders to the Sea is the most significant and symbolic to the thematic journey. The readers are curious to know who the riders are. They will go deep into the sea with the riders. Then the mystery will be revealed and the readers will shed tears. The two riders Barthey and Michael represent the whole riders of the peasant families of Aran Islanders. So, riders to the sea is the symbol of struggle of Maura‘s male members in the waves of life. The real beauty will come out with the fragrance of title.

The title helps to go deep into the text and the sea. The story is about the tragic fate of Maura an old woman of the island. She has her father-in-law, her husband and six sturdy sons. They are all riders to the sea. But all of them except Bartley were devoured before the curtain rises. The play is about the last rider, Bartley. Maura‘s fifth son Michael was drowned in the sea nine days before the play begins. Bartley wants to go to the sea. The sea devours him also. As Bartley says, “It’s life of a young man to be going to the sea.” (Synge, 1903:42).

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27 The title also has supernatural element. One of the riders is the ghost of Michael who pursues his living brother and takes him away from this world. To quote T. R. Henn—

―It (the sea) is the killer of the young, the bread winners, whose life is to be upon it. The fishermen are all its riders, mysteriously linked to the human and super-human riders, here and in tradition.‖

It indicates the manner in which the final tragedy overtakes Maura. The sea has devoured all the males of Maura family. All are the riders to the sea. The lives of the Aran islanders are determined by the sea. Their fates are destined by the hungry sea. Synge with his tragic scheme pushes the riders into the sea. So all the riders have taken shelter under the sea after their death. They go the sea as a rider, like riding a horse. Horse itself is the symbol that bring to death. Hence the title is very suggestive and symbolic.

The title, actually taken from the Bible, is an extended metaphor meaning ―we are all moving toward mortal death", literally true of the people of the Aran Islands, where this play takes place, who depend on the sea not only for a livelihood, but also as the only connection to the ―world‖ (the mainland). As each of Maura‘s sons reaches maturity, the economics of the culture draws them to the dangerous sea life. The knotted sweater bundle is evidence of the recent loss of one son, and seeing the second son riding a horse along a steep cliff (or his ghost) is another physical manifestation of the sea‘s toll on those it ―calls‖ to ride to it. The sea, besides being the drowning cause of many sailors and fishermen, is also the universal receptacle for

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28 our bodies after our souls have left. An old Irish saying, ―The ocean refuses no river‖, bears out this metaphor‘s meaning as well.

4.2.3 Holy Water

Riders to the Sea is a kind of tragedy play that the suffering of the protagonist is the consequence of the sins and it appears to be no reason for Maura‘s tribulation. The deaths of her sons are not, as the consequence of acts of evil. This play is a part of Christianity plays. Holy Water is the symbol of religiosity or miracle. In this play, Maura spreads the holy water to the dead body and Michael‘s dress. So that Holy Water is the symbol of calmness.

Maura: “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 east, and the surf is in the west, making a great stir with the two noises, and they hitting one on the other. 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. (To NORA) Give me the Holy Water, Nora; there's a small sup still on the dresser.” (Synge, 1903:52)

The symbolic quality of Bartley‘s body can be further supported by the way the characters relate to them. That Bartley‘s body is sacred (even a taboo) and can be related to only by the use of Holy Water (otherwise, Maura touches only his feet. Nora and Cathleen do not touch him at all,) is not surprising.

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29 4.3 Materials

4.3.1 White Boards and Nail

The 'white boards' and'nails' are referred to in the play reflects the role of the sea as a life taker. The presence of new boards and nails in the household of Maurya shows that death is a day to day incident in the lives of these people. So, to be prepared for such disasters in a place which provides very less facilities to the people, they have to keep materials needed for the funeral of their near and dear ones. As Cailteen says to Nora,―Give it to him, Nora, it's on a nail by the white boards.‖ (Synge, 1903:41)

The nail, which is referred to again in the last sequence of the play, is an essential element with which to make a coffin for Bartley. The nail is Christian symbol of human pain and suffering, symbolized her elevation and forsaking of earthly pains. In this sequence, the presence of the nail in an interior wall reflects Maura's poverty and the pointed-shape of the nail reinforces the images of the painful hard life of the islanders.

Not referring to the colour of the board is a more serious omission. Synge used many colourful images in Riders to the Sea as a means of communication. In this sequence, the visual image of 'white' board is highly significant. White coffin-boards, which create part of the tension and the 'contrapuntal irony' of the sequence, are 'a constant visual reminder not only of death, but of the infertile, treeless soil of the island.' As Mara says, ― You‘ll do right to leave that rope hanging by the boards.‖ (Synge, 1903:41)

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30 Synge has placed before the eyes of his audience a representation of sea-death in the white boards standing by the wall of the cottage. The new boards are there from the beginning of the play and they are to be made into a coffin for Michael, Maurya‘s son whom she has lost at sea, then for Maurya herself. They stand there throughout the drama and are finally used at the end of the play to give Bartley, her other son who will also be lost at sea, his grave. The boards are therefore a continuously operative symbol of the presence of death.

Aside from Maurya‘s vision, the strongest evidence for supernatural forces in Riders to the Sea is its sense of design and its phenomenal unity. The white boards meant for Michael‘s coffin become the boards for Bartley‘s; the bread for his trip becomes a meal for his coffin builders; and his changing into Michael‘s cleaner coat a natural enough action.

4.3.2 Rope, Nets, Spinning Wheel, Cake and Pot-Oven

In the play, Bartley needs the rope before he goes to the sea. As he asks to Cailteen; ―Where is the bit of new rope, Cailteen, was bought in Connemara?‖ (Synge,1903: 41).

The new rope is the symbol of fateful ride of Bartley. It is meant for lowering the coffin of dead Michael into the grave is used by Bartley to make a halter for his red mare. The halter leads Bartley to death. It is ironical that the old mother is given the stick of young Michael so that she can walk down to the Spring Well with the

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31 bread for Bartley. Bartley's death releases the long-suffering mother from the tyrannical bondage of the unrelenting sea. Maurya senses a kind of victory when all her sons are lost in the sea. Nothing can be more ironic than this paradoxical victory. The rope that hangs on the wall will serve as a bridle to take the horses to the fair, or in an island funeral to lower the coffin 'into some wet crevice in the rocks', or even to hold its frail sides together.

While the nets firstly are the primary means of making at least one aspect of the sea concrete and palpable on stage that of the nourisher and the provider. The various items listen both show that this is a family that is dependent on the sea, as the nets indicate, but also that they are a family that is very poor and has to do everything for themselves, as the spinning wheel demonstrate. So, the spinning wheel is the symbol of wheel of life. The tragedy that is going to unfold on this stage will therefore be one that occupies the lives of poor people who are dependent upon the sea for their livelihood and struggle to make ends meet.

More obvious is the imagery of the cake baked for the journey, that should be given to Bartley beside the spring well. The cake and pot-oven symbolize life and sustenance.

NORA: (turning towards her) You're taking away the

turf from the cake.

CATHLEEN: (crying out) The Son of God forgive us, Nora, we're after forgetting his bit of bread. [She comes over to the fire.]

NORA: And it's destroyed he'll be going till dark night, and he after eating nothing since the sun went up. CATHLEEN: (turning the cake out of the oven) It's destroyed he'll be, surely. There's no sense left on any person in a house where an old woman will be talking forever.

CATHLEEN: (cutting off some of the bread and rolling it in a cloth, to MAURYA) Let you go down now to the

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32 spring well and give him this and he passing. You'll see

him then and the dark word will be broken, and you can say, "God speed you," the way he'll be easy in his mind. MAURYA: (taking the bread) Will I be in it as soon as himself? (Synge, 1903:44)

In Ireland, the 'cake', the round flattish loaves of home-made soda-bread that are cooked in heavy iron lidded pans, is commonly the sole food for the fishermen in their courages. This resetting nullifies the justification of Maura's exit in the original play, which is to make up for the way she spoke to Bartley by giving him the cake. Maurya does not take 'the biscuits' when she goes out to catch up with Bartley on his way to the sea. The purpose of Maurya's going out is not to bless him or even to give Bartley the 'biscuits' but to bring him back to the house.

The use of 'cake' is very symbolic. The cake baked for the doomed man is finally eaten by those who make his coffin. It is only as the play develops that we see just how important this relationship between the sea and the characters are, and how this develops through the link between Maurya and the sea as she loses her final son to its power and strength. What we have in effect are two carefully juxtaposed and almost conventional symbols of life and death which in their coalescence develop the thematic idea – Man, in this world of barren soil is inevitably driven to live off the Sea which acts as the giver but asks for repayment through the life of the young bread-winners.

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33 4.4 Animal and Color

4.4.1 Grey Pony and Red Mare

In Riders to the Sea, Maura has a vision in which she sees the apparition of Michael (her dead son) riding on the back of a ‗grey pony‘ behind Bartley, which may symbolize that ‗pooka,‘ herself, carrying Bartley to the ‗Otherworld‘. According to legend, pooka is a shape shifter fairy and most commonly takes the form of a sleek black horse with a flowing mane and luminescent golden eyes. Pooka, sometimes, is depicted in the Irish folklore as a white horse and is known as the harbinger of doom, Indicating bad luck on the way. So, the gray pony behind him symbolizes the death which is continuously following Bartley. Michael‘s ghost is riding on the gray pony who pushes Bartley into the sea and ultimately kills him. Maura‘s vision of Michael riding on the ―red mare‖ is a symbol and hint of Bartley‘s death. Maura is now sure that Bartley will die. Mauraa describes this fearful vison which she saw on the beach to her daughters:

Maura: ―I went down to the spring well, 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 puts up her hands, as if to hide something from her eyes] . . .

Maura: [a little defiantly]. ―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. He went by quickly; and‗the blessing of God on you,‘ 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, 1903:49)

Another Celtic mythological figure, goddess Epona (pronounced eh-poh- nuh), can also be associated with Maura‘s premonition of her son‘s fast approaching death

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34 because of seeing the ‗pony‘ and the ‗mare‘ near the spring well. Epona is specifically identified by her horse symbolism (Miranda, 1998: 204) and like other mother goddesses, is often linked ―with the images of death‖ (Monaghan,2004: 158). In her images, the goddess is usually depicted either riding side - saddle on a mare or between two ponies or horses. It may be significant that the one pony is male and other female, a detail which enhances the fertility symbolism in Epona‘s imagery. In Synge‘s Riders to the Sea we see one male ―grey pony‖ and the other being female ―red mare‖. Goddess Epona is also associated with death and regeneration beyond the grave and this is shown partly by the context of some of her images and partly by symbolic details. One of the several images of Epona depicts the goddess on her mare, leading a mortal to the Other world. At one level, this symbol may be interpreted as the key to the stable door, reflecting a straightforward horse association. But in wider perspective, the key may also symbolize the entrance to the afterlife, the ‗Otherworld‘

Also, the colour symbolism is very prominent to the theme of the play. First, the red mare and the grey pony. Red obviously symbolizes life or the vibrant flow of life. But Bartley is riding the red mare. So, the question arises that how does Bartley then face a disastrous death. The point here is that Bartley is indeed riding the red mare but is followed by the grey pony. Here it is a composite symbol: red cannot be treated in isolation but red followed by grey symbolizes that life would be usurped by death chasing it. Needless to mention, the colour grey symbolizes death, which is associated with death in Ireland.

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35 4.4.2 The Pig with Black Feet

In Riders to the sea, every detail means something. There is the pig with the black feet. Black obviously symbolizes evil, and the reference to the pig with the black feet presages evil destiny for the Maura household. The pig is in mythology sacred both to the moon-goddess (who rules the sea) and to the death-goddess, for it is an eater of corpses. The pig with the black feet is an ominous symbol which by biting on the rope symbolizes the shorting of life by death.

Cailteen: (coming down)―Give it to him, Nora; it's on a nail by the white boards. I hung it up this morning, for the pig with the black feet was eating it.‖

Bartley : (working at the halter, to CATHLEEN)―Let you go down each day, and see the sheep aren't jumping in on the rye, and if the jobber comes you can sell the pig with the black feet if there is a good price going.‖ Maura : ―How would the like of her get a good price for a pig?‖ (Synge, 1903: 41-42)

In Riders to the Sea , we see Cathleen informing her brother, Bartley,about a ‗pig with the black feet‘ eating the rope meant for the funeral of her dead brother, Michael. In the play, the pig, is heard eating the rope which was meant for lowering down Michael‘s coffin into the grave. This symbolically means that Maura, the mother provider, attempts to prevent Bartley from going to the sea to avoid his death.

In the Riders to the Sea , the pig brought ill- luck with it because of its ominous black feet and this reminds us of Maura using ominous words for Bartley and in perplexity taking the ‗turf‘ out of the hearth.

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36 4.4.3 Black Birds

In the beginning of the play that the language of the women begins now to place their protagonist in worlds other than natural. As they attempt to express the power of the sea over their lives a pattern of imagery emerges which connects it with the pagan, the mytical and supernatural; and these worlds provide the imaginative colouring which can transform, to some extent, the bleakness of the cycle of loss.

One part of this pattern is made manifest in the ―black hags‖, which brood over the play and over the deaths of the menfolk. In the first version of Riders to the Sea, the cormorants are called the ―black birds‖ which is symbolized as death. In his revisions Synge weights the play more heavily towards the mythical and the supernatural. In the first version too, the cornorants had a functional part to play, for they are instrumental in the death of Patch.

Cailteen: (counts the stitches) It's that number is in it. (Crying out) Ah, Nora, isn't it a bitter thing to think of him floating that way to the far north, and no one to keen him but the black hags that do be flying on the sea? (Synge,1903 : 46)

The picture is too realistic and limited in its inference, for the black birds remain black birds which can be identified from the Aran Islands, despite the obvious intention to make them emblems of death. In detaching them from the actual incident of Bartley‘s death, as Synge does in the final version, and transforming them into ―black hags,‖ he gives them a more all pervasive importance. By providing them with a more distant sky he makes them more symbolically powerful, for they become almost the embodiment of pagan deities. The black birds do not appear in the final

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Cathleen says that their last surviving brother, Bartley, was planning to go that day by sea to the mainland to sell his horses at the Galway fair, and she asks Nora whether she had asked the young priest if he would stop Bartley from going. Nora replies that the young priest told her that he won't stop him from going, but he told her not to be afraid of his safety. Her mother prays to God almighty up to midnight everyday and so God would not make her utterly helpless by taking away her last surviving son.

Cathleen asks Nora whether the sea appears to be rough near the rocks. Nora says that the sea is bad, but not very bad. There is a great roaring sound coming from the west, and it will get worse when the tide turns. Nora asks her sister whether she should open the bundle of clothes. Cathleen says that they would take a long time in identifying the clothes because both of them are crying and in the meantime, it is possible that their mother might wake up and come there. Nora hears sounds of Mauya's movements. Cathleen suggests that the bundle should be hidden in the turf kept in the loft where Maurya cannot see them. When she goes to the seaside to see whether Michael's body has been washed ashore they can open the bundle. They put up a ladder and Cathleen goes up and hides the bundle in the turf.

Maurya now enters the kitchen and she is surprised to find Cathleen near the turf. She asks her whether they did not have enough fuel for the day. Cathleen explains that they are baking a cake and so they need more fuel. The cake would be needed by Bartley, if he goes to Connemara.

Maurya says that Bartley must not go on this day because the wind is rising from the south and the west. She is sure that the young priest will stop him from going. Nora says that the priest will not stop him and heard some of the people in the village saying that he would definitely go. He has gone down to find out whether there would be another boat to the mainland this week. Just then Bartley comes and he seems to be in a hurry. He asks Cathleen about the new rope that they had bought in Connemara. The rope is hanging on a nail and Nora gives it to him. Maurya asks him not to take the rope. When Michael's body is found, they will dig a deep grave for him and the rope will be needed for lowering the coffin in the grave. Bartley says that he needs the rope to make a halter for the red mare and he has to go quickly because the boat is about to leave and there won't be another boat for two weeks or more. People are saying that this will be a good fair for the sale of horses and he wants to sell his red mare and Michael's gray pony.

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Maurya objects to Bartley's going on the ground that if Michael's body is found there would be no male member in the house to make the coffin out of the white boards that she has purchased. Bartley says that there is no possibility of the body being washed up because there is a strong wind blowing from the west and south. Maurya says that the indications are that the sea will become rough now and she does not want him to take the risk of crossing the sea to go to the mainland at this time. He is her only son now and he is more precious to her than even a thousand horses.

Bartley pays no heed to his mother's words and continues making the halter. He asks Cathleen to take care of the sheep and to sell the pig with the black feet if she gets a good price for it. He asks the sisters to gather enough sea-weed. He says that they will face a lot of difficulty now because there is only one male member left in the house to do all the work. When Maurya finds that Bartley is determined to go, she says that the family will have real difficulty when he too is drowned like the rest of the male members of the family. She asks him how she, an old woman, will live and provide for the girls if he undertakes this trip and is drowned.

Bartley ignores his mother's objections and is determined to go. He asks Nora to see if the boat is coming towards the pier. Nora sees that the boat is passing near the green head and getting ready to stop at the pier. Bartley takes his purse and tobacco and gets ready to go. He says that he will come back in two days or three days or perhaps, four days if the wind is bad. Maurya now becomes desperate and she says that he is a hard and cruel man who does not listen to his old mother who is trying to hold him back from going to the sea. Cathleen now takes her brother's side and says that it is natural for a young man to want to go to the sea and their mother is unnecessarily saying the same thing over and over again. Bartley now picks up the halter which he has made from the rope and says that he must go quickly. He would ride on the red mare and the gray pony would run behind him. Bartley leaves after invoking

God‘s blessings on them all.

Maurya is grief-stricken as Bartley leaves. She does not give her blessings to him. She has a sign that now he will not come home alive. She says that he is gone and they will not see him again, and when the black night comes she will have no son left in the world. Cathleen takes her mother to task for sending Bartley away without blessing him. She had said very unlucky words when Bartley was going on a dangerous voyage. They were already grief-stricken due to the death of Michael and Maurya's words are likely to add to their

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sorrow. Cathleen then remembers that she has forgotten to give the cake to Bartley. Nora says that Bartley has eaten nothing since the morning and he will reach the mainland only at night, and he will be miserable due to hunger. Cathleen takes the cakes out of the oven and blames her mother for her own forgetfulness. She says that nobody can have sons in a house where an old woman keeps on talking all the time.

Cathleen cuts a piece of the cake and wraps it in a piece of cloth. She suggests to her mother to take this in the spring well and give it to Bartley when he passes near this place on his way to the pier. If she invokes God's blessings on Bartley now the evil effect of the unlucky words that she spoke earlier will be neutralized. She can meet Bartley, if she goes quickly. Maurya takes the bread and stands up unsteadily. She is old and weak and finds it difficult to walk. Cathleen asks Nora to give her the stick which Michael brought from Connemara. Maurya takes the stick and comments that in the outside world the older people leave things to be used by the younger people, but in this place young men die first and leave things to be used by older people. (Michael has died and his stick is being used by his mother). She goes out slowly.

When Maurya goes out, Nora takes the ladder and goes up to the loft and throws down the bundle. She says that the young priest would come back to the island the next day and they should inform him if these clothes are definitely Michael's. He had told her how the body had been found. Two men were rowing with poteen early in the morning and the oar of one of them caught the body and they brought it to Donegal. Cathleen cut the string and opened the bundle. It contained a shirt and a stocking. Nora says that she would get Michael's shirt which is hanging there and compare the flannel that of the two. But that shirt was not there. Cathleen says that probably Bartley put on that shirt that morning because his own shirt was heavy with salt in it. But there was a bit of a sleeve of the same material. The stuff was the same, but Cathleen says that a lot of that material is available in shops and so 'someone else might have got a shirt of the same material. Nora counted the stitches of the stocking. It had fifty-six stitches. Nora remembered that this was the number of stitches in the stocking which she stitched for Michael. They are now certain that the body that had been found in Donegal was Michael's. They both start crying because now they are certain that Michael is drowned. Nora throws her arms on the clothes and says that it is very sad that this is all that is left of Michael who was a great rower and fisherman. As they are weeping they hear the sound of Maurya's footsteps, and they become quiet. They decide to keep the clothes away

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and not to tell their mother about them while Bartley is on the sea. They put the bundle in a hole in the chimney-corner. Cathleen starts her work at the spinning-wheel. Nora sits down at the chimney-corner.

Maurya comes into the house very slowly. The cloth with the bread is still in her hands. She sits down on her stool by the fire and starts wailing. Cathleen tells her not to lament for Michael but to tell them whether she saw Bartley. Maurya says that her heart is broken because she has seen a frightful vision. She saw Bartley is riding the red mare and she also saw Michael is riding the gray pony which was running behind. Cathleen feels that she must now tell her mother about Michael's clothes. So she tells her mother that she could not have seen Michael because Michael's dead body has been found in Donegal and he has been given a decent burial by the people there. Maurya, however, says that she saw Michael is riding the gray pony and wearing fine clothes and new shoes. She wanted to give her blessings to Bartley when he rode past her, but the words stuck in her throat.

Cathleen begins to lament and says that they are ruined from this day. She feels that the vision means that Bartley will die and they will be left absolutely helpless. Nora tries to console her mother and sister by saying that the young priest has said that God will not leave her utterly helpless by taking away her last surviving son. But these do not console Maurya. She says that persons like the young priest have no idea of the ways of the sea. She has a sign that Bartley will be drowned now. She wants the girls to call Eamon and make a good coffin out of the white boards for her, for she won't live after all her sons are dead. Or the coffin can be used to bury Michael.

Maurya recalls that she had her husband and her husband's father and six sons in this house. Her sons were six fine men, though she had a lot of trouble in giving birth to them. They have all been lost in the sea. The bodies of some of them were found, while those of the others were not found at all. Stephen and Shawn were drowned in the great storm and their bodies were found in the Bay of Gregory and brought to the house on one plank.

Cathleen and Nora now hear some noises coming from the seashore. Maurya, however, does not hear anything and continues her description of her calamities. Sheamus, his father and grandfather were lost together on a dark night and their bodies were not recovered at all. Patch was drowned when his curragh (boat) got overturned. She was sitting at that time with Bartley, who was a small child, on her knees and first two women came, then three came and

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then four women came. They were making signs of the cross and not saying a word. Then some men brought the dead body of Patch wrapped in a red sail with water dripping out of it.

As Maurya was describing the way in which the body of Patch was brought, the scene is re-enacted. Women start coming to the house crossing themselves and kneeling down with red petticoats over their heads. Maurya was utterly confused and in a sort of a dream. She asks Cathleen, who has died—Patch or Michael. Cathleen replies that Michael's body has been found in the far north. Maurya asks how they could recognize the body after it had been in the sea for nine days. Cathleen explains that they had sent the clothes taken out of that body and they were sure that these clothes belonged to Michael. Cathleen gives the clothes to her mother. Just then Nora sees some men coming towards their house carrying something wrapped in a sail from which water was dripping. Cathleen asks the women, whether they are bringing Bartley's body. One of the women replies that it is definitely Bartley's body. The younger women pull out the table and the men place Bartley's body, wrapped in a sail, on it. Cathleen asks the women how Bartley was drowned. The woman replies that the gray pony knocked him into the sea and the strong current took him into the deep sea and dashed him against the white rocks.

Maurya now goes and kneels at the head of the table. The women are wailing softly and swaying their bodies to and fro. Cathleen and Nora kneel at the other end of the table. The men kneel near the door. Maurya then raises her hand and speaks as if there is nobody around her. She says that all the male members of her family are gone now. The sea has done the maximum damage possible and it cannot do any more harm to her. In the past when there was a storm on the sea and she could hear the strong waves striking against each other, she used to keep praying to God for the safety of her menfolk who were on the high seas. She used to and get Holy water in the dark nights after Samhain and she did various rituals with this water. Now she will have no worry about storms and rough seas and she will have no need to get the Holy Water. She asks Nora to give her the Holy Water which is still there. She drops Michael's clothes over Bartley's feet and sprinkles Holy Water on the clothes and on Bartley's dead body. She says that she has prayed so much for Bartley on dark nights that sometimes she did not know what she was saying. Now that there is no son left, she would have no need to pray for someone and so she will have a great rest and peace. She will be able to sleep during the long winter nights after Samhain (all Souls' Day-1st November). Since there is no bread-winner left in the family, she will have very great difficulty. She and

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her two daughters will now get only wet flour and some stinking fish. But she will have rest and peace of mind. She kneels down again, makes the sign of the cross and prays silently.

Cathleen now turns to an old man and requests him to come next day along with Eamon and make a coffin for Bartley. She tells him that her mother had purchased white boards for a coffin to be made for Michael when his body was found. Now these boards can be used to make a coffin for Bartley. She adds that she has made a cake which they can eat while they are making the coffin. The old man looks at the boards and asks whether nails have been bought. Cathleen replies that they had not thought of the nails. At this another man comments that it is strange that Maurya who has seen so many coffins being made in her house, did not think of nails. Cathleen says that she is getting old and has been shattered by grief and so she is getting forgetful.

Maurya stands up again very slowly, spreads out Michael's clothes beside Bartley's body and sprinkles the last drops of Holy Water on them. Nora says to Cathleen in a whisper that their mother was very quiet now, but when the news came that Michael was drowned, she cried so much that one could hear the sound of her lamentation from this place in the spring well. She says, "I think that she loved Michael more than Bartley but nobody could have thought that possible". Cathleen replies that that is not the reason. An old woman soon gets tired of what she has been doing. She was wailing and moaning for nine days and now she is tired of it. That is why she is quiet now.

Now Maurya stops complaining and stoically accepts her fate. Death has to come to everyone. So if someone dies the survivors should give him a decent burial and pray for his soul and remain satisfied. Maurya acts in this spirit. She lays her hands on Bartley's feet and says, 'The souls of my husband and all my sons are together in the other world now. May God almighty have mercy on Bartley's soul and on Michael's soul and on the souls of Sheamus, Patch, Stephen and Shawn and on my soul and on the soul of all those persons who are still living in the world." She pauses a little and the wailing of the women rises and then subsides. Maurya continues, "Michael has got a decent burial, in the far north and for Bartley a fine coffin will be made out of the whiteboards and we shall bury him in a deep grave. What more can one want? No man can live forever and so we must be satisfied" The play ends on this note of submission before fate and mortality.

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