Riders to the Sea (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: J. M. Synge
- First Published: 1903
- Type of Work: Play
- Type of Plot: Tragedy
- Time of Work: The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
- Setting: An island off the western coast of Ireland
- Genres: Drama, Tragedy
- Subjects: Suffering, Twentieth century, Superstition, Nineteenth century, Individuality, Islands, Christianity, Ireland or Irish people, Paganism
- Locales: Islands, Ireland
Characters Discussed
Maurya (MOY-ruh), an old peasant woman living on one of the Aran Islands at the mouth of Galway Bay on the western coast of Ireland, a wild, desolate, impoverished area. She has reared six sons, four of whom are known to be dead, as are her husband and her husband’s father—all from the ravages of the sea, whose fierce tides and winds make life difficult and dangerous. She is afraid that Michael, the next from youngest son, who has been absent unexpectedly for some time, is drowned also, and she tries to dissuade her last son, Bartley, from crossing over...
[The entire page is 879 words long]
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