Riders to the Sea main character Maurya, an old peasant woman, standing on the coast

Riders to the Sea

by J. M. Synge

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Analysis of Maurya's character in "Riders to the Sea."

Summary:

Maurya is a resilient and tragic figure in "Riders to the Sea." She embodies the suffering and strength of a mother who has lost her husband and sons to the sea. Maurya's character reflects deep sorrow and acceptance of fate, highlighting her spiritual resilience and the harsh realities faced by coastal communities.

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Describe the character Maurya from "Riders to the Sea."

Maurya is an peasant woman who has 6 sons, 4 of whom have died at sea.  Michael, one of 2 remaining sons, is also feared dead, as is Bartley, her final son.  Once the deaths of the final 2 sons have been confirmed, Maurya realizes that she has lost every one of the men in her life to the sea, including her husband and his father.

She is a very strong woman who has endured much suffering in her life due to the deaths in her family.  She has remained strong for the rest of her family and has trusted God's plan for her and for her children.  She ultimately is able to find peace with the deaths of her husband and sons because the sea cannot take anymore people from her.  Plus, she realizes that they are all together now in Heaven:

Maurya’s nobility and maturity of spirit enable...

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her to see the good in all of her men now being together. She sprinkles Holy Water over the dead Bartley and asks God’s mercy on the souls of her men, on her own, and, generously, on the souls of everyone left living in the world. (eNotes)
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Comment on Maurya's character in Riders to the Sea.

The character of Maurya is one that haunts us long after we have finished seeing or reading this excellent short play. As the play develops we realise that, out of her six sons, five have died at sea, and her last remaining son is planning on voyaging out to Donegal by sea, in spite of all the wind and rain and high tide. Throughout, the severe poverty of the family is illustrated, as Bartley, the remaining son, feels he has to go and sell the animals to gain money for the family. However, Maurya seems to be able to sense the fate that awaits him, as she refuses to give him her blessing as he leaves and laments the fate that awaits her:

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.

However, when the news does finally come about Bartley's death, Maurya faces it with dignity and strength. Note what she says as the women bring the news to her:

They're all gone now, and there isn't anything more the sea can do to me.

Her sense of resignation and almost the way in which she welcomes the "rest" that she knows will be hers shortly shows tremendous stoicism and pride. The story ends with the image of her grief and also the intense poverty of the family that can't afford nails for the coffin of Bartley and has driven this family into this state.

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What can we learn from the character Maurya in "Riders to the Sea"?

Maurya's spirit of acceptance is a lesson to be understood and appreciated.  Like all human beings, Maurya lives amongst the pain and suffering in the world.  She lives with the force of the sea mercilessly taking the men in her life.  Amidst this condition of insecurity and doubt, Maurya lives.  Once Bartley is taken, Maura learns how to live with her state of being in the world:

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.

Maura uses the Holy Water to bless the souls of the departed and to receive divine graces in her own life.  The lesson that Maurya teaches is how to possess intense acceptance of a powerless condition in the world. Maurya knows that she cannot defeat the forces of the natural world. In being able to say, "I won't care," Maurya demonstrates a detached quality. She is only human.  Yet, in demonstrating how she accepts her condition of the world, she reveals herself to be almost superhuman. Maurya is one who understands the realities of her consciousness.  She does not rail against that which she cannot control.  The lesson that teachers is how one must make peace with a condition of powerlessness against larger forces.  In this powerlessness, one can find the means to live a life with acceptance and dignity. Maurya comes to the understanding that she is only human.  Yet, in this, she demonstrates an almost detached quality that makes her so much more than what human beings normally are.  It is this lesson of acceptance that becomes something that can be gained from her.

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