Man and Challenge in John Millington Synge’s Riders to the Sea

This study deals with Riders to the Sea which examines critically the qualities of Irish life and characters that Synge made attempts to invoke, as well as the distinct qualities that inaugurate this play as one of the most successful Irish play of the 20th Century. However, Synge, whose plays are concentrated on the Irish tales and myths, shows peculiar interest in the life of the Irish peasants who have become characters in his plays. He is one of the playwrights who raise the common Irish idiom to a high dramatic form of expression. Though his plays are essentially set in Irish surroundings, their significance is universal. The concern of the present study is to shed significant lights on the social, economic and political aspects of Ireland. It comes across the peasant community and focuses on challenge to this society. It also presents the romantic elements in Synge’s life and examines his play in which man shows challenge to nature and shows how characters express challenge to authority which is represented by government, law, family and religion. Hence, natural love is much stronger than authority, and however authority stands powerful and strong, it is defied and challenged by people to whom love is everything, even if they are powerless and defenseless. Consequently, characters defy nature, the sea and fate for a chance to improve the economic stability of the family particularly when they are left with sea which is the only means that provides the islanders with the living needs. Hence, the harsh nature, which caused poverty and need did not make the Irishman submit to his circumstances. Synge succeeds in showing the reality of Aran life and the struggle of man with the merciless sea, on one hand and reflecting “joyful” picture of the Irish people on the other hand.