The chosen work for this literary analysis is Riders to the Sea, by J.M. Synge (1903). This piece is written as a classical drama. This form of writing is written with direction for setting creation and stage direction for characters included as its form is to be set into action. What is so delightful about this type of writing is that when reading, your imagination is taken to the scene enfolding before you. The characters need not speak every word to portray their emotion to you. Their subtle movements and changes in set symbolically convey visual meaning. After reading the play, it is just as interesting to see it performed. You will want to see if the director of the play has picked up on the subtleties that the playwright has included that have already captured your own mind or emphasized symbolism that you did not absorb. There are several portions of this play that stood out to me as saying more than what most would glean important. The first is a soliloquy made by the two daughters concerning the death of Michael. They are clearly worried how the impact of the news of Michael’s death will impact their mother. They are worried most about her and not of their own loss of their brother. This leads to dramatic irony, as now the audience knows more than the protagonist about what is the sisters believe has happened. The dramatic irony is further proven when the daughters inspect the stitching and fabric of the clothing and identify it as Michael’s.
The protagonist, Muarya who is the mother, is weak from so many lost within her family and yet she offers no comfort to her daughters for their loss. Clearly in this time, there is no worth or consequence of the daughters and this is alluded to later in the play, when it is stated that with no man in the house they will be left to eat wet flour.
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