Write a note on symbol & images/ omens and forebodings/ Ironical superstitions in Riders to the Sea. Symbols & Images in Riders to the Sea
Write a note on symbols & images/ omens and forebodings/ Ironical superstitions in Riders to the Sea.
Ans : Symbols and images are essential in any literary genre.
Image is word picture, which immediately identifies the reader with the
situation. When an image is used repeatedly, it becomes symbol. According to
A.H.Abrams "symbol is applied only to a word or a set of words that
signifies an object or event which itself signifies something else." Such
symbols and images permeate the whole play. In fact, Riders to the Sea, the one
act play, has exhibited the plot in a series of symbols and images, archetypal
and modern. Synge's perfect mastery of words is one of his greatest assets.
Like Shakespeare, he can at once supply environment, create atmosphere, paint
word-pictures. That sharp contrast between the homely and everyday in life and
the gruesomeness of death is clearly drawn in Riders to the Sea.
Upon a close rending of the play Riders to the Sea, it
becomes apparent that this structurally minimalist text is abundant with
infinite symbolism. Synge unravels its story through a meticulous employment of
this literary device, which allows for the incorporation of the reader's
personal associations with those that are traditionally ascribed or inherited.
This junction translates into a deeper emotional involvement of the reader or
spectator, as it relies on him to bridge the gap between a symbol and its
significance within a given context.
The description of the opening scene includes such
specificity as, "Cottage kitchen, with nets, oilskins, spinning-wheel,
some new boards standing on the wall..." The inclusion of nets within the
set is significant. due to their immense symbolic relevance. According to the
Dictionary of Symbols, by J.E. Cirlot,
"The net is the extreme form of the symbolic bunch of
sibbons, the bow and the bond, and hence it is closely bound up with the
symbolisms of Entanglement and Devoceng." The notion of
"entanglement" is noteworthy because it correlates to the theme of
the inescapability from the cycle of life and death. As the males in Maurya's
family become directly entangled by this cycle, a part of Maurya's essence as a
mother also gives over to mortality, as ahe progressively surrenders a part of
herself.
Furthermore, according to the Old Testament, nets are
"an expression of anguish", which can be attributed to the
protagonist of this play. The Testament states,"The sorrow of death
compassed me and the pain for nets) of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble
and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of the lord"
The set description mentions the presence of a
spinning-wheel, which is abundant in symbolic relevance to this text. The
symbol of spinning is equivalent to bringing forth and fostering life. It is
significant that Cathleen and Nora, who are Maurya's daughters, engage in the
activity of spinning because they are within the childbearing years and Maurya
is not. They represent the young women who will sustain the circle of life by
replenishing the earth through their own offspring, thus filling the void.
which has been created through the passing of their brother and father. Furthermore,
the symbol of the wheel can be connected to that of the wheel-of-fire. The
function of the wheel-of-fire is to stimulate the sun in lis activity and to
prevent winter and death. It is therefore, a symbolic synthesis of the activity
of cosmic forces and the passage of ume. Within the context of the piny, the
symbol of the spinning-wheel can then be interpreted as the symbol of
fertility. It is cosmically designed to stimulate and protect the process of
rejuvenation, while operating within the laws of the universe pertaining to the
cycle of life and death and the passage of time. According to Jean Chevalier
and Alain Gheerbrant, the wheel symbolizes "cycles, new beginnings and
renewal", which directly correlates to the theme of mortality. In Buddhism,
Buddha set in motion the Wheel of the Law, which is the law of karm
Synge repeatedly employs the symbol of fire, which is
immensely rich and multifaceted. All of the proceedings within Maurya's house
seem to transpire within the vicinity of the fire, which appears to be located
in the center. Similarly to planets that orbit abound the sun, characters
gravitate towards the fire through an unconscious desire to reach warmth and
restore energy
Sea is the most prominent symbol in Riders to the Sea. Sea
is the inscrutable fate, omnipotent and omnipresent in the whole drama. From
the very beginning, sea is presented in ironical overtone. It gives the means
of livelihood, passage for voyage and perhaps it also presents a beautiful
seascape. Yet it takes the toll of human lives at regular intervals. Maurya,
Cathleen and Nora all wait for the last surviving male member Bartley to return
safely from sea. Michael's dead body is never washed ashore to the bereaved mother.
Sen with strong wind as his agent Inshes every household. Even religion is
powerless before it. It is interesting to note that sea is associated with life
and death even in various myths. In ancient Mexico, the sea is considered to be
“the watery underworld” and the symbol of fertility. In the Christian
tradition, the sea is often associated with the “mankind and its dwelling by
the flood”. In the mythology of Ancient Egypt, “the coming into being of earth
and life was conceived in terms of emergence from the sea”. It is interesting
to note that each of these seemingly unconnected sources have some relation to
either the processes of coming into or departing from this world, in other
words with the process of life and death.
The characters are set In a symbolic pattern. The two
riders, dead Michael and living Bartley connote the co-existence of death and
life in this island. The kitchen with white coffin board carries the same idea
of life-death existence. Maurya is a symbolic figure of bereaved mother,
tortured yet unperturbed. She symbolically represents all the mothers who
withstand the onslaught of fate. Cathleen as a young woman is a prototype of
endurance because she knows “It’s the life of a young man to be going on the sea……
Colour is another symbol prominent in Riders to the Sea.
While Bartley’s red mare stands for life, dead Michael’s grey pony symbolises
death. In Revelation VI, 8 “the Pale Horse” stands for Death. The colour also
signifies evil. Whenever black or dark is mentioned, it implies omen. Maurya
refers to ‘black hags’, hover over Michael’s dead body. Similarly black cliff,
black knot, dark word- suggest disaster. The pig with the black feet is an
ominous image, taken from mythology. Such pig is sacred to the death goddess,
for it is an eater of corpses.
Another important symbol is ‘bread’. It is a Biblical image
suggesting the Last Supper of Christ. Bartley forgot to take are bread and he
was drowned in the sea. It symbolises his separation from life. The reversal of
fortune is another important aspect. The bread of Bartley is used by the coffin
makers while making his coffin. The stick that Michael bought from Connemara is
used by Mayrya while he is dead. The white coffin board bought for Michael’s
burial, is made the coffin of Bartley. These powerful images bring the
unavoidable strength of Fate that reverses the usual tradition.
Another Biblical image is nail”. Nails symbolise suffering
as Christ was nailed on the cross.Maurya who has seen many coffins made in her
house, forgets to buy nails for Michael’s coffin. The same coffin is used for
Bartley’s burial, and at the same moment Maurya also attains a calm store state. Thus her forgetting of nails symbolises
end of grief and suffering.
Number nine occurs time and again giving symbolic
connotation. There is odd number and all its multiples are ominous. In the
play. Michaei is missing for nine days. When Bartley starts for the voyage he
says “You’ll see me coming again in two days, or three days, or may be in four
days if the wind is bad”; the total number of days is nine. After Bartley’s
dead body is carried to the cottage, there are nine women who come to take part
in “keening’.
There are other minor symbols in the play. Maurys’s gesture
of “putting the Empty cup mouth downwards’ has a symbolic suggestion—it
shows that she has no need of it----her cup of sorrow is full and at the same
time the cup of hope is empty. She has the final release from the pain of
living. “Holy water symbolises the saving power---it has the religious overone.
Rope, while boards, baked bread are all filled with the symbolic resonance. The
dropped stitches of the stocking remind us of the Three Fates and the thread of
life.
Thus the symbols and images together play an important role
in depicting the tragedy. They combine in tension or opposition to give depth
and contrapuntal irony and thus set the mind from idea to ideas, from to
emotion and extend the play to a deeper suggestion of the universal fate of men
in the universe.
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