CHARACTER SKETCH OF MAURYA

MAURYA AS A TRAGIC PROTAGONIST

The protagonist in J. M. Synge's one-act play Riders to the Sea,
Maurya, is a peasant woman belonging to the Irish fshing community
of the Aran Islans. In the social status, Maurya is thus istinctly
i!erent from the towering classical protagonists such as "eipus,
Agamemnon an Antigone, all of whom are highborn. #hile classical
an $enaissance tragic protagonists unergo su!ering owing to their
'hubris' or 'hamartia', Maurya appears to be a passi%e an helpless
%ictim in the hans of the estructi%e sea. In Maurya's case, no
profoun &uestion seems to be raise about the intricate relationship
between human will an preestination. 'et, she resembles the great
traitional protagonists in her heroic power of enurance an the
spiritual transcenence o%er her su!ering.
In Riders to the Sea, Maurya at frst appears to be a wea( an
helpless %ictim as he has lost her husban an four of her si) sons in
the sea. She is cra*e an isoriente by the isappearance of her ffth
son Michael, missing at sea for nine long ays. The intensity of her
su!ering in the hans of the cruel an unpreictable sea is no less
than that of the classical protagonists who are %ictimi*e by the malice
an caprice of the fate. The fnal clima) to her tragic e)perience is
foreshaowe when her only sur%i%ing son, +artley, insists on sailing
uring tempestuous weather.
Maurya's esperate attempt to pre%ent +arley from sailing comprises
of one of the most ramatic moments in the play. #hile Maurya
insistently cites se%eral reasons to issuae her son, he o!ers a
passi%e resistance by refusing to aress her &ueries with efnite
answers. #hile Maurya ha pre%iously refuse to amit the possibility
of Michael's eath, she reaily ac(nowleges it only to hiner +artley.
She opines that Michael's boy is reco%ere, a man woul be re&uire
to arrange for the funeral rites that woul be impossible without
+artley's presence. #hen no e)cuses su-ce, she canily e)poses the
raw core of her su!ering heart, pleaing +artley not to e%astate her
by aamantly sailing to his eath. Though she accuses +artley of being
har-hearte an ini!erent, the pain of separation surpasses her
accusation.
.nli(e the classical tragic protagonists, Maurya has not been
characteri*e by the Aristotelian attributes of 'hubris' an 'hamartia'.
/er su!ering is not base on ini%iual %olition or responsibility. She is
a su!erer from the %ery beginning of the play an has been escribe
as frantically praying an pleaing to 0o for the safety an security of
her sons. Though she is a 1hristian, she cannot rely on the superfcial
consolation o!ere by the young priest who insists that 2Almighty 0o
won't lea%e her estitute with no son li%ing2. 3i(e all other Aran
mothers, she is a pagan at her heart, belie%ing more in ar( an
estructi%e supernatural forces go%erning human estiny than the will
of the bene%olent an merciful 4ather.
Through Maurya, Synge epicts the tragic fore(nowlege of most age
Aran mothers. +eing accustome to repeate berea%ement, Maurya
possesses the intuiti%e (nowlege that +artley's ecision to sail to
0alway to sell the two horses is a fateful one. It is this tragic wisom
that ma(es her cry out o%er her son's ine%itable estiny uring his
eparture 5 2/e's gone now, 0o spare us an I will not see him again.
/e is gone now an when the blac( night is falling, I'll ha%e no son left
me in the worl.2 Traumati*e by fear an an)iety, she is unable to
bless her son or haning him his piece of brea 5 all these being
symbolically interprete by Maurya's aughters an the rustic
auience as an ill omen or a curse. Maurya's culminating tragic
e)perience of losing her last son is therefore a preictable one.
The ramatist re%eals to us the uncorrupte an untame fol(-
imagination of Maurya through the supernatural %ision that she
witnesses at the spring-well. The strength of her intuition ma(es her
en%ision the specter of Michael aorne in new clothes an shoes on
the gray pony, following +artley, riing the re mare. $eminiscent of
the re an the ar( horses in the biblical $e%elation, the rier of the
ar( horse is emblematic of eath. 4ollowing the rier on the re mare,
symboli*ing life, the rier of the ar( horse symbolically anticipates
+artley's eath. This supernatural %ision of Maurya uni%ersali*es the
intricate relationship between life an eath.
Maurya's su!ering reaches its climactic moment towars the en of
the play, remining us of the estinies of /ecuba an 6iobe. /er initial
response to +artley's eath is one of stoic efance when she eclares
with a challenge, 2There's no harm the sea can o t me2. In the
perpetual battle between the life-gi%er an the estroyer, between the
mother an the estructi%e sea, Maurya, at last, ironically, is
triumphant. /a%ing lost all her sons, she has been emancipate from
the e%erlasting cycle of su!ering an berea%ement. At this point, she
seems to withraw her sympathy from the community of man(in
when her isillusionment compels her to state 5 2I won't care what way
the sea is when the other women will be (eening.2
The fnal phase of Maurya's su!ering re%eals a transition from misery
to a profoun tragic transcenence. 3i(e the Sophoclean protagonists,
she achie%es (nowlege an enlightenment out of misery an
heroically accepts her tragic preicament. Tragic wisom illuminates
her min into the unerstaning that eath is an essential episoe in
the uni%ersal cycle of life. Instea of accusing 0o, she reconciles to
her fate bra%ely an gracefully an accepts her estitution as the
sublime will of 0o. $econstructing a bro(en life into a new e)istence
of faith an altruism, she achie%es tragic ignity an ele%ation in the
eyes of the auience. She re7ects the true spirit of 1hristian
humanism, in%o(ing 0o's blessings upon all 5 28 may /e ha%e mercy
on my soul, 6ora, an the soul of e%eryone is left li%ing in the worl2.
She further states 5 2no man at all can be li%ing for e%er an we must
be satisfe2. It is this spiritual sublimation of misery that gi%es Maurya
the status of a great tragic heroine.
In Riders to the Sea, Synge transforms a common Aran peasant
woman to a uni%ersal mother. Through her, the ramatist pro%ies us
with a glimpse into the strength of the human spirit that can spiritually
triumph o%er the worst form of a%ersity. Instea of being a %ictim of
estructi%e forces, as the moern tragic protagonist usually is, Maurya
is raise to a position of tragic glory. Thus, he creates a new imension
in epicting the character of a tragic protagonist who is none but a
own-to-earth su!erer.