The final three pages of Synge's Riders to the Sea depict a scene which portrays an uncanny resemblance to a much older work of literature- the Biblical record of the Crucifixion of Christ. Synge achieves this through invoking echoes of the tradition of the Crucifixion in his dialogue, his stage setting, and his selection of prop pieces. Synge does not necessarily push the imagery of the sacrificial ceremony to the audience, but he leaves enough creative space for the director and actor to explore various possibilities of depicting this final scene. Bartley's death and the ceremonies devised to mourn his passing play a vital role in solidifying Christian custom in Maurya's household, and in turn the entire spiritual tradition of Western Ireland.
There are a number of things a director can do in this play to emphasize the visual idea of a crucifixion on stage. Lighting would play an enormous part, as would the positioning of the characters. Certain props could also permit a certain emphasis on the ritual sacrifice of Maurya's youngest son. Lighting permits the director to focus the audience's attention on certain actions or props, such as the approach of the mourners in the final scene or the white boards in the background throughout the play. A low, mellow light with a slowly increasing intensity as they get closer would go a long way in directing the audience to follow the procession's movement. As for the white boards, a steady white spotlight would prevent the boards from fading into the background while still permitting the action around the boards to continue uninterrupted. Staging the characters' movements would also be key, especially during the keening ceremony in the last scene. Ranging the characters, under half light, in a half circle around the drowned Bartley, with the spotlight still emphasizing the white boards in the background, would invoke neoclassical paintings depicting the crucifixion of Christ without requiring much exaggeration in the set itself. By allowing a certain simplicity in the set, the director would find more room to work with the props permitted by the play's stage directions. The red sail, white boards, and forgotten nails all provide creative fodder here. The red sail, besides being a memorable color, acts as a classic shroud and also coordinates with the red skirts of the mourners. Red has the advantage of being associated with blood and violence, which works exceptionally well with the concept of a sacrificial crucifixion. The white boards would, of course, play the stand-in of an actual cross, warranting the constant spotlight. The nails would be a bit trickier to emphasize, since they are never shown on stage. Bringing the audience's attention to these non-existent bits of metal would rely on a certain stress on the dialogue which would depend on the relative acting abilities of the performers.
It may seem that Bartley deviates from the standard Christ mold, as he does not die with any sort of blatant promise to pave a path to safety and security for his family. His death instead appears to leave his mother and sisters stranded in a dangerous world without any sort of protection and without anyone to provide for them. However, Maurya's last, mourning speech gives a few clues into the truth. Instead of bewailing her sudden bereavement, Maurya views the death of her last son as a step toward reuniting her family, emphasizing the connectedness of the Irish family over the isolating experience of living and dying. As she stands over the corpse of her youngest son, Maurya states that her children are "all together this time, and the end is come…Michael has a clean burial…Bartley will have a fine coffin out of the white boards, and a deep grave surely…No man at all can be living for ever, and we must be satisfied" (p 67). Though the physical bodies of her children are scattered through the world, in death they have rejoined one another and reinforced the bonds of the family. Bartley's death offers hope, in a way, of an eternal life where the family cannot be separated again. However, until she and her daughters die as well, the family will indeed be separated, which is where her final "we" comes in. Her concern in providing her sons with a proper Christian burial, though purportedly for her sons' sakes, is in actuality simply a way for Maurya and her daughters to come to terms with the loss of Bartley and his brothers. Maurya's love for her family and her belief in the Christian God are closely intertwined, even in the face of overwhelming grief, and through Bartley's death Maurya's family is able to prepare for eternity. Throughout the play, the family is concerned with providing a proper Christian burial to each of the fallen sons in order to ensure that Maurya's family will be guaranteed a place in eternity with the family members who have already died.
Bartley makes for an unusual Christ. The audience is only exposed to him as a living character for a short period of time, so his death relies heavily on cultural familiarity with Christian tradition in order to carry the concept of crucifixion. He never stands before the audience to preach about universal love or proper Christian behavior or even the importance of a decent burial. He merely asks one sister where a bit of rope is and tells the other sister to get a good price for the pig, before he goes off to die at the hands of his ghostly brother. Left to fulfill a role which has been traditionally unusual for women, Maurya is left to teach her daughters and the audience the importance of observing traditions and holding tight to family connections, because to Maurya there is nothing in this world worse than being left alone. Her identity is the group identity, and the idea of undergoing something like death by herself is unbearable. Now she faces the isolation she so fears, and she turns to the traditions of her culture to empower her and her family in their time of need.
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