The Political Aesthetics of John M. Synge’s Riders to the Sea

Abstract

John M. Synge’s Riders to the Sea is a tragedy about Maurya, who loses her male family members—including her father-in-law, husband, and sons—in the sea. Contrary to many critics’ views that this is naturalistic literature that emphasizes the power of destiny and circumstance over human lives, this paper aims to demonstrate Synge’s affirmation of Maurya’s transcendent human power through the lens of aesthetics. To accomplish this, I define this play as a tragedy which enacts the sublime aesthetics. Notably, both the play and the sublime aesthetics have a dual structure, pain and pleasure, which ultimately emphasizes human reason. By virtue of this aesthetic approach, the protagonist, Maurya, appears as a rational woman transcending the most tragic situation. And given that Maurya is a woman who stands for Ireland itself, this approach leads to a new political interpretation, to wit: this play engages in postcolonial strategies by appropriating the gendered bias of tragedy and the sublime, which were hostile to women. As an appropriated form of the sublime, this play represents the type of Irish nationalism Synge had in mind both aesthetically and politically.