Riders to the Sea

How does the play depict the effect of poverty on the family? Locate textual clues and evidence of poverty’s role in the family’s tragedies and lifestyle.

Compare aspects of the Hiberno-English dialect in this play and in another play in which it is present. How does the dialect affect the audience’s interpretation of the culture, and how does it create this impact?

Why might John Millington Synge have included the detail about Maurya and her daughters forgetting to buy nails for making the coffin?

How does the cast of primarily women compare to the casts of other plays of the time period?

Describe and give textual support to address the significance of the rope that Bartley asks Nora to retrieve.

Describe and give textual support to address the significance of the bread that Cathleen was baking and forgets to give Bartley.

Describe the role of the sea as a symbol or even a character in the story and provide textual examples.

Consider Bartley and Maurya’s conversation (or lack thereof) before Bartley’s departure. What is the significance of the inclusion of this interaction?