Riders to the Sea

What is the setting of the play?

• Impoverished, urban city

• Desolate cottage on the Aran Islands

• Dublin, Ireland

• On a boat at Sea

What is significant about Synge's play?

• The somber setting

• First use of deus ex machina

• Dialogue highlights female perspective

• Authentic Irish dialect

Tags

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

At the beginning of the play, what do the women hope the priest will do?

• Bless the family with God's love

• Convince Bartley to stay home

• Marry the eldest sister

• Heal Maurya's mysterious illness

Tags

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

What do Cathleen and Nora do with the bundle given to them by the priest?

• Say a prayer over the remains to bless their dead brother

• Create a new flannel out of the scraps

• Hide it from their mother and try to verify if the clothes belong to their late brother

• Put a curse on Bartley, this way they receive all of their family's inheritance

Tags

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

Why does Bartley leave?

• To travel across the sea to the market; he is the last living man to support his mother and sisters.

• He must go to war to protect his family's land

• He hates his mother and hopes to escape to a more prominent area in Ireland

• He hopes to marry a girl in town

Tags

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

What are the white board for?

• Michael's coffin, if only they could find his body

• The new chicken coop

• To carry Bartley's body up from the sea

• Repair a whole in their decrepit cottage

How do Cathleen and Nora identify Michael's clothes?

• The cloth was very unique, only their family used it

• The specific stitch they used to craft his flannel shirt

• Cathleen embroidered Michael's initials on it

• Michael identified it

What is Maurya's attitude toward the sea at the end of the play?

• She is fearful, terrified, and cowering at the thought of all the terror the sea has caused her and her family.

• She is defiant, cursing the air around her and antagonizing God. She prays for a watery death like all the men in her life.

• She is defiant. Maurya sets sail on their remaining curragh in hopes to die at sea.

• She is defiant and tired. She spent all of her days praying and worrying and now the sea has taken everything from her; she can finally rest.

Tags

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

CCSS.W.9-10.9

Who are the riders to the sea?

• All the men (husbands, brothers, sons, fathers, etc.) who never came home from the sea

• Irishmen

• The women left behind

• The horses who led the men to their deaths

Tags

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

We usually refer to dialects be their:

• Communication

• Religion

• Region

• Use of y'all