The description of the opening scene includes such specificity as, "Cottage kitchen, with nets, oilskins, spinning-wheel, some new boards standing on the wall..." (Synge, 96) The inclusion of nets within the set is significant, due to their immense symbolic relevance. According to the Dictionary of Symbols, by J.E. Cirlot,

The net is the extreme form of the symbolic bunch of ribbons, the bow and the bond,and hence it is closely bound up with the symbolisms of Entanglement and Devouring (Synge, 228).

The notion of "entanglement" is noteworthy because it correlates to the theme of the inescapability from the cycle of life and death. As the males in Maurya's family become directly entangled by this cycle, a part of Maurya's essence as a mother also gives over to mortality, as she progressively surrenders a part of herself. Cirlot's explanation also included the idea of "devouring". Within this play, the sea is presented as the destructive agent that sacrificially devours and consumes more then half of Maurya's family. Cirlot elaborates by suggesting that it is the weapon of those "who fish in the waters of the unconscious" (Synge, 228), which is a rather appropriate analogy considering the strong predominance of the sea symbol within this play. Michael, who is one of Maurya's sons, is referred to as being a good fisherman, which suggests that the sea was their livelihood. Maurya has lost six sons and a husband to the sea, with Bartley being the most recent sacrifice. Thus, the sea has been both a guardian and a destroyer to Maurya's family, and while it has bestowed many blessings upon their house, it has also been the cause of suffering and loss. The play as a whole can be interpreted as Maurya's process of "fishing in the waters of the unconscious", as she comes to accept the inevitability of death, and the inescapability from life's cycle. However, unlike that of Barley, who impulsively runs off into the water without his mothers blessing, Maurya's process of exploration is a cautious one. It's an unconscious journey that requires the use of figurative nets, which will keep her physical, emotional, and spiritual pacification afloat.

Cirlot connects the symbol of nets with heaven by referring to a passage from a book, Tao Te Ching, which illustrates the idea that, "it is not possible for the individual, by his own efforts, to escape from the universe" (Cirlot, 228). "God has bound us with his power and it is beyond our capacity to withdraw or leave" (Cirlot, 228). In Riders to the Sea, the male characters desire to remain within, rather then depart from this world, but their lives are unwillingly withdrawn from them, and they are not able to escape the laws of the universe.

In psychology, the "fearful weapon" of nets represents those "complexes, which entangle the subject's internal and external life" (Chevalier, Gheerbrant, 699). The play illustrates the difficulty of unraveling such psychological nets within Maurya's mind. She has not been accustomed to confronting the flaws is her approach to dealing with the numerous deaths in the family. Maurya's inclination towards habitual denial is exemplified in the scene where she has forgotten about the necessity for nails in the building process of the graves. She has unconsciously omitted such a nuance from her mind because she has never fully accepted the deaths to be real.

Furthermore, according to the Old Testament, nets are "an expression of anguish" (Chevalier, Gheerbrant, 699), which can be attributed to the protagonist of this play. The Testament states,

The sorrow of death compassed me and the pain [or nets] of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of the lord (Chevalier, Gheerbrant, 699).

It is interesting to notice that in oriental tradition the gods are provided with nets in order to catch men in their meshes (Chevalier, Gheerbrant, 699). Analysts of such tradition interpret nets as being a symbol of searching through the unconscious and the most deeply repressed memories, with the intention of transferring its contents into the conscious, "like the fish from the depth of the sea" (Chevalier, Gheerbrant, 699). The sky is occasionally compared with the net, the stars representing "the knots of its inevitable meshes" (Chevalier, Gheerbrant, 699). Thus, "it is impossible to escape from the universe and the laws which govern it" (Chevalier, Gheerbrant, 699). By the end of this play, Maurya comes to accept these laws, and if she was able to contextualize her unconscious tendencies to oppress rather then confront her emotions, she would be finally able to unravel that which is deeply repressed. The fact that nets are often associated with the entrapment of spiritual power further establishes the idea that with acceptance of mortality comes spiritual and physical freedom. By the end of the play, Maurya experiences a definite growth in a form of spiritual development, and she is able to attain peace and serenity as a result.

The set description mentions the presence of a spinning-wheel, which is abundant in symbolic relevance to this text. Cirlot suggests that the symbol of spinning is "equivalent to bringing forth and fostering life" (Cirlot, 305). It is significant that Cathleen and Nora, who are Maurya's daughters, engage in the activity of spinning because they are within the childbearing years and Maurya is not. They represent the young women who will sustain the circle of life by replenishing the earth through their own offspring, thus filling the void, which has been created through the passing of their brothers and father. Furthermore, Cirlot connects the symbol of the wheel to that of the wheel-of-fire. The function of the wheel-of-fire is to stimulate the sun in its activity and to prevent winter and death. "It is therefore, a symbolic synthesis of the activity of cosmic forces and the passage of time" (Cirlot, 370). Within the context of the play, the symbol of the spinning-wheel can then be interpreted as the symbol of fertility. It is cosmically designed to stimulate and protect the process of rejuvenation, while operating within the laws of the universe pertaining to the cycle of life and death and the passage of time.

According to Jean Chevalier and Alain Gheerbrant, the wheel symbolizes "cycles, new beginnings and renewal" (1099), which directly correlates to the theme of mortality. In Buddhism, Buddha set in motion the Wheel of the Law, which is the law of karma (Chevalier, Gheerbrant, 1099). This law states that, "there is no power able to reverse the direction in which the wheel revolves" (Chevalier, Gheerbrant, 1099). This notion can also be attributed to fate, which seizes the power of control over one's future, out of human hands and fully bestows it into the hands of the Higher Power. In the Zodiac tradition, the wheel is associated with "the wheeling constellations around its still center, the Polar star: as they relate to the wheel of life and death" (Chetwynd, 425). Aside from the obvious relevancy of the wheel of life and death to the themes of this play, the notion of "constellations around its still center" is also very pertinent. The fire represents the still center, while the characters can be regarded as human incarnations of the solar constellations.

The stage direction to the actor playing the role of Nora, instructs her to put down the kneaded cake in the pot-oven by the fire. Synge repeatedly employs the symbol of fire, which is immensely rich and multifaceted. All of the proceedings within Maurya's house seem to transpire within the vicinity of the fire, which appears to be located in the center. Similarly to planets that orbit abound the sun, characters gravitate towards the fire through an unconscious desire to reach warmth and restore energy. Cirlot suggests that it is associated with the concept of life and health as well as superiority and control, and has developed into the "expression of spiritual energy" (105). Maurya experiences spiritual growth by the end of the play; however, it is attained at a high cost. She only realizes what was always true after the death of her last son, and the closer she gets to fully internalizing the concept of inevitability of death, the closer she comes to being burned by the fire herself, which with time, similarly to death, consume all. Fire is the "agent of transmutation", considering that all things derive from and later return to fire (Cirlot, 105). This is quite significant because this notion supports the established theme of the cycle of life and death. Fire is the "mediator between forms which vanish and forms in creation" (Cirlot, 105). It represents destruction, transformation and regeneration, which are also qualities that can be attributed to the sea.

One of the strongest symbols employed within Riders to the Sea, is that of the sea. The degree of its importance becomes evident through its inclusion within the title of the play. The first reference to the sea is made by Nora, who is Maurya's youngest daughter, when she says, "We're to find out of it's Michael's they are, some time herself will be down looking by the sea" (Synge, 96). She is speaking of the shirt and a plain stocking that had been taken off a drowned man in order for his relatives to identify him. Cirlot suggests that the symbol of the sea is the "transitional and the mediating agent between the non-formal (air, gasses) and the formal (earth, solids) and, by analogy, between life and death" (281). He elaborates by stating that, "'To return to the sea' is ‘to return to the mother', that is to die" (Cirlot, 281). In ancient Mexico, the sea is considered to be "the watery underworld" and the symbol of fertility (Miller, Taube, 148). In the Christian tradition, the sea is often associated with the "mankind and its dwelling by the flood" (Clark, 276). In the mythology of Ancient Egypt, "the coming into being of earth and life was conceived in terms of emergence from the sea" (Chevalier, Gheerbrant, 837). It is interesting to note that each of these seemingly unconnected sources have some relation to either the processes of coming into or departing from this world, in other words with the process of life and death.

Whoever crossed the sea with its sharks and the demons, its terrifying waves which are so hard to surmount, may be said to have gone to the Ends of the Earth and departed to the beyond (Chevalier, Gheerbrant, 837).

Bartley attempts to do just that even against his mother's wishes, for which he is forced to "depart beyond". He represents the last male sacrifice from Maurya's family, to the "terrifying" and dangerous force that is the sea.

While talking to Barley, Maurya says,

If it isn't found itself, that wind is raising the sea, and there was a star up against the moon, and it rising in the night. If it was a hundred horses, or a thousand horses you had itself, what is the price of a thousand horses against a son where there is one son only? (Synge, 98)

This passage is significant because it is abundant with symbolism, which enhances the understanding of the play's themes. The last symbol of this passage is that of horses. Horses are associated with burial-rites in chthonian cults, while others consider it a symbol of the cyclic movement of the world of phenomena (Cirlot, 152). It is interesting to note that in Germany and England, to dream of a white horse is considered to be an omen of death (Cirlot, 152). Horses also stand for intense desires and instincts (Cirlot, 152). Despite the dangerous conditions, Bartley plans to cross to the mainland in order to dispose of a horse at the fair. He does this without the consent of his aging mother. This intricacy illustrates one of the examples through which Synge establishes the female dominance, in relation to intuitiveness, insightfulness, and sharp-mindedness. The high degree of interconnectedness of the symbols and their thematic relevance is exemplified in the passage written by Chevalier and Gheerbrant, on the significance of the horse symbol. This passage states that the horse is often associated with the beginning of time and darkness (Chevalier, Gheerbrant, 516). It also relates to

the chthonian time from which it sprang, centering, like blood pulsating in the veins, out of the bowels of the Earth and or from the depth of the sea...It is the mysterious child of darkness and carried both of death and of life, linked to the destructive yet triumphant powers of Fire and the nurturing yet suffocating powers of Water ((Chevalier, Gheerbrant, 516).

This passage intertwines the themes of morality, the beginning and the end of time, life and death, the duality of the sea as a nurturing yet a "suffocating" or destructive agent, and the correlation of the symbol of the sea to the symbol of fire. Thus, the horse symbol encompasses many of the relevant ideeas of this play.

After Maurya comes back, having failed to bless Barley and give him the bread, she begins to explain a frightful sight that she had witnessed. She says, "I went down to the spring well, and I stood there saying a prayer to myself...The Son of God spare us, Nora!" (Synge, 103). This passage is significant because of the symbolic relevance of the well. Cirlot proposes that the well signifies salvation (369). "The well is also a symbol of the soul, and an attribute of things feminine" (Cirlot, 369). In all traditions, wells are ascribed a sacred character (Chevalier, Gheerbrant, 1095). They embody the "three cosmic orders", which are the Underworld, Earth, and Heaven (Chevalier, Gheerbrant, 1095). "They themselves are a microcosm of the cosmic synthesis" (Chevalier, Gheerbrant, 1095). Maurya was saying a prayer by a well, at the bottom of which is the same substance that was the cause of most of the deaths and suffering in her family; however, without this substance the entire human kind would parish. This presents circularity in its symbolism, which is appropriate to its round physical form.

The complete comprehension of the thematic undercurrents within the narrative of Riders by the Sea, by John Millington Synge, strongly depends on the understanding of its symbolic content. Upon consideration of its numerous symbols, the reader or spectator uncovers layer of profound truths, which would have been unreachable without a closer treatment of the text. For this purpose, six symbols had been chosen and analyzed in order of their appearance in the text. These symbols include nets, the spinning wheel, fire, the sea, the horse, and the well. Upon such analysis it became evident that all of the considered symbols are tightly interconnected amongst each other. Furthermore, they all possess another common denominator, which is a strong relation to the theme of mortality and it inevitability.

Works Cited

Chetwynd, Tom. Dictionary of Symbols. London & Toronto: Granada Limited, 1982.

Chevalier, Jean, and Alain Gheerbrant. A Dictionary of Symbols. Trans. John B. Brown. 2nd ed. London: Penguin Books, 1982.

Cirlot, Juan E. A Dictionary of Symbols. Trans. Jack Sage. 2nd ed. New York: Philosophical Library, 1971. Hall, James. Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art. Lomdon: John Murray, 1974.

Miller, Mary, and Karl Taube. The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya. London: Thames and Hudson, 1993.

Synge, John M. Synge: the Complete Plays. London & New York: Methuen, 1981.