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The Young Priest
Michael is Maurya’s son who disappeared before the action of the play begins and thus does not appear onstage. Much of the play’s opening is devoted to characters discussing whether or not Michael is still alive, which brings a mood of foreboding throughout the play. Maurya has a vision of Michael’s ghost riding behind Bartley, which is a sign that Bartley will die next. Indeed, Michael’s presence seems to have returned in order to take Bartley, the last remaining man of the household, with him into the next life.
Michael Quotes in Riders to the Sea
The Riders to the Sea quotes below are all either spoken by Michael or refer to Michael. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act 1 Quotes
It’s a hard thing they’ll be saying below if the body is washed up and there’s no man in it to make the coffin, and I after giving a big price for the finest white boards you’d find in Connemara.
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Here, Maurya is brooding about the injustice of not having Michael’s body to bury, while simultaneously trying to persuade Bartley to stay home from his ocean voyage. Thus, her sentiment here seems both manipulative and genuine. On the one hand, she is genuinely worried that if Bartley is at sea when Michael’s body washes up, then no man will be present to build the coffin, which will leave the family helpless in the face of tragedy. On the other hand, Maurya is desperate to keep Bartley from danger and it’s not clear that she truly believes Michael’s body will wash Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex consequ
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?
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This quote follows an exchange between Bartley and Maurya in which Maurya tells Bartley to stay home from a trip on the sea in case she needs his help burying Michael, and Bartley responds that Michael’s body won’t surface. Here, Maurya pivots from discussing Michael’s body to what seems to be her deeper concern: that if Bartley goes out on the sea, he will die, too. Though Bartley believes that it is his duty to support the family by going to the fair where he can buy horses, Maurya tells him here that there’s no number of horses that would Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum.
In the big world the old people do be leaving things after them for their sons and children, but in this place it is the young men do be leaving things behind for them that do be old.
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In this quote, Maurya ruminates on the reversal of the natural pace of life, illustrated by the young dying and leaving their belongings behind for the old to use. She is prompted to say this when she is handed her dead son Michael’s walking stick to use while walking after Bartley to give him a blessing. Bartley’s life could, according to the islanders’ superstition, depend on this blessing, and thus Michael’s walking stick is a crucial object for Bartley’s fate. Though Maurya intends the walking stick to help her save Bartley’s life, Bartley’s ultimate death suggests that the walking stick Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit
And isn’t it a pitiful thing when there is nothing left of a man who was a great rower and fisher, but a bit of an old shirt and a plain stocking?
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This exclamation from Nora follows her identification of the clothing in the bundle as belonging to Michael, which proves that he is dead. Crying out, Nora laments the irony that such an accomplished man as their brother could be reduced to nothing but scraps of his clothes. This demonstrates the destructive and transformative power that the sea has over bodies, memories, and community. The sea eradicates Michael’s body and identity, taking away the possibility of recognizing his corpse, and thus turning him into a faded image of what he used to be. His rowing and fishing prowess was nowhere near Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaec
He went by quickly; and “the blessing of God on you,” says he, and I could say nothing. I looked up then, and I crying, at the gray pony, and there was Michael upon it—with fine clothes on him, and new shoes on his feet.
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In returning to the cottage, a terrified Maurya recounts a vision of Michael’s ghost riding on the gray pony behind Bartley. She had gone after Bartley to give him the blessing that she had failed to give him before he left home, but when the time came, the vision prevented her from speaking. The implication here is that the pull that the dead have on Bartley, combined with the destructive will of the sea, overpowers God’s protection and makes Maurya mute. Maurya and Cathleen accept without hesitation that this vision is a prophecy of Bartley’s death, even though this logic Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Mole
There does be a power of young men floating round in the sea, and what way would they know if it was Michael they had, or another man like him, for when a man is nine days in the sea, and the wind blowing, it’s hard set his own mother would be to say what man was it.
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This passage follows the entrance of old women in mourning into the cottage. Nora and Cathleen had heard a cry on the seashore, yet Maurya remained oblivious to her surroundings until the old women entered. She asks Cathleen if it is Michael, and wonders how she would even be able to identify his body if it is indeed his. There are so many young men continuously dying on the sea and being rendered unrecognizable by the salt and the surf that they often cannot be sure of whose body is found. This echoes Nora and Cathleen’s previous grief that the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Ex
Michael has a clean burial in the far north, by the grace of the Almighty God. Bartley will have a fine coffin out of the white boards, and a deep grave surely. What more can we want than that? No man at all can be living for ever, and we must be satisfied.
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Delivering the very last lines of the play, Maurya finishes performing rites over Bartley’s body and accepts the manner of burial that each of her sons will receive: Michael has been given “a clean burial” in the sea and Bartley will have “a fine coffin out of the white boards.” This acceptance comes despite the fact that Maurya is only able to give one of her sons the traditional burial, since Michael’s burial was chosen by God and by the sea. In asking, “What more can we want than that?” Maurya illustrates the helplessness of herself and her community. They Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti sol
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Michael Character Timeline in Riders to the Sea
The timeline below shows where the character Michael appears in Riders to the Sea. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1
...a shirt and stocking from a drowned man in Donegal who may be their brother Michael. The wind blows open the door, spurring Cathleen to ask Nora if the young priest...
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...Maurya attempts to keep Bartley from taking the rope, as they might need it if Michael’s body washes up. She then reflects on the injustice of having paid so much for...
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...is gone and, while she’s at it, to give him his blessing. Nora gives her Michael’s old walking stick to steady her, and Maurya sadly reflects on the irony of the...
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...of stocking. After counting the stitches in the stocking, they realize it must indeed be Michael’s, for Nora remembered dropping four stitches when making it. They are overcome with grief at...
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...up the path, and decides that they will not tell her about the proof of Michael’s death until Bartley returns from his voyage. The girls busy themselves, and Maurya comes in...
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...say “God speed you” to Bartley, the words choked in her throat. She then saw Michael in fine clothes and shoes riding behind Bartley on a gray pony. Cathleen immediately begins...
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