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Setting
Situational Irony
Explanation and Analysis—Bartley’s Death:
Bartley’s death in the story is an example of situational irony for a few different reasons. First, as Nora points out, the young priest told Maurya before Bartley decided to leave for the sea that “the Almighty God wouldn’t leave her destitute with no son living.” The priest’s certainty that Bartley will survive—and his invocation of God, in whom Maurya places (at least part of) her faith—makes Bartley’s death ironic and also deeply tragic. In having the young priest be incorrect, Synge is also highlighting how, for island-dwellers like those on the Aran Islands, the sea is more powerful than God.
Related Themes:
