존 씽의『말을 타고 바다로 가는 사람들』의 배경 속 신화와 시장의 병치

John M. Synge’s reputation as a playwright has been swayed between two extremes. The first repulsion has given its way to complements, which naturally raises a question: what happened in between? Scholarly approaches, which began to see Riders to the Sea as a tragedy, found out that it is not as impressive as Greek and/or Shakespearean tragedies. Other researchers put more emphasis on nature’s ferocious power to interpret the inevitability of events. They failed to look into the real life of the Aran Islands where primitivism kept its traces but the process of modernization was making its steady advance. Maurya and her children live in the two different worlds: the traditional and the modern. The young priest plays a role as a mediator between the island and the mainland. Bartley who is attracted by the profit he can get from a market in Galway defies his mother’s traditional wisdom. Among these people lies a conflict that tears them up between Maurya’s mythical explanation of what happens in the island and the logic of mainland market that attracts the younger generation. Primitivism, inevitability and even tragic lyricism belong to the island myth while modernization is represented as a force that is invisible but ever-influential over the islanders. In the first half of the play, the myth and the real occupy their respective territory on the stage. After Maurya’s vision with her “second sight,” however, mythical lamentations and prayers presides over the atmosphere. The play shows the fear of remote islanders who will face the inevitable modernization sooner or later.