The Sea by Edward Bond Literary Analysis
The Sea is a tragicomedy written by the popular British playwright, Edward Bond. This play was published in 1973. The play deals with some social evils while centring the sea in the story like class-consciousness and the violent nature of the world. In today’s article, various analytical elements of the play like irony, style, and tone will be discussed. You can learn about its themes and symbols in other articles.
Analytical Elements of The Sea:
The following are the analytical elements of the play, The Sea:
Irony in the Play:
There are various scenes in the play where the irony is depicted.
For example, there is a situational irony when we see the actual madness of Hatch during his fight with Mrs. Rafi over the rejected fabric order during the second time she came into his shop on the same day, but he appeared as the coastguard of the sea (so appointed there for being sane) as shown in the play’s beginning. And Evens who is a drunkard proves himself to be sensible enough by sharing his philosophical thoughts with Willy about the violent nature of this world and hope for the future.
Then, we see a dramatic irony in the play when the major characters like Mrs. Rafi and Mrs. Tilehouse were rehearsing for a play related to Orpheus and Eurydice in Mrs. Rafi’s home despite Colin’s recent death who was the fiancé of Rose (Mrs. Rafi’s niece). They pretended to be extremely sad about his death but were doing the play’s rehearsal as if nothing tragic had happened recently. The hypocrisy of these ladies was exposed and of Vicar as well who’s a priest but was a part of the rehearsal too. In place of stopping Mrs. Rafi from rehearsing for an upcoming public show, he became a part of the play.
Motifs in The Sea:
There are some motifs in the play, The Sea, like the sea and clothing that teach various life lessons to readers.
Yes, the sea is a motif that is used again and again in the play and shown as the merciless part of nature despite its apparent elegance and usefulness (e.g., for livelihood and entertainment). This motif actually tells a reader what feels elegant can be ruthless too. The sea storm caused the death of Colin and trauma for his close connections who are Willy and Rose. Therefore, the motif of the sea, as an example, also teaches a person how the attractive appearance of the upper-class people is deceptive due to their unattractive nature. In the play, Mrs. Rafi, who looks elegant and is a clear example of the upper-middle class, controlled or, precisely speaking, manipulated the townspeople due to her power or influence in the society.
Then, the clothing is a motif that’s used to show the choices and power of the upper-class people like Mrs. Rafi who rejected several fabric pieces of Mr. Hatch (the draper) in his shop. The same person, Hatch, already with a mental issue and negative mindset, also lost his sanity completely when Mrs. Rafi rejected his velvet fabric meant to be bought for her household curtains. So the clothing motif shows how the aristocratic people exercise their power with their fabric choices and cause harmful effects in a society like the insane condition of Hatch and show off in the town.
Tone of the Play:
The tone of The Sea varies from one scene to another and is a combination of social satire, dark comedy, menace and cautious optimism.
For example, Bond skilfully criticises the hypocrisy of the upper-class people like Mrs. Rafi and Mrs. Tilehouse when they ignore the tragic event of Colin’s death and rehearse for a public play at Mrs. Rafi’s home.
Then, the dark comedy can be seen during the fight of Mrs. Rafi and Mr. Hatch in his shop when Mrs. Rafi refused to pay for her fabric that was ordered to create the curtains of her home.
We can also observe menace through the character of Hatch who mainly spied Willy through his stupid friends because he thought Willy was an alien from space. Therefore, he considered Willy the town’s enemy and became a threat for him. He even tried to kill him on the beach, but he could only stab the dead body of Colin. In his madness, Hatch could not identify Willy.
And the lessons of cautious optimism are found in The Sea in various scenes. Both Evens and Willy express in the play their philosophies about the violent nature of the world and how important it is to still remain optimistic to live one’s life with wisdom.
Genre of the Play:
The genre of The Sea is tragicomedy. It means that the play is a combination of comic and tragic elements. For example, the comic scene of Mrs. Rafi & Mrs. Tilehouse fight during the funerary meeting meant for dead Colin’s prayer and the drowning of Colin caused by the sea storm are incidents that make this play a tragicomedy.
General Style of the Piece:
The Sea is written in a dramatic style because its plot is mainly known through the characters’ dialogues in various scenes. This drama is divided into eight scenes. There are no acts in the text. And these scenes have remarkable incidents of shock and dark humour that make the drama a memorable tragicomic literary piece.
Conclusion:
So that is all what I have to share with you regarding The Sea by Edward Bond literary analysis. I hope you found my content useful. So if you really found the content useful, then please share it with your connections. In this way, they can also properly comprehend the analytical elements of the play.