The Sea by Edward Bond: Complete Summary

The Sea is a tragicomic play written by the famous British playwright, Edward Bond. This play was published in 1973. Through this play, Bond tells his readers about some social evils, while centring the sea in the drama, such as class consciousness and the world’s cruelties. In today’s article, you will learn about the summary of The Sea in detail so that you can understand its plot development effectively.

Summary of The Sea:

The following are the sections related to the plot development of eight scenes found in The Sea that I wrote after carefully reading the drama:

Scene 1 Summary:

The scene starts with a stormy night at the sea in a small town situated in the eastern part of England in 1907. When the curtain rises, we see Willy calling for help who is coming out of the sea. He calls for help for his friend Colin who is still in the sea. Willy is shouting for help on the beach, and when he sees Evens, who is drunk and eccentric, he calls Evens for help. But Evens does not help Willy because he is too drunk to help anyone at that time. Then, Willy sees Hatch who is a local draper and coastguard. But Hatch, being a paranoid man, crazily thinks that Willy is a spy from the alien community, so he does not assist Willy in this trouble and threatens him to go away. Because of Hatch’s crazy behaviour, Willy becomes unable to save Colin, and Colin drowns. Then, Scene 1 ends.

Scene 2 Summary:

In Scene 2, we see Hatch in his drapery shop. Mrs Rafi and her friend, Mrs Tilehouse, enter the shop to purchase blue velvet for the curtains that are to be placed inside Mrs Rafi’s house. Mrs Rafi, being an aristocratic and proud lady, bullies and browbeats Hatch in his shop over his stock. Then, after some time, Willy enters the shop and mourns the death of Colin with the two ladies. We come to know through the conversation among these three people that Colin was a nice man and was engaged to Mrs Rafi’s niece, Rose. Mrs Rafi invites Willy to her house to spend some time there. Then, the second scene ends.

Scene 3 Summary:

In Scene 3 of The Sea, Willy goes to meet Evens at the beach. He reaches Evens’ hut but finds its door closed. Then, the old and weather-beaten man, Evens, appears behind him. During their conversation, Evens admits that he doesn’t remember much about the incident of Colin’s drowning because he was drunk at that time. Willy accuses him of being responsible for Colin’s death. He says that if Evens had not been drunk, he could have saved Colin from drowning. At this, Evens responds that Colin could have been alive if Willy and Colin hadn’t gone to the sea that day with unpleasant weather. To spy on Willy, Hollarcut and Hatch arrive near the cottage. They begin to listen to their conversation. Hatch accuses Willy of getting rid of Colin’s body so that the marks of violence couldn’t be discovered. Willy asks Evens whether Hatch and his companions are dangerous to anyone or not. At this, Evens replies that they are not dangerous to anyone except themselves. After some time, Hatch leaves. But Hollarcut remains there to spy on the two and report anything suspicious to Hatch. After completing the conversation, Willy leaves. But Hollarcut still keeps his eyes on Evens. So Evens goes inside his hut and closes the door. Then, Scene 3 ends.

Scene 4 Summary:

In Scene 4 of The Sea, Mrs Rafi, Mrs Tilehouse, Mafanwy Price, Rachel, and Vicar gather in the living room of Mrs Rafi’s house. Rose appears there as well and watches the sea through one window. She feels distressed by remembering Colin’s death while watching the sea. At this, Mrs Rafi instructs her servant to draw the curtains over the window so that she could not view the sea that distresses her. The people in the drawing room were gathered to rehearse for a play in which Mrs Rafi has the role of the protagonist. In the play, she has to cross the mythological river, Styx, to complete her mission. All of them rehearse for the play that has to be performed to raise some funds for the coastguards. When Willy arrives there, all of them become embarrassed after seeing him. But still, Mrs Rafi invites him to watch the play’s rehearsal as an audience member. He is not interested in the rehearsal. So he talks to Rose about Colin’s death. During their conversation, Rose feels that Willy is not feeling well, so she advises him to return to his residence to have some rest. But Willy doesn’t agree to do so. Later on, Vicar apologises to him for rehearsing for the play because Colin died recently, and the body has not yet been recovered. The priest becomes emotional while remembering the day when he baptised Colin and thinking of burying him in the near future. After hearing this, Willy’s emotional pain intensifies. Then, Scene 4 ends.

Scene 5 Summary:

In Scene 5 of The Sea, Hatch, Hollarcut, Thompson, and Carter are present in Hatch’s shop, and Hatch is discussing the possible attack of aliens on their town from space. Plus, he believes Evens and Willy are agents of those aliens. Therefore, he instructs Hollarcut to spy on them more carefully. When he is conversing with his friends, Mrs Rafi and Mrs Tilehouse appear in the shop. He becomes happy when he sees Mrs Rafi by thinking that she has arrived to collect the order that she placed some time ago. But Mrs Rafi tells him that she does not want to accept the order from a person who caused Colin’s death by not offering Willy any assistance as a coastguard that he required at the beach. She also says that she intends to ensure that no one visits the shop under her influence because of Hatch’s involvement in Colin’s drowning. And she wants to report his irresponsible behaviour as a coastguard to the authorities as well. At first, Hatch tries to prove that he is innocent, but when he sees that Mrs Rafi is not convinced by his arguments, he becomes angry. So he accuses Willy of being an agent of the aliens from space and also says that Willy is using Mrs Rafi as an instrument against the town. After hearing his insane remarks, Mrs Rafi becomes angry as well. Then, at the end of the argument, both ladies leave his shop. In a fit of madness, Hatch tears the curtain cloth into pieces. When Mrs Rafi and Mrs Tilehouse enter the shop later that day, Hatch is still busy in cutting the curtain cloth into pieces. Mrs Rafi tells him that she wants to report his behaviour to the constable and doctor because of their fight in the morning. But Hatch is not in the mood to converse with her rationally. So both of them fight with each other verbally. Then, the fight turns into a physical attack by Hatch. Mrs Rafi gets a minor injury from the shears that Hatch attacks her with. Mrs Rafi vows to avenge the attack lawfully. At this point, Hatch becomes totally insane and verbally abuses the women in the shop, targeting their chastity, before moving out of it. Then, Carter appears, and he is embarrassed because of Hatch’s behaviour. Mrs Rafi scolds Carter for being Hatch’s friend. After that, the scene five ends.

Scene 6 Summary:

In Scene 6 of The Sea, Colin’s dead body appears on the beach, and Colin’s jersey is pulled over his head. That shows that Colin tried to remove his jersey when he was drowning in an attempt to save his life. We see Willy and Rose conversing about life after Colin’s death. Rose tells Willy that she doesn’t see any meaning in life after the death of her fiancé. In response, Willy answers her that life has its positive and negative sides, and one has to strive to find positive sides in one’s life. Also, Willy tells Rose that Colin was unsure about her love for him. In response, Rose tells Willy that she always loved Colin. Then, they discover the body of Colin on the beach. Rose tells Willy that she is going to bring some help from the town to move the body to its destination. After she leaves the spot, Hatch comes to the beach. He is angry and intends to find and kill Willy. Willy hides nearby when he sees Hatch. Hatch observes the body of Colin, but he mistakes the corpse for Willy hiding under the jersey, and he stabs the body multiple times with a knife and eventually cuts its throat. Willy watches this while hiding from him. After that, when Hatch sees Rose and Evens approaching him, he runs away from the spot. Rose becomes highly disturbed after seeing the pitiable condition of the corpse. Willy tells them about what happened to the body, and they bring a horse and a cart to take away Colin’s body for the funeral. Then, Scene 6 ends.

Scene 7 Summary:

In Scene 7 of The Sea, we see the gathering of the townspeople at the cliff top for Colin’s funeral. The gathering is led by Mrs Rafi. And Vicar conducts the religious ceremony by asking the townspeople to pray for Colin’s soul and singing a hymn in his memory. Then, Mrs Rafi and Mrs Tilehouse argue with one another over petty issues during the procession. All of a sudden, Hatch arrives there and becomes furious upon seeing Willy alive. He feels that the world is destroyed because he was unable to kill Willy. Carter and Thompson take Hatch away from the spot. After that, Mrs Rafi orders her niece, Rose, to go away with Willy from the town so that she can have a better life. She also encourages Willy to take Rose away with him. Then, Rose criticises her aunt while separately conversing with Willy for remaining in the town after her husband’s death and claims that she lives here because she wants to control the whole community through her aristocratic power. So Willy asks Rose directly whether she would like to go with him or not. On his asking, Rose agrees to go with him and also shows her preference for leaving with a sailor. Afterwards, Willy kisses Rose, and both of them move away from the cliff top together. Then, Scene 7 ends.

Scene 8 Summary:

In Scene 8 of The Sea, we see Evens sitting among his wine bottles near his cottage on the beach. Then, Hollarcut comes there with his stick and tells Evens that he intends to keep Evens under his observation. Evens criticises Hollarcut by saying that he should not support Hatch who is currently in jail. However, Hollarcut defends Hatch by saying that Hatch treats him with kindness, so that person cannot be the bad guy for him. On the other hand, the townspeople usually reject Hollarcut. Then, Willy comes there to say goodbye to Evens and explains that the investigation conducted on the dead body of Colin is finished, and it is proven that he died because of the sea storm and was not murdered. After that, Willy says that he will leave the town the next morning and advises Evens that he should leave the town as well because Hollarcut and Hatch might harm him. But Evens says that he would like to get murdered by them in place of leaving the town. When Willy asks Evens about the philosophy of life that he follows, Evens says that the world is full of oppression and suffering, but he hopes that ultimately life will overcome death. Evens also believes that people should not become hopeless in this world because they can work to improve it despite the ongoing oppression. Then, Rose arrives there and informs Willy that their packing is complete. So they should leave the beach for the train. Afterwards, the final scene ends.

Conclusion:

So that is all what I have to share with you regarding The Sea by Edward Bond complete summary. I hope you found my piece quite useful. And if you really find it useful, then please share my content with others. In this way, they can also learn the play’s summary scene by scene.