In this excellent play it appears that the sea is almost
presented as a character in its own right, rather than just being an inanimate object.
It is responsible for the deaths of all of Maurya's son, and as such, she clearly has a
very strong reaction towards it. Living on such a secluded, small and isolated island,
the sea is how her son's earn their living but also it represents constant danger from
the strong storms that wreck ships and drown sailors. Thus it is that at the end of the
play Maurya makes this following statement:
They're all gone now, and there isn't anything
more the sea can do to me... I'll have no call now to be up crying and praying when the
wind breaks from the south, and you can hear the surf is in the east, and the surf is in
the west, making a great stir with the two noises, and they hitting one on the
other.
From the statement
"there isn't anything more the sea can do to me," we can infer that the sea is viewed as
an enemy or assailant who has taken everything from Maurya. She can know ironically rest
easy when others are praying for their husbands and sons, because the sea is unable to
do her any more damage. This is a pitiful and moving speech as we are left with an
impression of a womam who has been utterly broken by the sea, so much so that she is
beyond being wounded by it any more.
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