Will man ever have control of the natural world? Or do we only ever have a temporary contract with it? On the news we see images of cities being swallowed whole by the sea, renewing the balance of power between man and nature. For years man has struggled in his relationship with nature, and once attempted to offer sacrificial gifts to control the weather or, as today, attempting to gain control through manipulative science. In John Millington's tragic and realistic one-act play Riders To The Sea, Synge explores the power struggle between man and the sea through the realistic portrayal of the fisherman's mentality. This one-act play reveals a picture of the past with the use of symbolism, Aristotle's denouements, and the emphasis of dialogue over action. John Millington Synge's Riders To The Sea brings to life a realistic portrayal of Irish society, culture and religion. This one-act play portrays a poor Irish farming family through a day in their life. Synge's work is set in the Aran Islands, capturing the rural lifestyle and dialogue of the primitive area. The Aran Islands are a group of three small islands off the coast of County Galway in the west of Ireland. The characters lived modestly in a small windowless cottage and had only what they could scrape together themselves. Their clothes were made from their own wool, their diet was based on fish and potatoes, and they even created their own fertilizer from seaweed. Like most modern societies, this rural area is based on an economic structure. These people are slaves of the sea, they live by it and die by it. This comedy wrestles with the dirty truth of the Irish peasantry (Saifullah). In Riders to the Sea the family holds itself to patriarchal standards, maintaining male dominance… center of the card… evaluates familiar audience members. with Synge's work. The rich cultural aspect that Riders to the Sea seems known for should not be lost in interpretation, but the preservation of culture may cause the meaning to be lost on younger audiences. John Millington Synge's one-act play Riders to the Sea captures the culture of the West of Ireland through the application of Aristotle's three unities and authentic dialogue. While the play offers audiences a window into life in the west of Ireland, the difficulties faced by its characters are universal, and the play's meaning is something timeless that transcends cultural boundaries. This comedy explores the struggle between man and the sea through the realistic portrayal of the fisherman's mentality. This one-act play reveals a picture of the past using symbolism, Aristotle's denouements, and the emphasis of dialogue over action..