J.M. Synge – Riders to the Sea – Exam Based MCQs
1. Riders to the Sea was written by: (UGC NET / SET / PGTRB)
A) Sean O’Casey
B) W.B. Yeats
C) J.M. Synge
D) Lady Gregory
Ans: C) J.M. Synge
2. Riders to the Sea is a: (SET)
A) Novel
B) Epic poem
C) Three-act comedy
D) One-act play
Ans: D) One-act play
3. The play is set on: (UGC NET)
A) The Aran Islands
B) The Hebrides
C) The Isle of Man
D) The Orkney Islands
Ans: A) The Aran Islands
4. The central character of the play is: (PGTRB)
A) Nora
B) Cathleen
C) Maurya
D) Bartley
Ans: C) Maurya
5. Maurya is: (SET)
A) A young bride
B) A widow and mother
C) A nun
D) A school teacher
Ans: B) A widow and mother
6. Bartley is Maurya’s: (UGC NET)
A) Brother
B) Husband
C) Last surviving son
D) Nephew
Ans: C) Last surviving son
7. The two daughters in the play are: (PGTRB)
A) Nora and Cathleen
B) Cathleen and Maurya
C) Nora and Sarah
D) Sarah and Cathleen
Ans: A) Nora and Cathleen
8. The missing son at the beginning of the play is: (SET)
A) Shawn
B) Michael
C) Bartley
D) Patch
Ans: B) Michael
9. The play mainly deals with the power of: (UGC NET)
A) Fire
B) Windmills
C) The sea
D) Forests
Ans: C) The sea
10. The setting of the action is mainly: (PGTRB)
A) A harbor
B) A village market
C) A priest’s house
D) Maurya’s cottage
Ans: D) Maurya’s cottage
11. Bartley wants to go to Connemara to: (SET)
A) Become a priest
B) Visit relatives
C) Sell horses
D) Join the army
Ans: C) Sell horses
12. Maurya fears Bartley’s journey because: (UGC NET)
A) She dislikes horses
B) She is ill
C) She distrusts the priest
D) The sea has already taken many of her family members
Ans: D) The sea has already taken many of her family members
13. The package of clothes in the play belongs to: (PGTRB)
A) Bartley
B) Michael
C) The priest
D) Maurya’s husband
Ans: B) Michael
14. Nora and Cathleen secretly examine the clothes to: (SET)
A) Sell them
B) Confirm whether Michael is dead
C) Wash them
D) Hide them from Bartley
Ans: B) Confirm whether Michael is dead
15. Maurya’s vision on the road is of: (UGC NET)
A) A priest blessing Bartley
B) Michael riding behind Bartley
C) A ship sinking
D) A horse fair
Ans: B) Michael riding behind Bartley
16. Maurya’s vision mainly suggests: (PGTRB)
A) A comic misunderstanding
B) A political warning
C) Supernatural foreboding
D) A happy reunion
Ans: C) Supernatural foreboding
17. At the end of the play, Bartley dies because: (SET)
A) He is drowned in a storm
B) He is killed in a fight
C) He falls from a cliff
D) He is knocked into the sea by the horse
Ans: D) He is knocked into the sea by the horse
18. By the end of the play, Maurya has lost: (UGC NET)
A) Only one son
B) Only Michael and Bartley
C) All the male members of her family
D) Her daughters
Ans: C) All the male members of her family
19. The play is often called a: (PGTRB)
A) Domestic comedy
B) One-act tragedy
C) Satirical farce
D) Historical pageant
Ans: B) One-act tragedy
20. The chief conflict in the play is between: (SET)
A) Human beings and the sea/fate
B) Maurya and the priest
C) Nora and Cathleen
D) Bartley and Michael
Ans: A) Human beings and the sea/fate
21. The sea in the play symbolizes: (UGC NET)
A) Romance
B) Freedom only
C) Fate, death, and harsh necessity
D) Comic relief
Ans: C) Fate, death, and harsh necessity
22. Maurya’s final acceptance of death gives the play a note of: (PGTRB)
A) Satire
B) Philosophic resignation
C) Revenge
D) Celebration
Ans: B) Philosophic resignation
23. “No man at all can be living forever” expresses Maurya’s: (SET)
A) Joy
B) Irony
C) Acceptance of universal mortality
D) Pride
Ans: C) Acceptance of universal mortality
24. The language of the play is notable for: (UGC NET)
A) Urban slang only
B) Poetic speech influenced by Irish idiom
C) Classical Latin diction
D) Legal vocabulary
Ans: B) Poetic speech influenced by Irish idiom
25. Synge’s play is admired especially for its: (PGTRB)
A) Elaborate subplots
B) Rich poetic dialogue and tragic compression
C) Courtly romance
D) Comic ending
Ans: B) Rich poetic dialogue and tragic compression
26. The play is based on: (SET)
A) Greek myth only
B) A story Synge heard in the Aran Islands
C) Shakespearean tragedy
D) A Bible parable
Ans: B) A story Synge heard in the Aran Islands
27. The role of the priest in the play is mainly to: (UGC NET)
A) Intensify comic effect
B) Represent practical religious consolation
C) Lead a rebellion
D) Arrange Bartley’s marriage
Ans: B) Represent practical religious consolation
28. The priest says God will not leave Maurya: (PGTRB)
A) With no money at all
B) Without one son left
C) Without food for the winter
D) Without a horse
Ans: B) Without one son left
29. The priest’s statement becomes ironic because: (SET)
A) Maurya becomes rich
B) Bartley dies soon after
C) Michael returns alive
D) Nora leaves home
Ans: B) Bartley dies soon after
30. The play takes place over: (UGC NET)
A) Many years
B) One day
C) One month
D) One week
Ans: B) One day
31. The dramatic power of the play comes largely from: (PGTRB)
A) Spectacular battle scenes
B) Intense domestic action and unseen sea danger
C) Political debates
D) Comic misunderstandings
Ans: B) Intense domestic action and unseen sea danger
32. The title Riders to the Sea mainly suggests: (SET)
A) Joyful horse riding
B) A journey toward death and danger
C) A circus act
D) A sailing competition
Ans: B) A journey toward death and danger
33. Synge belongs to the tradition of: (UGC NET)
A) Irish Literary Revival
B) Metaphysical poetry
C) Restoration drama
D) Theatre of the Absurd
Ans: A) Irish Literary Revival
34. The play’s central emotion is best described as: (PGTRB)
A) Satirical laughter
B) Pathos and tragic inevitability
C) Adventure
D) Romance
Ans: B) Pathos and tragic inevitability
35. Maurya’s daughters try to protect her mainly by: (SET)
A) Hiding the truth about Michael’s clothes
B) Sending Bartley away
C) Calling the police
D) Selling the horses
Ans: A) Hiding the truth about Michael’s clothes
36. The sea is “impersonal” in the play because it: (UGC NET)
A) Chooses favorites
B) Acts without mercy or personal motive
C) Speaks directly to Maurya
D) Saves Bartley
Ans: B) Acts without mercy or personal motive
37. The horse in Bartley’s death functions as: (PGTRB)
A) A comic prop
B) An instrument of fate
C) A sign of prosperity only
D) A religious symbol only
Ans: B) An instrument of fate
38. The play is powerful partly because it shows: (SET)
A) Great kings and heroes
B) Ordinary poor islanders facing immense loss
C) Urban luxury
D) Political elections
Ans: B) Ordinary poor islanders facing immense loss
39. Maurya’s final speech transforms her from grieving mother into a figure of: (UGC NET)
A) Comic relief
B) Bitter revenge
C) Universal tragic wisdom
D) Political rebellion
Ans: C) Universal tragic wisdom
40. The play is often praised as one of the greatest: (PGTRB)
A) Long historical plays
B) One-act tragedies in English
C) Comic operas
D) Verse epics
Ans: B) One-act tragedies in English
41. The daughters’ concern for bread and practical needs shows: (SET)
A) Fantasy
B) The harsh realism of island life
C) Court life
D) Political satire
Ans: B) The harsh realism of island life
42. Synge’s treatment of tragedy in the play is closest to: (UGC NET)
A) Personal revenge tragedy
B) Human helplessness before overwhelming forces
C) Comic reversal
D) Pure melodrama
Ans: B) Human helplessness before overwhelming forces
43. Which is NOT a central theme of the play? (PGTRB)
A) Fate and mortality
B) The power of the sea
C) Rural poverty
D) Comic social ambition
Ans: D) Comic social ambition
44. The play’s climax comes with: (SET)
A) The discovery of the clothes only
B) Bartley’s body being brought in
C) Maurya’s blessing
D) The priest’s arrival
Ans: B) Bartley’s body being brought in
45. Maurya’s blessing comes too late, which creates: (UGC NET)
A) Comedy
B) Tragic irony
C) Satire
D) Mystery
Ans: B) Tragic irony
46. The sea in the play provides both: (PGTRB)
A) Wealth and luxury
B) Food/livelihood and death
C) War and peace
D) Love and marriage
Ans: B) Food/livelihood and death
47. The play’s strongest dramatic effect comes from: (SET)
A) Elaborate scenery
B) Simplicity and emotional intensity
C) Crowd scenes
D) Political speeches
Ans: B) Simplicity and emotional intensity
48. Maurya at the end is freed from fear because: (UGC NET)
A) Michael returns
B) There is no man left for the sea to take
C) Bartley survives
D) The sea becomes calm forever
Ans: B) There is no man left for the sea to take
49. The play’s final effect is one of: (PGTRB)
A) Revenge
B) Peace through tragic acceptance
C) Comic release
D) Political triumph
Ans: B) Peace through tragic acceptance
50. Which statement is TRUE about Riders to the Sea? (UGC NET)
A) It is a comic play about village marriage
B) It is a one-act Irish tragedy centered on Maurya’s losses to the sea
C) It is a political satire set in Dublin
D) It ends with Bartley’s triumphant return
Ans: B) It is a one-act Irish tragedy centered on Maurya’s losses to the sea
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