Introduction
The Sea is a play that abounds in the theme of violence to showcase the outcome and motives behind certain acts of violence. Edward Bond paints violence just like Jane Austen portrays manners in her novels. Bond portrays the violence containing in the Modern Man and his psychological complexes that help in increasing the cults of violence in them. Bond is of the view that text should be used as a vehicle to convey human beings their share in the violence they have been committing on the planet earth.
Instances of Violence in The Sea
The instances of violence can be categorized into two kinds: the ones that are caused by the Nature itself while the second one is caused by humans. Natural violence has no reason behind its occurrence while human violence has many reasons behind it that we will discuss in the second paragraph. Natural instances of violence in The Sea is caused by, well, the sea itself when it takes away the life of the drowning Collins. While the instance of human violence are many. For example, Hatch attacking Mrs. Rafi through his pair of scissors; his molesting of the dead body of Collins and his attacking of Willy through a club stick are some notable examples of human violence prevalent in the play. We have collected the sufficient evidence of violence in The Sea. Let's discover why does violence take place in the play.
Motives behind the Violence in The Sea
As mentioned before, there is no reason behind the violence caused by the natural sources like the sea. But the violence caused by humans has some causes behind its happening. Hatch's attacking of Mrs. Rafi comes as a reaction to the authoritative behaviour of Mrs. Rafi when she refuses to buy the ordered curtains. Doing so will put Hatch's shop in an extreme danger zone because he has put all of his money in purchasing curtains. Other two instances of violences shown by Hatch cannot be justified by saying that the reason behind his attacks are aliens. There is a much bigger picture than merely "aliens".
Now we come to the part in which we have to demonstrate why has Bond chosen to show violence in The Sea. His main concern in showcasing violence is to make humanity learn the consequences that come after attempting violence of any kind. The mentioning of aliens in the play can be considered as an indirect symbol for mankind. Take a closer look at this line uttered by Willy
Perhaps they’re all busy killing each other and killing other things.
Although Billy is saying for the aliens but a closer dissection of this line reveals that it is us, the human beings, who have been busy killing each other since the dawn of mankind. One thing to note here is the fact that when the play was written (1973), the world was still struggling to come out from the fear and the distraction caused by World War Second. Another reason Bond gives for the violence is stated as below:
Where there’s life it kills, after all. (Evens)
Here, Bond gives a universal but dark explanation for the violence caused by humans. It can be backed up by the fact that we have made so many advancements in ammunition that the chances of our species going extinct are much higher than ever before.
Also, the analogy "I believe in the rat-catcher" gives an indirect hint at the violent innocence of the rat (a helpless person) who builds defence to guard itself against the cat and then it uses the same defensive technology to catch other rats (weak nations) can be specified as an indirect satire on the nations those were once weak and then after gathering much influence, they try to suppress the weak ones of their days. This, thus, leads to an unexpected violence or resistance.
Conclusion
In the end, the play exhibits a didactic purpose that is to extend the deadline of the possible mass-instinction that can be caused by the violence of humanity through change. Bond subtly uses the concept of violence to curb violence in general. Evens line beautifully sums up the motive of Bond behind his use of violence in the play,
But you must still change the world.
Sources and Suggested Readings
- Text of The Sea
- http://epicnotes1.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-sea.html
