Examine The Ways In Which Lang :: essays research papers

Examine the ways in which spoken language and identity are treated in &8216Translations&8217&8216Translations&8217 is set in 1833, in County Donegal, which was soon after the time when Britain had claimed Ireland as part of its empire. The British and the Irish therefore had differing languages, so the British decided to go through the process of naming or renaming Ireland&8217s geographical features. In &8216Translations&8217 language and identity are used more as a spot device and p good deal feature rather than as part of stylistic technique, which is their most common role. When the play was first performed by Friel&8217s own field of operation company it was performed in the Irish language, and at the start of the play, all the characters speak Irish as their first language, the position language comes into the script a lot later, which reflects the course of events in Ireland over the past two centuries. All these characters have been brought up speaking the language and i t is a fundamental part of their life, culture and identity.English is the second main language in the play. It represents the future to Maire and Owen, and &8216a mistake&8217 to Hugh and Manus. The two English speakers come as part of the same assignment, to make a map of the country and to &8216see that the place names are ... correct.&8217, but they have greatly differing attitudes towards Ireland and its identity. Captain Lancey sees the Irish as inferior to the English, which is evident when he is willing to evict a whole village of them, over the disappearance and probable death of one Englishman. Yolland however falls in love with Ireland, its language and culture and he feels that &8216something is beingness eroded&8217 by his task of renaming the geographical features of Ireland. Yolland is not the uninventive English male of the time, because he &8216missed the boat&8217 to India and that stereotypical way of life, which would be following his father&8217s wishes.The ot her two languages used in the play are Greek and Latin, which are spoken unless by Hugh and Jimmy. These two classical languages pee an identity of intellectualism in their users and it is significant that it is the Irish rather than the English characters who can speak them contradicting Lancey&8217s view of them being inferior.Friel shows us the use of language in several different forms. The first scene where Manus is teaching Sarah to speak shows us that language is used to create communication.