Translations Essay -- Literary Analysis, Brian Friel

Shakespeare once wrote, Whats in a pertain? That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet. I would have to disagree with Juliets assertion that a name is a meaningless convention, and I think Brian Friel would as well. It is a innovation addressed in his lean Translations, set at a quantify of change for his native Ireland, when the country itself is on the cusp of submission to the imperialism of England. twain signifi mucklet colonial events are taking place the implementation of the home(a) School System which replaced locally-run hedge schools like the maven in which the play is set, as well as the remapping of Ireland and anglicising of place names by the British. To turn in something means to change it from one condition to another, or adapt it from one system or speech into another indeed this metaphor can be applied to this play but also to Irish history. In this paper I will discuss this play as an exam of language as a defining characteristic of a accompaniment enculturation and its consequent power as a colonizing tool, the way language and communication can manifest themselves as positive or proscribe influences and how Friel exposes the violence, figurative and literal, suffered by the Irish people as a progeny of these translations.The English colonizers are using language in a minus capacity, as a vehicle to exert their power over Ireland. They fill that the renaming of places is being done to advance the interests of Ireland, (31), when in fact it is a whole tone to eradicating the Gaelic language. While the English may not be enslaving the Irish or moving them all to reservations, as in the case of Canadian and American First Nations peoples, this is an example of a more subtle, but as as damagin... ...slating a story (and struggling with the translation of it) that celebrates the triumphs of the Roman Empire, and write in Latin, the language of the conquering Romans. The irony of this final scene is tha t Translations is a play written by an Irish playwright, but written and performed in English, the language of Irelands conquerors. The message of Translations is simple language is something much large than a way to communicate. Language is at the cornerstone of identicalness, whether it personal identity or that of an entire nation. To attempt to eradicate the language of a event place is a crime against its character and legacy. Given Irelands uncomparable colonial history and the challenges it still faces today in regards to the preservation of its culture and language, it is easy to see why this play has become such an heavy piece of Irish culture.