"Drama shows us that those who control language dictate the events of the play" Compare and contrast your chosen texts in the light of this opinion.

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Saturday, 17 May 2003                            Jad Salfiti                            

A2 English Literature

“Drama shows us that those who control language dictate the events of the play” Compare and contrast your chosen texts in the light of this opinion.

‘The Tempest’ written by William Shakespeare and ‘Translations’ written by Brian Friel both look at how those who control language can dictate events. Despite the disparity of context, both plays share many core themes and explore the importance of language and how it can be used as a means of control. Both plays show linguistic hegemony, and demonstrate how one language can take dominance and displace another and how language can be stigmatised, so that it becomes dirtied and debased. In ‘The Tempest’, Caliban’s original language is belittled to “gabble” and “babble” by a Eurocentric Miranda. While in 'Translations' Lancey’s snobbish attitude to the townspeople and his use of circumlocutory beaurocratic jargon exposes his personal discomfort at being with “foreign civilians”. Prospero is in control of language within the Tempest, he is the most educated and he also has magical powers. Throughout the play Prospero uses language to coerce characters to do what he wants; his linguistic and magical authority is used to dictate the events of the play. Prospero foregrounds the plays fictionality “my charm the magicalism of art”, and he becomes almost a scriptwriter within the play by drawing attention to the illusory nature of art. In ‘Translations’ it is the colonisers who control language, however it is the townspeople who dictate the events of the play. The English use language as an act of cultural and linguistic imperialism, the Irish respond in different ways to the occupation of their homeland.  Friel explores the relationship between the colonised and the colonisers; by retaliating the people of Baele Beag reassert control over their own destiny and dictate the events of the play: Hugh and Jimmy Jack use mental power, Manus and the Donnelly Twins choose physical power, whereas Owen and Maire choose reasoning power. Similarly in 'The Tempest', Shakespeare’s characters also try to regain control over the events of the play, Ariel uses reasoning power, and Caliban uses physical power and at times mental power.

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Throughout ‘The Tempest’, Prospero appears to be fully in control of the events of the play. He uses language to persuade the audience of this, he refers to his plans as “my art” and “my project”. An omniscient Prospero appears to have charted what will happen from the beginning of the play, he is the author of everyone’s destiny. In Ron Daniel’s production of ‘The Tempest’ Prospero is portrayed as an actor-manager rather than a colonialist, so that the play becomes metatheatre. Shakespeare’s characterisation of Prospero, is of someone with great skill and dexterity when dealing with other characters in ...

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