A surprising amount of Translations depends on suppression, both political and personal, and the unspoken.(TM) To what extent are suppression and the unspoken important in the text?

Suppression  also  affects  a  character  who  we  would  not  have  presumed  as  being  a target.  This  character  is  Owen.  Since  the  introduction  of  when  Owen’s  character  appears  in  the  play,  we  assumed  he  had  a  unique  bond  with  the  English.  It would seem  normal  for  Owen  to  be  treated  fairly  for  assisting  the  English  in  completing  the  mapping,  however  we  discover  that  Lancey  is  just  as  suppressive  to  Owen  as he  is  to  all  the  other  Irish  people  and  Hugh  is  to  Manus. The  audience  is  quick to  have  a  negative  feel  towards  Lancey  as  his  character  is  very  cold-hearted,  blunt  and  very  forceful  in  speech.  We  get  this  feeling  through  Lancey’s appearance  in  the  play  and  discover  his  inability  or  uneasy  nature  with  foreigners. When  he  is  offered  drink  by  Hugh  his  brisk  reply  lacks  diplomacy,  as  does  his  remark:  “I'll  say  what  I  have  to  say,  if  I  may,  and  as  briefly  as  possible.  Do  they  speak  any  English  Roland?”  Lancey’s  quote  here  reveals  his  intimidating personality  and  he  seems  to  look  down  on  the  Irish.  His  complete  ignorance  of  calling  Owen,  Roland  can  be  seen  as  a  technique  deployed  by  Friel  to  highlight the  lack  of  importance  the  English  had  on the  cultural  and  historical  aspects  of  the naming.

The  unspoken  and  concealed  nature  also  ties  in  with  the  theme  of  suppression within  the  play.  There  are  many  cases  where  there  are  misunderstanding  and  a  lack  of  clarification.  This  is  most  predominant  especially  through  the  language barrier.  This  barrier  can  be  seen  as  a  means  of  performing  the  mapping  without  the  consent  and  full  understanding  of  the  Irish.  The  unspoken  is  noticeable  where Owen  is  asked  to  translate  the  speech  by t he  English  into  Gaelic  for  the  Irish  to understand.  Despite  Lancey’s  lengthy  speech,  Owen  restricts  it  to  a  very  shortened and  misinterpreted  form.  This  doesn’t  go  about  unnoticed  as  both  the  audience  and   Hugh  are  aware  of  his  mistakes.  Norman  Fairclough,  a  modern  linguist, proclaimed  that  "language  is  power,"  implying  that  if  you  want  to  control  a  person  or  gain  power  over  a  nation,  you  must  first  control  language.  This  fits  into  the  play  directly  and  I  would  agree  with  the  quote  as  although  the  renaming  of  street  names  may  seem  harmless,  it  is  in f act  a  method  of  gaining  control  and overpowering  the  Irish.

In  the  play  Translations,  language  and  its  effects  is  clearly   one   of  the  central themes.  This  is  evident  because  the  characters  all  show  what  language  means  to  them  ranging  from  Manus  who  uses  his  knowledge  of  languages  as  a  form  of power  over  the  British  to  Owen  who  does  not  show  any  concern  for  his  language  and  identity  and  allows  the  British  to  call  him  Roland.  Furthermore  the  title  of  the  play  Translations  is  ironic  because  although  one  of  the  themes  of  the  play  is  keeping  your  identity  the  book  itself  looses  its  identity.  This  is  because  although  the   play  is  written  by  an  Irish  author  and  set  in  Ireland,  it  is  written  in  English. Thus  the  title  foreshadows  the  outcome  of  the  play,  however,  despite  all   the  attributes  Manus  and  Owen  possess,  they  are  still  forced  to  remain  unspoken  and accept  authority.  Owen  does  eventually  realize  what  he  has  gotten  himself  into,  however,  once  again  it  is  too  late  to  alter  anything  back  to  its  original  state.

In  conclusion,  it  is  apparent  that  the  theme  of  suppression  and  remaining  unspoken  runs  through  the  length  of  the  play.  This  technique  reveals  the difficulties  and  boundaries  which  existed  between  the  Irish  and  the  English.  The choice  of  using  such  theme  could  also  be  noted  as  being  a  deliberate  act  by  Friel in  order  to  create  further  suspense  within  the  play.  As  the  play  is  written  about  a historical  event  which  had  already  taken  place,  the  audience  would  be  aware  of the  outcome.  This  then  makes  the  audience  character  bond  far  closer  as  the audience  would  prefer  a  less  demanding  approach  of  control  from  the  English  and  a  greater  sense  of  support  from  the  Irish  in  maintaining  and  pursuing  their culture.