Translations (Masterplots II: Drama, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Brian Friel
- First Published: 1981
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: Summer, 1833
- Setting: A hedge-school in the town of Baile Beag in County Donegal, Ireland
- Principal Characters: Manus, Jimmy Jack, Maire, Hugh, Owen, Captain Lancey, Lieutenant Yolland
- Genres: Social realism, Drama
- Subjects: History, Language or languages, Nineteenth century, Progress, Ireland or Irish people
- Locales: Ballybeg, County Donegal, Ireland
The Play
Translations opens in the sparsely furnished barn that functions as the hedge-school for the Gaelic-speaking folk of County Donegal. Hugh O’Donnell, the master of the school, arrives from christening a child and is confronted by his student, the strong-willed Maire Chatach, who informs him that “the old language is a barrier to modern progress.” One aspect of this “modern progress” is Hugh’s news that he has met Captain Lancey of the Royal Engineers, a cartographer assigned the task of mapping the territory in great detail and providing Anglicized...
[The entire page is 2061 words long]
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