Reading Questions for Translations
Directions: These questions are to help guide your reading of the story and will form the basis of class
discussion. You don’t need to answer them for homework, but be prepared to write about them in class.
1. The play introduces the theme of cross-cultural translations in the opening scene. What are the
implications of the fact that the hedge school teaches the Irish students Latin and Greek but not
English? [Note: Latin and Greek were also taught in English schools. No English boy would have
been considered truly educated without them, nor would he have understood most of the literature
and art of his time without them, as references from Classical literature were everywhere.]
2. On page 33-35, Owen translates for Lancey. How does he change what is said? Why is his
brother upset about this? Which of them do you think is more reasonable on this point, Owen or
Manus? How is this changed in the last scene when Owen translates for Lancey again (p. 80-82)?
3. Yolland is described in the stage directions as “a soldier by accident.” What does that mean? Why
does Ireland appeal to him so much? Does his wish to live there seem plausible or ridiculous, as
the play develops? Why?
4. Similarly, Yolland falls in love with Maire, even though they can’t conduct what any of us would
consider to be a real conversation. Is this ridiculous, or do you think they might have some sort of
connection that would be worth developing? Why?
5. One of the Englishmen comments on the Irish tendency to ignore the distinctions between reality
and ancient mythology. Is this a fair criticism, based on what we see in this play? Is this tendency
ultimately presented as a strength or a weakness, or both, in the play?
6. What is the effect of references to historical events such as the failed Irish rebellion of 1798, the
French revolution’s start in 1789, the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, Thermopylae, the sack of
Rome by “Visigoths, Huns, Vandals”? Consider not just the event itself but which character
mentions it and the context within the play.
7. The Aeneid is mentioned sparingly but significantly, once as the book Hugh carried with him
when he marched off to join Wolfe Tone’s rebellion in 1798, and again as the story Hugh quotes
from in the last lines of the play. Considering that the Aeneid is a great Roman epic written by
Virgil in 19 BC to glorify and justify the Roman empire, what is the significance of Hugh’s use of
it? [See footnote below about Virgil’s project.] Why doesn’t Hugh carry the Táin, the greatest
Irish epic? Remember, the Romans established the northern reach of their empire in what later
became England, but they never made it into the northern part of the island (now Scotland) nor
over the Irish Sea to Ireland.
Below are some significant passages in the play. Be prepared to discuss how they relate to the play’s
themes.
1. Maire (quoting Daniel O’Connell): “The old language [Irish Gaelic] is a barrier to modern
progress.” She adds, “I don’t want Latin. I don’t want Greek. I want English.” (p. 25)
2. Owen (referring to Yolland): He’s a decent man!
Manus: Aren’t they all, at some level? (p. 56)
3. Hugh: Indeed, Lieutenant. A rich language. A rich literature. You’ll find, sir, that certain
cultures expend on their vocabularies and syntax acquisitive energies and ostentations
entirely lacking in their material lives. I suppose you could call us a spiritual people. [. . . .]
Yes, it is a rich language, Lieutenant, full of mythologies of fantasy and hope and selfdeception—a syntax opulent with tomorrows. It is our response to mud cabins and a diet of
potatoes; our only method of replying to . . . inevitabilities. (p. 50-51)
4. Hugh: I look at James and three thoughts occur to me: A—that it is not the literal past, the
“facts” of history, that shape us, but images of the past embodied in language. [. . . .] B—we
must never cease renewing those images; because once we do, we fossilize. (p. 88)
5. From the Seamus Heaney review of the 1980 production: “He [Friel] has come in from
different angles but with a constant personal urgency upon the need we have to create
enabling myths of ourselves and the danger we run if we too credulously trust to the
sufficiency of these myths.”
Footnote to the question about the Aeneid and Virgil: One factor that allowed the British empire to
dominate the world and feel proud of its imperial project is that the Britons believed themselves to be an
offshoot of the Trojans (and by extension) the Roman empire. Modern people might dispute this lineage,
but it was a strong cultural belief among the 19th century Brits in the world of the play. Consider this as
you read this passage from an introduction to Virgil’s epic by John D. Cox:
“When Roman armies conquered the remnants of Alexander's empire in 168 BCE, they also conquered
the Greek city states. The Romans soon realized the uniqueness of what they had overcome. ‘Captured
Greece captured its fierce conqueror,’ wrote the Roman poet, Horace. His point was that Romans
recognized something in Greek culture that was more impressive than anything Rome itself had achieved,
in spite of Rome's unprecedented military success. The result is that Roman culture adapted itself to the
model of Greece, at least in art, religion, and literature. Roman statues, temples, and public buildings were
rebuilt in imitation of those in Greece. Greek stories of the gods were retold with Roman names in place
of Greek. Roman thinkers adapted the philosophical ideas of the Athenian academy to their situation in
the Roman republic and especially in the Roman empire.
Among the adaptors of Greek culture, none was more brilliant, original, or influential than the poet Virgil.
He faced a formidable challenge. Everyone who encountered Greek culture recognized how much it was
shaped by Homer. To write a Roman equivalent to The Iliad and The Odyssey required an ability to think,
a way with words, and a storytelling capacity that would enable a poet to do for Rome what Homer had
done for Greece. Few poets before Virgil had attempted this task; none had succeeded in it.
Virgil began working on his long story with an advantage Homer lacked: he was literate. Unlike the
Greek aoidos, Virgil did not learn his art from oral storytellers. He read the Homeric poems; he did not
hear them. This enabled him to study The Iliad and The Odyssey and to compose his Latin adaptation
while consulting the Greek original. As his hero, for example, Virgil chose a Trojan fighter whom Homer
describes briefly in The Iliad. Virgil kept the outlines of Homer's Aeneas but developed the character in
surprisingly new and profound directions.”