Here are just a few possible tasks.

 Remember that you only have ~1200 words, so

lengthy discussions of a theoretical position are not really possible here.

Marxism:
 Value
o ‘At the end of the play, capitalism has asserted itself as the
unchallengeable value system in Ireland.’  To what extent do you
agree?
 Power
o In what ways is power imposed and resisted in this play?
 Education
o ‘There can be no neutral education: all educational systems serve a
social and ideological system.’  Consider this statement in the light of
Translations.
 Ideology
o Consider the view that it is Yolland’s ideology which is more insidious
than Lancey’s.
 Subversion and resistance
o It is impossible to resist capitalism without stepping entirely out of all
its structures, leaving behind home, community and family.  Consider
this view of the play.
 Identity
o Does the process of ‘standardisation’ destroy identity, or impose a
new one?
 Language:
o Far from being a celebration of Gaelic, the play chillingly represents
the triumph of English.  How far do you agree with this view?

Feminism:
 Sarah
o Sarah illustrates how a woman’s voice is not only controlled, but
constructed by society.
 Maire
o Maire’s is the most significant tragedy of the whole play: others refuse
to escape, but she cannot.
 Bridget
o Consider the view that Bridget, for all her strength and independence,
ends the play meekly conforming to masculine authority.
Aesthetics:
 Can / should a work of art be free from politics?
 What is more important in art: social ‘relevance’ or beauty?
 Is there any value in keeping old literature in an educational curriculum?
 The purpose of literature is to make us strange to ourselves.

Metaphor:
 ‘It can happen that a civilisation can be imprisoned in a linguistic contour
which no longer matches the landscape of … fact’. Consider some of the
different meanings of ‘translation’ in this play.