A Study On Brian Friel’s Dramas

Brian Patrick Friel(1929-2015)is the most influential and internationally renowned contemporary Irish dramatist in Ireland after Samuel Beckett(Samuel Beckett,1906-1989).Together with Arthur Miller(1915-2005),Harold Pinter(1930-2008),Tennessee Williams(1911-1983)and other American dramatists,he ranks among the world famous dramatists in the 20 th century.As the Father of Contemporary Irish Drama,Friel has his own unique style in dramatic theme,character-image,artistic forms and other aspects,subverting the tradition of Irish Theatre and promotes the development of Irish Theatre from tradition to modernism and postmodernism,and becoming a milestone in the history of Irish Theatre.Brian Friel is of great significance to Irish theatre and contemporary western theatre.In the western academic circle,the research on Friel is fruitful,while the research on Friel and the translation of his plays in China are in the initial stage.Based on extensive search for first-hand materials,translating all Friel’s plays and several related research results,and close reading of the text,this paper adopts a variety of theories and research methods to systematically sort out and discuss Friel and his ideological and artistic achievements in drama creation,so as to play a pioneering and promoting role in domestic Friel research.This paper includes three parts,the introduction,the text and the conclusion.The introduction mainly summarizes the research status of Brian Friel and his plays at home and abroad,objectively analyzes the achievements and shortcomings of the research,and explains the research methods and significance of this paper.The text is divided into four chapters: The first chapter introduces Friel’s life and his plays.According to Friel’s plays and its repercussion in the critical circle,it can be divided into four stages: Philadelphia,Here I Come!,Lovers and other early plays displayed his talent;the comments on Mundy Scheme,Gentle Island,The Freedom of the City and Volunteers,made Friel fall into a deep reflection,which was his prepare period;the success of Translations showed that Friel’s dramatic creation has reach a high level,and then,Dancing at Lughnasa is the pinnacle of Friel’s plays,therefore,Friel’s dramatic creation reached its peak at this period;in the late period,Friel recalled the past.In his plays such as The Home Place,Molly Sweeney,he continued to deepen thinking about questions,such as women,art and family.Finally,it expounds Friel’s unique contribution and position in the history of Irish theatre.The second chapter makes an in-depth interpretation of the basic themes of Friel’s plays.Throughout his plays,Ireland has always been the focus of his attention.Based on the Irish native culture,Friel describes the living conditions of the contemporary Irish people represented by the small town of“Ballybeg” in detail from the perspectives of family,politics,history and homeland,which deeply reflects the miserable and confused life of the Irish people after more than 800 years of colonial rule under the conflict of political power and the erosion of foreign culture,and how do the contemporary Irish people tenaciously locate their cultural identity and reshape their spiritual home in such troubled times.In his plays,Friel pursues and constructs the ideal cultural and spiritual home of Ireland,constructs the national cultural self-identity,and pursues the national root.The third chapter focuses on the analysis of several different characters and their connotations in Friel’ plays.One is the male image.The father image plays an irreplaceable and unique role in Friel’s plays.By portraying these negative father images,the author clearly shows the decline of patriarchy.Then is the image of the priest.Friel creates many images of priests,like the father image mentioned above,they were all negative images.Catholicism is the most prominent representative of conservative power in Irish cultural tradition,and the image of priest has become the best metaphor of Irish traditional power.The other is the image of women.Under the double oppression of the British colonists and Catholic patriarchy,the women in Friel’s plays changed from complicity and obedience to oppression and disability,and finally awakening and resistance,which reflected Friel’s humanistic care for women and his criticism of the society.The fourth chapter focus on Friel’s dramatic art.Friel is a very experimental and innovative playwright;he constantly updates his artistic expression in his dramatic creation.First of all,Friel breaks through the traditional theatrical forms and uses meta-theatrical techniques to break the fourth wall between the stage and the audiences,inviting the audience to actively participate in the construction of meaning,reflect on the status quo and criticize the reality.Secondly,Friel uses intertextuality theory to expand the content of drama creation and enrich the artistic form of drama creation.Thirdly,using the theory of intermediality,Friel organically integrates drama and music,making drama musicalized from content to form,and enduing drama with new vitality.Finally,Friel broke the play’s tradition,absorbed the structural elements of film,television and other media arts to carry out innovative experiments,and created unique and charming structural forms,such as the looping layered narrative structure,the conjugated block narrative structure and the intertwined comparative narrative structure,Friel brings the audience wonderful experience of watching plays and different understanding of life.The conclusion part summarizes Friel’s ideological and artistic achievements in the history of plays,as well as the author’s follow-up research plans and assumptions.