Gabriela Hlucu Translation Studies 2nd Year / 1st Semester 1.

Character depiction - LADY NIJO in Top Girls by Caryll Churchill Before starting to write about my character, Lady Nijo, and about how the author depicted her in Top Girls, I read the first act of the play again, both the source text and my translation. As I was now more focused on one character then before, I noticed a few interesting things about Nijo: except for the main character, Marlene (who, in fact, only does this in the third act), she is the only one who cries; she declares her sense of guilt, the same as Isabella; she asks her companions a lot of questions some of which are also repeated twice, although in slightly different forms; she is the one who arrives second at the dinner, soon after Isabella, and, also following Isabella, she repeats the last two Latin words of the poem recited by Joan. I asked myself why. She cries because she feels sorrow for herself only or, out of compassion, for all the other women? She asks questions because she wants to know to know what? To know about the others, to understand them or just herself? Or maybe both? Through their loud and often chaotic, overlapping and frequently hilarous conversation around Marlenes dinner table, and in a manner of speaking appropriate to their own social classes, the characters tell their incredible stories, while eating and drinking. Each of them has a specific discourse, telling about her lifes trials and tribulations, and creating, in various ways, connections with the others. The author introduces Nijo right after Isabellas declaration about her not being able to live in Scotland:I loathed the constant murk (Nu puteam suferi ntunericul permanent). Lady Nijos appearance, all dressed up in her colourful costume and wearing the traditional make-up of a Japanese court lady of the thirteen century, comes in opposition to the constant murk and brings new light and colour on stage. Later on, Marlene even declares that You had prettier colours than Isabella (Tu purtai culori mai drgue dect Isabella). She immediately presents herself as one of the maidens passing the sake, the Japanese traditional drink which also Isabella Bird, the famous Victorian traveller, had tasted while in Japan. Nijo proves to be talkative and communicative as she gives the first consistent speech in the play, interrupted every now and then by Marlene and Isabellas brief interventions. She mentions her father and the Emperor, mingling information about the habit of drinking sake at the court, the moment when the Emperor told her father to let the wild goose go to him, the gift she was sent by him and which she sent back, not having any understanding upon what it meant, then their first night and how her life changed immediately after. Moreover, she speaks about the instructions that her religious father gave her before his death. When Isabella opens about herself and mentions the metaphysical poets and the hymnology, Nijo finds a common interest they can relate to, poetry: Ah, you like poetry. (Ah, i place poezia.). Isabella, however, continues her discourse speaking about her Latin education while Nijo expands on her literary heritage: I come of a line of eight generations of poets. Father had a poem / in the anthology. (Eu provin dintr-o familie cu opt generaii de poei. Tatl meu a avut un poem / nscris n antologie). After Marlenes interruption meant to assert her own experience with Latin, Nijo speaks again, trying to reassure Isabella that her intellectual capacity was not at all

affected by her preference for manual work over intellectual pursuits: Oh, but Im sure youre very clever (Oh, dar snt sigur c eti foarte istea). All this time, as Nijo is trying to connect with Isabella, the latter is doing the same with Gret. While the reader might not be certain, for the moment, whether there is any empathic communication between the characters or not, there is, for sure, a connection on a linguistic level, constructed by the use of some key-words: poetry, poets, father, rough life. Gret only answers Isabellas very simple question: Did you have any horses, Gret?, the dominating discourse up to this point in the play belonging to the two educated and eloquent ladies, Isabella and Nijo. If we go on and pay particular attention to the way Nijo interracts with the other women, we realize that, despite the fact that she seems self-absorbed while speaking about her life (father, lovers, her babies, clothing), she respectfully listens to the stories of the others. Being brought up at the court, inside the elevated refinement of Japanese aristocratic circles, along with other girls, she later lived close to the other concubines of the Emperor. It is my opinion that, finding herself always in the company of ladies, although in permanent competition with them, Nijo must have been used to speaking, listening, supporting, in her own way, her women companions. She is clearly a sympathetic character, and there are examples in the text that support this feature of hers: (to Isabella) Of course you were grieved (Sigur c erai ndurerat), You were homesick (i era dor de cas), So did I, exactly, dressed as a nun (i eu la fel, exact la fel, mbrcat ca i clugri), Yes, thats it, exactly. New sights. (Da, exact. Priveliti noi); (to all) Havent you ever felt like that? ...Youve all felt / like that (Nu v-ai simit niciodat aa?...Toate v-ai simit aa); (to Joan) Ah, lover. (Ah, un iubit); (to Griselda) Even so its hard when they take it away (Chiar i aa, e greu cnd i-l iau), No, I understand. Of course you had to, he was your life (Nu, eu neleg. Bineneles c a trebuit s faci asta, el era viaa ta), Its always hard taking him another woman (ntotdeauna e greu cnd el i ia o alt femeie). At the same time Nijo is amusing and entertaining and is capable to often shift in her discourse from a serious, even tragic topic, to a seemingly trivial one. So, when she recalls her first night with the Emperor and is asked by Marlene if she was raped, she answers in the most undisturbed manner No, of course not, Marlene, I belonged to him, it was what I was brought up for from a baby (Nu, sigur c nu, Marlene, i aparineam, pentru asta am fost crescut de mic) and then jumps to describing the green robe with scarlet lining and very heavily embroidered trousers (haina verde cu cptueala purpurie i pantalonii ncrcai de broderii) that the Emperor wore when he left her that morning. Then again, when she speaks about her fathers death, interrupts herself to order a Waldorf salad and then continues, expressing her sense of guilt: If hed died saying his prayers he would have gone straight to heaven. / Waldorf salad.... I shouldnt have woken him (Dac ar fi murit n timp ce se ruga s-ar fi dus drept n rai. / Salat Waldorf. ...Mai bine nu-l trezeam). Even Nijos opinion about herself is funny since it sounds absolutely contradictory: Im not a cheerful person, Marlene. I just laugh a lot (Nu snt o persoan vesel, Marlene. Doar rd mult). The contradiction is, however, only apparent, the real meaning is that Nijos laughter often hides her sadness and pain and the author very well points that out, in the form of a stage direction, at the end of act 1: Nijo is laughing and crying. The same as the other characters, Lady Nijo has the capacity to endure almost whatever comes to her: the shock of the first night with the Emperor when she was 14,

the loss of her babies, the Emperors cruel treatment and behaviour, the death of her father and then the loss of the Emperors favour. Nevertheless, while she passively accepts some patriarchal customs, endures the effects (the Full Moon beating by the Emperor), and assures Marlene that she has no reasons to get angry Not angry, no, / why angry?...But what for? (Nu furioas, nu,/de ce furioas?...Dar pentru ce?), she is courageous enough to actively protest against the indignity of being beaten by His Majestys attendants, this moment representing the one occasion when she got angry: I'll tell you something that made me angry ... (O s v povestesc ceva ce m-a nfuriat....) (p.26-27). While the scene of the punishment applied to the Emperor is hilarious, the fact that Nijo and the other concubines accept being beaten by the Emperor just because this is customary is really dramatic (Marlene, that's normal Marlene, sta era un lucru normal). Enslaved since a little girl and having no possibility to make her own choice, Nijo uses her courage to find some independence by doing what only men were supposed to do at the court - take several lovers. The real independence, though, comes later on, when she leaves the court, becomes a Buddhist nun, and does something unprecedented for a woman of her rank and not entirely approved of: walking around Japan for twenty years (I left on foot, nobody saw me go. For the next twenty years I walked through Japan, Priests were often vagrants, so why not a nun? You think I shouldnt?). Lady Nijo is sophisticated, high-spirited and sometimes vain (she confesses that what she most enjoyed was being the Emperors favourite and wearing silk), being very much concerned with culture, titles, class, etiquette, while her rough-life experiences made her a compassionate woman. She describes costumes as, inside the complex art of the Japanese costumes, they indicated rank (she had been publicly granted permission to wear thin silk) and feelings (in her Confessions, Nijo and Ariake exchange robes as a symbol of their love), and was, at the time, the only part of a person revealed to outsiders. She speaks about poems she received and offered, when convention and etiquette demanded poems (We always sent poems first, Did you write him a poem when you left?, ...it was very romantic, a lot of poems). What tightly connects Nijo to the other characters is the sacrifice of her motherhood. Although she gives birth to four children, shes not a mother. When she speaks about her babies and the fact that for her last son she did not feel anything, she actually confesses that she had maternal feelings for the first three. She apparently shows little regret for this loss but she contradicts this impression when she cries after Griseldas story, enviously declaring that Nobody gave me back my children (Mie nu mi-a dat nimeni copiii napoi). The same as nobody gave her back her children, there was nobody to offer a horse to Buddha for her health when she was ill. The author managed to build Nijos character on three levels: the frivolous one which gives Nijo her amusing side, the serious one that evokes her sufferings and losses, and the inner one - where the source of her amazing strength lies. Nijo had no option but to learn to depend on herself I had to live for myself, and I did live (A trebuit s suprevieuiesc de una singur i am reuit). For Lady Nijo success means survival and we may definitely conclude that she was successful.

2. Translation from page 42: Joyce: What are you now... to page 45: Scene 3. ENGLISH Joyce: What are you now? Third year? KIT. Second year. JOYCE. Your mum says you're good at English. Silence. Maybe Angie should've stayed on. KIT. She didn't like it. JOYCE. I didn't like it. And look at me. If your face fits at school it's going to fit other places too. It wouldn't make no difference to Angie. She's not going to get a job when jobs are hard to get. I'd be sorry for anyone in charge of her. She'd better get married. I don't know who'd have her, mind. She's one of those girls might never leave home. What do you want to be when you grow up, Kit? KIT. Physicist. JOYCE. What? KIT. Nuclear physicist. JOYCE. Whatever for? KIT. I could, I'm clever. JOYCE. I know you're clever, pet. Silence. I'll make a cup of tea. Silence. Looks like it's going to rain. Silence. Don't you have friends your own age? KIT. Yes. JOYCE. Well then. KIT. I'm old for my age. JOYCE. And Angie's simple is she? She's not simple. KIT. I love Angie. JOYCE. She's clever in her own way. KIT. You can't stop me. JOYCE. I don't want to. KIT. You can't, so. JOYCE. Don't be cheeky, Kitty. She's always kind to little children. KIT. She's coming so you better leave me ROMANIAN Joyce: i n ce an eti tu acum? n trei? Kit: n anul doi. J: Mama ta spune c eti bun la englez. Linite. Poate c Angie ar fi trebuit s continue coala . K: Nu i-a plcut. J: Nici mie nu mi-a plcut. i uite-te la mine. Dac ai fa de coal, ai fa i de alte locuri. Pentru Angie nu va fi nicio diferen. Nu va gsi o slujb cnd e aa de greu s obii una. Mi-ar prea ru pentru oricine ar angaja-o. Mai bine s-ar mrita. Dar nu tiu cine ar lua-o de nevast, ascult la mine. E una dintre acele fete care s-ar putea s nu plece niciodat de acas. Ce vrei s te faci cnd vei fi mare, Kit? K: Fizician. J:Ce? K: Fizician nuclear. J: Pentru ce? K: A putea, snt istea. J:tiu c eti, iubito. Linite. O s fac un ceai. Linite. Cred c vine ploaia. Linite. Nu ai prieteni de vrsta ta? K: Am. J: E bine atunci. K: Snt mare pentru vrsta mea. J:i parc Angie e proast? Nu e proast. K: O iubesc pe Angie. J: E istea n felul ei. K: Nu m poi mpiedica s o iubesc. J: Nu vreau asta. K: Nu poi, de aia. J: Nu fi obraznic, Kitty. E ntotdeauna drgu cu cei mici. K: Uite-o c vine, aa c mai bine m lai

alone. ANGIE comes out. She has changed into an old best dress, slightly small for her. JOYCE. What you put that on for? Have you done your room? You can't clean your room in that. ANGIE. I looked in the cupboard and it was there. JOYCE. Of course it was there, it's meant to be there. Is that why it was a surprise, finding something in the right place? I should think she's surprised, wouldn't you Kit, to find something in her room in the right place. ANGIE. I decided to wear it. JOYCE. Not today, why? To clean your room? You're not going to the pictures till you've done your room. You can put your dress on after if you like. ANGIE picks up a brick. Have you done your room? You're not getting out of it, you know. KIT. Angie, let's go. JOYCE. She's not going till she's done her room. KIT. It's starting to rain. JOYCE. Come on, come on then. Hurry and do your room, Angie, and then you can go to the cinema with Kit. Oh it's wet, come on. We'll look up the time in the paper. Does your mother know, Kit, it's going to be a late night for you, isn't it? Hurry up, Angie. You'll spoil your dress. You make me sick. JOYCE and KIT run in. ANGIE stays where she is. Sound of rain. KIT comes out of the house and shouts. KIT. Angie. Angie, come on, you'll get wet. KIT comes back to ANGIE. ANGIE. I put on this dress to kill my mother. KIT. I suppose you thought you'd do it with a brick. ANGIE. You can kill people with a brick. KIT. Well you didn't, so.

singur. Angie iese din cas. S-a schimbat ntr-o rochie elegant veche, puin prea mic pentru ea. J: Pentru ce i-ai pus asta pe tine? i-ai terminat camera? Nu poi face curenie n camera ta mbrcat aa. A: M-am uitat n dulap i era acolo. J: Normal c era acolo, acolo e locul ei. Tea surprins s gseti ceva la locul lui? Eu zic c e surprins, Kit, tu ce spui, s gseasc ceva n camera ei la locul potrivit. A: Am hotrt s o port. J: Nu azi, pentru ce? Ca s-i faci curat n camer? Nu mergi la film pn nu i-ai terminat curenia n camera ta. Poi s-i pui rochia dup aceea, dac vrei. Angie ridic o crmid. Ai terminat de fcut curat n camera ta? Nu scapi de asta, tii prea bine. K: Angie, hai s mergem. J: Nu pleac pn nu termin curenia n camera ei. K: ncepe s plou. J: Haide, hai atunci. Grbete-te i termini camera, Angie, i apoi poi merge la cinema cu Kit. Of, picur, haide.Ne uitm n ziar s vedem la ce or ncepe filmul. Mama ta tie c o s ajungi trziu acas, Kit, nu-i aa? Grbete-te, Angie. O s-i murdreti rochia. M scoi din srite. Joyce i Kit alearg n cas. Angie rmne n acelai loc. Se aude ploaia. Kit iese din cas i strig. K: Angie, Angie, haide, o s te uzi. Kit se ntoarce la Angie. A: Mi-am pus rochia asta ca s-o omor pe mama. K: Presupun c te-ai gndit s-o omori cu o crmid. A: Poi omor oameni cu o crmid. K: Uite c tu n-ai fcut-o.