A Critical Discourse Analysis of Martin Crimp’s Piece “Advice to Iraqi Women”

Afraa Abdulhussein Nasser,Sarab Khalil

doi:10.36231/coedw.v32i1.1476

Abstract

Language is a vehicle for social values and ideologies that a man intends or attempts to express. Dramatic texts are one of the discursive practices that embody values and ideologies. What is expressed in dramatic text is deliberate because it is meant to affect other’s values, trends and ideologies in one way or another. Such ideologies and values are not explicit. To bring them out requires putting language under scrutiny to unveil what is implied. The present study attempts to analyze a dramatic script entitled Advice to Iraqi Women by the British playwright Martin Crimp in an attempt to unveil the intended political ideologies underlying the text. The title reflects a political aspect embedded in the word “Iraqi” that brings to the mind the war broken out there at that time. Notwithstanding that the script is written in such an unusual manner that appears to the reader or the spectator to be domestic, familiar and free from any political indications. The model adopted in the analysis of Crimp’s theatrical piece is that of van Dijk’s macro and microstructure analysis within critical discourse analysis. Results have manifested the political ideologies that the writer intends to convey. He attempted to bridge a gap and render the English society to be associated emotionally with the repercussions of the remote war by amalgamating what is familiar with what is unfamiliar.

Highlights

Chilton (2004) explained that language and politics are connected in a fundamental way
The content is linked to the domestic life though it embeds a political ideology which is the dubiousness of war. 3.2 The Adopted Model van Dijk’s macro and microstructure approach has been adopted in the present work since it is appropriate to the ideological analysis of the present text
3.4 Results and Discussion reference except for its title encoded by the Crimp’s ideological target is to “Iraqi women” that indicates the women under oppose war as being anti-humanitarian that the war, it indirectly reveals political ideologies brings danger to ordinary life

Summary

Introduction

Chilton (2004) explained that language and politics are connected in a fundamental way. Though the text appears much more reflecting social issues; what underlies it reflects political ideologies that the English man should be aware of. Another motive for tackling this play is that the text is written during the war on Iraq in 2003. He bound the everyday life with the remote war to attract the English man’s attention to mediate Iraqis’ suffering under the war and oppose it. He attempted to pull the attention to the unusual method that is utilized by Crimp to convey his political ideologies. The paper presents an analysis of a dramatic discourse in order to unveil the nature of the hidden political ideologies behind it as mentioned earlier using one of CDA frameworks

Theoretical Background

Methodology of the Study

Conclusion