Study of the Language Structure of Tom Stoppard's Dogg's Hamlet, Cahoot's Macbeth Based on the Wittgenstein Language Game

Tom Stoppard is a British playwright who has written prolifically for TV¡ radio¡ film and stage. He became a famous figure in dramatic literature with plays such as Arcadia¡ The Coast of Utopia¡ Every Good Boy Deserves Favor¡ Professional Foul¡ The Real Thing¡ and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. In Dogg’s Hamlet¡ Cahoot’s Macbeth -two plays by Tom Stoppard¡ written to be performed together -written in 1980¡ Stoppard has incorporated linguistics with dramatic literature. As language-game is one of most important linguistics topics¡ Stoppard has applied it to find a new way for conveying meanings. Language-game is one of the Wittgenstein’s topics in his book¡ Philosophical Investigations. Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic¡ the philosophy of mathematics¡ the philosophy of mind¡ and the philosophy of language. Language-game is a philosophical concept developed by Ludwig Wittgenstein and Friedrich Waismann¡ referring to simple examples of language use and the actions into which the language is woven. In Philosophical Investigations¡ Wittgenstein has argued that concepts do not need to be clearly defined meaningfully. Accordingly¡ in Dogg’s Hamlet and Cahoot’s Macbeth¡ Stoppard used Shakespearian texts in his own plays and then developed Wittgenstein’s language game theory based on people diary activities. He put his audience to interface new language named Dogg that apparently is English¡ but its meanings are different. In first play¡ audience learns Dogg language based on Wittgenstein’s theory. “Meaning in use” is another theory that Stoppard used in second play. In an illustrative passage in Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations¡ which plays out in the play¡ a builder¡ A¡ is building something using differently shaped building stones. As A calls out “slab!” “block!” “pillar!” or “beam”¡ the appropriate stones are brought to him by his assistant¡ B. An observer might assume that the words name the objects¡ but Wittgenstein suggests another interpretation: the co-worker already knows what pieces to toss and in what order¡ but the words are rather signals that A is ready for the next piece. Wittgenstein also suggests a scenario in which one worker understands the words to mean the shapes of the wood and the other understands the words as the signification of readiness. In other words¡ the two workers speak different languages without being aware of this fact. In Cahoot’s Macbeth¡ after entering the Inspector character¡ Players continue the play in Dogg language- that already audience can recognize it. According to language game theory¡ Stoppard has succeeded to show there is no private language and only power can win against power. In this paper¡ it is shown that audience can learn the meanings of words as “Meaning in use” and it is possible in any other paly. In his play¡ it should be noted that¡ Tom Stoppard is creating series of rules in the field of language and presenting a new language to audience. He makes the audience familiar with the rules of the language game effects.