Translation Norms As An Explanatory Tool On Translator's Subjectivity-A Case Study Of Zhu Shenghao's Translation Of Shakespeare's Plays

Translation is an activity that is affected by many factors due to its social and cultural features. During the course of translation, a translator may subject him-/herself either to the original text and its norms or to the target culture and norms in it. Jiri Levy, who first introduced the notion "norm" into translatology, said that translation is a decision-making process on the part of the translator that intentionally makes choices in text selection, deletions and additions, displacement and segmentation, etc., which provides translators large space for creation and makes it possible for them to display his/her subjectivity in translation; however, the translator is bound by the alleged norms meantime.This thesis is composed of four parts. Introduction gives a brief clarification of background, purpose and scope of the study. Then the first part reviews the definition of translation norms, its features and the classification on the basis of leading theorists' research in this field. Then the author carries out an analysis of the relationship between translation and translation norms which lead to the translator's subjectivity. Next, the thesis goes on to make a case study of Zhu Shenghao's translation of Shakespeare's plays. Combined with the times when the Shakespeare's plays were translated, this essay examines the causes why the vulgar and obscene expressions were not faithfully translated with the exploration of the translator's purpose, strategies and the impact exerted on him by translation norms, namely preliminary norms, initial norms and operational norms. At last, though the Shakespeare's plays translated by Zhu Shenghao achieved great success in terms of expectancy norms and reception aesthetics, re-translation becomes a necessity due to socio-cultural specificity and instability of translation norms.