On The Handling Of Images In The Chinese Translation Of Shakespearean Plays

Shakespearean plays, written in the form of blank verse, have the characteristics of both drama and poetry. Images abound in each play of Shakespeare. These images, which are of great variety and reflect the wisdom of Shakespeare, can add vividness to the lines and convey the theme and emotion of the plays. Meanwhile, endless association and aesthetic feeling could be aroused in readers by the images. Therefore, the handling of images has significant impact on the quality of the translated versions of Shakespearean plays and forms a subject deserving careful study.Due to the existence of linguistic and cultural differences between English and Chinese and the two peoples, different images would be selected and given distinct cultural information. The language and culture of Shakespeare's time endowed the images with comparatively fixed and specific connotations that simultaneously bring certain difficulties to translating them into Chinese. However, the gap is not impossible to bridge. Besides differences, there are also similarities between different peoples. Good translators can succeed in transferring Shakespearean images via diverse measures.This thesis mainly focuses on Zhu Shenghao's Chinese version of the Four Tragedies that Chinese readers are familiar with. Sufficient examples are chosen to illustrate his principles of retaining the original "flavor" and the ways in which his purpose of translating Shakespearean plays and his poetic talent influence his translation of Shakespearean imagery. Then, his four measures of handling Shakespearean imagery are discussed, namely preserving, substituting, omitting and amplifying the images.Shakespearean images are endowed with profound cultural and aesthetic connotations. Therefore, to a large extent, whether or not the TL readers could get similar aesthetic enjoyment as the SL readers depends on how the translator transfers these images. The connotation should be preserved as much as possible. However, in order to avoid misunderstanding and enhance readability, the translator can also adopt appropriate measures in different situations.