On Figures Of Analogy In The Merchant Of Venice And Their Chinese Translations From The Perspective Of Conceptual Blending Theory

Analogy is a single figure of speech in Chinese rhetorical system, including personification and zoosemy. To be specific, personification in western rhetorical system is singled out. As for zoosemy, according to Chen Wangdao (1997:119), it is included in metaphor. This difference comes from the different classifications of the rhetorical system between Chinese and English. However, analogy and metaphor are essentially different in the following three aspects:in the form, analogical objects are absent in the figure of analogy while metaphorical objects always appear in simile; from the perspective of cognitive analysis, metaphor is a kind of static mapping of thinking or psychological projection which happens between the source domain and the target domain; while figures of analogy mean that one thing is given the features of the other thing and possesses its function as well, whose projections cover multiple spaces including two input spaces, generic space and blending space; on the discussion of the rhetorical function, figures of analogy have rhetorical, artistic and cognitive functions and it can be used to express the authors’ feelings and the themes of play vividly and attractively with beautiful and convincing expressions.Rhetorical devices are widely used in the plays created by Shakespeare. The Merchant of Venice, a representative work of transition from comedy to tragedy, is a famous comedy with tragic feature. It has been studied from aspects of culture and language both at home and abroad and the characteristics of the language include personalization, comedy and de-familiarization. This play has also been analyzed from the rhetorical perspective, but it is hardly discussed about rhetorical function and translation.Based on the current research, this thesis classifies the figures of analogy in The Merchant of Venice into three types:verbal figures of analogy, nominal figures of analogy and adjective figures of analogy, according to the syntactic features and integrated with the methods of metaphor classifications by Shu Dingfang (2000). From the perspective of cognitive, verbal speeches are blended into single-scope networks and another two groups are formed multiple-scope networks. The application in the Merchant of Venice has three kinds of functions: the rhetorical, artistic and cognitive functions. By comparing the translations of Liang Shiqiu, Zhu Shenghao, Fang Ping, Cao Weifeng and Gu Zhongyi with the theory of Conceptual Blending Theory, the translating process of the figures of analogy can be considered as consisting of two processes, one is de-integration and the other is translating integration; and according to different networks of translating, translation strategies can be summarized as simple mapping literal translation and complex mapping free translation. By the former translating methods, original style can be maintained, which benefits the transmission of cultural factors. Readers’ comprehension and acceptance about source text are facilitated with the understanding of translators and characteristics of target language by the latter method. These two translating methods are complementary which will be properly chosen in accordance with translating purposes. The analysis of translating strategies from cognitive perspective makes readers clearly know the translating process and have a comprehensive understanding of the source text.