Synonyms In The Merchant Of Venice And Their Translation From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence Theory

Because of fantastic language charm, interesting plot and impressive images of the characters, the drama of Shakespeare undergoes hundreds of years and wins high reputation both at home and abroad. Dramas of Shakespeare is of great significance in literature. And the synonym is one of the language features of Shakespear’s works. Moreover, it is a relatively new perspective to study synonyms and their translations in the study of Shakespeare’s works. Therefore, this paper chooses The Merchant of Venice as language source.Synonyms are used more frequently in English rather than in Chinese. The definition of Synonyms is mainly focused on the idea of "similar or same meaning". This paper analyzes the classifications, differences and functions of synonyms. The classifications of synonyms could be devided as:perfect synonyms, partial synonyms and temporary synonyms. This kind of classification generates sifferences of synonyms, namely, intensity or coverage, collocational objects, meaning emphasis and emotional meaning. Differences of synonyms result in the functions of synonyms. It would be helpful to understand the differences and functions of synonyms based on The Merchant of Venice. In addition, it would also assist the translators to translate in a more appropriate way.This paper adopts the translated works of Liang Shiqiu, Zhu Shenghao, Fang Ping and Cao Weifeng. From the perspective of Functional Equivalence Theory, the writer tries to compare and give some comments on their works. The Functional Equivalence Theory is of great importance is promoting the development of western translation theories in that it not only inherits the traditional criterion, but also creatively puts forward the standard of evaluating the response of original readers and readers of translated works, as well as the difference of their responses. This is in accordance with the feature of drama, a special literature form. Apart from that, the writer suggests four translation strategies of synonyms:translating synonyms into single Chinese synonyms, translating single English synonyms into Chinese, translating English synonyms into repetition in Chinese, translating into four-word structure. These suggestions and the ideas of this paper could provide some new thinkings on the translation of synonyms and some new perspectives of studying and appreciating The Merchant of Venice.