The Cognitive Study On Translation Of Sexual Metaphors In Othello By Zhu And Liang

As a tragic play with conflicts of humanity,power and love,sexual metaphor in Othello tops over Shakespearean plays,which is exploited to depict characters,enrich the plot,arouse readers’ sympathies and portray its profound humanistic tragedy.Current studies on sexual metaphor in Othello are rarely made from the perspective of cognitive linguistics,and few focuses on its humanistic representation from metaphorical translation.In light of conceptual metaphor theory,sexual metaphors in the play are classified to different spheres in terms of racial,gender and marital system according to conflicts,from which humanism is conveyed.Besides,with the comparison of metaphor translation by Zhu and Liang,their differences on the humanistic representation and theatrical effect can be discovered,hence their translation strategies explored.The research questions are:(1)What’s the function of sexual metaphor in Othello?(2)What are two translators’strategies when translating sexual metaphor?(3)Whose translation can better convey the profound motif of the original text?The conclusions are:(1)Sexual metaphor in Othello maps to social reality that reflects the phenomena of racial discrimination,political administration and marital ethics.(2)Images in sexual metaphor are generally reserved by Liang,while substituted or deleted by Zhu.Moreover,based on sampling survey,(3)Zhu’s version is more popular among Chinese readers which is understandable,fluent and elegant.However,Liang’s version largely keeps the connotations of sexual metaphors that better represent humanism and more profoundly convey the motif of the original text.