| The author of this thesis intends to research into a less-touched field—translation of Shakespeare's wordplay, because Shakespeare is famous for his abundant wordplays, which have different poetic values such as: help to build up the theme, characterize both lower and high characters, create rich imageries, and arouse laughter, etc. Though wordplay is always considered as typical examples for untranslatability, Derrida's deconstructural idea helps understand that wordplay, even as a signature of language, must have a repeatable, iterable and imitable form(quoted in Davis, 2004). With proper compensation means, wordplay translation can achieve successful effects.This thesis firstly introduces the definition and characteristics of wordplay. From the linguistic perspective, wordplay has metalingual function, referring to certain linguistic system in a language. Meanwhile, wordplay as the deviation from the linguistic norms has poetic function. Wordplay also belongs to positive rhetoric, aiming to impress the reader. So the translation of wordplay is vital for the quality of translation. Then this thesis discusses eight categories of compensation: compensation by integration, compensation by isolation, compensation with the same device, compensation with a different device, compensation in a parallel location, compensation in a displaced position, synchronous compensation and compensation in difference. Four principles of compensation are mentioned to evaluate Cao Yu and Zhu Shenghao's translation of Romeo and Juliet. Lastly, this thesis focuses on the poetic value of wordplay, and analyzes the compensation of the "love theme wordplay", "image wordplay" and "wordplay depicting vivid characters". It has been found that the following compensation means are often employed: compensation by integration, compensation with a different device, compensation with the same device and etc. In conclusion, the usage of compensation means affects the poetic value of wordplay in translation.
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