A Study Of Cao Yu’s Translation Of Romeo And Juliet From The Perspective Of Skopostheorie

Hans J. Vermeer’s Skopostheorie is the core of functionalist translation theory and it refers to the theory which applies the notion of Skopos to translation. There are three important rules in Skopostheorie, namely, the Skopos rule, the coherence rule and the fidelity rule. There exists a rank about the importance of three rules. The most important rule is the Skopos rule and the translator should consider the Skopos rule firstly when he or she conducts translation practice. The coherence rule is superior to the fidelity rule, and both of them should be subordinate to the Skopos rule.In1942, at the request of a professional troupe in Chengdu, Cao Yu translated the masterpiece of Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet for stage performance. Cao Yu’s translation version of Romeo and Juliet is for sure intended for performing, which not only puts emphasis on language but also takes other factors into consideration including stage effect, audiences’ reaction, the psychological activity of audiences and etc. He spent one year working hard to arrive at an appropriate translation version for stage performance which was popularly-accepted among ordinary Chinese people.This thesis is a study of Mr. Cao’s translation version. There are six parts in the thesis."Introduction" introduces the research background, research purpose, research questions and research significance. The first research question is "how Skopos rule, coherence rule and fidelity rule are applied to Cao Yu’s translation of Romeo and Juliet. The second research question is what principles can be adhered to in drama translation based on Cao Yu’s translation practice under the guidance of Skopostheorie. The first chapter focuses on previous studies on the translation of Romeo and Juliet and their limitations. The second chapter is intended to give a detailed introduction of the theoretical framework, namely Skopostheorie. The third chapter is case study which analyzes Cao Yu’s version of Romeo and Juliet under the guidance of Skopostheorie from its three rules. Under the guidance of the Skopos rule, this thesis analyzes the translation of colloquial language, stage directions, psychological state expressions and culture-loaded words. Under the guidance of the coherence rule, the study analyzes the translation of idioms, people’s names and terms of address. Under the guidance of the fidelity rule, this thesis analyzes the translation of rhetorical language and interjections. Based on the thorough analysis in Chapter three, the fourth chapter summarizes two important principles of drama translation. The first one is about performability and the second one is about intelligibility of the script. The final part "Conclusion" aims at pointing out significant findings, limitations and implications of this case study.