A Cognitive Study Of Metaphor Translation In Shakespeare’s Four Tragedies

Shakespeare’s plays are the invaluable artistic treasures of human beings.In these works, the four tragedies(Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth) are the classics,which have attracted much attention of Chinese translators as well as scholars doing translation studies. Some scholars have already done research on the translation of rhetorical devices, especially the translation of metaphor used by Shakespeare, as metaphor is considered to be an important rhetorical device in these tragedies and also an essential aspect in the understanding and appreciation of the artistic value of the tragedies.But for a rather long time, the study of metaphor translation has been limited mainly to the rhetorical level. Cognitive study of metaphor translations in his plays remains a relatively new approach. This thesis uses Lakoff & Johnson’ conceptual metaphor theory as the theoretical basis and the Chinese translations of the four tragedies by Zhu Shenghao and Fang Ping as research materials. By comparing the two versions, this thesis attempts to do a more systematic cognitive study of the translations of metaphors used in the four tragedies. It is hoped to develop a new approach to the study of translation of the four plays and appreciation of their artistic values.The thesis consists of three parts. The first part serves as an introductory one, which shows the research background, research contents, research purpose and research significance of the thesis generally. The second part is the main body, which is further divided into four chapters. Chapter One is the theoretical background. It explains the key terms of conceptual metaphor theory proposed by Lakoff & Johnson and prepares the theoretical basis for the research. The following three chapters are the main body of the research, which conduct a systematic cognitive study of the translations of various metaphors in the four tragedies. The final part is the conclusion. There are two major findings. First, Zhu focuses more on conveying the original information in the source language, so he uses free translation more frequently, making his version brief and straightforward. However, Fang lays emphasis on keeping the rhetorical effect of theoriginal metaphor, so he employs literal translation in most cases. His version is more interesting and vivid. Although the two versions are different, both have great impact on the target readers understandings as well as the metaphor translation. Second, the cultural cognition often influences the choice of translation strategies, and is of special importance to metaphor translation. This study of metaphor translations in the four tragedies also offers new cognitive perspective to the understandings of literal translation vs. free translation, domestication vs. foreignization, cultural universality and differences in E-C translation of literature.