A Study On Pun Translation In King Lear From The Perspective Of Relevance Theory

As one of the most commonly used rhetorical devices by Shakespeare,pun plays an important role in Shakespeare’s works.Only when the pun is properly handled,can the translator provide enough contextual effects for the TT readers and make them understand Shakespeare’s works better.There are abundant puns in King Lear,which brings great challenges to translators.Taking the original book King Lear as the blueprint and the translations by Peng Jingxi and Fu Guangming as the research corpus,the thesis makes a comparative study on pun translation in the two versions from the perspective of relevance theory.By analysing the translation strategies adopted by the two translators and their translation effects,this thesis attempts to prove the explanatory power and guiding role of relevance theory in pun translation,explore the possibility of translating Shakespeare’s puns and put forward some suggestions for future pun translation.Based on Delabastita’s theory of pun translation,this thesis classifies the puns in King Lear and the translation strategies adopted by the two translators,and makes a case study in terms of different translation strategies from the perspective of relevance theory.Through the comparison,it can be found that Peng is good at translating ST puns into TT puns or related rhetorical devices in order to reproduce the punning effects,while Fu relies more on the compensatory function of editorial means to make up for the missing punning effects after translating puns into non-punning phrases.Although both translators are striving to make the TT readers get the optimal relevance,there is still room for improvement in their treatment of puns.Under the guidance of relevance theory,this thesis suggests that translators should use puns or related rhetorical devices as much as possible to preserve the effect of puns in the original text.In the case that the effect of puns cannot be preserved,the translation can be compensated by editorial techniques such as footnotes.