《麥克白》意象翻譯研究

閆俊華

河南省沈丘縣職業中等專業學校 河南沈丘 466300

1 Introduction

Macbeth is popular in China for many years and it continues to attract innumerable scholars and readers to explore.Shakespeare made use of rich images which reflect his distinct way of using the languages resources of his time and applying them to his own purposes.Therefore，Domestication and foreignization are two different yet functionally related strategies，and are more suitable to the translation of literary works.Zhu Shenghao，the first Chinese translator that attempted to translate The Complete Works of William Shakespeare，adopted domestication.Liang Shiqiu，who contributed most to the study of Shakespeare，translated Macbeth from the perspective of foreignization.

2 Translating the Images

2.1 Characteristics of the Images

Academic American Encyclopedia provides a definition of image as follows：

Derived from the Latin “Imago”，image is a representation of what is perceived – the registration on the mind of an object or scene.In literary criticism，the term may be thought of either as separate from words or as integral features of the verbal characterizations[1].

Indeed，image was advanced by Ezra Pound，as an“intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time”.Later，he expanded his definition to “a radiant node，cluster…a vortex from which and through which and into which，ideas are constantly rushing.” As for Imagism，he tried to correct misconceptions about imagist theory，It is a vortex or cluster of fused ideas and is endowed with energy.

Liu Miqing，a Chinese translation researcher，who wrote in the book Introduction to Translation Aesthetics that，image refers to an integration of emotion and objects，or the form of emotion in words，he regarded image as an integration of emotion and objects in his definition，which resembles the definition of Pound.

2.2 Image Translating Strategies

The very terms domestication and foreignization were first raised by Lawrence Venuti in his book The Translator’s Invisibility in1995.He borrowed the idea from a German philosopher and translator Friedrich Schleiermacher.In1813，Schleiermacher delivered a lecture named “On the Different Methods of Translating”，and he emphasized that there were two methods in translation，“Either the translator leaves the author in peace，as much as possible，and moves the reader toward him.Or he leaves the reader in peace，as much as possible，and moves the author toward him.” Venuti named the former foreignization and the latter domestication[2].

According to Schleiermacher’s idea，Lawrence Venuti defines domestication as “an ethnocentric reduction of the foreign text to the target-language cultural values，bringing the author back home”.Mark Shuttleworth and Moira Cowie，by adapting Venuti’s definition，define domestication as “a term used by Venuti to describe the translation strategy in which a transparent，fluent style is adopted in order to minimize the strangeness of the foreign text for the TL readers.”

A representative of domestication，Nida advocates functional equivalence and lays stress on reader’s response.In Nida's translation theory he emphasizes the equivalence which consists of stylistic equivalence，social-cultural equivalence and linguistic equivalence

3 A Comparison between Zhu’s and Liang’s Strategies

3.1 Zhu’s Domestication and Liang’s Foreignization

Of all Shakespeare’s tragedies，Macbeth is the most successful one for its richness in application of images.In Macbeth，there are more than40images，of which10are related to Chinese culture and based on human common experience.Mr.Zhu and Mr.Liang both translated these images from the perspective of foreignization.The following examples show such kind of translation of images[3]：

“As sparrows eagles，or the hare the lion.”

Zhu：要是麻雀能使怒鷹退卻，兔子能把雄獅嚇走。

Liang：像麻雀嚇蒼鷹，草兔嚇雄獅一般。

“As thick as hail Come post with post.”

Zhu：報信的人像冰雹一樣接踵而至。

Liang：捷報頻傳如冰雹。

Both translators assimilate the weak ones to sparrows and the hare，symbolize the stronger ones with eagles and the lion.They both preserved the original images，and adopted foreignization.

3.1.1Converting vs.Retaining

Zhu and Liang dealt with the other images in different ways.Generally speaking，the key point of Zhu Shenghao’s translation principle is to retain the spirit and flavor of the original as far as possible，but Liang adopted foreignization，retaining the original images.

The points can be seen from the following examples：

“I had thought to have let in some of all professions that go the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire.”

Zhu：我很想放進各色各樣的人來，讓他們經過酒池肉林，一直到刀山火海上去。

Liang：我很想放進各行的幾個人，凡是踏著薔薇之路，投到永劫之火的人，我本想放進來幾個。

Zhu domesticated the images of the source language，and changed them to similar images in Chinese，however，Liang adopted foreignization to show individual ideology and culture diversity.

“But in them nature’s copy’s not eternal.”

Zhu：可是他們并不是長生不死的

Liang：可是他們生命的契約也并不是永久的。

Zhu emphasized presenting the content in Shakespeare’s original work.On the contrary，Liang preserved both meaning and images，in order to show the beauty of Shakespeare’s drama and be faithful to the original work.

3.1.2Amplified vs.Faithful

Zhu adopted amplification，adding images to enhance vitality of the translated version and accorded with TL readers’imagination of culture.While，Liang adopted literal translation.For example：

“By many of these trains hath sought to win me into his power.”

Zhu：曾經派了許多說客來，想要把我誘進他的羅網。

Liang：用了許多這樣的詭計，想賺我回到他的勢力之下。

Liang simply adopted literal translation to be faithful to the content，however，Zhu used the noun“說客” and “羅網” to replace the source expression.

Therefore，we can conclude that Zhu translated Macbeth from the perspective of domestication，emphasizing TL readers’ needs of appreciation of beauty，and Liang adopted foreignization，emphasizing presenting the author’s disposition of appreciation of beauty.

3.2 Analysis of Zhu and Liang’s Respective Strategies

3.2.1Zhu’s Spiritual Resemblance

After the New Culture Movement which proposed to popularize modern Vernacular Chinese，many scholars，translators，and even playwrights set out to provide direct and complete translation of original Shakespearean plays that were normally adopted for stage performances and subsequently propelled spoken drama to maturity.Zhu Shenghao should be viewed as the representative during this period.

Zhu Shenghao was the first Chinese translator to attempt to translate The Complete Works of William Shakespeare and deserved particular mention.Between1935and1944，Zhu Shenghao translated thirty-one of Shakespeare’s plays，Until2000，Zhu’s work proved to be the prime version of The Complete Works of Shakespeare in mainland China and his translations have been the texts often used for stage performances.

When he had finished translating a paragraph，he would revise it in the readers’ shoes，and then read it aloud to check that the version reads smoothly.

Zhu Shenghao was well aware that translating Shakespeare is an undertaking filling a blank in Chinese culture.he stressed that Shakespeare’s drama explored human nature and touched the hearts of people.However，after comparing the existing translation of Shakespearean plays，he observed that there had been more cases of translators rendering ”rigid” translations of Shakespeare than of more careless work.

Then he further set the principle he tried to stick to：

“The ultimate guidance in my translation is to retain the spirit and flavor of the original as far as I possibly can.”

Zhu Shenghao’s attitude towards translation is quite serious and conscientious.in the preface，he could confidently say，“I feel that I have quite a good understanding of the spirit in the original plays[4].”

What’ s more，as in the words of Van Den Broeck，“unlike the translation of a novel，or a Poem，the duality inherent in the art of the theatre requires language to combine with spectacle，manifested through visual as well as acoustic images.”

3.2.2Liang’s Faithfulness

Liang once pointed out in his essay that a translation faithful but unsmooth was no better than the one fluent but unfaithful.According to Liang，a good translation should be one with sound unification of “faithfulness” and “smoothness”.Liang once said，“The first requirement for a translation should be the ‘readability’.If a translation was difficult to read and understand，what could it avail? It could only waste readers’time and energy”.Liang believes that a translation should be based on “faithfulness” and a sound unification of “faithfulness”and “smoothness” makes a good translation.Liang Shiqiu always gave his top priority to “faithfulness”and keptmeanings in his translations.

4 Conclusion

Images，as the essence of human wisdom and imagination，are endowed with profound cultural connotations and reflect the cognition of different peoples.How the images are handled in translation may both influences and reflects the quality of the version.

Domestication and foreignization，as a pair of translation strategies，are widely discussed at home and abroad.Domestication is more TL-oriented，and puts emphasis on the TL readers.Foreignization SL-oriented，and retains something of the foreignness of the original.

This paper presents its opinions after comparing two translated versions of Macbeth；the one by Zhu Shenghao mainly adopts domestication both in linguistic level and cultural level，while the other by Liang Shiqiu mainly adopts foreignization.Therefore，there’s no definite boundary between them，and translators need to make a right choice when they translate literary works.