Cover not available

Article published In: Translation and Interpreting Studies
Vol. 9:2 (2014) ► pp.239–256

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

A cross-cultural study of metaphoric imagery in Shakespeare’s Macbeth

Published online: 28 November 2014
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/tis.9.2.05gha
Metaphor is an important literary device, and its translation poses the challenge of switching between different cultural, conceptual, and linguistic frames of reference. This study uses cross-cultural comparison to investigate the metaphoric imagery used in six translations of Shakespeare’s Macbeth into three languages: French, Italian, and Persian. To accomplish the aims of the study, metaphoric images in this play were identified in the source and target texts and then subjected to comparative analysis using Newmark’s categorization of strategies for translating metaphors. After analyzing the translations in the above-mentioned languages, it became apparent that all the translators, including the two Persian translators, tended to retain the same metaphoric images as in the source text. This is somewhat surprising given the greater linguistic and cultural distance between English and Persian. The findings suggest that the literal treatment of metaphors — and not their explicitation — may be a translation universal, at least in regard to canonical texts.
References (22)
Alvarez, Antonia. 1993. “On Translating Metaphor.” Meta 38 (3): 479–490. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ashouri, Darius. 1992. Translation of Macbeth into Persian. Tehran: Agah Publishing House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ahmadi, Abdolkarim. 1957. Macbeth into Persian. Tehran: Andisheh Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barcelona Sánchez, Antonio. 1997. “Clarifying and Applying the Notions of Metaphor and Metonymy within Cognitive Linguistics.” Atlantis 19 (1): 21–48.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Charteris-Black, Jonathan, and Timothy. Ennis. 2001. “A Comparative Study of Metaphor in Spanish and English Financial Reporting.” English for Specific Purposes 20 (3): 249–266. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dagut, Menachem. 1976. “Can Metaphor be Translated?” Babel 12 (1): 21–33. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dobrzynska, Teresa. 1995 “Translating Metaphor: Problems of Meaning.” Journal of Pragmatics 24 (6): 595–604. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Forceville, Charles. 2005. “Visual Representations of the Idealized Cognitive Model of Anger in the Asterix Album La Zizanie.” Journal of Pragmatics 37 (1): 69–88. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fritz, Gerd. 1998. HistorischeSemantik [Historical semantics]. Stuttgart and Weimar, Germany: Metzler.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fuertes Olivera, P.A. 1998.“Metaphor and Translation: A Case Study in the Field of Economics.” In La traducción: orientaciones lingüísticas y culturales, ed. by Purification Nistal Fernández, and J.M. Bravo Gozalo 56 (2), 79–95. Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid, Servicio de Apoyo a la enseñanza.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fuertes Olivera, Pedro A., and Isabel Pizarro-Sánchez. 2002. “Translation and ‘Similarity-creating Metaphors’ in Specialised Languages.” Target 14 (1): 43–73. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gentzler, Edwin. 2000. “Translating Metaphor: Beyond the Western Tradition.” In Beyond the Western Tradition, ed. by Marilyn Gaddis Rose, 11–24. Binghamton: State University Press of New York.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halliday, Michael Alexander Kirkwood. 1985. An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London, Baltimore and Melbourne: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hugo, François V. 1880. Shakespeare en Français Texte Intégrale. Paris: Gründ Publishing House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ibarretxe-Antuñano, I., and Brigette Nerlich. 2000. “Review of Metáfora y Conocimiento. Pedro José ChamizoDomínguez, Málaga, Spain: Analecta Malacitana, 1998.” Metaphor and Symbol 15 (1): 109–116. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kövecses, Zoltán. 2002. Metaphor: A Practical Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. 1980. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Newmark, Peter. 1988. A Textbook of Translation. New York: Prentice-Hall International Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Praz, Mario. 1965. Shakespeare Tutte le Opere. Trans. Mario Praz. Florence: Sansoni.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Raponi, Goffredo. 1960. Traduzione di Macbeth. London and Glasgow: Collins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van den Broek, Raymond. 1981. “The Limits of Translatability Exemplified by Metaphor Translation.” Poetics Today 2 (4): 73–87. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Spurgeon, Caroline. 1968. Shakespeare’s Imagery and What it Tells Us. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Liu, Yufeng & Dechao Li
2024. Multimodal metaphor (re)framing: a critical analysis of the promotional image of China’s Hubei Province in the post-pandemic era on new media. Social Semiotics 34:2 ► pp. 269 ff. DOI logo
Božović, Petar
2023. How should metaphors be rendered in audiovisual translation?. Translation and Interpreting Studies 18:3 ► pp. 471 ff. DOI logo
Chen, Meng-Lin
2019. A corpus-based study on imagery and symbolism in Goldblatt’s translation ofRed Sorghum. Babel. Revue internationale de la traduction / International Journal of Translation 65:3 ► pp. 399 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 6 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue