When Hamlet Meets Childrens' Literature in Taiwan

• Main Authors: TSAI,MING-YING, 蔡明穎
• Other Authors: HU,KUNG-TZE
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/37827837262664801283

碩士 === 輔仁大學 === 翻譯學研究所 === 98 === Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most celebrated play, and its splendor only increases with the passage of time. The serious debates about life/death, sin/retribution, revenge/forgiveness and the complicated and enigmatic personality of the protagonist have mesmerized scholars worldwide and provoked intense research discussions and debates. Over the decades, translators have made various attempts to maintain Hamlet’s beauty in its original form, and as a world classic, Hamlet even enters into the realm of English teaching and children’s literature. Using Itamar Even-Zohar’s polysystem theory as a base, this thesis aims to adopt Zohar Shavit’s theory of five categories of children’s literature translation to analyze nine children’s versions of Hamlet published in Taiwan, the addition/deletion/modification strategies used by translators and the reasons of using them. It is discovered that the children’s versions have a tendency to beautify the image of the protagonist, rationalize unclear sections, and revise or tone down plots that are deemed unsuitable for children, creating a unique but discrepant text when compared to the original one. The thesis then summarizes the translation/adaptation strategies of the nine versions analyzed, compares the difference between Chinese and Western versions, and provides recommendations for future translation/adaptation strategies.