This thesis endeavors to analyze Zhu Shenghao’s translation of metaphors in Macbeth from the cognitive perspective。 In summary, the significance of the study has two points。 On one hand, this thesis lists the major cognitive metaphors in Macbeth。 And through comparing cognitive metaphors in the source text and their translation in Zhu Shenghao’s version of Macbeth, this  thesis summarizes the methods that Zhu Shenghao uses to deal with these cognitive metaphors。 On the

other hand, this thesis provides a new perspective for interpreting cognitive metaphors and their translation in other Shakespeare’s works, thus narrowing down the distance between readers and the author。

1。3 Structure of the Thesis

The thesis consists of five chapters。 The first chapter serves as an introduction, presenting the research background, significance of the study and the overall structure of the thesis。 It is followed by a review of related theories on cognitive metaphors and empirical research about metaphors and their translation in Shakespeare’s tragedies。 Chapter Three summarizes four major cognitive metaphors in Macbeth。 Chapter Four presents the translation analysis of each cognitive metaphor by discussing examples。 Chapter Five shows the major findings and the limitations of this research。

2 Literature Review

2。1 Research Object

As a distinguished playwright in British history, William Shakespeare is one of  the most famous dramatists all over the world in the history of literature。 Shakespeare’s major works include 37 plays, 155 sonnets and 2 poems of epic。文献综述

Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays。 At the beginning of the story, incited by the witches, encouraged by his wife, and driven by his own ambition, the brave general Macbeth murdered King Duncan and usurped the throne of Scotland。 He also killed Duncan’s bodyguard, Banquo and Macduff’s wife and child。 Because of the fear and distrust inside his own heart, Macbeth even ignored his wife’s death。 Macbeth’s brutal reign finally aroused people’s resistance。 At the end of the story, Macbeth was defeated by the army led by Duncan’s son and this crazy, cruel king was beheaded。

Zhu Shenghao is a famous translator of Shakespeare’s plays and has translated most of Shakespeare’s plays into Chinese。 Though there are many versions of Shakespeare’s plays, Zhu Shenghao’s version is by far the most complete one praised by many scholars。 Although Zhu Shenghao had never been studied in Europe or America, his version is by far the best one identified by many people。 Li (2009) holds that there are many reasons for Zhu Shenghao’s version to enjoy such a prominent position, such as solid foundation of the Chinese language and literature, excellent abilities of writing poems, flexible translation strategies as well as the thorough understanding of the original plays。 In conclusion, Zhu’s version has received a lot of praise from researchers both at home and abroad。

Metaphor is widely used in Macbeth, and Zhu Shenghao has a unique way to translate metaphors。 Current studies always regard the use of metaphor from the rhetorical perspective。 However, with the development of cognitive semantics, there has appeared a trend to interpret literature and its translation with the theories of cognitive linguistics。 Therefore,  analyzing metaphors in Macbeth and their translation in Zhu Shenghao’s version will be of academic value and realistic significance。

2。2 Cognitive Metaphor

As the founder of metaphorology, Aristotle explained in detail the concept of metaphor from the rhetorical perspective in his works Poetics and Rhetoric (Miao, 1990)。 However, as the system of cognitive science developed, cognitive linguistics appeared and flourished in the late 1970s (Yang, 2011)。 Therefore, the exploration of metaphor is no longer confined to the field of rhetoric or function, but rose to the cognitive level。 As early as 1689, from the cognitive perspective, John Locke proposed the theory similar to conceptual metaphors (Zhang, Zhen & Cao, 2015)。 Then, Immanuel Kant pointed out that as a conceptual idea, metaphors are mostly  gained indirectly (Zhang, Zhen & Cao, 2015)。 Cassirer put forward that the system of human knowledge is gradually formed based on the body experience, geographical space, and cognitive metaphors (Zhou, 2012)。 Blumenberg is the first scholar to present the name “Metaphorology” (Jakel & Kant, 1999)。 He argued that metaphors ought to be regarded from the cognitive perspective, because metaphors could help people understand the basic structure of cognition (Jakel & Kant, 1999)。 In 1980, Metaphors We Live By was published, which was the first academic works to regard metaphor as an important means of cognition and thoughts (Yang, 2011)。 In this book, Lakoff and Johnson put forward “Conceptual Metaphor” (Lakoff & Johnson, 2003, p。 7), which refers to understanding one idea, or conceptual domain, in terms of another (Lakoff & Johnson, 2003)。 Therefore, not only are metaphors the products of cognition, but also metaphors will contribute to the development of cognition (Yu, 2011)。 Based on the cognitive subject and specific context, metaphors are the systematic sets of correspondences that exist between constituent elements of the source domain and the target domain (Lakoff & Johnson, 2003)。