Научно-исследовательская работа "Сравнительный анализ переводов монолога Гамлета на русский язык"

МОНОЛОГ ГАМЛЕТА В ПЕРЕВОДАХ

Б. ПАСТЕРНАКА И М. ЛОЗИНСКОГО.

Plan

1. Introduction.

2. Two translations of the monologue.

1. B. Pasternak’s translation.

2. M. Lozinsky’s translation.

1. Conclusion.

IV. List of the used literature.

“Hamlet” has attracted the greatest attention out of the number of plays written by William Shakespeare. And the monologue “To be, or not to be” is a small work in which Hamlet’s inner life, the struggle, which takes place in Hamlet’s soul longing for lost ideas, has been disclosed.

There are many translations of “Hamlet”. Among them the translations of M. Vronchenko, N. Polevoy, A. Sokolovsky, P. Gnedich, A. Radlova. But the translations by B. Pasternak and M. Lozinsky are the most famous ones.

What does the monologue represent? It is a struggle between good and evil, it is a story about a strong person who wants to love, but who has to hate, who is alone and who worries about the misunderstanding and mercilessness of life.

We shall consider here only two translations: by B. Pasternak and M. Lozinsky.

Here is the English text written by William Shakespeare.

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.

Now let us consider the translation of this monologue made by B. Pasternak. Here it is:

Быть или не быть, вот в чем вопрос. Достойно ль

Смиряться под ударами судьбы,

Иль надо оказать сопротивленье

И в смертной схватке с целым морем бед

Покончить с ними? Умереть. Забыться.

И знать, что этим обрываешь цепь

Сердечных мук и тысячи лишений,

Присущих телу. Это ли не цель

Желанная? Скончаться. Сном забыться.

Уснуть... и видеть сны? Вот и ответ.

Какие сны в том смертном сне приснятся,

Когда покров земного чувства снят?

Вот в чем разгадка. Вот что удлиняет

Несчастьям нашим жизнь на столько лет.

А то кто снес бы униженья века,

Неправду угнетателей, вельмож

Заносчивость, отринутое чувство,

Нескорый суд и более всего

Насмешки недостойных над достойным,

Когда так просто сводит все концы

Удар кинжала! Кто бы согласился,

Кряхтя, под ношей жизненной плестись,

Когда бы неизвестность после смерти,

Боязнь страны, откуда ни один

Не возвращался, не склоняла воли

Мириться лучше со знакомым злом,

Чем бегством к незнакомому стремиться!

Так всех нас в трусов превращает мысль,

И вянет, как цветок, решимость наша

В бесплодье умственного тупика,

Так погибают замыслы с размахом,

В начале обещавшие успех,

От долгих отлагательств.

It is a wonderful translation, but I think that it is a very ponderous. It is rather exact, but it is not devoid of shortcomings.

Excluding from the text all the auxiliary words I counted 116 words in the text. Among them 33 words are translated into Russian with the help of lexical equivalents.

In some cases the application of full lexical equivalents is accompanied by grammatical transformations.

English nouns are replaced by Russian adjectives:

“in that sleep of death” – “в том смертном сне”;

“under a weary life” – “под ношей жизненной”.

English infinitives are replaced by Russian verbal adverbs:

“to grunt” – “кряхтя”.

The English Present Indefinite Tense is replaced by the Russian Past Tense:

“no traveller returns” – “откуда ни один не возвращался”,

“puzzles the will” – “не склоняла воли”.

Here full lexical equivalents are:

“to be, or not to be” – “быть или не быть”;

“that is the question” – “вот в чем вопрос”;

“a sea of troubles” – “с морем бед”;

“end them” – "покончить с ними”;

“to die” – “умереть”;

“thousand” – “тысячи”;

“to be wish’d” – “желанная”;

“to sleep” – “сном забыться”;

“to dream” – “видеть сны”;

“who would bear” –“кто бы снес”;

“oppressor’s wrong” – “неправду угнетателя”;

“the law’s delay” – “нескорый суд”;

“unworthy” – “недостойных”;

“bodkin” – “кинжал”;

“after death” – "после смерти”;

“dread” – “боязнь”;

“country” – “страны”;

“cowards” – “в трусов”;

“resolution” – “решимость”.

Partial lexical equivalents make up 25 words. They are:

“Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” – “Достойно ль

Смиряться под ударами судьбы”.

This phrase loses its strength in B. Pasternak’s translation. Shakespeare talks about nobility, selflessness, but not about dignity.

“to sleep” – “забыться”;

“heartache” – “сердечных мук”;

“that flesh is heir to” – “присущих телу”;

“a consummation “ – “цель”;

“have shuffled off” – “снят”;

“ ‘coil” – "покров”;

“scorns of time” – “униженья века”;

“insolence of office” – “вельмож заносчивость”;

“pangs of disprized love” – “отринутое чувство”;

“And makes us rather bear those ills we have” – “Мириться лучше со знакомым злом”;

“conscience” – “мысль”;

“is sicklied” – “вянет”;

“enterprises of great pitch” – “замыслы с размахом”.

B. Pasternak also could omit, add or substitute words.

Omissions of words:

“The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” – "под ударами судьбы”

But Hamlet considers fortune to be outrageous, cruel, vicious, and Pasternak omits this fact.

“the proud man’s contumely” – презренье гордеца. The phrase is omitted to reduce a wordy filling of the strophes.

B. Pasternak ennobles Hamlet omitting the word “to sweat” (потеть).

“the dread of something after death, the undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns” – “боязнь страны, откуда ни один не возвращался”. Here Pasternak omits the traveller’s image which is very striking for that time, the time of travellers and pilgrims, and Hamlet considers himself to be a wanderer who roams about the country, sees all the injustice of the world and worries that he cannot reform anything.

Addition:

“И вянет, как цветок, решимость наша”. But W. Shakespeare has not such a comparison. I think that Pasternak uses it to make the phrase stronger.

Substitute:

“we have shuffled off the mortal coil” – “когда покров земного чувства снят.” Here Shakespeare’s Hamlet talks about a human body, which keeps in a soul, does not give it freedom, an eternal peace which a soul finds after death of the cover. But nobody knows what a soul finds after death. And B. Pasternak thinks that the feelings die with the death of the body, that there is nothing after death.

Then, Pasternak’s loses the strength of the final words of the monologue:

And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. И вянет, как цветок, решимость наша

В бесплодье умственного тупика,

Так погибают замыслы с размахом,

В начале обещавшие успех,

От долгих отлагательств.

The end of the monologue is not so expressive as it is in the original. In Pasternak’s translation great intentions perish from long delay, but Shakespeare means that great intentions change their direction and “lose the name of action” because of fear of death.

On the whole, B. Pasternak preserves the structure of the sentences of the monologue. In Pasternak’s translation there are many impersonal sentences as in the original. The difference is that some of them form compound and complex sentences. For example, “Умереть. Забыться.” – “To die,- to sleep,- no more.”

Now let us consider the translation of the monologue made by M. Lozinskey. Here it is:

...Быть или не быть - таков вопрос;
Что благородней духом - покоряться
Пращам и стрелам яростной судьбы
Иль, ополчась на море смут, сразить их
Противоборством? Умереть, уснуть -
И только; и сказать, что сном кончаешь
Тоску и тысячу природных мук,
Наследье плоти, - как такой развязки
Не жаждать? Умереть, уснуть. - Уснуть!
И видеть сны, быть может? Вот в чем трудность;
Какие сны приснятся в смертном сне,
Когда мы сбросим этот бренный шум, -
Вот что сбивает нас; вот где причина
Того, что бедствия так долговечны;
Кто снес бы плети и глумленье века,
Гнет сильного, насмешку гордеца,
Боль презренной любви, судей медливость,
Заносчивость властей и оскорбленья,
Чинимые безропотной заслуге,
Когда б он сам мог дать себе расчет
Простым кинжалом? Кто бы плелся с ношей,
Чтоб охать и потеть под нудной жизнью,
Когда бы страх чего-то после смерти -
Безвестный край, откуда нет возврата
Земным скитальцам, - волю не смущал,
Внушая нам терпеть невзгоды наши
И не спешить к другим, от нас сокрытым?
Так трусами нас делает раздумье,
И так решимости природный цвет
Хиреет под налетом мысли бледным,
И начинанья, взнесшиеся мощно,
Сворачивая в сторону свой ход,
Теряют имя действия.

When we speak about the translation of Shakespeare’s works observance of the principle of equilinearity is necessary. M. Lozinskey, trying to solve this difficult task, uses a number of methods and obtains full equilinearity. Everybody, who has read the Russian translation of Hamlet’s monologue made by M. Lozinskey and compared it with the original, is shocked by the accuracy of the translation, its striking proximity to the original.

Excluding from the text all the auxiliary words I counted 116 words in the text. Among them 47 words are translated into Russian with the help of lexical equivalents.

In some cases application of the full lexical equivalents is accompanied by the grammatical transformations.

The English noun is replaced by the Russian adjective:

“in that sleep of death” – “в том смертном сне”;

the English verb is replaced by the Russian noun:

“no traveller returns” – “нет возврата земным скитальцам”;

the English Present Indefinite Tense is replaced by the Russian Past Indefinite Tense:

“puzzles the will” – “волю не смущал”

Partial lexical equivalents make up 36 words. Among them:

“in the mind to suffer” – “покоряться”;

“outrageous fortune” – “яростной судьбы”;

“to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them?” – “ополчась на море смут, сразить их противоборством”;

“and by a sleep to say we end the heart-ache” – “и сказать, что сном кончаешь
тоску”.

But “heart-ache” is not depression. Hamlet is not depressed, he suffers from the unjustice, imperfection of the world, from his own weakness to change everything.

“’tis a consummation” – “такой развязки”;

“this mortal coil” – “бренный шум”;

“scorns of time” – “глумленье века”;

“oppressor’s wrong” – “гнет сильного”;

“the proud man’s contumely” – “насмешку гордеца”;

“the pangs of dispraised love ” – “боль презренной любви”;

“the insolence of office” – “заносчивость властей”;

“undiscover’d country” – “безвестный край”;

“traveller” – “скитальцам”;

“puzzles” – “смущал”;

“And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?” –

“Внушая нам терпеть невзгоды наши
И не спешить к другим, от нас сокрытым?”

Like B. Pasternak M. Lozinskey has additions of words and omissions.

“’tis a consummation devoutly to be wish’d” – “как такой развязки не жаждать?”

Here the word “devoutly” (серьезно, искренне) is omitted but the strength of the phrase does not weaken. M. Lozinskey achieves that using the word “жаждать”.

And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
И начинанья, взнесшиеся мощно,
Сворачивая в сторону свой ход

“With this regard” (из-за этого, относительно этого) is superfluous in the translation as its meaning is clear from the context.

“No traveller returns” – “нет возврата земным скитальцам”.

Here we have an addition. It is justified because, for one thing, in “Hamlet” we have a traveller from the other world, and for another Lozinskey’s Hamlet using the word “земной” opposes the short life to the eternal sleep, to the death.

M. Lozinskey’s translation is rather modern in spite of some words which have become obsolete: “медливость”, “взнесшиеся”, “сокрытый”, “чинимые”. But these words are used to show us Shakespeare’s kanguage.

Well, such are the two greatest Russian translations of Shakespeare’s work. One of the reasons for the high degree of adequacy of B. Pasternak’s and M. Lozinskey’s translations is a great number of the lexical equivalents. The usage of omissions, additions, substitutes does not change the sense of the text. B. Pasternak and M. Lozinskey bring to the readers Hamlet’s image just such as Shakespeare conceived him. We see a humanist-thinker of that epoch, who tries to fight against the falsehood of the surrounding world and who sharply feels his own weakness. The two translators pass rightly the thought of the value of life which was said by Hamlet. They succeeded in passing Shakespeare’s text without any essential distortion.

Texts investigated:

1. Shakespeare W. Two Tragedies. – M.: Vysṧaya Ṧkola, 1985- 284 p.

2. Хрестоматия по зарубежной литературе. – М.: Просвещение, 1972. – 605 с.

3. Шекспир В. Трагедии. – М.: Детская литература, 1964. – 484 с.

List of the used literature:

1. Бархударов Л. С. О лексических соответствиях в поэтическом переводе// Тетради переводчика, № 2 – М.: Международные отношения, 1964. – с.41-60

2. Дранов А. Монолог Гамлета «Быть или не быть». Русские переводы19 в.// Тетради переводчика № 6 – М.: Международные отношения, 1969.- с. 32-51

3. Маулер Ф. И. Некоторые способы достижения эквилинеарности// Тетради переводчика, № 13 – М.: Международные отношения, 1976. – с.13-21

4. Федоров А.В. Введение в теорию перевода. – М.: Издательство литературы на иностранных языках, 1953. – 335 с.