The Image of Jews as Constructed by Lexical Items

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-212
Author(s):  
Xiu Gao
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
The Other ◽  
Western World ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The Face ◽  
Original Figure ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Target Culture ◽  
Social Backgrounds

Abstract In the Western world, Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is controversial due to its stereotypical description of Jews as evil and greedy. In China, the work was not widely known until its translations came out. This article deals with two Chinese renderings of Shakespeare’s classic, by Laura White (1914–1915) and Shiqiu Liang (2001/1936) respectively, which reconstruct the image of Shylock and Jews on the basis of the translators’ perceptions of the original figure, combining their identities and social backgrounds. In imagology, based on the ideas of Pageaux (1989/1994), the image of the ‘other’ can be analysed on three levels: lexical items, larger textual units, and plot. On the face of it, the image of the ‘other’ in translation can originate in either the source or target culture. However, the present article, which focuses on the lexical level, shows that there is a third possibility – a lexicon that blends two or more cultures.

The Image of Jews as Constructed by Lexical Items

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-212
Author(s):  
Xiu Gao
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
The Other ◽  
Western World ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The Face ◽  
Original Figure ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Target Culture ◽  
Social Backgrounds

In the Western world, Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is controversial due to its stereotypical description of Jews as evil and greedy. In China, the work was not widely known until its translations came out. This article deals with two Chinese renderings of Shakespeare’s classic, by Laura White (1914–1915) and Shiqiu Liang (2001/1936) respectively, which reconstruct the image of Shylock and Jews on the basis of the translators’ perceptions of the original figure, combining their identities and social backgrounds. In imagology, based on the ideas of Pageaux (1989/1994), the image of the ‘other’ can be analysed on three levels: lexical items, larger textual units, and plot. On the face of it, the image of the ‘other’ in translation can originate in either the source or target culture. However, the present article, which focuses on the lexical level, shows that there is a third possibility – a lexicon that blends two or more cultures.

The Textile Black Body

2016 ◽  
pp. 169-185
Author(s):  
Ian Smith
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Black Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Theatrical Representation ◽  
Black Man

In addition to cosmetic applications for early modern ‘blackface’ theatrical representation, the essay posits that performers used a variety of racial prostheses, most notably cloth and animal skins. In The Merchant of Venice, Morocco’s description of his own body as ‘shadowed livery’—that is, dyed cloth worn by a servant or apprentice—reveals a complex metatheatrical consciousness indebted to this prosthetic blackface tradition. Morocco’s identification with livery connects specifically to Lancelot, the other liveried character in the play whose servant uniform contextualizes Morocco’s corporal blackness as a sign of membership in a social underclass. The play’s mercantile ethos, reflecting John Wheeler’s assessment from A Treatise of Commerce that pervasive economic interests bring ‘all things into commerce’, creates the conditions for category violations: people are perceived as commodities, and none more insidiously than Morocco, the textile black man, read, in turn, as a powerful antecedent for post-Enlightenment constructions of race.

scholarly journals Deconstruction of the Construction: Derridean Study of Selected Shakespeare’s Comedies

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 90-120
Author(s):  
Seyyedeh Zahra Nozen ◽  
Pegah Sheikhalipour
Keyword(s):  
William Shakespeare ◽  
The Other ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Twelfth Night ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
As You Like It ◽  
Historical Figure ◽  
The One

Since it was first introduced by Jacques Derrida in the late 1960s, deconstruction, as a method of reading, has been applied to literary texts by critics to reveal the hidden messages of texts and provide opportunities to rethink textual and cultural norms and conventions. While the western tradition has always prioritized tragedy over comedy due to its elegance and graveness, this research tends to focus on comedy as an entity in itself. Tragedy, especially in the Shakespearean sense of the word, has been considered by critics as a “construction” that is well-wrought and perfect in nature. Comedy, on the other hand, is notable for laughing at the laughable and mocking the unfit. Put differently, there has always been a latent, freewheeling “deconstruction” within comedy, especially the Shakespearean. There is, thus, an attempt here to prove, on the one hand, how comedy can be put forth not as an inferior genre but as a supplement to tragedy and, on the other, how comedy moves toward deconstruction and how it tends to subvert or deconstruct the constructions. Investigating a selection of Shakespeare’s comedies including As You Like It, The Merchant of Venice, and Twelfth Night, this study compares and contrasts Shakespearean comedy in light of some Derridean concepts. Along with it, Shakespearean ideas and concepts which are interconnected with those of Derrida are introduced and are buttressed through some meticulously chosen excerpts. Bearing in mind that Derrida is in a habit of deconstructing the so-called established creeds, Shakespeare’s texts are exposed to a deconstructive reading to examine how deceptively simple ideas are dealt with in his selected comedies. Also, as numerous enigmas have for years revolved around the personality of William Shakespeare, this study also aims to take up certain critical idioms of the Derridean canon, elaborate on them and then relate them to the selected plays from the Shakespearean oeuvre in order to disclose some personal aspects of Shakespeare’s personality as a historical figure.

scholarly journals Religion and violence: Shutup Shylock!

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaco Beyers
Keyword(s):  
William Shakespeare ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Response ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Unique Identity ◽  
Religious Differences

Violence is not only because of religious differences. Violence is part of human nature. While expressing and living a unique identity, people may experience animosity from ‘the other’ in society. The natural human response upon infliction is retaliation. To this effect, the play of William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, is taken as an example of conflict in society because of social, financial and religious differences. From the plot in the play, it is deduced that violent actions beget violent responses. The Dutch philosopher, Hans Achterhuis, provides valuable information so as to provide perspectives on violence in society. Achterhuis suggests that instead of seeking the absence of violence in society, one should rather seek how to differ responsible and peaceful from one another. Violence cannot be ignored or eradicated. Violence can however be tamed by fighting with one another peacefully. Society is in need of volunteers who will act as powerful buffers between conflicting societies, thus preventing differences becoming reasons for violence.

The “Amboyna Massacre” of 1623

1960 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. K. Bassett
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Physical Condition ◽  
East India Company ◽  
The Other ◽  
Chief Factor ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Face ◽  
English East India Company

On 27 February, 1623, Gabriel Towerson, the chief factor or merchant of the English East India Company in Amboyna, was beheaded by command of the local Dutch governor, Herman van Speult. Nine other Englishmen, ten Japanese and one Portuguese shared Towerson's fate. The charges brought against these unfortunate men were that they planned to kill Speult and overwhelm the Dutch garrison of Fort Victoria as soon as an English ship appeared in the roadstead to support them. It is not the purpose of the present article to re-open the more controversial aspects of the Amboyna tragedy. Suffice it to say that the plausibility of the Dutch accusation has never commanded much respect in the estimate of British historians and it is unlikely that this attitude will change. On the other hand, there is every evidence to suggest that Speult, despite English suspicions to the contrary, was genuinely convinced that an English plot was afoot to overthrow his government. Normally the governor was a humane and reasonable man, who had received Towerson at his table on many occasions, and his bitterness at the strange turn of events in February, 1623, is very understandable. Dr. Stapel has recorded the reputed reply of Towerson to Speult when the latter upbraided him for thus abusing his hospitality and friendship: “Alas! If it were to beginne againe, it should never be done”. Is this the response of a man who knew he was innocent? asks Dr. Stapel. On the face of it, Towerson would appear to be condemned by his own words, but it must be remembered that his physical condition at that time was pitiful. He had firmly protested his innocence under prolonged and severe torture until his powers of endurance were broken, after which he sought relief, presumably, by telling the Dutch what they wanted to hear. In these circumstances, it is difficult to attach to Towerson's rather cryptic expression of repentance the importance it would otherwise deserve.

scholarly journals Encoding Heteronormativity in the Target Culture: Slovenian Translations of The Merchant of Venice

2012 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-158
Author(s):  
Vojko Gorjanc
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Cultural Environment ◽  
Classical Literature ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Standard Language ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Target Culture

This article discusses how linguistic and translation norms, as evident in dictionaries, enforce the ideology of heteronormativity in Slovenia. The aim of this paper is to show how translation norms concerning homoeroticism were shaped in the translation of classical literature in Slovenia in the twentieth century. Translation norms are shaped in a certain period of time and in a certain environment among translators and others involved in translation according to social and cultural circumstances, expectations, and adaptations of topics to these expectations, in which the translation contrasts the initial norms with the norms of the target culture. At the same time, the linguistic norms of the standard language are created as a result of speakers’ continuous adaptation to a social and cultural environment, as a result of adapting to the current social ideal. It is assumed that translations contributed to creating a model of heteronormativity, which continues to characterize the Slovenian community today because of the limited number of new translations of classical works of literature. The paper concludes with a brief analysis of evidence of homosexuality in Slovenian translations of Shakespeare’sThe Merchant of Venice.

Competing Intellectual Currents within Modern Turkish Conservatism: The Bergsonian Connection

DIYÂR ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-253
Author(s):  
Mustafa Aslan
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
European History ◽  
The Other ◽  
Critical Juncture ◽  
Turkish Republic ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Intellectual Traditions ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Modern Turkey

The philosophy of Henri Bergson (1859-1941) emerged during a critical juncture of European history as a reaction to the predominance of Enlightenment rationalism and positivism. Essentially, it strived to contest the peculiar convictions of these intellectual traditions and reintroduce the primacy of creativity, transcendence and human agency. As such, its influence had travelled across time and place. In modern Turkey, the thought of Bergson particularly influenced a group of conservative literati including İsmail Hakkı Baltacıoğlu (1886-1978), Peyami Safa (1899-1961), Hilmi Ziya Ülken (1901-1974) and Mustafa Şekip Tunç (1886-1958). For these intellectuals, Bergson represented the face of the ‘Other West’ and they appropriated his ideas with the aim of transforming the starkly positivist and rationalist disposition of Kemalism while being firmly committed to the ideals of the Modern Turkish Republic. On a different side of Turkey’s intellectual spectrum, another figure also appealed to Bergson and his philosophy. It was Necip Fazıl Kısakürek (1904-1983), who fiercely dissented the project of the republic for its pro-Western foundations and reconceptualized Islam as a totalizing ideology. Hence, through a critical cross-reading of different primary and secondary sources, the present article contrasts these competing currents of Turkish conservatism, their appropriations of Bergsonian philosophy and attitudes toward their society’s experience of the Turkish revolution and modernity.

Lin Shu's Translation of Shakespeare's Religious Motifs in Twentieth-Century China

2017 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 389-404
Author(s):  
Jenny Wong
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Religious Values ◽  
Translation Product ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Close Textual Analysis ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Target Culture

When Christian values fall into the hands of translators, how are these Christian values represented in a non-religious or areligious target culture? How do the translations reflect the conflicting ideologies of the time and of the individual translators? This article will examine Lin Shu's major translations of The Merchant of Venice in early twentieth-century China, an important period when reform of Confucianism encountered imported Western ideals. Close textual analysis of the translation produced by Lin Shu, a Confucian literatus and a reformist, reveals that religious content in English literary works was manipulated, Christian references often being omitted or adapted. This study illustrates the translator's strategies, picking and choosing what to domesticate in the translated work to suit his ideology, and how a society's expectations and ideologies shape the translation product. The analysis offers some perspectives for understanding how the translator's linguistic and religious roles and ideologies shaped the Chinese Shakespeare, and how the religious values were re-presented in early twentieth-century China.

scholarly journals 'Desperately Mortal': Exclusion in Shakespeare's Legal Plays

2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 181 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R Morss
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Social Hierarchies ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The Social ◽  
Measure For Measure ◽  
The Law ◽  
Human Desire ◽  
Key Characters

<p>Shakespeare’s most explicitly ‘legal’ plays are The Merchant of Venice and Measure for Measure. Both examine the interaction between human desire on one hand and the law on the other. In both plays laws cuts through the social hierarchies, either neutralising or exaggerating them. Key characters find their exclusion nullified by the law, and then discover inclusion is far worse than exclusion.</p>

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