A comparative analysis of two Maltese translations of selected extracts from William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’

Abstract

Despite being written four centuries ago, to this day Shakespeare’s literary works enjoy universal acclaim. Through translation, several of these works are now also available in Maltese. The aim of this study is to analyse excerpts from two translations of Shakespeare’s Macbeth into Maltese. This dissertation discusses some of the theoretical issues related to literary translation, in particular the genre of poetic drama since Macbeth is written in blank verse. The concept of what constitutes a tragic drama and the characteristics of a Shakespearean tragedy are outlined in order to understand the salient features that should be present in the two Maltese translations of Macbeth. The comparative analysis of the two target texts focuses on the strategies employed by Alfred Palma and Ġużè Bartolo in their translations. Issues such as translation shifts, the level of equivalence between the source text and the target texts, generalisation vs particularisation and foreignisation vs domestication strategies are analysed. Special attention is given to the translation of literary devices, since in Macbeth figurative language abounds and is crucial to the development of the prevalent themes of evil, ambition, the supernatural as well as feelings of guilt and inner conscience. Furthermore, although Macbeth is largely written in blank verse, it also contains instances of prose and rhyme, so the analysis looks at the translation of these different metrical types. The differences in the translating style of the two translators are also commented on. The similarities and differences between the two target texts demonstrate that despite the observation that two translations, just like two snowflakes, can never be alike (Rabassa 1989: 1–13) yet formal correspondence and equivalence can be attained by means of different translation strategies, resulting in target texts that illustrate the wide scope of the Maltese language in literary translation.