ИСТИНА

The examples of law terms use in Shakespeare’s plays are plentiful. They embrace a whole range of words and phrases which might need clarification to native English speakers, as well. Any clarification of this sort will at times equal ‘translation’, and always directs us to a problem of translating law-related metaphors, images, puns, as well as scenes, fraught with law references, into other languages. At first sight, Russian translators of Shakespeare’s plays mostly appear to have ‘neglected’ the delicate matter of the English law. On the other hand, the functioning of law in Shakespearean drama has a dimension that translates into other languages. It is the inherent structure of the legal discourse with its system of arguments and counter-arguments, its presenting the world through polarised concepts and choices. And here the translation is often capable of reproducing the same effects – still, quite a feat, but the Russian translators have accomplished it more than once.