셰익스피어의 극 언어, 어떻게 한국화 할 것인가?

Abstract

Shakespearean characters would say “hear a play” instead of “see a play.” Hearing is as important as seeing in Shakespearean plays. It is, of course, because Shakespeare’s language, represented by blank verses, couplets, sharing lines, and puns, plays essential parts in his plays. Incidentally, when Shakespearean plays are translated or performed in Korean, those poetic and dramatic qualities of Shakespearean language are usually ignored. As the linguistic structures and the poetic systems of Korean language are quite different from those of English, most of Korean Shakespeare translations and stage productions have used simple prose translations without such poetic and dramatic qualities so far. However, some Shakespearean scholars including Choi Jong-cheol and myself have tried to do poetic translations. Especially some Shakespearean productions such as Oh Tae-suk’s Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and The Tempest, Park Sung-hwan’s Changgeuk Romeo and Juliet, Park Sun-hee’s Pansori Hamlet Project have used Korean poetic language, and shown how Korean poetic rhythms can alternate Shakespearean poetic language. This paper discusses the possibilities that such poetic and dramatic qualities of Shakespearean language as blank verse, rhymes, couplets, and puns, can be translated into Korean.