A STUDY OF STYLISTIC DEVICES IN “ROMEO AND JULIET” BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AND IN THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS TRANSLATED BY THAI BA TAN
Stylistic devices have a great power of expressive meaning in literature. There are many various kinds of stylistic devices and each kind of them brings the enormous effects. Actually, they have made a contribution to the success of “Romeo and Juliet” and its Vietnamese version as they have portrayed clearly and gently the messages of the love couple as well as of the authors. Throughout the work, readers can gaze with veneration at main characters’ beauty, especially Juliet’s beauty in Romeo’s eyes. By using the stylistic devices, both authors help people have the profound feeling of Romeo’s ardent love for Juliet who is compared to the beautiful image of the sun –affectionate sweet but passionate. It is obvious that love brings us to a new world of experience where human moral values and social standards mingle. In other words, love itself mirrors the hopes and fears, the feelings of frustration and despair, of all mankind. These are also divine messages of love which readers can see and feel from the couple – Romeo and Juliet- employed in the most prevailing work by William Shakespeare and in its Vietnamese version. As a student of English, and also a lover of literary work, I find it inspiring to go into depth of these masterpieces and explore the beauty of some characters, or rather, the expression of love parted on characters. This area of study really attracts me and encourages me to make all my endeavours to give a closer look at it.
This study aims to provide an analysis of the stylistic devices used in “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare and in their Vietnamese equivalents by Thai Ba Tan. An observation of images and words as well as matchless artistry adopted by William Shakespeare – the superb playwright as well as the Vietnamese authors will give us a close view of the tragic love experienced by this couple. In addition, by studying this, the beauty and merit of love experienced by the couple will be examined from different angles – in happiness and in misery. Furthermore, this research is aimed to figure out the similarities and differences between the stylistic devices used in Shakespeare’s work and Thai Ba Tan’s one.
In order to achieve the above aims, the study is intended to:
– Explore the use of the stylistic devices experienced in “Romeo and Juliet”;
– Examine how the stylistic devices are translated in “Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet” by Thai Ba Tan;
– Analyze the similarities of using the stylistic devices in “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare and in “Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet” by Thai Ba Tan;
– Identify the differences of the stylistic devices used in “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare and in “Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet” by Thai Ba Tan;
With the objectives set above, the study attempts to answer the following questions:
- What are the stylistic devices used in “Romeo and Juliet” by Shakespeare?
- How are the stylistic devices translated in “Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet” by Thai Ba Tan?
- What are the similarities and differences between the stylistic devices used in “Romeo and Juliet” by Shakespeare and in its Vietnamese version?
In this study, I will concentrate on describing and analyzing the special stylistic devices including simile, metaphor, personification, metonymy and repetition with the topic “A study of stylistic devices in “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare and in their Vietnamese equivalents translated by Thai Ba Tan.
1.5. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
With the aim to make a study on the stylistic devices used in “Romeo and Juliet” by Shakespeare and in its Vietnamese version translated by Thai Ba Tan, the study is expected to be able to provide readers with the understanding and feeling of characters and their love expressed by the stylistic devices in Shakespeare’s work and Thai Ba Tan’s one.
1.6. ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
This study consists of 5 chapters:
– Chapter One – covers the rationale, aims and objective, scope of this study, research questions and the preview of the organization.
– Chapter Two – provides a review of previous studies and theoretical background related to the problem under investigation.
– Chapter Three – deals with the Research Design and Methodology.
– Chapter Four – the most important part of the study – seeks and analyzes the stylistic devices used in Shakespeare’s play and Thai Ba Tan’s work as well as find out the similarities and differences between the stylistic devices in works.
– Chapter Five – is intended for the conclusion of the whole study and a statement of this paper’s limitations. Besides, some implications as well as some recommendations for further research are put forward.
CHAPTER 2
2.1. PREVIOUS STUDIES RELATED TO THE STUDY
a. Stylistic Devices
Stylistic Devices (Rhetoric) is a branch of general linguistic which is regarded as a language science. It deals with the result of the act of communication [10, p.12]. It means that rhetoric takes into consideration the “output of the art of communication”. The most frequent definition of rhetoric is one defined as the ability to write clearly, correctly and in a manner calculated to interest the readers [10, p.12].
In many spheres of life, persuasive communication is popular, for example, counseling, cajoling, and even deceiving. It is a vital mode of discourse in business, politics and negotiation. Even so, certain cultures within nonliterate world have been particularly known for their eloquence.
b. Functions of Stylistic Devices
The function of stylistic devices is most comprehensively explained by V.M.Zirmunsky: “The justification of and the sense of each device lies in the wholeness of the artistic impression which the work of art as a self-contained thing produces on us. Each separate aesthetic fact, each poetical device finds its place in the system, the sounds and sense of the words, the syntactical structures, the scheme of the plot, the compositional purport – all in equal degree express this wholeness and find justification.
In a word, rhetoric is the study of the principles and devices by which writing is made more effective and persuasive. Rhetoric in language can be defined as distinctive linguistic expression to serve its own purposes and effect with its own inventory of tool.
c. Classification of Stylistic Devices
Based on lexical criteria, Galperin (1977, p.57) classified stylistic devices into three main groups.
The first group is based on the interaction of different types of lexical meaning of a word in which consists of four subgroups. The first subgroup is based on the interaction of primary and contextual meanings.
The second group of lexical devices is based on the intensification of a certain feature of a thing or a phenomenon. This group consists of a variety of factors such as simile, periphrasis, euphemism, and hyperbole.
The third group represents peculiar use of set expressions which can create a certain effect and can be used for stylistic purposes, among them cliches, proverbs and sayings, epigrams, quotations, allusions, decomposition of set phrases.
With the limit of a graduation thesis, I just mentioned four types of stylistic devices. They are metaphor, simile, repetition and metonymy.
Metaphor is considered as one of the most beautiful and symbolic figure of speech which makes an implicit, implied or hidden comparison between two things or objects that are poles apart from each other but have some characteristics common between them. In other words, a resemblance of two contradictory or different objects is made based on a single or some common characteristics. A metaphor expresses the unfamiliar (the tenor) in terms of the unfamiliar (the vehicle). The tenor is a subject to which the metaphor is applied and the vehicle is the metaphorical term through which the tenor is applied.
From the above arguments, explanations and examples of rhetorical theorists and other scholars of language, we can easily infer the function of metaphors; both in our daily lives and in a piece of literature. Using appropriate metaphors appeals directly to the senses of listeners or readers, sharpening their imaginations to comprehend what is being communicated to them.
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