The translation applied in intersemiotic study

Abstract

The present research was a corpus-based descriptive qualitative content analysis of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, based on Peirce’s intersemiotic model. The drama was translated interlingually from English to Farsi and intersemiotically by Servati for stage performance. Regarding the first research question (Which signs (iconical, indexical, or symbolic) are more applicable to semiotic analysis of Macbeth performance?), the results of the analysis show that the intersemiotic translation of drama was not successful in transferring some iconic signs from page to stage. Iconic signs are more susceptible to inappropriate intersemiotic translation than indexical signs and symbolic signs. Considering Servati’s adaptation, it can be judged that other aspects, namely, secondness and thirdness, are more manageable when translating drama into a stage performance. This finding, in this case study, contradicts the findings of some previous studies regarding the point that intersemiotic translation is a deeply iconic dependent process. The contradictory results may be related to cultural differences and different cultural signs of the two involved languages.