A Villain in Every Tongue
Richard III’s Bodily Stigma in Polish Translations of Shakespeare’s Play
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12797/MOaP.31.2025.70.03Keywords:
Richard III, stigma in translation, translation and disability, Shakespeare in translation, disabled villain tropeAbstract
This paper discusses how nine Polish translations of William Shakespeare’s play Richard III present the protagonist’s stigmatised body and the relationship between his supposed ugliness and villainy. Firstly, I analyse the linguistic link between depravity and ‘deformity’ in the insults directed at Richard by Lady Anne and compare the imagery that the translators employ to convey her disgust. Secondly, I examine Richard’s soliloquy, in which he uses his body to justify his ruthless pursuit of power. A change over time can be observed in the translators’ depiction of Richard: while the 19th-century texts emphasise his ‘ugliness’, the later ones appear to focus on his psychology, as if more critical of the idea that ugliness determines him to be a villain.
Downloads
References
Budrewicz, A. (2020), “Shylock in Poland: A Study in Anti-Semitism and Literary Translation”, [in:] Mădălina Nicolaescu, Oana-Alis Zaharia, Andrei Nae, eds. Perspectives on Shakespeare in Europe’s Borderlands, Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti, Bucureşti.
View in Google Scholar
Cetera-Włodarczyk, A., Godlewski, M., Pożar, P. (2024), Polskie przekłady Shakespeare’a w XX i XXI wieku. Zasoby, strategie, recepcja, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Warszawa, https://doi.org/10.31338/uw.9788323565871.
View in Google Scholar
Cetera-Włodarczyk, A., Kosim, A. (2019), Polskie przekłady Shakespeare’a w XIX wieku. Zasoby, strategie, recepcja, Vol. 1, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Warszawa. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31338/uw.9788323538660
View in Google Scholar
Cetera-Włodarczyk, A., Pożar, P. (2024), “Czesław Jastrzębiec-Kozłowski”, [in:] Anna Cetera-Włodarczyk, Mateusz Godlewski, Przemysław Pożar, Polskie przekłady Shakespeare’a w XX i XXI wieku. Zasoby, strategie, recepcja, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Warszawa. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31338/uw.9788323565871
View in Google Scholar
Gerzic, M. (2020), “Determined to Prove a Villain? Appropriating Richard III’s Disability in Recent Graphic Novels and Comics”, [in:] Christy Desmet, Sujata Iyengar, Miriam Jacobson, eds. The Routledge Handbook of Shakespeare and Global Appropriation, Routledge, Abingdon. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315168968-37
View in Google Scholar
Goffman, E. (1965), Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs.
View in Google Scholar
Haponiuk, M. (1994), “Szaleństwo chłodnego rozumu”, Gazeta w Lublinie. 299, [online] https://encyklopediateatru.pl/artykuly/92176/szalenstwo-chlodnego-rozumu#, visited 7 November 2024.
View in Google Scholar
Hobgood, A. (2015), “Teeth before Eyes: Impairment and Invisibility in Shakespeare’s Richard III”, [in:] Sujata Iyengar, ed. Disability, Health, and Happiness in the Shakespearean Body, Routledge, New York.
View in Google Scholar
Irish, B.J. (2023a), Shakespeare and Disgust: The History and Science of Early Modern Revulsion, Bloomsbury Publishing, London. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350214026
View in Google Scholar
Irish, B.J. (2023b), “Shakespeare Knew What Modern Science Tells Us: Disability Discrimination Is Fueled by Disgust”, [online] https://nursingclio.org/2023/08/09/shakespeare-knew-what-modern-science-tells-us-disabilitydiscrimination-is-fueled-by-disgust/, visited 7 November 2024.
View in Google Scholar
Kałużyński, M. (2016), “Praca nad rolą – Ryszard III”, Images. 19(28): 211-230, https://doi.org/10.14746/i.2016.28.17.
View in Google Scholar
Keenan, S. (2017), “Re-Reading Shakespeare’s Richard III: Tragic Hero and Villain?”, Linguaculture. 8(1): 23-34, https://doi.org/10.1515/lincu-2017-0003. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/lincu-2017-0003
View in Google Scholar
Kydryński, J. (1984), “Posłowie”, [in:] William Shakespeare. Żywot i śmierć Ryszarda Trzeciego (transl. Maciej Słomczyński), Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków.
View in Google Scholar
Mitchell, D.T., Snyder S.L. (2000/2011), “Performing Deformity: The Making and Unmaking of Richard III”, [in:] David T. Mitchell, Sharon L. Snyder, Narrative Prosthesis: Disability and the Dependencies of Discourse, The University of Michigan Press, Michigan.
View in Google Scholar
Olkin, R. (2022), “Conceptualizing Disability: Three Models of Disability”, [online] https://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/psychology-teacher-network/introductory-psychology/disability-models, visited 7 November 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/e502732022-001
View in Google Scholar
Price, M.W. (2002), “‘Thou Elvish-Mark’d, Abortive, Rooting Hog’: Unfriendly Verbal Insults in Richard III”, Journal of the Wooden O Symposium. 2: 136-149.
View in Google Scholar
Shakespeare, W. (n.d.), Richard III, Barbara A. Mowat, Paul Werstine, eds., [online] https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/richard-iii/read/, visited 7 November 2024.
View in Google Scholar
Shakespeare, W. (1858), “Król Ryszard III” (transl. Jan Komierowski), [in:] Dramata Willjama Shakspear’a. Przekład z pierwotworu, Vol. 3, Drukarnia S. Orgelbranda, Warszawa.
View in Google Scholar
Shakespeare, W. (1859), “Ryszard III. Tragedya Szekspira” (transl. Józef Paszkowski), Biblioteka Warszawska. 4: 269-329.
View in Google Scholar
Shakespeare, W. (1875), “Król Ryszard III” (transl. Józef Paszkowski), [in:] William Shakespeare. Dzieła dramatyczne Williama Shakespeare (Szekspira).
View in Google Scholar
Wydanie ilustrowane ozdobione 545 drzeworytami (transl. Stanisław Koźmian, Józef Paszkowski, Leon Ulrich), Vol. 1: Dramata, Spółka Wydawnicza Księgarzy, Warszawa.
View in Google Scholar
Shakespeare, W. (1887), “Życie i śmierć Ryszarda III. Dramat historyczny Williama Shakespeare” (transl. Józef Szujski), [in:] Józef Szujski. Dzieła, Series 1, Vol. 5: Dramata tłumaczone, Drukarnia “Czasu” Fr. Kluczyckiego i Spółki, Kraków.
View in Google Scholar
Shakespeare, W. (1895), “Król Ryszard III”, [in:] William Shakespeare. Dzieła dramatyczne Williama Shakespeare (Szekspira) w dwunastu tomach (transl. Leon Ulrich), Vol. 3, G. Gebethner i Spółka, Kraków; Gebethner i Wolff, Warszawa.
View in Google Scholar
Shakespeare, W. (1952), Król Ryszard III (transl. Roman Brandstaetter), Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warszawa.
View in Google Scholar
Shakespeare, W. (1971), Ryszard Trzeci. Tragedia królewska z wylądowaniem Hrabiego Richmonda i bitwą na polach Bosworth (transl. Jerzy S. Sito), Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warszawa.
View in Google Scholar
Shakespeare, W. (1984), Żywot i śmierć Ryszarda Trzeciego (transl. Maciej Słomczyński), Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków.
View in Google Scholar
Shakespeare, W. (1996), Król Ryszard III (transl. Stanisław Barańczak), Wydawnictwo W drodze, Poznań.
View in Google Scholar
Shakespeare, W. (2020), Ryszard III (transl. Ryszard Długołęcki), Arspol, Bydgoszcz.
View in Google Scholar
Smith, E. (2019), “Richard III”, [in:] This Is Shakespeare, Penguin Random House, London.
View in Google Scholar
Spišiaková, E. (2021), “Disability in translation”, [in:] Şebnem Susam-Saraeva, Eva Spišiaková, eds. The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Health, Routledge, New York, London. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003167983-23
View in Google Scholar
Spišiaková, E. (2024), “‘Determined to Prove a Villain’: Disability, Translation, and the Narratives of Evil in Shakespeare’s Richard III”, Target. 3(36): 376-397, https://doi.org/10.1075/target.23001.spi. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/target.23001.spi
View in Google Scholar
Swenson, H. (2020), “Shakespeare’s Much-Maligned Toads and Frogs”, [online] https://www.folger.edu/blogs/shakespeare-and-beyond/toads-frogs-shakespeare-plays-poison-witchcraft/, visited 7 November 2024.
View in Google Scholar
Taylor, S. (2017), Beasts of Burden: Animal and Disability Liberation, New Press, New York. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.26193044
View in Google Scholar
Torrey, M. (2000), “‘The Plain Devil and Dissembling Looks’: Ambivalent Physiognomy and Shakespeare’s Richard III”, English Literary Renaissance. 30(2): 123-153. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6757.2000.tb01167.x
View in Google Scholar
Wilson, J. (2017), “The Trouble with Disability in Shakespeare Studies”, Disability Studies Quarterly. 37(2), https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v37i2.5430. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v37i2.5430
View in Google Scholar
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
