ABSTRACT
Shakespeare’s ‘King Henry V’ is a play which exploits multilingualism for both comic and non-comic purposes. These various functions are described before the paper moves on to explore the unique challenges that this polyglot play poses to the translator. Special attention is given to the rendering of the French-English bilingual comic scenes into French. Given that much of Shakespeare’s joking in ‘Henry V’ involves national stereotyping and serves a nationalistic agenda, the translators have understandably been swayed in their choices by political sensitivities, but a range of other factors play a role as well (knowledge of foreign languages, historical connotations attached to languages, conventions for language representation, translation norms, textual norms, etc.). The complexity of the field of forces and pressures surrounding the translator is such as to cast doubt on the notion of a ‘general’ theory of humour and (its) translation. We need further empirical study of texts and contexts, involving a cautious interpretation of possible reasons and possible effects. *
