A Villain in Every Tongue: Richard III’s Bodily Stigma in Polish Translations of Shakespeare’s Play
A Villain in Every Tongue: Richard III’s Bodily Stigma in Polish Translations of Shakespeare’s Play

Summary/Abstract: This paper discusses how nine Polish translations of William Shakespe-are’s play Richard III present the protagonist’s stigmatised body and therelationship between his supposed ugliness and villainy. Firstly, I analysethe linguistic link between depravity and ‘deformity’ in the insults directedat Richard by Lady Anne and compare the imagery that the translatorsemploy to convey her disgust. Secondly, I examine Richard’s soliloquy, inwhich he uses his body to justify his ruthless pursuit of power. A changeover time can be observed in the translators’ depiction of Richard: whilethe 19th-century texts emphasise his ‘ugliness’, the later ones appear tofocus on his psychology, as if more critical of the idea that ugliness deter-mines him to be a villain.

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