A TRANSLATION OF A PASSAGE FROM MACBETH. Kent Richmond has been translating Shakespeare into modern English following what seem to me to be conservative guidelines. Here is the website (http://www.fullmeasurepress.com/). There are examples of his translations at the site. Here is part of his translation of a passage from Act 2, Scene 1 of MacBeth:
MACBETH
Is this a dagger that I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Here, let me clutch you.
I do not have you, yet I see you still.
Are you not, fatal vision, evident
To touch as well as sight? Or are you but
A dagger in my mind, a false illusion,
Emerging from an overheated brain?
And yet this form looks just as tangible
As this one I now draw. [draws his dagger]
© 2008 by Kent Richmond
Here is the original:
“Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.”
I think the changes, such as changing “thee” to “you”, would make a big difference to a lot of people in understanding the language.