translation studies. retrospective and prospective views

With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,
And in the porches of my ears did pour
The leperous distilment, whose effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of man
That swift as quicksilver it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body,
And with a sudden vigour it doth posset
And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The thin and wholesome blood. So did it mine,
And a most instant tetter bark’d about,
Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust
All my smooth body. (I, 5, 61-73)
The poison mentioned here is connected to death, producing that
“tetter” or eruption which covers the skin with a “loathsome crust.” The
force of the image that this account creates lies in the fact that the Ghost
does not tell what happened, but recreates imaginatively how it happened,
the horrible atrocity of a murder which could have been quick and simple.
The chosen poison visibly corrupts and makes the dying man’s body look
horrible. This leads to other images related to death, namely those of
disease and decay which will be discussed later on.
Poisoning as a way of killing is not referred to only in the Ghost’s
account, but it becomes recurrent throughout the play, foregrounded both
by The Murder of Gonzago and by the death of four characters in the last
scene of the play. While Lucianus is poisoning the player king, Hamlet
says: “A poisons him I’ th’ garden for his estate” (III, 2, 255). In this case,
the word “poisons” goes beyond the literal sense by stressing Hamlet’s
animosity towards Claudius for gaining the throne (his estate) in such a
deceitful manner (poisons him). In the final scene, after Claudius dies by
Hamlet’s poison-tipped sword, Laertes says: “He is justly served. It is a
poison temper’d by himself.” (V, 2, 333-334) The fact may also be added
that Ophelia’s madness, that leads her to suicide, is said to be caused by the
“poison of deep grief.” (IV, 5, 75)
The ‘infection’ in Denmark is also presented as poison. Claudius, the
poisoner, kills the king, poisoning, at the same time, the whole country. The
juice he pours in old Hamlet’s ear is a combination of poison and disease, a
“leperous distilment” that curds “the thin and wholesome blood.” (I, 5, 64,
70) Once the king is poisoned, the whole country can feel the effect of the
disease. Hamlet remarks that his “wit’s diseased” (III, 2, 312), the Queen
speaks of her “sick soul” (IV, 5, 17), Claudius is troubled by “the hectic” in
his blood (IV, 3, 66).
Referring back to the Ghost’s words, it may be added that he does not
only tell what happened, but also calls on Hamlet to revenge: “Revenge his
foul and most unnatural murder.” (I, 5, 25) Although the Ghost does not
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