Saturday, July 30, 2011

Hamlet in Japanese question?

Question:


Could anyone please translate this line into English? I've been trying to find the original English words for it, but I'm not too sure about its meaning. I have two versions of its possible translation in my head.
われわれは何であるかを知るも、

その先どうなるかを知らず
At least maybe you remember who exactly said it?
It's from Shakespeare's "Hamlet"

Answer:


That looks like


We know what we are,
but know not what we may be.


Ophelia says it in Act IV, Scene V. The contemporary English phrasing would be "We know what we are, but don't know what we might become."

Does that sound right?

No comments:

Post a Comment