The article devoted to the new translation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet by Aram Topchyan views translation as a means of asserting the civilizational presence and “legitimization” of the Armenian language (and hence, the Armenian people) in the world’s cultural landscape. Each civilization avers its existence by means of signs or sign systems typical to it. In this case, too, translation in general, and the translation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in particular, is an original statement of one’s civilizational presence.
And so, it is no accident that the translator has faced certain problems including those pertaining the controversies occurring in Shakespeare studies, the necessity of taking into account the traditions shaped by earlier translations of Shakespeare into Armenian, as well as the urge of choosing a new Armenian poetic meter that would have been most accordant to the English verse used by Shakespeare.
Topchyan brings in an innovative approach to versification: the commonly used ful
