This study explores how the figurative language, and tropes in general, cannot be ignored when translating Shakespeare's work into Arabic. An image cannot be isolated from its specific context (natural environment); it only remains a poetic element as long as it is dealt with as an integral part of a particular work of art. Only by establishing the vital relation between imagery and the other aspects of a poet's work can any deeper appreciation of them be gained - hence and adequate translation. Thus, the study does not resort to statistical method or individual archetypes, but takes rather a dynamic and integral approach. The image is inseparable from its context as it both informs and is informed by it. This understanding is applied to comparisons of some Arabic translations of Shakespeare's works, especially The Sonnets.
Being informed by the findings of pragmatic linguistic, Translation Studies and literary theory, the study investigates how translations of some of Shakespeare's works, especially The Sonnets, have, or have not, rendered the desired perlocutionary effect as meant by the original work and in a manner that suits the new environment of the target texts.