In this paper Dirk Delabastita first ponders on the notion of literality, and in doing so refers to literal versus free translation; the chosen unit of translation; literality in daily language; the strategies often related to literal translation; idioms and metaphors concerning literality. It brings him to the conclusion that literality firstly is a vague and problematic notion and that secondly, it is never interpreted literally. Still, the latter is the subject of this paper. Delabastita proceeds by explaining letter and figure puns and the ensuing translation problems. He demonstrates that Shakespeare’s plays contain numerous letter puns, discusses their translation, and suggests different translation strategies.