Dr. Johnson, in his Preface to Shakespeare
has revealed his critical approach "without envious malignity and superstitious veneration". On editing Shakespeare's works,
he has adopted the Roman sentiment that "it is more honourable to save the life of a
citizen than killing an enemy".
Dr. Johnson, in his Preface to Shakespeare has stated that Voltaire has praised a tragedy
written in the Augustan age. The tragedy is Cato by Addison.
Nicholas, Rowe, Thomas Rhymer, Alexander Pope, Hanmer, Theobald and Dr. Samuel Johnson were
the main editors and critics of Shakespeare during the Eighteenth century.
Landor, Thomas De Quincy, S T Coleridge, William Hazlit, Charles Lamb and John Keats were the
critics of Shakespeare during the Nineteenth century.
Dr. Johnson defended Shakespeare's action of mingling tragedy & comedy and calls it
'tragi-comedy'.
Robert Bridge contended that Shakespeare's characters were not consistent and that under the bad
influence of the groundling, the dramatist continually sacrificed psychological truth to
theatrical convenience.
T
he essence of Stoll's criticism on
Shakespeare is that Shakespeare deliberately chose to have maximum contrast between the hero and his actions. He also said that
the inconsistency of the characters could not be noticed in performance and that poetic drama dispenses with the psychological
truth.
Milton wrote a poem with these opening lines -
"What needs by Shakespeare for his honoured bones; the labour of an age in piled stones?"
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© 2005 Atanu Bhattacharya
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