Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Shakespeare and the Critics

Shakespeare and the Critics

French, A. L.
French, A. L. Dawn, Dawn

Paperback

Literary CriticismPlaysShakespeare

ISBN10: 0521144590
ISBN13: 9780521144599
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: Jun 24 2010
Pages: 252
Weight: 0.71
Height: 0.57 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
If we read Shakespeare assuming that he is a consummate artist producing nothing but flawless masterpieces, then we have to account for anything which is inconsistent with that assumption by saying it is an intended part of the deep design. Mr French asks whether Shakespeare wasn't sometimes frankly opportunist, or couldn't see clearly what he wanted to say, or, having seen it, couldn't bring himself to face its consequences. Hamlet in particular is a failure for reasons which have nothing to do with the hero's famous 'psychology'; Lear is much more disturbing than the redemptivists make it; Othello comes close to being a melodrama; while Antony wavers dangerously in tone and in the seriousness of Shakespeare's involvement. This is not a simple devaluation of the national literary institution. It is a patient attempt at open-mindedness, based on a sense of Shakespeare as profoundly original but also human and therefore fallible.

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