莎士比亚戏剧人物分析.docVIP

Characters of Shakespears Plays (1817) by William Hazlitt (1778-1830) Contents Contents I PREFACE. 1 MACBETH 8 JULIUS CAESAR. 17 OTHELLO. 23 TIMON OF ATHENS. 33 CORIOLANUS. 38 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA. 45 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 53 HAMLET. 58 THE TEMPEST. 64 THE MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM. 71 ROMEO AND JULIET. 75 LEAR. 85 RICHARD II. 102 HENRY IV. 109 HENRY V. 116 HENRY VI. 124 RICHARD III. 131 HENRY VIII. 137 KING JOHN. 140 TWELFTH NIGHT; OR, WHAT YOU WILL. 148 THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA. 154 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 156 THE WINTERS TALE. 161 ALLS WELL THAT ENDS WELL. 168 LOVES LABOURS LOST. 171 MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. 174 AS YOU LIKE IT. 178 THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. 182 MEASURE FOR MEASURE. 187 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 194 DOUBTFUL PLAYS OF SHAKESPEAR. 197 POEMS AND SONNETS. 202 PREFACE. 1 IT is observed by Mr. Pope, that If ever any author deserved the name of an original, it was Shakespear. Homer himself drew not his art so immediately from the fountains of nature; it proceeded through Aegyptian strainers and channels, and came to him not without some tincture of the learning, or some cast of the models, of those before him. The poetry of Shakespear was inspiration indeed: he is not so much an imitator, as an instrument of nature; and it is not so just to say that he speaks from her, as that she speaks through him. 2 His characters are so much nature herself, that it is a sort of injury to call them by so distant a name as copies of her. Those of other poets have a constant resemblance, which shews that they received them from one another, and were but multipliers of the same image: each picture, like a mock-rainbow, is but the reflection of a reflection. But every single character in Shakespear, is as much an individual, as those in life itself; it is as impossible to find any two alike; and such, as from their relation or affinity in any respect appear most to be twins, will, upon comparison, be found remarkably distinct. To this life and variety of character, we mus