Shakespearean Tragedy

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Shakespearean Tragedy (1912)
by A. C. Bradley
4182646Shakespearean Tragedy1912A. C. Bradley

SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDY

LECTURES ON
HAMLET, OTHELLO, KING LEAR
MACBETH

BY

A. C. BRADLEY

LL.D. LITT.D., FORMERLY PROFESSOR OF POETRY IN THE
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

SECOND EDITION
(EIGHT IMPRESSION)

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON

1912

COPYRIGHT.


First Edition 1904.
Second Edition March 1905.
Reprinted August 1905, 1906, 1908, 1910, 1911, 1912.

GLASGOW: PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE AND CO. LTD.

To my Students

PREFACE

These lectures are based on a selection from materials used in teaching at Liverpool, Glasgow, and Oxford; and I have for the most part preserved the lecture form. The point of view taken in them is explained in the Introduction. I should, of course, wish them to be read in their order, and a knowledge of the first two is assumed in the remainder; but readers who may prefer to enter at once on the discussion of the several plays can do so by beginning at page 89.

Any one who writes on Shakespeare must owe much to his predecessors. Where I was conscious of a particular obligation, I have acknowledged it; but most of my reading of Shakespearean criticism was done many years ago, and I can only hope that I have not often reproduced as my own what belongs to another.

Many of the Notes will be of interest only to scholars, who may find, I hope, something new in them.

I have quoted, as a rule, from the Globe edition, and have referred always to its numeration of acts, scenes, and lines.

November, 1904.




NOTE TO SECOND AND SUBSEQUENT IMPRESSIONS

In these impressions I have confined myself to making some formal improvements, correcting indubitable mistakes, and indicating here and there my desire to modify or develop at some future time statements which seem to me doubtful or open to misunderstanding. The changes, where it seemed desirable, are shown by the inclusion of sentences in square brackets.

CONTENTS

PAGE
Introduction 1
LECTURE I.
The Substance of Shakespearean Tragedy 5
LECTURE II.
Construction in Shakespeare's Tragedies 40
LECTURE III.
Shakespeare’s Tragic Period—Hamlet 79
LECTURE IV.
Hamlet 129
LECTURE V.
Othello 175
LECTURE VI.
Othello 207
LECTURE VII.
King Lear 243
LECTURE VIII.
King Lear 280
LECTURE IX.
Macbeth 331
LECTURE X.
Macbeth 366
Note A. Events before the opening of the action in Hamlet 401
Note B. Where was Hamlet at the time of his father’s death? 403
Note C. Hamlet’s age 407
Note D. ‘My tables—meet it is I set it down’ 409
Note E. The Ghost in the cellarage 412
Note F. The Player’s speech in Hamlet 413
Note G. Hamlet’s apology to Laertes 420
Note H. The exchange of rapiers 422
Note I. The duration of the action in Othello 423
Note J. The ‘additions’ in the Folio text of Othello. The Pontic sea 429
Note K. Othello’s courtship 432
Note L. Othello in the Temptation scene 434
Note M. Questions as to Othello, IV. i. 435
Note N. Two passages in the last scene of Othello 437
Note O. Othello on Desdemona’s last words 438
Note P. Did Emilia suspect lago? 439
Note Q. lago’s suspicion regarding Cassio and Emilia 441
Note R. Reminiscences of Othello in King Lear 441
Note S. King Lear and Timon of Athens 442
Note T. Did Shakespeare shorten King Lear? 445
Note U. Movements of the dramatis personæ in King Lear, II. 448
Note V. Suspected interpolations in King Lear 450
Note W. The staging of the scene of Lear’s reunion with Cordelia 453
Note X. The Battle in King Lear 456
Note Y. Some difficult passages in King Lear 458
Note Z. Suspected interpolations in Macbeth 466
Note AA. Has Macbeth been abridged? 467
Note BB. The date of Macbeth. Metrical Tests 470
Note CC. When was the murder of Duncan first plotted? 480
Note DD. Did Lady Macbeth really faint? 484
Note EE. Duration of the action in Macbeth. Macbeth’s age. ‘He has no children’ 486
Note FF. The Ghost of Banquo 492
Index   494

GLASGOW: PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE AND CO. LTD.


This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in 1912, before the cutoff of January 1, 1929.


The longest-living author of this work died in 1935, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 88 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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