Shakespeare And His Critics Author:Charles Johnson Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III FROM THE RESTORATION TO 1710 Although the object of this book is to follow the development of the criticism of Shakespeare as a literary artist... more », the criticism of him as a dramatist is so closely bound up with purely aesthetic appreciation that the two cannot be separated. He was primarily a writer of plays for public presentation, though it would make very little difference in the estimation in which he is held at present if none of his plays were shown on the stage. But in the latter part of the seventeenth century printed copies were comparatively rare, and the favor of the public was given to the plays because they were seen, not because they were read. It was natural that they should be judged by critics by technical rules drawn from the practice of the ancients rather than by their own essential qualities. These rules were: first, a properly constructed drama should observe the three unities; second, a properly constructed tragedy should be elevated in tone and language, and the hero should pose as a person of social importance and never be shown in an undignified or ludicrous position; third, a tragedy should be pure, that is, comic scenes should never be shown in the same play with tragic ones; fourth, scenes of bloodshed and brutal violence should never be exhibited on the stage. It is evident that Shakespeare violated these rules whenever they were violated in the fable he was dramatizing. In consequence he was accused of lacking in literary art, even by men who admitted that his plays possessed the charm which it is the privilege of literary art alone to exert.The first rule, that the unities must be observed, is based on the authority of Aristotle. It is not to be wondered at that Aristotle was regarded with almost superstitious reverence in the sevent...« less