Literary Foundation

Quotes from "Preface to Shakespeare", written by Samuel Johnson Preface to Shakespeare is a critical essay by the neo-classical writer Samuel Johnson. In this essay, he has judged the merits and demerits of William Shakespeare's plays. Here are some of the defects of his plays- Defect/Demarite in Shakespeare-  " His first defect is that to which may be imputed most of the evil in books or in men. He sacrifices virtue to convenience and is so much more careful to please than to instruct, that he seems to write without any moral purpose. " [362-365] 👉 The first defect that can be attributed to Shakespeare is that there is evil in his works. His prime purpose was to entertain his audiences, not to instruct them which is why he sacrificed virtues and wrote without moral purpose. " He makes no just distribution of good or evil, nor always be careful to show in the virtuous a disapprobation of the wicked; he carries his persons indifferently through right and wr...

Quotes from "Preface to Shakespeare", written by Samuel Johnson Preface to Shakespeare is a critical essay by the neo-classical writer Samuel Johnson. In this essay, he has judged the merits and demerits of William Shakespeare's plays. Here are some of the merits of his plays- Merits/Qualities of Shakespeare- " Nothing can please many, and please long, but just representation of general nature . " [80-81] 👉Here, Johnson says that the popularity and demand of any play lies in its true representation of human nature. " Shakespeare is above all writers, at least above all modern writers, the poet of nature; the poet that holds up to his readers a faithful mirror of manners and of life. " [88-90] 👉In Johnson's view Shakespeare is the greatest among all writers, particularly above all modern writers, because he presents the true nature of human beings. He faithfully presents genuine emotions- hate, love, anger, jealousy, of common people through his c...