Characters of Shakespeare’s plays
by William Hazlitt
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Description
The critic, essayist and painter William Hazlitt (1778-1830) published and lectured widely on English literature, from Elizabethan drama to reviews of the latest work of his own time. His first extended work of literary criticism was Characters of Shakespeare's Plays, published in 1817. This volume from 1908 takes the text of the first edition and adds notes explaining complex terms to readers and an introduction by J.H. Lobban, a lecturer in English at Birkbeck College. As such it is the show more ideal introduction to Hazlitt's criticism. Hazlitt's political view of Shakespeare drew the ire of the Tory Quarterly review, whose hostile review destroyed sales of the second edition. The work remains of value, however, both as a contribution to the study of Shakespeare and, as with all of Hazlitt's prose, as a model of an elegant, persuasive essay. show lessTags
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Author Information
158+ Works 2,642 Members
William Hazlitt was born on April 10, 1778 in Maidstone, England. As a young man, he studied for the ministry at Hackney College in London, but eventually realized that he wasn't committed to becoming a minister. After he lacked success as a portrait painter, he turned to writing. His first book, An Essay on the Principles of Human Action, was show more published in 1805. His other works include Free Thoughts on Public Affairs, Round Table, Table Talk, Spirit of the Age, Characters of Shakespeare, A View of the English Stage, English Poets, English Comic Writers, Political Essays with Sketches of Public Characters, Plain Speaker, and The Life of Napoleon. He died of stomach cancer on September 18, 1830. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Everyman's Library (65)
Work Relationships
Is contained in
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Characters of Shakespeare’s plays
- Original title
- Characters of Shakespear’s Plays
- Original publication date
- 1817
- People/Characters
- William Shakespeare
- Original language
- English
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, Literature Studies and Criticism, Fiction and Literature
- DDC/MDS
- 822.33 — Literature & rhetoric English & Old English literatures English drama 1558-1625 Elizabethan period William Shakespeare
- LCC
- PR2989 .H3 — Language and Literature English English Literature English renaissance (1500-1640)
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 134
- Popularity
- 244,482
- Rating
- (3.92)
- Languages
- English, Italian, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 27
- ASINs
- 14
