Preface to the plays of shakespeare by Samuel Johnson

Preface to the plays of shakespeare by S. Johnson

Johnson's points to remember in Preface to Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s characters are a just representation of human

nature as they deal with passions and principles which are

common to humanity. They are also true to the age, sex,

profession to which they belong and hence the speech of one

cannot be put in the mouth of another. His characters are not

exaggerated. Even when the agency is supernatural, the dialogue

is level with life.

Shakespeare’s plays  are a storehouse of practical wisdom and

from them can be formulated a philosophy of life. Moreover, his

plays represent the different passions and not love alone. In this,

his plays mirror life.

Shakespeare’s use of tragic comedy: Shakespeare has been much

criticized for mixing tragedy and comedy, but Johnson defends

him in this. Johnson says that in mixing tragedy and comedy,

Shakespeare has been true to nature, because even in real life

there is a mingling of good and evil, joy and sorrow, tears and

smiles etc. this may be against the classical rules, but there is

always an appeal open from criticism to nature. Moreover, tragic-

comedy being nearer to life combines within itself the pleasure and

instruction of both tragedy and comedy.

Shakespeare’s use of tragicomedy  does not weaken the effect of a

tragedy because it does not interrupt the progress of passions. In

fact, Shakespeare knew that pleasure consisted in variety.

Continued melancholy or grief is often not pleasing. Shakespeare

had the power to move, whether to tears or laughter.

Shakespeare’s comic genius :  Johnson says that comedy came

natural to Shakespeare. He seems to produce his comic scenes

without much labour, and these scenes are durable and hence

their popularity has not suffered with the passing of time. The

language of his comic scenes is the language of real life which is

neither gross nor over refined, and hence it has not grown

obsolete.

Shakespeare writes tragedies with great appearance of toil and

study, but there is always something wanting in his tragic scenes.

His tragedy seems to be skill, his comedy instinct.

Johnson’s defence of Shakespeare’s use of unities:

Shakespeare’s histories are neither tragedy nor

comedy and hence he is not required to follow classical rules of unities. The only  unity he needs to maintain inhis histories is the consistency and

naturalness in his characters and this he does so faithfully. In his

other works, he has well maintained the unity of action. His plots

have the variety and complexity of nature, but have a beginning,

middle and an end, and one event is logically connected with

another, and the plot makes gradual advancement towards the

denouement.

Shakespeare shows no regard for the unities of Time and place ,

and according to Johnson, these have troubled the poet more than

it has pleased his audience. The observance of these unities is

considered necessary to provide credibility to the drama. But, any

fiction can never be real, and the audience knows this. If a

spectator can imagine the stage to be Alexandria and the actors to

be Antony and Cleopatra, he can surely imagine much more.

Drama is a delusion, and delusion has no limits. Therefore, there

is no absurdity in showing different actions in different places.

As regards the unity of Time, Shakespeare says that a drama

imitates successive actions, and just as they may be represented

at successive places, so also they may be represented at different

period, separated by several days. The only condition is that the

events must be connected with each other.

Johnson further says that drama moves us not because we think it

is real, but because it makes us feel that the evils represented may

happen to ourselves. Imitations produce pleasure or pain, not

because they are mistaken for reality, but because they bring

realities to mind.Therefore, unity of Action alone is sufficient, and

the other two unities arise from false assumptions. Hence it is

good that Shakespeare violates them.

Faults of Shakespeare:  Shakespeare writes without moral purpose

and is more careful to please than to instruct. There is no poetic

justice in his plays. This fault cannot be excused by the barbarity

of his age for justice is a virtue independent of time and place.

Next, his plots are loosely formed, and only a little attention would

have improved them. He neglects opportunities of instruction that

his plots offer, in fact, he very often neglects the later parts of his

plays and so his catastrophes often seem forced and improbable.

There are many faults of chronology and many anachronisms in

his play.

His jokes are often gross and licentious. In his narration, there is

much pomp of diction and circumlocution. Narration in his dramas

is often tedious. His set speeches are cold and weak. They are

often verbose and too large for thought. Trivial ideas are clothed

in sonorous epithets. He is too fond of puns and quibbles which

engulf him in mire. For a pun, he sacrifices reason, propriety and

truth.He often fails at moments of great excellence. Some

contemptible conceit spoils the effect of his pathetic and tragic

scenes. 

               

    (Typed by Vaghani Riddhi & Sarvaiya Pratibha- T.Y.B.A.)