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Characters of Shakespeare's Plays
Hardcover
Publisher: Bibliotech Press
Published: Feb 14 2025
Pages: 222
Weight: 0.97
Height: 0.69 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Characters of Shakespear's Plays is an 1817 book of criticism of Shakespeare's plays, written by early nineteenth century English essayist and literary critic William Hazlitt. Composed in reaction to the neoclassical approach to Shakespeare's plays typified by Samuel Johnson, it was among the first English-language studies of Shakespeare's plays to follow the manner of German critic August Wilhelm Schlegel, and, with the work of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, paved the way for the increased appreciation of Shakespeare's genius that was characteristic of later nineteenth-century criticism. It was also the first book to cover all of Shakespeare's plays, intended as a guide for the general reader.
Then becoming known as a theatre critic, Hazlitt had been focusing increasingly on drama as literature, contributing miscellaneous literary criticism to various journals, including the prestigious Edinburgh Review. This was the first of his book-length literary studies. The plays, the thirty-five that Hazlitt considered to be genuine, are covered in thirty-two chapters, with new material added to passages reworked from periodical articles and reviews. A Preface establishes his main theme of the uniqueness of Shakespeare's characters and looks back at earlier Shakespearean criticism. Two concluding chapters on Doubtful Plays of Shakespear and the Poems and Sonnets round out the book. ...(wikipedia.org)
About the Author
William Hazlitt (10 April 1778 - 18 September 1830) was an English essayist, drama and literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history of the English language, placed in the company of Samuel Johnson and George Orwell. He is also acknowledged as the finest art critic of his age. Despite his high standing among historians of literature and art, his work is currently little read and mostly out of print.
During his lifetime he befriended many people who are now part of the 19th-century literary canon, including Charles and Mary Lamb, Stendhal, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, and John Keats.
His works having fallen out of print, Hazlitt's reputation declined. In the late 1990s his reputation was reasserted by admirers and his works reprinted. Two major works by others then appeared: The Day-Star of Liberty: William Hazlitt's Radical Style by Tom Paulin in 1998 and Quarrel of the Age: The Life and Times of William Hazlitt by A. C. Grayling in 2000. Hazlitt's reputation has continued to rise, and now many contemporary thinkers, poets, and scholars consider him one of the greatest critics in the English language, and its finest essayist.
In 2003, following a lengthy appeal initiated by Ian Mayes together with A. C. Grayling, Hazlitt's gravestone was restored in St Anne's Churchyard, and unveiled by Michael Foot. A Hazlitt Society was then inaugurated. The society publishes an annual peer-reviewed journal called The Hazlitt Review.
The last place Hazlitt lived in, on Frith Street in London, is now a hotel, Hazlitt's.
The Jonathan Bate novel The Cure for Love (1998) was based indirectly on Hazlitt's life. (wikipedia.org)
19 different editions
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Characters of Shakespeare's Plays. By: William Hazlitt, introduction By: Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (1863-1944): Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
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The Collected Works of William Hazlitt
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Hazlitt on English Literature: An Introduction to the Appreciation of Literature
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The Israel Of The Alps: A History Of The Perscutions Of The Waldenses
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The Bankruptcy act, 1869; the Debtors act, 1869; the Insolvent debtors and bankruptcy repeal act, 1869: Together with the general rules and orders in
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Lucasta. The Poems of Richard Lovelace, Esq.
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Lucasta. The Poems of Richard Lovelace, Esq.
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Lovelace, Richard
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Lectures On The Literature Of The Age Of Elizabeth: And Characters Of Shakespear's Plays
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The History of Civilization: From the Fall of the Roman Empire to the French Revolution. Vol. III
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Sketches and Essays: and Winterslow - essays written there
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Travels in Tartary, Thibet and China during the Years 1844-5-6: Vol. I
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Lectures On The English Poets Delivered At The Surrey Institution: Edited By Alfred Rayney Waller, Ernest Rhys
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The Israel Of The Alps: A History Of The Perscutions Of The Waldenses
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Muston, Alexis
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Lectures on the English poets: [and] The spirit of the age; or contemporary portraits. By: William Hazlitt: edited By: Ernest Rhys, introduction By:
Hazlitt, William
Rhys, Ernest
Waller, A. R.
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Characters of Shakespeare's Plays. By: William Hazlitt, introduction By: Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (1863-1944): Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
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Hazlitt, William
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Table Talk: Opinions On Books, Men, And Things, Volume 2
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Hazlitt on English Literature: An Introduction to the Appreciation of Literature
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Criticisms On Art: By William Hazlitt. With Catalogues Of The Principal Picture Galleries Of England. 2d Series. Ed. By His Son
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Travels in Tartary, Thibet, and China During the years 1844-5-6. Volume 2
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A Manual Of The Law Of Maritime Warfare: Embodying The Decisions Of Lord Stowell And Other English Judges, And Of The American Courts (1854)
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Travels in Tartary, Thibet, and China, During the Years 1844-5-6: 1
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Select British Poets, or new elegant extracts from Chaucer to the present time, with critical remarks. By W. Hazlitt.
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Lectures On The Literature Of The Age Of Elizabeth: And Characters Of Shakespear's Plays
Hazlitt, William
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The Plain Speaker: Opinions on Books, men, and Things. Edited by his Son: 2
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The Baron's Daughter. a Ballad by the Author of Poetical Recreations [i.E. William C. Hazlitt]. F.P.
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Diana: The Sonnets and Other Poems of Henry Constable ... Now First Collected, and Edited, with Some Account of the Author, b
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The History Of Civilization V2: From The Fall Of The Roman Empire To The French Revolution (1846)
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William Hazlitt, Essayist and Critic. Selections from his writings, with a memoir ... by Alexander Ireland.
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History of the English Revolution of 1640: From the Accession of Charles I to His Death
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King Henry IV (Part 1&2): With the Analysis of King Henry the Fourth's Character
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Lectures On the Dramatic Literature of the Age of Elizabeth. by William Hazlitt.
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Travels in Tartary, Thibet, and China during the years 1844-5-6. Volume 1
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The Law And Practice In Bankruptcy: Comprising The Bankruptcy Act, 1869, The Debtors Act, 1869, The Insolvent Debtors And Bankruptcy Repeal Act, 1869:
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Select Poets of Great Britain: To Which Are Prefixed, Criticial Notices of Each Author
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The Eloquence of the British Senate: Being a Selection of the Best Speeches of the Most Distinguished English, Irish, and Scotch Parliamentary Speaker
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The Eloquence of the British Senate: Being a Selection of the Best Speeches of the Most Distinguished English, Irish, and Scotch Parliamentary Speaker
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The Eloquence of the British Senate: Being a Selection of the Best Speeches of the Most Distinguished English, Irish, and Scotch Parliamentary Speaker
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