Shakespeare Criticism (Hardbound-2022)

Shakespearean criticism is like an opium. Someone who has read Shakespeare once, cannot escape visiting either himself or through others the world of the Bard through the door of criticism. The present endeavour, a carefully selected collection of critical essays on Shakespeare, is a valuable contribution to Shakespeareana. The points and distinctions that these essays have made open up various areas for discussion and debate.

The book studies the understanding of Shakespearean tragedies on three major points. The first point is the psychological turmoil that the hero of the tragedy undergoes. This is very well visible in both the major tragedies—Hamlet and Macbeth. The second point is the role of chance and luck in the tragedies. It is more visible in King Lear when the messenger arrives just a little bit later and Lear has to lose Cordelia. The third point is about the heroes of a tragedy. Heroes of the tragedy are of a high stature, grand, and rich. All the essays have taken a formalist way in their criticism of Shakespeare. They do not wander beyond the text and try to stay loyal to the visible meaning of the word and phrases.

Even within its limited scope, the fine critical insights of eminent Shakespearean critics like J.M. Robertson, Caroline Spurgeon, E.E. Stoll, W.W. Greg, H. Granville-Barker, T.S. Eliot, Middleton Murry, H.B. Charlton, and others give the readers a feel of the depth and range of Shakespearean scholarship, illuminate the plays and reveal the limitless opulence of the dramatic wealth of Shakespeare.

About the AuthorAnne Bradby, (30th July, 1912, Rugby, Warwickshire, England—15th October, 2001, Oxford) was an English poet, critic, journalist, and dramatist noted for her devotional poetry and verse drama. She was born into a literary family—her father, Henry Bradby, was a poet and editor, and her mother, Violet Milford, was the author of Children’s books. She studied journalism at King’s College, London. After a brief stint at Oxford University Press, she began working at Faber & Faber, eventually becoming the assistant to T.S. Eliot, Faber’s working editor. Eliot encouraged her writing, and in 1939 her first collection, Poems, was published. In addition to exploring religious themes, her work celebrates human experience, notably marriage and motherhood. Her books include A Dream Observed, A Matter of Life and Death, and Collected Poems. Among her verse plays are Cain, The Trial of Thomas Cranmer, The Jesse Tree: A Masque in Verse, and The Lambton Worm. In 2001, Bradby was made an Officer of the British Empire (OBE).