Shakespearean Tragedy Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth   By: Andrew C. Bradley (1851-1935)

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TORONTO

SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDY

LECTURES ON

HAMLET, OTHELLO, KING LEAR

MACBETH

BY

A.C. BRADLEY

LL.D. LITT.D., FORMERLY PROFESSOR OF POETRY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

SECOND EDITION ( THIRTEENTH IMPRESSION )

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON

1919

COPYRIGHT.

First Edition 1904.

Second Edition March 1905.

Reprinted August 1905, 1906, 1908, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1918, 1919.

GLASGOW: PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE AND CO. LTD.

TO MY STUDENTS

PREFACE

These lectures are based on a selection from materials used in teaching at Liverpool, Glasgow, and Oxford; and I have for the most part preserved the lecture form. The point of view taken in them is explained in the Introduction. I should, of course, wish them to be read in their order, and a knowledge of the first two is assumed in the remainder; but readers who may prefer to enter at once on the discussion of the several plays can do so by beginning at page 89.

Any one who writes on Shakespeare must owe much to his predecessors. Where I was conscious of a particular obligation, I have acknowledged it; but most of my reading of Shakespearean criticism was done many years ago, and I can only hope that I have not often reproduced as my own what belongs to another.

Many of the Notes will be of interest only to scholars, who may find, I hope, something new in them.

I have quoted, as a rule, from the Globe edition, and have referred always to its numeration of acts, scenes, and lines.

November, 1904.

NOTE TO SECOND AND SUBSEQUENT IMPRESSIONS

In these impressions I have confined myself to making some formal improvements, correcting indubitable mistakes, and indicating here and there my desire to modify or develop at some future time statements which seem to me doubtful or open to misunderstanding. The changes, where it seemed desirable, are shown by the inclusion of sentences in square brackets.

CONTENTS

PAGE INTRODUCTION 1

LECTURE I.

THE SUBSTANCE OF SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDY 5

LECTURE II.

CONSTRUCTION IN SHAKESPEARE'S TRAGEDIES 40

LECTURE III.

SHAKESPEARE'S TRAGIC PERIOD HAMLET 79

LECTURE IV.

HAMLET 129

LECTURE V.

OTHELLO 175

LECTURE VI.

OTHELLO 207

LECTURE VII.

KING LEAR 243

LECTURE VIII.

KING LEAR 280

LECTURE IX.

MACBETH 331

LECTURE X.

MACBETH 366

NOTE A. Events before the opening of the action in Hamlet 401

NOTE B. Where was Hamlet at the time of his father's death? 403

NOTE C. Hamlet's age 407

NOTE D. 'My tables meet it is I set it down' 409

NOTE E. The Ghost in the cellarage 412

NOTE F. The Player's speech in Hamlet 413

NOTE G. Hamlet's apology to Laertes 420

NOTE H. The exchange of rapiers 422

NOTE I. The duration of the action in Othello 423