Preface to Shakespeare
by
Samuel Johnson
(Summary)
Dr. Samuel Johnson was born on 18 Sept, 1709
and he died on 13 Dec., 1784. He was an essayist, poet, biographer,
lexicographer and an eminent critic of English Literature. At the age of 25 he
married Elizabeth Porter, a widow, twenty-one years older than him. His first
work was published in 1735.
DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON: PREFACE TO SHAKESPEARE
(With Text) A Critical Study by DR. RAGHUKUL TILAKIn
1737, Dr. Johnson left for London with David Garrick. Samuel Johnson began
contributing to Cave’s magazine, aptly called The Gentleman’s Magazine. Johnson
wrote essays, biographies, poems, pamphlets and parliamentary reports. He wrote
semi-weekly essays under the title, The Rambler and these essays were published
till 1752. Oxford University awarded him the degree of Master of Arts. He was
awarded an honorary doctorate in 1765 by Trinity College, Dublin and in 1775 by
Oxford University.
In
1762, King George III granted him an annual pension of £ 300. A few months
later Dr. Johnson met James Boswell for the first time. Boswell later became
his biographer. His last major work was The Lives of the English Poets. He died
in 1784 and was buried at Westminster Abbey.
From
1737 Dr. Johnson wrote biographies, essays, poetry, pamphlets and parliamentary
reports. In 1755 his most important and well-known work A Dictionary of the
English Language was published. He worked on the dictionary for a decade. Johnson’s
dictionary contained 42,773 words. In 1758 Johnson began writing short, light
essays for a weekly news journal. These essays were published under the title
The Idler. In 1759 Johnson published his philosophical novella Rasselas,
written in one week. By 1762 Johnson was a celebrated figure.
Dr.
Johnson was a devout conservative Anglican, a Staunch Tory and a compassionate
man. He however, remained a fiercely independent and original thinker. His
analysis of the plays of William Shakespeare especially ‘The Preface to
Shakespeare’ is considered a landmark in literary criticism. Dr. Johnson’s
final major work was The Lives of the English Poets a project commissioned by a
number of book sellers of London. The Lives of the English Poets was a critical
as well as a biographical study of some well-known English writers/poets. Dr. Johnson
died in 1784 and was buried at Westminster Abbey.
Dr.
Johnson’s long treatise, Preface to Shakespeare managed to silence all critics
of Shakespeare. Written in the typical eighteenth-century style, this long
essay makes us extremely familiar with Dr. Johnson’s convincing style. The
language is rich and this prose piece uses a number of literary devices.
Dr.
Johnson is of the opinion that human beings tend to venerate the past and the
past always appears better. He is of the opinion that whenever one evaluates a
writer one must apply the test to time to works of a writer. Length of duration
and continuance of esteem is a test which was advocated by the great classical
critic Longinus. Dr. Johnson reaffirms his faith in this test. A work can only
be proclaimed excellent when it is compared with other works and when it continues
to please a number of people in the years to come.
William
Shakespeare has outlived his century, the term commonly fixed as the test of literary
merit. Generations of readers have derived pleasure from his work. The central
point of Shakespeare’s portrayal is humanity and this just representation of
nature pleases the readers. Shakespeare is the poet of nature: he gives a
faithful account of manner and of life. His characters speak and act in such a
way that the reader is able to identify with them. He may have been writing
during the sixteenth century, but Dr. Johnson feels that the views, passions, behaviour
of his characters is common to the whole race of mankind.
Readers
derive a lot of instruction from his plays, and readers become worldly wise. Shakespeare
should be compared with other authors in order to evaluate him correctly. Shakespeare
took up common occurrence and diligently worked on them. His characters were
distinct personalities and when they spoke, their speech suited their
personalities. Dr. Johnson asserts “Shakespeare has no heroes” and the men in
the plays, act and behave in such a way that the reader thinks that he would
have acted and behaved in that way.
Shakespeare
represents things in such a way that if it were to happen, it would probably be
in the way he has shown. Shakespeare’s writings would make even a hermit aware
of the ways of the world and a priest aware of the way passions dominate and
control human relationships.
Dr.
Johnson applauds Shakespeare for writing tragi-comedies. He justifies
tragi-comedies on grounds of realism. Tragedy does not convey the whole truth
of life because it does not contain elements of comedy. Tragi comedies have serious
and comic elements. Shakespeare knew that comedy required a happy ending and
tragedy required a sad ending. Shakespeare combined seriousness and merriment
so that the reader and the audience could enjoy the play and learn something
from it. Shakespeare appears to have put in a lot of labour while writing his tragedies
whereas his comedies appear to have been written effortlessly. Shakespeare’s
characters, “pleasures and vexations are communicable to all time and to all
places; they are natural and therefore durable”.
Shakespeare
is like a rock and even time cannot erode him and his works. Many critics have
written about the defects in the plays of Shakespeare. Dr. Johnson says that it
is true that Shakespeare in his desire to please at times appeared to overlook
the fact that plays also have an instructive value. One must excuse this defect
in his plays because the age in which Shakespeare lived was not a refined one. Dr.
Johnson writes that Shakespeare’s plots are often loosely formed. But one can forgive
such loose construction of plots because one must remember that Shakespeare was
not educated. He was unlettered bard. Shakespeare did not adhere to the concept
of the unities of time and place as propounded by Aristotle. Dr. Johnson feels
that the dramatist did not bother about decorum. He notes that Shakespeare was
writing during the age of queen Elizabeth which had a lot of stateliness and
formality.
Dr.
Johnson complimenting Shakespeare says “A quibble is to Shakespeare, what luminous
vapours are to the traveler...”. Just as a luminous vapour attracts a traveler,
similarly Shakespeare is attracted by certain words and he would use them to
the fullest extent. A quibble is the golden apple for Shakespeare. Dr. Johnson
writes “A quibble was to him the fatal Cleopatra for which he lost the world,
and was content to lose it”.
In
his defence of Shakespeare, Dr. Johnson leaves no stone unturned. Shakespeare’s
historical plays are not subject to any of (the) laws of tragedies or comedies.
His historical figures are natural and distinct. In his other works,
Shakespeare has followed the norm and preserved the unity of action. His plays
have a beginning, a middle and an end and the event follow one another in a
logical manner. Dr. Johnson feels that it is not possible to adhere to the unity
of time and place. The viewer knows that he has gone to watch a play. The drama
will appear credible to the viewer only if the incidents have elements of
probability and possibility. A spectator is aware of the fictionality of the
play. He knows that the people on the stage are mainly artists who would recite
their parts and gesture as the situation demanded. The nature of dramatic
illusion is such that it enables the mind to move from one scene to another,
there are no limitations on the mind. The mind is quick to grasp that the first
scene is in Athens and the second may be in Alexandria. The spectator is aware
of the fact that in the first scene the hero may be a boy and in the second
scene the hero may be a grown-up man. The spectator is able to adjust to this
time frame (the growth of the hero from boy to manhood). Time is servile to
imagination and a number of years can be depicted as a passage of hours.
Commenting
on the nature of dramatic response, Dr. Johnson feels that the delight of tragedy
comes from the consciousness of this very element of fiction or illusion. If
one thought murders depicted as real, they would not please any more. When one
reads or views a play, one is aware of the fact that it is play. But the
enjoyment is precisely because of the fact that these plays bring realities to
the minds of the viewer or reader. Dr. Johnson on the authority of Shakespeare
asserts that unity of action is the most important element in a play. One can discard
unity of time and plays. A play should please and instruct and this should be
the aim of every playwright.
Commenting
on the age in which Shakespeare lived, Dr. Johnson says “The English nation, in
the time of Shakespeare was yet struggling to emerge from barbarity”. The
people were not much educated neither were they well read. Shakespeare’s plays
were written in a simple style and it was understood by the viewer. Dr. Johnson
is of the opinion that for his plays Shakespeare borrowed from novels, tales,
folklore. Unless the audience knew the stories, they could not follow the
intricacies of the drama. His plots are full of incidents and this enabled the
viewer to identify with the story. Shakespeare’s plays do not have long
argumentative speeches. Shakespeare spoke “the language of men”.
So
fond of Shakespeare is Dr. Johnson that he makes every effort to condemn the critics
of Shakespeare. He feels that Shakespeare’s compositions are like that of a
forest where there are oaks and pines, flowers and weeds. There can be no two
opinions about the greatness of Shakespeare. Flawed sublimity is better than
flawless mediocrity. In Shakespeare, there are not many imitations, but if one
finds some then one must think these imitations to be universal. Shakespeare
had to imitate from the world around him and what he imitated, was known to the
audience.
Writing
about the age of Shakespeare, Dr. Johnson comments that when Shakespeare wrote
his plays, he wrote them without any formal guidance. There were no essays on
tragedy or comedy, no guidelines were there as to dialogue, stage
representations etc. Whatever Shakespeare penned was the product of his own
intelligence, and his observance of the world around him. Shakespeare was
taught by nature and life and he had a deep critical insight which no number of
books could confer. Shakespeare did not allow his mind to be depressed because
of poverty. He shook away from his mind depressing and narrow ideas. This great
playwright faced a number of obstacles in his life. These difficulties taught
him to face life with fortitude. When one reads the plays of Shakespeare, one
feels that his representations are just and complete. His plays are executed in
every proper manner.
Dr.
Johnson is of the opinion that Shakespeare made no collection of his works. Some
of his plays were not published till about seven years after his death.
Publishers who published his works were often negligent and unskillful in their
presentation. The result was that errors occurred in the publication. Dr.
Johnson is of the opinion that the style of Shakespeare was “in itself ungrammatical,
perplexed and obscure”, and people who transcribed them for the players seldom
understood what they were transcribing. Moreover, copiers who did the job before
the actual publication often made errors in copying and sometimes the actors
mutilated the speeches for the sake of shortening them.
Dr.
Johnson says that Shakespeare tried to present life as he saw it. The beauty of
his work is discerned when one reads the play. Dr. Johnson says that it is for
posterity to judge what he has said about Shakespeare. But only one who is skillful
and learned can appreciate the greatness of Shakespeare.
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