Literary Criticism - General & Miscellaneous, Ethnic & Race Relations - General, English Drama - 16th-17th Century - Elizabethan & Jacobean Eras - Shakespeare - Literary Criticism, Marriage, Family - Sociocultural Aspects, Interfaith & Intercultural Marri

Othello

Name: Othello
Author: Turnbull, William Robertson
ISBN: 9780217026710

by Turnbull, William Robertson

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This is an OCR edition with typos.
Excerpt from book:
OTHELLO: A CRITICAL STUDY. CHAPTER I. THE PERSONALITY OF SHAKESPEARE. Probably no process is more hazardous than that of dividing the literary life of a writer into eras, or of distributing the works of a great poet among the several periods of his life "according," as it is expressed, "to divisions of species." All such attempts have obviously a tendency to become arbitrary and fanciful. In a certain sense, however, the art and life of Shakespeare form a notable exception to this general rule. The peculiar circumstances of his career, indeed, may be said to effect such a division for themselves. It is no doubt true that, despite the persistent interest which so great a theme has naturally excited for over two centuries, we have even now but an imperfect knowledge of his personal history. Although his life has been the subject of that research and ingenuity which are awarded only to strange and suggestive careers, the biographical materials placed at the disposal of the critic are exceedingly scanty, and quite insufficient for determining fully and satisfactorily how he came to be what he was, and to do what he did. Shakespeare has left behind him few incidents for biography. He has given us no account of his creative impulse, no records of his inspirations, few important comments on his own art, and but little insight into his own peculiar methods. . We know almost nothing of the circumstances and externals which contributed to his development. In the great Poet of Nature, as in Nature itself, the great connecting and interpreting link between the workman and his work seems to be wanting. And yet his dramas, which should be studied in their totality with a special reference to himself, as Professor Craik in his edition of " Julius Caesar " wisely recommends—for,...