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the merit of this most sublime tragedy "is debilitated by inopportune events – by useless
& ill-prepared episodes – the display of the fiercest passions are is succeeded by the grossest dialogues, fit
only to excite the laughter of a dirty, drunken mob. The of The plot is entangled
& the author is compelled to tear list what he cannot untie; - the most improbable
circumstances are blended together, so that all illusion is destroyed. The arm of
Melpomene is bared & is to be a color stained equally in with innocent & guilty blood; – the
interest is divided – the sentence of a just providence is made doubtful. In one the
horrid catastrophe Incestuous love passion, – with passion holy passion love & filial, – faithful friendship,
tyranny, flattery, perfidy & noble & generous sincerity are all alike satis sacrificed
in the horrid catastrophe. The All is crime. – And all is confounded in the same desolation."
"He forgets the fable he has feigned – his characters have no identity, – pagan
they contradict themselves – there is no sort of extravagance to which he does not lead
them in his frenzy."
"Shakespeare could not compose a good dramatic
fable; a difficult work, indeed, which allows of nothing that is useless, nothing repeated
nothing out of place; – which requires the greatest economy of personnages, of situations, of
ornaments & episodes. The evil must be warped without confusion or violence; the characters
must be drawn on all the mastery of nature; – national customs, sententiousness, purity, elegance
& care must be preserved in the language & the style; – the affections agitated, – the events unforeseen
progress rapid, – the development obvious & probable; – it must have
a moral end brought about by these means; – in a word all must be natural, – realist proper –
unencumbered; – & the art that directs all must not be perceived." – Now in the works of
Shakespeare we find persons, situations & episodes inopportune & unconnected; – the main
object confounded in the auxiliary ones; the progress of the action sometimes heavy, & at others
hurried & perplexed; – the moral far from obvious, – nor is it so easy to say whether characters are
presented for imitation or for warning. There is ignorance of Geography, of chronology, of history
of manners. The scene constantly changing without verisimilitude, or use, & the unity of time
never or rarely observed – In the state & character of his personages there is disordered confusion –
they are sometimes full of sublimity; maxims of wisdom, sustained in elegant & energetic diction, &
at others they speak an inflated & Gongoresque language, full of violent allusions, obscure metaphors,
extravagant notions, false & puerile conceits:– they mingle with tragic passions, vulgar buffoonery
& farcical & clownish jests; – exciting in their turns, wonder, delight, laughter, terror, disgust &
fear.
This ill combined opposition of light & shade could not but destroy the effect of his
paintings – perhaps the wish to correct this error led him into another as great. What is certain is The Ideal as
well as the possible & the real would existence was the subject of his pen, if striking & novel; – he
sought to astonish the senses, not to enlighten & convince the heart mind. The ferocious muse
inundated the theatre with blood, – or filled it with the wrecks of fierce contentions; – he multiplied
the horrid spectacles of burials, sepulchres, & t & skulls; & to please the stupid ignorance of the vulgar brought
on the stage his magicians & his witches, – described their sites & their imprecations – gave body & voice to
good & evil genii, – whom he caused to pass thro' the air – to inhabit trunks of trees, – or to make themselves
invisible among men; he tore open the ages of Purgatory & of hell, – introduced the tortured Spirits of
the dead & made the theatre resound with their sigh doteful sighs."
In this style he proceeds, – & when attempting to explain, why, in a nation so enlightened
as ours, this faulty dramatist has obtained universal, enthusiastic admiration – he thinks it
enough to say that Shakespeare was a great genius, & that any thing can be forgiven
except coldness & insipidity; in a word that the monstrous fables of Candamo, Lolis &
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Identifier: | JB/110/125/005 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 110.
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sir john bowring |
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