Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth

About the book

Bradley begins with general considerations about Shakespearean tragedy before devoting close discussion to Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth. His method gives particular weight to the motives, perceptions, and choices of characters, asking how individual action interacts with circumstances and a larger dramatic order. The lectures repeatedly return to details of the plays rather than leaving their claims at the level of a general theory. Notes extend the argument into disputed passages and specialist questions. This is a historical work of criticism with a distinctive approach, not a replacement for the plays or a statement of universal scholarly agreement. Its value lies in the disciplined attention with which a reader develops an interpretation and tests it against moments of dramatic complexity.

• Tragic action
• Character and responsibility
• Close reading

Why read it

For sustained critical arguments that demonstrate how small dramatic details can bear on an interpretation of an entire play.

Critical lectures on four Shakespeare tragedies · English