Dr. Johnson points
out the defects in Shakespeare’s drama without any jealous evil or praise. His
first defect is that he sacrifices virtue to convenience. He is careful to
please than to instruct. He makes no distribution of good or evil. It is always
a writer’s duty to make the world better justice is a virtue free of time and
space.
The second defect is
Shakespeare’s plots are loosely formed. He omits chances of instructing and
delighting. In the end, he “snatches the profit”.
The third defect is
– no regard to time and place. He gives the custom and opinion of one nation to
another. For example, hector quotes Aristotle: Theseus and Hippolyta story is
combined with gothic myth of fairies. Thus Dr.Johnson violates Shakespeare’s
anachronisms and violations of chronology.
Dr.johnson then
attacks his poetic diction and circumlocution. His set speeches are cold and
weak. Next, a quibble to Shakespeare, is like luminous vapors to the traveler.
He follows it in all adventures. It has a wicked power to mislead or engulf
him. A pun is like a fatal Cleopatra to him.
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