Johnson

Question 1

Critical recepetion of Shakespeare when this was published

Answer 1

• negative, many critics believed that his work shouldn’t be idealised/ should be attacked
• The unpopularity of Shakespeare was due to neoclassical criticism

Question 2

what does Johnson do grammatically to create support for

Answer 2

• use of the royal plural

- use of subjunctive tense rather than the present tense

Question 3

what does Johnson do linguistically to create support for Shakespeare

Answer 3

• presenting opinion as facts:

- creating binaries, Shakespeare vs ALL other writers

Question 4

what are Johnson’s faults with Shakespeare’s morality in the plays?

Answer 4

-writes without a moral purpose: he is more careful to PLEASE than to INSTRUCT

Question 5

what is johnsons issue with shakespeare’s plotting?

Answer 5

-bad plotting as especially towards the end, Shakespeare chooses ‘lazy’ routes- the catastrophe is often flawed

Question 6

what is johnsons issue with shakespeare’s use of time and place

Answer 6

• superimposes the customs etc of one country upon another

- mixes classical with the gothic/ folklore with homer

Question 7

what is johnsons issue with shakespeare’s comedies

Answer 7

too gross and vulgar

Question 8

what is johnsons issue with shakespeare’s tragedies

Answer 8

too toilsome- strains his faculties

Question 9

what is johnsons issue with shakespeare’s narration?

Answer 9

• too long and encumbered: says something not very clearly using many words
• set speeches are cold and weak

Question 10

what is johnsons issue with shakespeare’s language

Answer 10

-johnson believes that you should match the word to the way that it is described: shakespeare doesnt do this, as he uses grand descriptions to describe simple things

Question 11

which is the one unity that Shakespeare actually respected?

Answer 11

Unity of action: all his work has a beginning, middle and end, and many mainly have one principal action

Question 12

purpose of the unities of time and place and why is this not actually necessarily valid?

Answer 12

• they exist purely tp give drama credibility
• plays themselves require the suspension of reality in order to function: why can audience believe that a play performed at the globe is set in Egypt, yet cant believe that it is in Egypt and Greece?

Question 13

what is drama and what does it do?

Answer 13

• it is just a picture of the original

- represents to the audience what THEY would do in that situation

Question 14

why do imitations bring pain and pleasure?

Answer 14

NOT beause they are mistaken for realities, but they bring to mind real memories

Question 15

why does Johnson pardon Shakespeare for his weaknesses?

Answer 15

• historical argument: he knew no better for his time/ tools

- might not have the technical excellence of ‘modern’ or the classical writers, BUT had the natural geniuses

Question 16

who was responsible for the propagation if classical criticism in the UK and how did he do this?

Answer 16

• Thomas Rhymer: introduced classical approaches in 1693

- Translated Aristotle’s poetics from French (which had been translated from greek

Question 17

what fault did Rhymer find in Shakespeare’s plays?

Answer 17

he mixed genres: ‘there is in this play some burlesk, some humourm and ramble of comical wit, some shrew’

Question 18

which were the two main schools of thouht which defended shakespeakes in the neo-classical ages (18th cent.)

Answer 18

• Historicism

- Naturalism

Question 19

how did Pope attempt to justify Shakespeare in his Preface to Shakespeare using historicism/

Answer 19

To judge of Shakespeare by Aristotle’s rules, is like trying a man by the Laws of one country, who acted under those of another

Question 20

Naturalist argument for shakespeare?

Answer 20

• explored by Milton and Pope (in an essay on criticism)
• Shakespeare is seen as a natural genuis- something which is argued to be quintessentially British as opposed to french writes who were rules by criticism

Question 21

why is Johnson’s preface more powerful than these rules?

Answer 21

• whereas as both the historicist and the naturalist approach excuse shakespeares, they slightly condescending to Shakespeare, and the general assumption is that Aristotle is correct and shakespeare is wrong
• Johnson suggests that the very KEY to his excellence lies in his digression from the unities

Question 22

Does Johnson attack the unitites?

Answer 22

NO: he says they are important and essential for success

Only shakespeare is exempt from them

Question 23

Leavies on Johnsons conception of morality in drama

Answer 23

• Johnson does not understand that a play can be enact moral valurations
• He thinks that in order to be moral, a play must use its charcaters as puppets to act/ speak morally

Question 24

what is Johnson’s notion of nature?

Answer 24

natural things conform to truth or reality

Shakespeare’s plays are NATURAL because they mix tragies and comedies

Question 25

Religion and writers

Answer 25

• writers were seen as almost demi-gods who shape their art in the same way that God shapes the world
• Shakespeare’s genius lies in his digression from one fixed path: he is natural because he we experience life with no design, this is relfected in Shakespeare

Question 26

what is Johnson’s writing style like? How can it be descibed?

Answer 26

-Described by Virginia Woolf as being a masculine writing style
- Highly confident, often triangular (use of syllogism)
-grandeur of his style tries to replicate the grandeur of shakespeares work
- use of heroic prose style: very long, complex and multiclausal sentences, making his style difficult to read (richardson suggests that they are forced to life)
-

Question 27

what is pleasure to Johnson?

Answer 27

Pleasure is NOT just a question of aesthetics but of moralit

Question 28

What is the effect of describing Shakespeare through both natural and material metaphors

Answer 28

• often described as a sturdy objects, both in the natural (mountains) and the material (buidlings) sphere. These are difficult to deconstruct/ demolish
• emphasises that it is the encapsulation of both conflicting states
• relfects the rigidity of his own writign style

Question 29

what is important to note about the nature of the text?

Answer 29

• it is a preface: its purpose is to admire/ promote the text
• Historically bias: he is responding to the contemporary criticism of Shakespeare

Question 30

how does Johnson support his argument?

Answer 30

-use of an antiphonal voice: voices the possible critiques to his argument so that he can silence them, and respond