"Assessing Shakespeare’s Artistic Shortcomings: Dr. Samuel Johnson's Critique in His Preface to Shakespeare"

Abstract

In his Preface to Shakespeare, Dr. Samuel Johnson presented the most vital critical viewpoint about William Shakespeare's works. Johnson admired Shakespeare's literary talent but had to critique some artistic flaws which included conflicting character development along with unclarified moral perspectives along with his disregard of classical unities and excessive word usage. The article will now examine the complete analysis of Johnson's observations regarding Shakespearean drama with a focus on both his shared perspectives and divergent views with current critics. The study employs a qualitative research methodology, incorporating textual analysis, comparative literary evaluation, and historical contextualization. Research demonstrates that Johnson’s observations about the texts function both in literary analysis and Shakespearean studies to develop academic understanding. The research starts by reading Johnson's Preface to Shakespeare for detecting his specific criticisms while monitoring these alongside both Shakespearean plays and modern criticism. The analysis concludes by demonstrating how Johnson applied Enlightenment principles when evaluating Shakespeare's works during the 18th century framework. This research combines secondary and critical research to establish how Johnson’s findings matter to modern Shakespearean scholarship while also recognizing that his final assessments might not hold up in contemporary discourse.

Keywords: Johnson, Shakespeare, literary criticism, characterization, moral ambiguity