The Critics Versus Shakspere

Francis Asbury Smith casts the long argument over Shakespeare's reputation as a court case, with the playwright as defendant and generations of critics as his accusers. His literary essay reviews objections to dramatic structure, language, originality and moral purpose. Ben Jonson, Voltaire, Dryden and Samuel Johnson appear among the figures whose judgments Smith quotes and challenges. The legal framework gives the discussion a pointed, argumentative voice.

The opening also examines stage adaptations that altered plots, added music or softened passages to suit changing tastes. Smith takes particular issue with Barrett Wendell's account of Shakespeare as an imitator of other Elizabethan dramatists. In the middle excerpt, he weighs comparisons with Thomas Kyd through questions of authorship, dramatic construction and evidence. Readers interested in the history of Shakespeare criticism can follow how Smith turns earlier scholarship and theatrical practice into a case for the playwright's independence.