The Shakespearean Ethic

Originally published in 1959, this book has long been out of print and largely neglected by Shakespearean scholars. It offers a viewpoint seldom considered: an unusual and exceptionally clear insight into Shakespeare’s philosophy. It does so with freshness, modesty and conviction. Appreciating the danger Shakespeare faced in writing at a time of major religious intolerance, Vyvyan shows how subtly the plays explore aspects of the perennial philosophy allegorically. In doing so, Shakespeare raises the fundamental question of ethics: What ought we to do? Says the author, "Shakespeare is never ethically neutral. He is never in doubt as to whether the souls of his characters are rising or falling." There is a constant pattern in the tragedies: "First the hero is untrue to his own self, then he casts out love, then conscience is gone – or rather inverted – and the devil enters into him." Vyvyan shows us this pattern of damnation, or its counterpart – a pattern of regeneration – working out in certain plays, contrasting Hamlet with Measure for Measure and Othello with The Winter’s Tale, where a similar dilemma and choice confront the hero. His intuitive insights also illumine Macbeth, Julius Caesar and Titus Andronicus which focus on the fall, whereas The Tempest explores most fully the pattern of regeneration and creative mercy. For readers returning to Shakespeare’s plays with clearer understanding, this edition cross-references quotations in the text to the relevant place in the play. The text is completely reset and the index expanded.