ABSTRACT
In the previous three chapters we have assumed that Shakespeare's comedies are informed by his attitude to life and, in particular, to love and personal relationships. We have proceeded on the understanding that one of the prime tasks of criticism is to define that attitude and the way in which it has been ‘bodied forth’ in the drama. Clearly the task is endless ; we must aim at a full appreciation of Shakespeare as a man and also as a poetic dramatist, of his wisdom and human sympathy and of his technical accomplishments. In the last resort our difficulties are due to the nature of Shakespeare's mind ; this was not characterized by any startling originality or idiosyncrasy, but by an extraordinary comprehensiveness and unity. Once the reader, actor or audience is prepared to give the comedies the same humility of attention as he accords to the history-plays or tragedies, he will find that the vision they express and the subtlety of its expression are always eluding a completely satisfactory definition. He will discover many speeches and actions which, viewed in the context of a whole comedy, are liable to call up every cliché of criticism; for lack of better terms one must discuss their truth to nature, their currents of association, their width of reference, complexity of meaning, universal validity, the various levels of possible interpretation.
