ABSTRACT
Chapter 4, ‘Character and literary criticism’, surveys a number of influential perspectives on character in literary criticism, focusing on the long-standing yet still lively debate surrounding Shakespearean character. The chapter highlights the split between traditional (‘Bradleyan’) interpretations, which placed character at the centre of Shakespeare’s plays, and Modernist (typified by L. C. Knights’s attack on Bradley) and postmodern (Fuchs, Dollimore) criticism, which denies the validity and even the existence of character. Recent re-evaluations, such as those of the ‘presentist’ school (Bristol), which have brought the notion of character back into focus, are then examined, in particular because they seek to bridge the gap between lit. crit. and performance practices (Yu and Shurgot). The chapter then outlines the two approaches which often define contemporary productions of classical plays: one which eschews interpretation in order to ‘let the play speak for itself’; the other which asks ‘what is the play about?’ and thus adopts a defined interpretative line. The chapter concludes by examining from the point of view of the actor the consequences of these two approaches on the creation of character.
