Shakespearean Tragedy

Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth

By A. C Bradley

Narrated by John Burlinson

Shakespearean Tragedy is a landmark work of literary criticism. It is at once the pinnacle of the nineteenth century's love affair with Shakespeare and the starting point for a new century of Shakespeare scholarship.

As the first important, book-length academic study in English of four of Shakespeare's major tragedies—Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth—Bradley's work both influenced and enabled modern Shakespearean literary criticism even as it engaged with, and often rebutted, conventional Romantic and Victorian interpretations of the plays and their author. Bradley's achievement has been widely praised for its philosophical and psychological insights and has never been out of print.

The book was originally delivered in the form of lectures, with two lectures for each of the four great tragedies, preceded by lectures on the substance and construction of Shakespeare's masterpieces. The book concludes with a series of notes which are highly fascinating and entertaining. Bradley's pedagogical manner and his self-confidence make him an ideal guide to the meaning of Shakespeare.