The story in one page
This volume evaluates Shakspeare’s dramatic output, positioning him as a profound moralist who prioritizes human instinct over structural restraint. Guizot contends that while English permits Shakspeare’s energetic, abundant style, it lacks the severe precision of French, causing his inherent defects to appear more jarring in translation. Shakspeare often treats his comedies as romantic, fantastic gambols — prioritizing vivid scenes over probability — whereas his tragedies like Macbeth or Richard III ground crime in coherent, inevitable progression. The work examines how Shakspeare captures human feeling in its primitive, spontaneous state in plays like Romeo and Juliet, though he often obscures these truths beneath verbose, decorative flourishes inspired by Italian models. Guizot argues these inconsistencies reflect a genius who prioritized immediate dramatic effect over disciplined narrative symmetry.
Who's who
- M. Guizot
The primary author and editor who revised French translations of the plays.
- Voltaire
A literary figure involved in animated disputes regarding Shakspeare's early French reception.
- Duke De Broglie
Contributor of an essay on Othello and French dramatic art.
- Caliban
A peculiar character in The Tempest described as a monster or fish-like.
What it's really about
- Linguistic Conflict
- The clash between English abundance and French sobriety in translation.
- Dramatic Probability
- How tragedy requires believable character development while comedy allows fantastic inconsistencies.
Why it's memorable
- The description of Romeo and Juliet’s laconism in their final moments versus their earlier verbosity.
- Prospero carefully monitoring Ariel as the clock approaches the promised sixth hour.
The ending, explained
Spoilers — show the ending
The analysis concludes by suggesting The Tempest was likely a light, careless composition written for a specific marriage festival in 1611.
For your book club
- Whether the strict adherence to unities in The Tempest was intentional or accidental.
- The failure of partial and complete French translations to capture Shakspeare's original force.