This Voltaire quote is misleading. He continues: “… one would imagine this piece to be the work of a drunken savage. But amidst all these vulgar irregularities, which to this day make the English drama so absurd and so barbarous, there are to be found in Hamlet, by a bizarrerie still greater, some sublime passages, worthy of the greatest genius. It seems as though nature had mingled in the brain of Shakespeare the greatest conceivable strength and grandeur with whatsoever witless vulgarity can devise that is lowest and most detestable.“
So while he is pointing out the crassness of the work, he does think it’s great. Voltaire was very interested in the English, and pointing out the contrast here was definitely coming more from curiosity or even admiration than from dislike.
Touché, thank you. Regardless I agree with Tolstoy in whole
George Orwell - a fan of Shakespeare - admits the following:
- "Tolstoy is right in saying that Lear is not a very good play, as a play. It is too drawn-out and has too many characters and sub-plots."
- "Shakespeare has a habit of thrusting uncalled-for general reflections into the mouths of his characters. This is a serious fault in a dramatist"
- "Of course, it is not because of the quality of his thought that Shakespeare has survived, and he might not even be remembered as a dramatist if he had not also been a poet."
So while he is pointing out the crassness of the work, he does think it’s great. Voltaire was very interested in the English, and pointing out the contrast here was definitely coming more from curiosity or even admiration than from dislike.