Editing William Shakespeare (section)

==Legacy==
===Influence===
{{Main|Shakespeare's influence}}
[[File:Macbeth consulting the Vision of the Armed Head.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|left|''Macbeth Consulting the Vision of the Armed Head''. By [[Henry Fuseli]], 1793–1794.]]

Shakespeare's work has made a significant and lasting impression on later theatre and literature. In particular, he expanded the dramatic potential of [[characterisation]], plot, [[language]], and genre.{{sfn|Chambers|1944|p=35}} Until ''Romeo and Juliet'', for example, romance had not been viewed as a worthy topic for tragedy.{{sfn|Levenson|2000|pp=49–50}} [[Soliloquy|Soliloquies]] had been used mainly to convey information about characters or events, but Shakespeare used them to explore characters' minds.{{sfn|Clemen|1987|p=179}} His work heavily influenced later poetry. The [[Romantic poetry|Romantic poets]] attempted to revive Shakespearean verse drama, though with little success. Critic [[George Steiner]] described all English verse dramas from [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge|Coleridge]] to [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson|Tennyson]] as "feeble variations on Shakespearean themes".{{sfn|Steiner|1996|p=145}} [[John Milton]], considered by many to be the most important English poet after Shakespeare, wrote in tribute: "Thou in our wonder and astonishment/ Hast built thyself a live-long monument."<ref>{{Cite web |author=Poetry Foundation |date=6 January 2023 |title=On Shakespeare. 1630 by John Milton |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46453/on-shakespeare-1630 |access-date=6 January 2023 |website=Poetry Foundation |language=en-US |archive-date=6 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230106172927/https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46453/on-shakespeare-1630 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Shakespeare influenced novelists such as [[Thomas Hardy (writer)|Thomas Hardy]], [[William Faulkner]], and [[Charles Dickens]]. The American novelist [[Herman Melville]]'s soliloquies owe much to Shakespeare; his [[Captain Ahab]] in ''[[Moby-Dick]]'' is a classic [[tragic hero]], inspired by ''King Lear''.{{sfn|Bryant|1998|p=82}} Scholars have identified 20,000 pieces of music linked to Shakespeare's works, including [[Felix Mendelssohn]]'s [[A Midsummer Night's Dream (Mendelssohn)|overture and incidental music for ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'']] and [[Sergei Prokofiev]]'s ballet [[Romeo and Juliet (Prokofiev)|''Romeo and Juliet'']]. His work has inspired several operas, among them [[Giuseppe Verdi]]'s [[Macbeth (Verdi)|''Macbeth'']], ''[[Otello]]'' and [[Falstaff (opera)|''Falstaff'']], whose critical standing compares with that of the source plays.{{sfn|Gross|2003|pp=641–642}} Shakespeare has also inspired many painters, including the Romantics and the [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood|Pre-Raphaelites]], while [[William Hogarth]]'s 1745 painting of actor [[David Garrick]] playing Richard III was decisive in establishing the genre of theatrical portraiture in Britain.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=David Francis |last2=Swindells |first2=Julia |title=The Oxford Handbook of the Georgian Theatre 1737–1832 |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press|page=206}}</ref> The Swiss Romantic artist [[Henry Fuseli]], a friend of [[William Blake]], even translated ''Macbeth'' into German.{{sfn|Paraisz|2006|p=130}} The psychoanalyst [[Sigmund Freud]] drew on Shakespearean psychology, in particular, that of Hamlet, for his theories of human nature.{{sfn|Bloom|1995|p=346}} Shakespeare has been a rich source for filmmakers; [[Akira Kurosawa]] adapted ''Macbeth'' and ''King Lear'' as ''[[Throne of Blood]]'' and [[Ran (film)|''Ran'']], respectively. Other examples of Shakespeare on film include [[Max Reinhardt]]'s [[A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935 film)|''A Midsummer Night's Dream'']], [[Laurence Olivier]]'s ''[[Hamlet (1948 film)|Hamlet]]'' and [[Al Pacino]]'s documentary ''[[Looking For Richard]]''.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Lane |first=Anthony |date=25 November 1996 |title=Tights! Camera! Action! |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1996/11/25/tights-camera-action |access-date=3 February 2023 |archive-date=3 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203010308/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1996/11/25/tights-camera-action |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Orson Welles]], a lifelong lover of Shakespeare, directed and starred in [[Macbeth (1948 film)|''Macbeth'']], [[Othello (1951 film)|''Othello'']] and ''[[Chimes at Midnight]]'', in which he plays [[John Falstaff]], which Welles himself called his best work.<ref>BBC Arena. ''The Orson Welles Story'' BBC Two/BBC Four. 01:51:46-01:52:16. Broadcast 18 May 1982. Retrieved 30 January 2023</ref>

In Shakespeare's day, English grammar, spelling, and pronunciation were less standardised than they are now,{{sfn|Cercignani|1981|p=}} and his use of language helped shape modern English.{{sfn|Crystal|2001|pp=55–65, 74}} [[Samuel Johnson]] quoted him more often than any other author in his ''[[A Dictionary of the English Language]]'', the first serious work of its type.{{sfn|Wain|1975|p=194}} Expressions such as "with bated breath" (''Merchant of Venice'') and "a foregone conclusion" (''Othello'') have found their way into everyday English speech.{{sfn|Johnson|2002|p=12}}{{sfn|Crystal|2001|p=63}}

Shakespeare's influence extends far beyond his native England and the English language. His reception in Germany was particularly significant; as early as the 18th century Shakespeare was widely translated and popularised in Germany, and gradually became a "classic of the [[Weimar Classicism|German Weimar era]];" [[Christoph Martin Wieland]] was the first to produce complete translations of Shakespeare's plays in any language.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dw.com/en/how-shakespeare-was-turned-into-a-german/a-19208040 |title=How Shakespeare was turned into a German |date=22 April 2016 |website=DW |access-date=29 November 2019 |archive-date=3 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200303064302/https://www.dw.com/en/how-shakespeare-was-turned-into-a-german/a-19208040 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thelocal.de/20160422/unser-shakespeare-why-germans-are-so-obsessed-with-the-british-bard-shakespeare |title=Unser Shakespeare: Germans' mad obsession with the Bard |date=22 April 2016 |newspaper=The Local Germany |access-date=29 November 2019 |archive-date=3 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200303064306/https://www.thelocal.de/20160422/unser-shakespeare-why-germans-are-so-obsessed-with-the-british-bard-shakespeare |url-status=live }}</ref> Actor and theatre director [[Simon Callow]] writes, "this master, this titan, this genius, so profoundly British and so effortlessly universal, each different culture – German, Italian, Russian – was obliged to respond to the Shakespearean example; for the most part, they embraced it, and him, with joyous abandon, as the possibilities of language and character in action that he celebrated liberated writers across the continent. Some of the most deeply affecting productions of Shakespeare have been non-English, and non-European. He is that unique writer: he has something for everyone."<ref>{{cite news |title=Simon Callow: What the Dickens? Well, William Shakespeare was the greatest after all... |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/simon-callow-what-the-dickens-well-william-shakespeare-was-the-greatest-after-all-7640214.html |access-date=2 September 2020 |work=The Independent |archive-date=14 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414052902/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/simon-callow-what-the-dickens-well-william-shakespeare-was-the-greatest-after-all-7640214.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

According to ''[[Guinness World Records]]'', Shakespeare remains the world's best-selling playwright, with sales of his plays and poetry believed to have achieved in excess of four billion copies in the almost 400 years since his death. He is also the third [[List of most translated individual authors|most translated author in history]].<ref>{{cite web|title=William Shakespeare:Ten startling Great Bard-themed world records|url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2014/4/william-shakespeare-turns-450-ten-startling-great-bard-themed-world-records-56900|website=Guinness World Records|date=23 April 2014}}</ref>

===Critical reputation===
<!-- This is a SUMMARY. Please don't add new information or details here, but instead at the main article [[Shakespeare's reputation]]! -->
{{Main|Reputation of William Shakespeare|Timeline of Shakespeare criticism}}

{{Quote box|align=right|quote=He was not of an age, but for all time.|source=—[[Ben Jonson]]{{sfn|Jonson|1996|p=10}}}}

Shakespeare was not revered in his lifetime, but he received a large amount of praise.{{sfn|Dominik|1988|p=9}}{{sfn|Grady|2001b|p=267}} In 1598, the cleric and author [[Francis Meres]] singled him out from a group of English playwrights as "the most excellent" in both comedy and tragedy.{{sfn|Grady|2001b|p=265}}{{sfn|Greer|1986|p=9}} The authors of [[Parnassus plays|the ''Parnassus'' plays]] at [[St John's College, Cambridge]], numbered him with [[Geoffrey Chaucer|Chaucer]], [[John Gower|Gower]], and [[Edmund Spenser|Spenser]].{{sfn|Grady|2001b|p=266}} In the [[First Folio]], [[Ben Jonson]] called Shakespeare the "Soul of the age, the applause, delight, the wonder of our stage", although he had remarked elsewhere that "Shakespeare wanted art" (lacked skill).{{sfn|Jonson|1996|p=10}}

Between [[Stuart Restoration|the Restoration]] of the monarchy in 1660 and the end of the 17th century, classical ideas were in vogue. As a result, critics of the time mostly rated Shakespeare below [[John Fletcher (playwright)|John Fletcher]] and Ben Jonson.{{sfn|Grady|2001b|p=269}} [[Thomas Rymer]], for example, condemned Shakespeare for mixing the comic with the tragic. Nevertheless, poet and critic [[John Dryden]] rated Shakespeare highly, saying of Jonson, "I admire him, but I love Shakespeare".{{sfn|Dryden|1889|p=71}} He also famously remarked that Shakespeare "was naturally learned; he needed not the spectacles of books to read nature; he looked inwards, and found her there."<ref>{{Cite web |title=John Dryden (1631–1700). Shakespeare. Beaumont and Fletcher. Ben Jonson. Vol. III. Seventeenth Century. Henry Craik, ed. 1916. English Prose |url=https://www.bartleby.com/209/534.html |access-date=20 July 2022 |website=www.bartleby.com |archive-date=20 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220720101326/https://www.bartleby.com/209/534.html |url-status=live }}</ref> For several decades, Rymer's view held sway. But during the 18th century, critics began to respond to Shakespeare on his own terms and, like Dryden, to acclaim what they termed his natural genius. A series of scholarly editions of his work, notably those of [[Samuel Johnson]] in 1765 and [[Edmond Malone]] in 1790, added to his growing reputation.{{sfn|Grady|2001b|pp=270–272}}{{sfn|Levin|1986|p=217}} By 1800, he was firmly enshrined as the national poet,{{sfn|Grady|2001b|p=270}} and described as the "[[Bard]] of Avon" (or simply "the Bard").{{sfn|Dobson|1992|pp=185–186}}{{efn|The "national cult" of Shakespeare, and the "bard" identification, dates from September 1769, when the actor [[David Garrick]] organised a week-long carnival at Stratford to mark the town council awarding him the [[Freedom of the City|freedom]] of the town. In addition to presenting the town with a statue of Shakespeare, Garrick composed a doggerel verse, lampooned in the London newspapers, naming the banks of the Avon as the birthplace of the "matchless Bard".{{sfn|McIntyre|1999|pp=412–432}}}} In the 18th and 19th centuries, his reputation also spread abroad. Among those who championed him were the writers [[Voltaire]], [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]], [[Stendhal]], and [[Victor Hugo]].{{sfn|Grady|2001b|pp=272–74}}{{efn|Grady cites [[Voltaire]]'s ''[[Letters on the English|Philosophical Letters]]'' (1733); [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe's]] ''[[Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship]]'' (1795); [[Stendhal]]'s two-part pamphlet ''Racine et Shakespeare'' (1823–25); and [[Victor Hugo]]'s prefaces to ''[[Cromwell (play)|Cromwell]]'' (1827) and ''[[William Shakespeare (essay)|William Shakespeare]]'' (1864).{{sfn|Grady|2001b|pp=272–274}}}}

[[File:William Shakespeare Statue in Lincoln Park.JPG|thumb|upright=0.75|[[William Ordway Partridge]]'s garlanded statue of William Shakespeare in [[Lincoln Park, Chicago]], typical of many created in the 19th and early 20th centuries]]

During the [[Romanticism|Romantic era]], Shakespeare was praised by the poet and literary philosopher [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]], and the critic [[August Wilhelm Schlegel]] translated his plays in the spirit of [[German Romanticism]].{{sfn|Levin|1986|p=223}} In the 19th century, critical admiration for Shakespeare's genius often bordered on adulation.{{sfn|Sawyer|2003|p=113}} "This King Shakespeare," the essayist [[Thomas Carlyle]] wrote in 1840, "does not he shine, in crowned sovereignty, over us all, as the noblest, gentlest, yet strongest of rallying signs; indestructible".{{sfn|Carlyle|1841|p=161}} The [[Victorian era|Victorians]] produced his plays as lavish spectacles on a grand scale.{{sfn|Schoch|2002|pp=58–59}} The playwright and critic [[George Bernard Shaw]] mocked the cult of Shakespeare worship as "[[bardolatry]]", claiming that the new [[Naturalism (theatre)|naturalism]] of [[Henrik Ibsen|Ibsen]]'s plays had made Shakespeare obsolete.{{sfn|Grady|2001b|p=276}}

The modernist revolution in the arts during the early 20th century, far from discarding Shakespeare, eagerly enlisted his work in the service of the [[avant-garde]]. The [[German Expressionism (cinema)|Expressionists in Germany]] and the [[Futurism|Futurists]] in Moscow mounted productions of his plays. Marxist playwright and director [[Bertolt Brecht]] devised an [[epic theatre]] under the influence of Shakespeare. The poet and critic [[T. S. Eliot]] argued against Shaw that Shakespeare's "primitiveness" in fact made him truly modern.{{sfn|Grady|2001a|pp=22–26}} Eliot, along with [[G. Wilson Knight]] and the school of [[New Criticism]], led a movement towards a closer reading of Shakespeare's imagery. In the 1950s, a wave of new critical approaches replaced modernism and paved the way for [[postmodernism|post-modern]] studies of Shakespeare.{{sfn|Grady|2001a|p=24}} Comparing Shakespeare's accomplishments to those of leading figures in philosophy and theology, [[Harold Bloom]] wrote, "Shakespeare was larger than [[Plato]] and than [[St. Augustine]]. He ''encloses'' us because we ''see'' with his fundamental perceptions."{{sfn|Bloom|2008|p=xii}}