Penguin Books Australia put out a request (born April 23, 1564) for
our favourite Shakespeare. My replies: Hamlet’s too
long but has every kind of great line. The Sonnets perplex, as we can never be
sure how much is Shakespeare’s own experience and how much is artifice, so can
we ever say what is biographical? The Tempest’s such a mystery, in some ways
hardly a play at all but an allegory, or a dream play (see Strindberg), or a
private letter to friends. The great tragedies push us to the edge. The
Merchant of Venice enshrines his favourite virtue, mercy.
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