All's Well That Ends Well (Vol. 26) | G. G. Gervinus (essay date 1849-50)
G. G. Gervinus (essay date 1849-50)
SOURCE: "Second Period of Shakespeare's Dramatic Poetry: 'Love's Labour's Lost' and 'All's Well That Ends Well'," in Shakespeare Commentaries, translated by F. E. Brunnètt, revised edition, Smith, Elder, & Co., 1877. Reprint by AMS Press, 1971, pp. 147-86.
[Gervinus was a noted exponent of "philosophical criticism," a critical school developed in Germany in the mid-nineteenth century, who discussed Shakespeare's works as expressions of a rational ethical system independent of any religion. In the excerpt below, he examines the ways in which actors should approach the roles of Helena and Bertram.]
In few plays do we feel, so much as in All's Well that Ends Well, what excessive scope the poet leaves open to the actor's art. Few readers, and still fewer female readers, will believe in Helena's womanly nature, even after they have read our explanations and have found them indisputable. The...
[The entire page is 610 words long]
Navigate
