[Transcriber's note: This work is derived fromhttps://archive.org/details/shakspearehistim00guizrich/page/n11/mode/2up.Pages 132 and 133 are missing from this copy.The replacement pages are fromhttps://archive.org/stream/cu31924013149129]
The Essay on the Life and Works of Shakspeare, which I reprint inthe present volume, appeared for the first time as anIntroduction to the French edition of Shakspeare's completeworks, which was published at Paris in 1821. This edition wasbased upon the translation of Shakspeare's plays which wascommenced in 1776 by Le Tourneur, and which, at that period, gaverise to such animated disputes in the literary world, andespecially in the Correspondence of Voltaire and of La Harpe. In1821 I undertook to edit this translation of Shakspeare'sprincipal works, and I revised six tragedies, ten historicaldramas, and three comedies. M. De Barante kindly assisted me bytranslating "Hamlet;" and M. Amédée Pichot, who is so thoroughlyacquainted with England and English literature, undertook torevise all the remaining plays.
Since that period other translations of Shakspeare, both partialand complete, in prose and in verse, have been published.Whatever their merit may be, they have not been successful; andno one will ever succeed, except imperfectly, in transfusing intoour language, with their true character and full effect, theworks of this prodigious genius. This arises not only from thefact that every translation must necessarily be imperfect andinsufficient, but also on account of the particular turn ofShakspeare's mind and style, as well as that of his nationaltongue.{iv}Shakspeare is excellent in substance, but deficient in form; hediscerns, and brings admirably into view, the instincts,passions, ideas—indeed, all the inner life of man; he is themost profound and most dramatic of moralists; but he makes hispersonages speak a language which is often fastidious, strange,excessive, and destitute of moderation and naturalness. And theEnglish language is singularly propitious to the defects, as wellas to the beauties, of Shakspeare; it is rich, energetic,passionate, abundant, striking; it readily admits the loftyflights, and even the wild excesses, of the poetic imagination;but it does not possess that elegant sobriety, that severe anddelicate precision, that moderation in expression and harmony inimagery, which constitute the peculiar merit of the Frenchlanguage; so that, when Shakspeare passes from England intoFrance, if he is translated with scrupulous fidelity, his defectsbecome more apparent, and more offensive, beneath his new dress,than they were in his native form; and if, on the other hand, itis attempted to adapt his language, even in the slightest degree,to the genius of our tongue, he is inevitably robbed of a greatpart of his wealth, force, and originality. A literal translationand a free rendering do wrong to Shakspeare in a differentmanner, but in an equal degree. When he is translated, or when heis read in a translation, it must never be forgotten that helabors under one or other of these disadvantages.
In continuation of the Essay on the Life and Works of Shakspeare,I have published, in this volume, a series of Notices of hisprincipal