Essays on William Hazlitt

Sigmund Freud’s coinage of the Oedipus complex is a theory many critics tend to address when writing about Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Rather than centre their attention on the Aristotelian tragic elements of the play or the mistreatments and problematic relationship with Ophelia, critics seem far more enchanted by the sickening psychoanalytic approach and concern themselves with...

I present to you today how Shakespeare’s Henry IV has continually remained relevant through Falstaff’s character, who embodies imperfection, and thus humanity. Let’s begin by jumping to Act 2 Scene 4 of the play. In this scene we’re presented with Falstaff who roleplays as the Prince, and Hal as King Henry. The two delve into...

The early 19th Century was described by Joshua David Gonsalves as a period defined by ‘manliness in crisis’ within which, expectations of how men should act were continually changing (Gonsalves 2015: 2). The poetic voices who took centerstage during the Romantic era were that of the ‘Big Six’ – Wordsworth, Coleridge, Blake, Byron, Shelley, and...