William Hazlitt 
Characters of Shakespear’s Plays (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) 

This 1817 volume of critical essays on Shakespeare’s plays brings a fresh psychological perspective to the characters, as well as addressing the dramatic and poetic qualities of the works, placing special value on the great tragedies. The volume is a watershed in Shakespearean criticism, and has deeply influenced generations of scholars and critics. 

About the author

William Hazlitt (1778–1830) was an English writer best known for his humanistic essays and literary criticism, now known as one of the best writers in both genres. He befriended many people who are now part of the nineteenth-century literary canon, including Charles and Mary Lamb, Stendhal, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth.