# Shakespeare — On the Art of Reading character guide

> Shakespeare in On the Art of Reading by Arthur Quiller-Couch.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0003-lecture-i-introductory

## Snapshot

The playwright whose prescribed plays anchor the Cambridge syllabus, invoked less as monument than as an experience the reader must submit to.

## Who they are

Shakespeare arrives in these lectures as both requirement and reproach: the Tripos insists on King Lear and Hamlet, yet Quiller-Couch warns that no examination can extract the value of a play. 'Shakespeare means us to feel — to be — Hamlet,' he insists, and that is all. The tension between institutional reading and true reading runs through the book, and Shakespeare is where it cuts deepest — the author everyone studies and almost no one, by Quiller-Couch's measure, actually reads.

## Relationships

### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/on_the_art_of_reading_se/characters/unknown_narrator)

_psychological_

The narrator uses Shakespeare's plays and sonnets as prime examples of the depth and complexity of literary reading.

## In the story

### [Lecture I: Introductory](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/on_the_art_of_reading_se/chapters/lecture-i-introductory)

Mentioned as a required author in the English Tripos, and his character Macbeth is referenced regarding the need for good digestion after appetite.

### [Lecture V: On Reading for Examinations](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/on_the_art_of_reading_se/chapters/lecture-v-on-reading-for-examinations)

Referenced through Hamlet, emphasizing the importance of 'being' Hamlet over knowing facts about the play.

### [Lecture VI: On a School of English](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/on_the_art_of_reading_se/chapters/lecture-vi-on-a-school-of-english)

His plays are mentioned as part of the limited English literature taught in preparatory schools.

### [Lecture X: On Reading the Bible (III)](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/on_the_art_of_reading_se/chapters/lecture-x-on-reading-the-bible-iii)

Referenced alongside Hamlet and Lear as examples of sublime verse.

### [Lecture XII: On the Use of Masterpieces](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/on_the_art_of_reading_se/chapters/lecture-xii-on-the-use-of-masterpieces)

Referenced through Lamb's praise and as author of 'Lear.'

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/on_the_art_of_reading_se/characters/shakespeare
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/on_the_art_of_reading_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/on_the_art_of_reading_se/characters