Johnson’s and Lessing’s Dramatic Critical Theories and Practice with a Consideration of Lessing’s Affinities with Johnson

Lessing displays a remarkable familiarity with the English literary scene and shows himself especially aware of Samuel Johnson’s literary output and his dramatic critical achievement in neo-classical England. The study traces and examines affinities of Lessing’s ideas with those of Johnson and a certain impact of Johnson on Lessing’s ideas in the field of dramatic critical theory and practice. The investigation centres on Johnson’s Rambler, his Dictionary, and his edition of The Plays of William Shakespeare and on Lessing’s Laokoon and the Hamburgische Dramaturgie. Plays studied are Irene, Miss Sara Sampson, Emilia Galotti and Minna von Barnhelm.