Table-Talk · Chapter
On the Knowledge of Character explained
Hazlitt explores the difficulty of truly knowing another's character, arguing that real character is complex and multifaceted, not reducible to simple judgments.
What happens
Hazlitt explores the difficulty of truly knowing another's character, arguing that real character is complex and multifaceted, not reducible to simple judgments. He discusses how familiarity with even the worst criminals reveals their humanity, and examines the hypocrisy and deception common among uneducated servants and lower classes, who view their betters with hostility. He also reflects on self-knowledge, the nature of genius, and the limits of posthumous fame.
Themes in this chapter
The Psychology of Habit and Novelty
Hazlitt discusses how familiarity with worst characters lessens abhorrence, and how habit shapes our judgments of others.
Intellectual Superiority and Its Disadvantages
Explored through the contrast between Shakespeare's unconscious genius and Milton's self-conscious greatness, and the limits of self-knowledge.
Social Class and Pretension
Hazlitt examines the hypocrisy and deception of uneducated servants and lower classes, viewing them as a degraded caste in conflict with their betters.
Characters to notice
- William Hazlitt
The author and narrator, reflecting on the complexities of character judgment and self-knowledge.
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Cited for his tragedy 'Remorse' and the soliloquy of Ordonio, illustrating the psychological evasion of guilt.
- William Shakespeare
Mentioned as a genius who produced works almost unconsciously, with little thought of himself or his fame.
- John Milton
Contrasted with Shakespeare as having a high opinion of himself and being conscious of his powers.
- Eugene Aram
Referenced for his defense against a murder charge, showing how he mentally separated himself from the nominal crime.
Key passages
“Real character is not one thing, but a thousand things; actual qualities do not conform to any factitious standard in the mind, but rest upon their own truth and nature.”
True character is complex and multifaceted, not fitting into any artificial mental categories.
Hazlitt's core argument against simplistic judgments of character.
“There is nothing that helps a man in his conduct through life more than a knowledge of his own characteristic weaknesses (which, guarded against, become his strength), as there is nothing that tends more to the success of a man's talents than his knowing the limits of his faculties, which are thus concentrated on some practicable object.”
Self-knowledge of one's weaknesses is crucial for success, as it allows one to focus efforts on achievable goals.
Hazlitt emphasizes the practical value of self-awareness.
“I will conclude with observing that authors in general overrate the extent and value of posthumous fame: for what (as it has been asked) is the amount even of Shakespeare's fame? That in that very country which boasts his genius and his birth, perhaps, scarce one person in ten has ever heard of his name or read a syllable of his writings!”
Authors overestimate posthumous fame; even Shakespeare is unknown to the majority of his countrymen.
Hazlitt's skeptical view on the reach of literary reputation.