The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-09-08
NEW HERALD WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 87a-TRPLE SHEET

from all the confidence OF Hamlet only be done by
an arbitrary Interpretation OF the text and in fact by
contradictng To both OF his comrades Hamlet says
in this scene, "And now, good friends, as you
are friends, scholars and soldiers" sc Mr..
Fechter, however, earned his suspicious Of the
snubbed Marceuus much further than Mr. Sullivan
does. when the Prince made his ex. from the plat
form that eminent lragodian with the words, ''Nay,
come et's go together" would take Horauo BY the
and lead him away, leaving the unfortunate Mar
ceilus standing alone in the cold We submit that this
conduct is not in harmony with Hamlets courtesy, and
consider il one Of those foolish tricks which Hamlet
himself censures in his advice TO the players.
With this exception and few other similar passages,
the grace. dignity and tenderness Of Mr. Sullivans
Hamlet is perfect His deficiency is in passion and
energy Il not absolute but relative deficiency
He receives the that the ghost has appeared and
the still more terrible revelation which the ghost
himself makes in a manner too commonplace
for the situations In such violent passages
as those in the soloquy the end Of the second act
Snow alone he fails to give the full sweep and
storm Of the denunciation Nor can he spring from
behind the arras when has killed Polonous with the
exultant shout Of Edwin Booth when he
cries rs the king2" a cry OF hate and
triumph, which leaps like lightning from a
cloud Nor in the higher poetcal passages Of the
tragedy such the famous description Of the earth
and OF man. 81 have Of late but wherefore l know
not - does the eocution of Mr.. Sullivan sustain the
magnGcence OF tho shakespearian words. But the
earnestness he displays his interviews with ophelia
hardly be praised too much The sincerity and
nature Of these and those with the Queen and
Horatio have seldom been riyalled Mr. sullivan, like
Mr. Feehter is finest in the coloqual passages Of the
play; in these he often natural that hardly do
iustica IN tina which that naturo
possible.
THE HAMLET OF 4. I. DAVENPORT.
Mr.. Davenport's Hamlet has been so long before the
public that only the play Of yesterday ought be
ignorant OF its merits. Mr. sulhvan's performance is
OF novelty here and naturally receives more
particular attention The public is like
fashionable host
That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand,
And with his arm outslretched, as he would hy,
Grasps in the conner.
But Mr. Davenport has no reason to complain of
of appreciation. HIS Hamlet still remains, in its
realm, unequalled-
1t is in their styles of reading that one first
the great differences of the two actors Mr. Davenport
is quicker, more abrupt and, his transitions
Of tone, is rapid and varied
than Mr. Sullivan His elocution follows
with moro fidelity the undulations OF shakespeare's
language and expresses more closely its constant
changes There Is exactness and certainty of
intention in Mr. Davenport's reading than in
that of Mr. Sullivan, for frequently, when he
has no special end in view, the emphasis Of
the latter is distributed over sentence
that it is impossible discover which the i'm
portant words. 1t is great mistake to think
that coloqual style is careless or indefinite. On
the contrary in ordinarily earnest conversation people
always emphasize the right words and give them the
most delicate infections and Listen couple
la-fg
which no actor can rival But many actors,
and Mr.. Booth is OF tho most eminent Offend
ers in this respect, imagine that to be vague in
emphasis is to be natural We cannot make this
charge against Mr.. Davenport. His reading is
beautiful study Of all the shades OF meaning in the
text OF Hamlet and when he errs it is from mistaken
judgment and not from indifference or neglect He
will say, for instance, "I'l have grounds
more reldt,re than this" instead Of
of grounds more relative" but he does place
equal accent on several words in sentence leaving
ignorant of the exact outline OF the idea He is
quicker speaker than Mr. Sullivan, whose elocution
possesses the elaboration and slowness which at
once one of the merits and faults of the
English stage Mr. Sullivan speaks often in
musical cadences, that rise and fall without any
special reference to the Mr.. Davenpors fault
is that he often rapid be distinct and that his
abrupt transitions from the tone of poetry to the tone
Of prose offend the ear and destroy the illusion. An
example Of this is found in the passage:-
You the queen, you your husbands brothers.
wife,
And-would it were not soi-you are my mother"
In the last phrase he drops his voice into such
monpace conversational that the magma
ton receives a shock. But the poetica pass
ages Mr. Davenport delivers with superior feeling
and harmony We have never heard finer read
ing than that Of the exquisite lines beginning "Look
here upon this picture and on this" 1t was marred
only by the repetton OF words unnecessarily, as
when he exclaimed go shamel shamel
shamel Where is thy blush?" which is
not Shakespeare We suppose that Shakespeare knew
what he intended when he contented himself with 20
Shamel where IS thy blushS" and the Queen might
very properly have answered Mr. Davenport Macbeth
did the witches Had three ears I'd hear thee" This
the only which he weakens the text by repeat
ing salient expressions Perhaps Mr. Davenport In
tended his repetitions to compensate for his oms-
sions. We can understand why he omts TO de-
liver all Of the sooquy, ''Now alone" with
the exception Of the closing lines, for this nvectve
would probably be too great tax upon his
voice. But why should he excise entirely
that exquisite tribute which Hamlet pays Horatio-
NAY do not think natter" which is of the keys
TO the character Of the Prince why should he make OF
that passionate ouburst Of grief that pitful appeal
for sympathy mere business interview about the play
that was to unmask the King?
There is no profound difference between the concep-
tons Of Hamlet by Mr sullivan and Mr. Davenport but
there vast differences Of treatment Mr.. Sullivan
the holder Of the two. His Hamlet is more aggres-
sve; its strong points forced upon the
spectator by methods which perceptble;
see the inner machinery Of Mr. Sullvans
stage effect, and his art sometimes seems to be artiace
He descends occasionally to tricks which divert the
attention from the solemny Of the situation when
he gets behind the candles when the Ghost appears
the closet scene, as TO have the effect Of light
his face, and when he frighens the Queen
or TO bed by suddenly presenting in her face,
like loaded pistol portrait Of his father Another
point which is purely trick is where he makes
Gudenstern and Rosencrantz each medallion OF