The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1884-02-26
men on school matters, as we'll as the right
to hold echool offices, and prohibits the
employment Of children, under IA.
SALylNl on HAMLET.
Tho Distinguished Trngedinn's View o
shnk espcare'S MR>tcrpiece.

+. NV. fH...H Hs'fWrF.as N"l.f
Tho Distinguished Tragedinn's View OF
shnk espenre'S MR>terpiece.
The GtnaenanI Naoa:ine.
This much discussed, much criticised
play Is that shakespearean one perhaps the
least adapted to command itself to a South.
ern mind, which loves precision and clear.
ness, md has little sympathy with the
Northern twilight mistH Of thought. Signor
Salvini has, however, honestly tried to
think himself into Hamlet's character, and
hus arrived at the result that the keynote
Of this play Is the force Of thought above
action. He arrives at this by mental and
physical deductions concerning the hero.
Recalling what Ia related Of bis appear.
ance, lie decides that Hamlet's tempera.
ment was Of the lymphatic.nervous
kind, Of which the natural results
arc hesitatious, q ~timorousness and un.
certainty, and inaction. "Well.edu.
Gated, richly endowed with imagination,
bis mind Is in continual strife with his
nerves and his scanty blood. He Is a con.
ception rather than a character. A man
like Hamlet has never existed nor could
exist. . Admitting him, however,
as a possible character, every one will
Judge him under diverse aspects, as most
persons interpret or represent him In di.
verse ways. lie lends himself admirably
to euppositi0ns and conceits Of which the
author had probably nc notion. One
person wishes that be. should become real.
iy mad; another thinks that be ieigns It as
a acheme; another regards him as the
%adumbration Of cold.blooded calculation;
another as the ardent investigator oil
occult things. one as SEVERE. another as
dutiful to his mother; n as irreligiously
reflective concerning holy mysteries, IN.
other as deyous; in brief, Hamlet Is
the chameleon who changes color &C.
cordipg TO the lightin which he Is viewed"
Let US consult Shakespeare, says Signor
Sslvini; and the result Of his investigations
leads the actor to the conclusion that Ham.
let feigns to DO mad in order to carry out
his fathers injunctions without making
the c 1ange in his habits too remarkable,
and then, in order to render his feigning
moro profitable, he elects 10 be a monoma
niac, a mixture OF extravagances and
double eniendfe-in fact, the method in his
madness which Polonius detected. Then,
does not Hamlet himsslf bid tho Queen
tell her lord, "That l essentially nm
not in madntss, but ma din craft" "At.
ter this confession" writes Signor Sal.
yini, show can any one persist in be-
lieving that Hamlet is really mad?
1t il certain that the constant ten.
sion Of his researches often wearies his
mind, so that he thinks to a v aud goes in
search Of repose for his thoughts, be it Ia
deriding the courtiership OF Polonius, or in
revealing ironically the stimulation OF his
false friends, or inviting the comedians Ia
declaim q passage Of dramatic poetry. A
mailman does not seek the means not to
augment his madness" In brief the
Italian regards Hamlet as ono Who's
leaden weight Of thought renders his body
inactive and yacillating foraction; "remoye
from him this burden, and as by enchant'
ment you zee him rush to act, and he il
able to decide to kill the King simpl,
when he learns that approaching dea.l
will make an end Of thought. He .slys
Venom, to thy work. to which l add, in
terrreting the value OF this phrase, Destroy
his life together with my hesitations.' /
is not easy to the artist TO conceive ant
make manifest to the public this philo
Bophical conception. 1t rarely happens t
me that l can make it ineligible and clea]
to an entire audience. It is painful to al
actor toread or hear such remarks as 'Th:
is not the Hamlet OF Shakespeare withou
any explanation, thus depriving the sludi
GUS artist Of the opportunity Of accepting O
refuting the criticism. For me, lrepeat, hi
is the force Of thought above action. Free
10 others to think differently"