Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-02-26

That the character must have some con-
nection with the common fundamental
laws of nature may be assumed from the
fact that Hamlet has been the darling
OF every country in which the literature
of England has been fostered. think,
with CoIeridge that Hamlet can DO
traced 10 Shakespeare's deep and accurate
science in mental philosophy. Hamlet,
in the pursuit of his revenge. is terribly,
thoroughly in earnest, but he is meta
physician, philosopher, man of medi-
tation, and not q man Of action. In
reaching his revenge these traits charac-
terize his life and give form and shape
to his actions. A positive proof OF this,
in Act H., Scene 3, when he finds the
King at prayers, and has an opportu-
nifty to kill him, instead OF killing him
at once he goes to philosophizing, say
ing:
"Now might do IT, Pat. now he lie praying;
And now l'll doit:-aud 80 he goes TO heavens
And 80 am Ireyenged7"
but he does not kill him, but determines
to wait and find him in some act
"That has no relish of salvation In Y:
And that his soul may be as damn'd and black
As hell, whereto 10 goes"
II must also be remembered that Shakes
peare clearly intended to invest Hamlet
with these characteristics because he
over and over again in the play causes
Hamlet to recognize his own slovness In
accomplishing his revenge and to bitter
ly reproach himself for not doing so.
These facts therefore, show that the
character that | have described is the
character that Shakespeare was deli
heating. Shakespeare was writing the
play of Hamlet the pivotal character in
it was Hamlet himself. On him, by
him, and through him the play moves.
II he had not been this philosophical
and metaphysical mediator he would at
once after his interview with the ghost
have sought the King, accomplished his
revenge by killing him in the first act, and
wewould have had only oneact OF :" Ham
let" But the play had to move on to fulfil
its five acts, and Hamlet was, therefore,
made by Shakespeare such creature as
he could move this play with. Goethe
has beautifully said Of Hamlet: cit is
clear to me that Shakespeare's intention
was to exhibit the effects OF great ac-
ton imposed as duty on mind too
feeble for its accomplishment. In this
sense / find the character consistent
throughout Here Is an oak tree planted
in china vase, proper only to receive
the most delicate flowers the roots
strike out and the vessel flies to pieces
a pure. noble, highly moral disposition,
but without that energy OF soul that
constitutes the hero sinks under load
which it can neither support nor resolve
to abandon altogether. All his obi
cations are sacred to him, but this alone
is above his powers An impossibility is
required at his hands-not an impossi-
bility in itself, but that which is so to
him. Observe how be turns, shifts,
hesitates, advances, and recedes-how he
is continually reminded and reminding
himself of his great commission, which
he nevertheless to the end seems almost
entirely TO lose sight OF, and this without
ever recovering his former tranquility. "
With becoming diffidence | am COM
PEELED to dissent from this view of
Goethe's, and to take the view that he
is fully equal intellectually to the duty
that is imposed on him, and to accept
the other view which / have pre-
scented in this argument, that Shake
speare intended IN Hamlet TO portray a
man of metaphysical meditation and not
a man of action, just as he intended to
delineate the villain in Iago, or lover
in Romeo, or lovely, trusting woman
hood in Desdemona. 1t must also be
remembered in estimating Hamlet upon
what insubstantial testimony of the
guilt of his uncle he has to act. He
knows nothing except what the ghost
has told him, and as he says TO Horatio
after he arranges the speech for the
players, that if the play does not de-
velop through this speech the guilt OF
his uncle,
"Itis damned ghost that we have seen,
And my imaginations are as foul
As Vulcan's stithy.h
He does not therefore know whether
the statements OF the ghost are true or
not, and after he finds out through the
play that his uncle is guilty, before he
has an opportunity for revenge on his
uncle, he is seized and sent out of Den
mark to England. and discovers on ship
board that his uncle has planned that
he shall be killed on his arrival in Eng
land. He has therefore on his return TO
Denmark to be most cautious in all that
he does, for he knows that his uncle
will put him to death with the least
favorable opportunity for doing so.
That such a character as L think
Shakespeare portrays in Hamlet should
have reached his revenge finally by an
accident is, | think. legitimate, logi-
cal, and inyincible sequence of the meta
physician and philosopher that in HAM
let his great genius has given to the
world.
In closing this article will call atten-
ton to one defect, or rather an incon-
sistency in this sublime play that do
not remember ever having seen men,
toned by any critic, and that is in Ham
let speaking of
"The undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns"
and yet the whole play is made to move
upon the fact that he has had interviews
with his fathers ghost, who had, OF
course, come back from the undiscovered
country. EDWARD NJ. ALFRIESD.
New Hampshire is a small State and
has few artists to the acre, but teacher