Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-02-26
SHAKlSPEARE'S HAMLET
trr the plspatch.,


"Hamlet" that Shakespeare wrote tn,
play with view Of defying and puzzlins
the intellectually of the world. Whether
this criticism be true or not, it is I'm
auestionably true that of oil Of Shakes
peares plays " Hamlet" has elected the
greatest contrariety OF opinion ano
evoked the greatest divergence of views
az to what vas the purpose of ITS author
The greatest intellects that the world ha:
known, and especially the inteIlects Of
Germany, such minds as Goethe, Schle'
gel. and Hermann Ulhrichi, have ex
pended their great powers in their ef
forts to resolve the questions and pro-
blems presented by Shakespeare's Ham
let" In the brief space OF newspaper
article / shall not attempt to discuss all
of the phases of Hamlet" but those
which are supposed to be OF
the most interest to scholarly
inquiry. The first question that
| will examine is the one that has elected
so much discussion-viz., whether Ham.
let's insanity was an a6ectation OF
reality. The best Shakespearean
scholar that / have ever known was Ed.
win Forrest, the great actor. Mr.. For.
rests intellect was great and profound
one, and in whatever department of life
it was exercised it would have made
him man OF mark and distinction.
Upon Shakespeare he had bestowed ex.
haustive study. lie owned, also, one OF
the original Hemminge & Condell edi-
tons OF Shakespeare, of which there are
now only seven copies in the world. Mr..
Forrest held firmly to the opinion that
Hamlet was insane. and made very able
argument in support Of this view,
stating that every character in the play,
except Horatio and Marcellus, declared
him insane, his mother, the Queen, 60
ing so far as to say TO the King after her
interview with Hamlet in the third act,
that he was
"Mad "a the sea and wind,
When both contend which Is the mightier,"
and that all the facts environing Hamlet,
with his sensitive and metaphysical
mind-viz., the death of his father, the
marriage of his mother, and the appear.
ance to him of his fathers ghost, urging
him to revengc-all unhinged his intel
lect, and MIR. Forrest thought that Ia
this view he was also confirmed by Ham
let's failure to revenge his fathers death,
and that his hesitation and incertitude OF
purpose indicates q mind deranged. On
the other hand, Charles Lamb, Schlegel,
DR.. johnson, Hazlitt, Byron, Shelly,
Hermann Ulhrichi, Goethe in Wilhelm
Meister, all declare Hamlet's insanity to
be assumed. In the face of such au-
thorities as these it seems almost unne-
cessary to argue the question further
but to fully attest my own view | will do
so. / believe Hamlet's insanity to be
clearly assumed by him to conceal his
contemplated revenge upon his uncle.
In Act l., Scene 5, he distinctly tells Ho-
ratio and Marcellus Of his purpose
"To put an sntic disposition on"
and makes them promise him that they
will not tell that they have seen
the ghost with him that night, or will by
any utterance or act make known that
they know aught OF him, no matter
"How strange or odd soever bear myself"
This promise to Hamlet on the part OF
Marcellus and Horatio is religiously kept
throughout the play. Horatio, too, who
is Hamlets devoted friend and the re-
cipient OF his confidence, never once
during the entire play speaks Of Hamlet
as being insane. In Act III, Scene 2,
Hamlet expresses to Horatio SO elo-
quently his friendship for him, saying:
"since my dear soul was mistress OF her choice,
And could Of men distinguish her election,
She hath seald thee for herself"
and then tells him of his purpose to
have the play enacted before the King
with view of convicting him of his
fathers murder and confirming the story
OF the ghost. Certainly there could be
no more browning proof of his sanity
than his talk with Horatio. In addition,
too, to follow his association with Hora-
ito still further and its incidents as con-
tirmatory of his sanity, it is to horatio
that he writes most sanely an account OF
his escape from the pirates and OF his
return to Denmark, and further, in Act
v, Scene 2, between Hamletand Horatio,
after Hamlet's return to Denmark, he
tells to Horatio how he discovered by
the commission of Guildenstern and
Rosencrantz that he was to be beheaded
on his arrival in England, and how he
devised new commission which would
secure their being put to death, "not
STRIVING time allowed" In addition, too,
the scene in the graveyard with Hora-
ito. Hamlet, and the grave-digger, at
tests Hsmlet's sanity from beginning to
end, and in Act v, Scene 2, when Hamlet
is dying, it Is to this same Horatio that
he says:
- Horatio, am dead;
Thou liyest: report me and my cause Alright
To the unsatis1ed,"
and when Horatio tells him
" am more an antique Roman than Dane.
Here's yet some liquor left"
and thus asserts that he will commit sui
eide and follow him to the grave, Hamlet
seizes the cup, takes it from him, and
says again to him:
Absent thee from felicity awhile,
And in this harsh world draw thy breath In
pain.
To tell my story
Horatio complies with his request, and
does survive him, and further on in the
same scene, in the part of the play that
is cut in the acting edition of it, assures
those about him that he will fully ex-
plain all that has occurred, saying;
" Give order, that these bodies
High on a stage be placed 10 the view;
And let me speak. TO the yetunknowing world,
How these things come about: 30 shall you hear
OF carnal, bloody. ana unnatural acts:
OF accidental judgments, casual slaughters
OF deaths put on by cunning and forced cause !;
And, In this upshot, purposes mistook
Fallen on the inventors heads: all this can
Truly deliver"
/ think that the facts embodied in this
statement alone attest the sanity of Ham
let, but as the scene with his mother in
the third act has been sometimes referred