Los Angeles herald., 1890-06-23
MONDAY, JUNE 23, 1890.
WILSON BARRETT'S HAMLET.

common character in the plays pre-
sented by Mr.. Wilson Barrett. The
stars fine stage presence, charming
voice and high order of histrionic talent
lent fascination to these performances
that will not soon be forgotten.
There is one of his characters that
calls for more than a passing glance.
1t demands some closer analytical effort
because of its place at the head of all
the dramatic literature OF human his
tory, and because OF certain attempted
innovations in the Interpretation OF the
character by Mr.. Barrett. The role is
of course that of Hamlet. The in
novations of this actor are four. He at
tempts to make Hamlet a youth of
about 20; he attempts to make
him youth of much de-
cision of character, instead OF the
purposeless man usually presented on
the stage; he sattempts to strip him of
much of his melancholy; and he at
tempts to strip him of much of his dis
guise of assumed insanity. Now let
us see.
First, Hamlet was not a youth of 20,
and there is no way to make Shake
speare's Hamlet of such an immature
age. The grave-digger says he came to
his calling the day Hamlet was born,
and he says he has been sexton of that
church" man and boy these thirty years."
Sexton and grave-digger are the same
person. This merry man Of melancholy
occupati on says the skull of Yorick has
lain in the earth three and twenty
years. Mr.. George Barrett, who played
the part of the grave-digger here last
week, actually changed the text
in this passage to suit his broth
er's theory, and substituted "a
dozen years. for the authors three
and twenty" and it cost him some effort
and hesitation to make the change in
the text. Hamlet says Iorick has
carried him on his back a hundred
times, and that he has kissed 'those
lips' he knows not how often. The
prince must have been several years
old at least to have remembered the ies-
ter in his lifetime. Here again we add
some years to "three and twenty" and
get about to the thirty-year-term of the
sexton as Hamlet's age. Hamlet then
was more than twenty. Mr.. Wilson Bar
rett says if he had been of age he would
have succeeded to the crown. Why SO?
Are there no records in history of usur
patton?
AS to Hamlets indecision the text is
almost as strong against Mr.. Barrett.
He was student, a philosopher one
lost in thought, and in profound re-
search. He was a dreamer, and most
unlike the average man. In all things
he hesitates, vascillates, reasons, flies
from his purpose. Plunged into pro-
found grief over his fathers
death and his mothers de-
lection he contemplates suicide, but
lacks the nerve to do the act. He tells
his companionsl lhe has seen an ''honest,"
that is, a real ghost, and again tests the
sorts of devices to discover the truth of
what was revealed to him. Tried in his
love of Ophelia, hesgoes off at a tangent
again and again in his dealings with her.
The famous solloquy is the revelation OF
the true Hamlet ''To die, to sleep"
1t is the same. But in moment come
visions of unquiet dreams. Death may
not be sleep. This philosopher has settled
nothing to his satisfaction. He is high
minded, he is just, he is the soul of
honor. His prophetic SOUP points to
his uncle, and yet he cannot be satisfied
even with the supernatural message and
admonition to revenge. He is not sure
there is hereafter, how then can he be
sure there is ghost, and if not how be
sure of the murder of his father. His
conscience makes coward of him, and
his mind is "sicklied DER with the pale
cast of thought" and all his purposes
"their currents turn awry and lose the
name of action"
So melancholy seems to be the true
color of his disposition. To be sure,
Mr.. Barrett is not an innovator here,
but has high authority to back him.
Fechter always played a Hamlet of
cheerful mood inside of the gloom cast
over him by his fathers death,
his mothers fault and the
shadow that followed him from
his mobile fathers" grave. He may
have havebeen-probably..was-cheerful by
nature; but as we see him in the story
there is little scope for any display of
such natural quality. Cheerfulness un-
der the circumstances would be unnat-
ural in any man of any disposition. The
gloom is too profound for any mien but
that of melancholy.
Lastly, as to Hamlet's sanity. There
is no need at this time to enlighten the
critical world on that point. The "an-
tic disposition" he says himself he has