The sun., 1891-11-15

| euDmitung 70 remain IN rIsiuoFe ihs'ehu oA
going back to school in Wittenbers. Both
King and Queen address Hamlet as II he
were youth still in tutelago. and not q man.
Again. in act ILL.,. scene 4. Polonius. going be-
| fore Hamlet to the Queen's closet bids her
"Tell him his pranks have been too broad to
| bear with" courtier speaking to Hamlets
mother wonld scarcely apply the term prank 3
| to the acts OF o man OF 80 years. Tho hrst
ouArto made the Queen say. in the following
socne: How now. boyT which was
afterward altered to How now. Hamlet ?"
Other passages in the play bear wltncss
| to Hamlet's youthfulness. For example.
| In act l.. scene i. Horatio says: Let
| us impnrt what We have seen tonight
unto young Hamlet" In the nth scene Of tho
same act the Ghos. says: II could tale un-
fold whose liahtest word would harrow up thy
! soul. freeze thy young blood:" and again.
But no. thou noble youth" In the third
scene OF the snme act Polonius. speaking to
Ophelia. says: "For Lord Hamlet, bolieve 80
much In him that he is young" In the same
scene Laertes, speaking TO his sister on tho
same subject. warns her: "For Hamlet. and
the trifling Of his favor. hold It fashion
and toy in blood. violet in the
youth OF primy nature" 1t is also to
be observed that Fortinbras. who could
certainly be no younger than Hamlet. seeing
ul6y Hto lotneE WhS kltt0u Il0 uoy ehne AAo"ios
was born. is spoken OF BY Horatio az young
Fortinbras. OF unimproved mettle hot and full" !"
To Fortinbras the same adjective. young. Is
twice applied by GAudius. while Hamlet calls
him "a delicate and tender prince" and even
Osric speaks about young Fortinbras."
It will be acknowledged that Miss Gilchrist
has assigned strong reasons for setting aside
tho testimony Of the gravediRRer - to Ham,
let's age The play In 90 many places testl-
1es SO clearly to his youth that 1t seems per-
verse to insist upon thirty as the number OF
his years. It may indeed be objected that
Hamlets thoughts are too mature for young
man under twenty-one. His precocity. how
ever. is not the outcome OF experience Of men
or things. but is exhibited chiefly in imngina-
tive speculation upon life and doath. Miss
Gilchrist says truly that his apparent precocity
would not surprise us. but on the contrary
would seem perfectly natural. II attributed to
several Of Shakespeares female characters.
as. for instance. to Helen In "All is Well" and
to Isabella in Measure for Measure"
The time expended on this preliminary in
auiry is by no means wasted. No one will pre-
tend that 1t makes no difference whether
Hamlet was 20 years old or 80 The play be-
comes moro pathetic and beautiful whom We
perceive that Hamlet o young man on whom
the coming years should smile. Is in their
sprngtime despoiled OF the hopes and alu-
sions that usually glorify that period More-
over. the Conference and naturalness OF the
play depend on the assumption OF Hamlets
youth We expect less maturity OF Judgment
and less self-control from . boy than nom
man. youth of 20. to whom sor-
row was o stranger. would bcar his
grief at his fathers death and Mt his
mothers hasty marriage differently from
man OF mature years. Then. again. a man OF
30 would have sufficient experience Of life to
know that purity might still exist in woman
kind even though his own mother proved
criminal. He would not feel that her lapse
from virtue proved all other women. including
his beloved Ophelia, to be vulnerable. This
was the judgment OF very young man who
loved for the first time. 1t may also be doubt
cd whether q man OF 80. called upon to
avenGe his fathers murder. would think
Il necessary to fcign madness to cover
his design and mako It fruitful, Admitting
that mature mind would adopt the screen Of
pretended insanity. the disguise at all events
woNld be kept up oonsistently-there would be
no sell. betrayal to ROsencrantz and Guiden-
stern. Il am but mad no1th-norhwest"
II.
Miss Gllchrist believes that she has found
the key to Hnmlet's attitude toward Ophelin
anu 10 u COnSlStSut luttIklDI0 lHC6TpEetAllOu
OF the play in a new punctuation OF the first
words uttered by Hamlet after the ghost re-
vonls the story OF his mothers adultery with
Claudlus and OF his fathers murder by tho lat
ter The words us hitherto punctuated are as
follows:
oull you host of hsavenl Garth, What else,
And shall couple heui
They are not to be found in the acting edi-
ton. and tho succeeding words OF the solil-
oQuy are also sometimes omitted:
onei Hold hold my heart.
And you. my sinewh grow not instant old.
Bat bear me st'fny up.
The suppression Of the hrst two lines above
quoted indicates either that their significance
was not com pretended. or that they involved
difficulties Of presentation that an actor can
not overcome. An actor could scarcely. inter
the revelations made by the ghost doclain the
lines referred to as they stand without exciting
q sense OF ridicule In an audience. The anti
climax would be too marked to be endured. No
one In Hamlet's condition Of excitement would
first call on heaven and earth and then stop
to ask. or even to think. And shall couple
hell?" Much less would Hamlet be SO dainty
in his speech a. to exclalm: 20 fo." at the
mere suggestion Of the lower regions.
As We have said. Hiss Gilchrist Is convinced
that the incongruity which has led to tho sup
precision Of this passage 10 due to the state Of
punctuatinG the second line Of the solilo0uy.
and We are reminded that no printers error
was more common In Shakespeare's . time than
the interchange or omission OF Interrogation
or Of exclamation pointa She proposes, thers-
fore. to repunctuate the passage as follows:
"oAn yor h.sts oshesvsn! oearshl What slssi
And shall couple hell"
The author Of this study believes II to have
been what Shakespeare wrote. and she pro-
ceeds to explain It's bearing on the exposition
Of the play. Hamlet. we are reminded. has
Just been told that his mothers seeming vir-
tue is sham. that her apparent love for his
father was only cover for her intrigue with
ClRudius. and from tho terms OF the ghosts
disclosure lie Is ut first led to believe that Ger
trude was also party to her husbands mur-
der. Murderess and adulteress-these are the
names by which he must henceiorth designate
his mother. Frustrated. devastated by the
disclosure. he exclaims: 20. all you
hoafa ~ haavant n aarfhi What alaa