The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-05-29
Hamlet.
Insanity, and
Suicide.
Editor of The Tribune.

Editor of The Tribune
Sir: A reverend gentleman who re-
Gently lectured in this city upon Ham
let" took three-to me-somewhat ex-
traordinary views of Hamlets char
acter; first, that he had no thought of
suicide; second, that he was not in
sane; and, third, that he was high
ly moral character. Now, / think he
was wrong in all these views, as l shall
endeavor to show and prove.
First, as to Hamlet's having no
thought of suicide. Hamlet's first SOL
iloquy would disprove this at once. 1t
will be remembered that this takes
place before he has seen his fathers
ghost. or knows of his murder. The
lines begin as follows:
O, that this too, too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,
Or that the Everlasting had not set
His canon 'gainst self-slaughter.
Here is the first expression of a de-
sire to kill himself, were self-murder
not forbidden by the Almighty. Then
the well-known and immortal solilo-
guy, ITO be, or not to be-" what does
this mean, If not a contemplation of
suicide? Hamlet views IL from every
point Gt is unnecessary to quote the
lines, they are so familiar) and finally
comes to the conclusion that nothing
but cowardice prevents many of us
from leaving this life in our own way
and at our own sweet will.
Secondly, that Hamlet was not in
sane. Now the question, WAS Ham
let insane, or did he felgn insanity?"
has been mooted for years, some taking
one view, some the other. The real
answer is, both; Hamlet was insane
and also feigned a greater degree of in
sanity than he was possessed with
Hamlet was what the alienists of the
present day call a reasoning melan-
choliac-a well-known and quite COM
mon mild form of insanity, character
lied by a distaste for and disgust with
life. 80, how weary fiat, stale and
unprofitable seem to me ali the uses
of this world" etc, etc. Hamlet de-
scribes his own mental state perfect
ly in the lines beginning "I have Of
lats,-but wherefore / know not,-logt
all my mirth; foregone all customs Of
exercises" etc, etc. The world seems
to him IAN unweeded garden; things
rank and gross in nature possess it
merely" The brave, oe'r-hanglng
armament, fretted with golden Are" is
nothing to him but "a foul and pesti-
lent congregation of vaDors," and he
says Man delights not me, nor wo-
man either" What is this but mel
ancholia? And all melancholiacs are
more or less suicidal.
AS to his intention to feign insan-
ity, he makes this clearly known to
his bosom friend, Horatio, when he
tells him that he may "see fit to put an
antic disposition on" And it will also
be remembered that Polonius is de-
putized by the king to "gst from him
why he puts on this confusion" AS a
matter of fact, his feigning insanity
was an unwise move, and all but
wrecked his purpose, as it caused him
to be sent to England by his uncle, the
king.
This brings me to the third state
ment, that Hamlet was O highly moral
character However, he did not scrupla
to rob the sleeping bodies of Rosen-
crantz and Guildenstern of the kings
papers, to destroy them, and to replace
them with a forgery of his own, which
he stamped with the kings seal from
his signet ring, and which doomed
those courtiers to death upon their
arrival in England. I nesd not pursue
this branch of the subject further.
Respectfully,
Mortimer Livingston.
Scranton, Pa, May 2S.