The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-03-28

tiers tDdt meant MS own OBSTRUCTION .
these letters the prince counterfeited
and saved his own life by willing the
death of the messengers who accompa-
MED him.
up to this point the resemblance OF
the play to the story from wh.ch II was
undoubtedly drawn Is marked by a
wonderful precision of detail in the plot
but here the resemblance ends. for the
Hamlet OF the story returns to Den
mark. Stays his uncle. burns his palace
becomes himself the king; he again
visits England to return with two wives,
TO finally fall through their treachery.
The incidents related in the story
OF Hamlet occurred before the Norman
conquest. when England paid tribute
to the crown OF Denmark; and to hat
period belongs the plot woven into the
civilization of the world by the master
full hand of Shakespeare.
In the study Of Hamle we must
never lose sight of the environments of
his & and the conditions OF life and
language incidental to the days of the
great English bard. Hamlet. prince of
Denmark. al the creates of the con-
ceptions of life with which Shakespeare
has peopled the world. must not be
wholly interpreted by the grandeur of
the language ascribed tn him by the
playwright. Let IL be remembered that
the faults OF great men are too often
buried under the breadth of their abil-
ity. and that which would condemn
mediocrity goes unpublished when pol
ishcI DER Will well-spoken thoughts.
The weaknesses of the noble Dane as
he stands representative Of human sem
timents' and feelings. oft lie undlscov-
cred while the mind revels in the beauty
of his language and the philosophy of
MS ~utterances.
mo character i'm literature has en-
riched the language like Hamlet, with
pearls of thought and gems of express
| sion, until every heart throbs responsive
10 the loftier sentiments of the melan-
choly prince. IT'S natural then, and let
IL natural always be. that Hamlet rests
upon the throne OF literature the mas
terpiece of the mighty bard.
Yet human masterpieces are not per-
feet. and their grandeur is shared by
their imperfections when their weak
nesses are worshipped as the under
stuiies Of divinity. While l admire the
Hamlet of the play 1 do not love him.:
while l treasure the symmetrical En-
glish i'm which he has corseted thought.
1 cannot elevate him into the idealism
of this more practical age. Unfortu-
nately. IL may be, i cannot agree with
the statesman, who, when asked II he
believed there was ever a perfectly de-
veloped brain. replied:
After careful investigation. sir. /
am that the world has pro-
duced but three perfect brains-first. the
humble Nazarcne: second, the Hamlet
OF Shakespeare. n the third, modesty
forbids mn to MENTION
1T was the evident intention of
Shakespeare to girdle upon Hamlet the
shroud of mysticism that would OBJ
scure much of motive that impelled ex-
preston, and thus advertise his OWL
views of humanity without appearing so
to do. He succeeded so well I'm mas
q~uerading his philosophy ehind the
character of the Danish prince that the
students of Shakespeare Will forever
disagree In their estimate of Hamlet
as a character n the place he should
occupy in the hearts of the people.
THE usual conception of Hamle H.
that he WAS d gentleman II superb tai
emit. whose representative SOU was
shocked by the sudden death of his
father and whose tastes were rudeiy
outraged by the early marriage of mis-
mother To his uncle. and that under ;iia
strain OF these incidents. n the All
monitions of his fathers ghost. his
mind partially gave way n he be-
came "A monomaniac or the subject OF
r~evenging III murder of his beloved
sire. Those critics who do not. like
Noltaire, look upon the play of Hamlet
as an aggregation of monstroslties.
usually express the idea that the prince
was suffering from some form of men
hth 49, ~ IN AiohtA u Vic
order OF the soul n the delirium of
the heart to a condition of semi-madness
that found frequent ven in n volcanic
discharge of classical English at con-
venient targets.
Il may invite the disapprobation of
some, but In my first criticism of the
play. which is not a criticism. but an
Interpretations must shatter two
ideals. IL I am to do justice to my con-
ception of the purposes OF its author in
its construction.
"Hamlet's madness was not partially
feigned. but wholly so. as his uncle. the
king. suspected there was method I'm
his Madness In eliminating from the
character of Hamlet that disordered
brain which CAV birth to expressions
of such wordrous beauty and intelli-
gence. i must also ask the ghost of
Hamlet's father to step down and out.
The relation OF the ghost to the
events of the play is such that I cannot
peremptorily dismiss his supernatural
highness. l do not reject the ghost on
the grounds that there are no ghosts.
for we ave all seen the ghost of an OPP
portunity slide by: but l do not believe
that Shakespeare. i'm the sublime inter-
probation OF nature. would insult the
intelligence of his own or any other
age by linking To the practical and the
tangible the visionary and the absurd
mo N can read the play and the
history OF the times in which IT was To-
Gated without being firmly convinced
that the sudden death of the king and
the early marriage of his widow to
Hamlet's uncle had created i'm the
minds of the people a suspicion of foul
play that doubtless oun expression In
the whispers of the gossips of the court.
The absurd and hastily concocted story
that Hamlet's father had died of "A
snake bite. when the kings garden was
practically inaccessible TO snakes, and
those reptiles were not supposed TO be
abroad within two months OF the time
referred to by Francisco I'm the OPEN
ing scene. when he declares: TITS bitter
~cold'-could have had no other effect
han TO arouse a well-defined suspicion.
This suspicion was greatly strengthened
when the widow was welded To Ham
let's uncle a few weeks after the sud
den death of his father. 1t was evident
that Hamlet entertained his doubts and
WAS mentally ripe for the revelations Of