The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-06-19


pear that in England one must present
Hamlet a melancholy professor
of Wlttemberg, but Shakespeare him
self says Hamlet was a student at Wit
temberg.
1t is said that I do not play the ira
ditiOn; but where is the tradition? Each
actor has his own.
Il am reproached for having nodded
my role according to the sixteenth CEN
tury. The time of Hamlet undoubtedly
was in the eleventh century, if the fer
Getty of the play is considered, but it's
philosophy is much more recent and the
train of thought is that of a man less
savage and more polished.
Then again Shakespeare speaks of
cannon salvos of artillery and uses a
thousand other technical words which
are of the sixteenth century and not of
the eleventh.
Il am reproached with not being suf-
ficiently astonished. dumbfounded, when
1 see the ghost. But Hamlet comes ex-
pressly to see it. He awaits it. When
the ghost wants to draw him aside he
draws his sword against his friends
and theatens to kill them if they do not
let them pass. That does not bespeak a
feeble man. Hamlet dreams when alone
but in company he speaks-speaks to
conceal his thoughts.
Il am reproached with not being DO
lite enough with Polonius, but Shakes
peare makes Hamlet say all kinds Of
unpleasant things to him.
In the oratory scene 1 am reproach-
ed with going too near the king, but if
Hamlet wishes to kill the king surely
he must be colse to him, and when he
hears him pray words of repentance he
thinks that If he kills him he will send
him to heaven, and does not kill the
kinS-nOr because he is validating and
weak, but because he is firm and logi-
cal He wishes to kill him in a state of
sin, not of repentance; for he desires
to send him to hell, not to heaven.
Some wish to see in Hamlet a wo-
manish, hesitating, flighty mind To me
he seems manly and resolute, but
thoughtful. AS soon as Hamlet gath
learns fOh ST murder, he forms a res
olution to avenge him, but as he is the
opposite of Othello, who acts first and
thinks afterwards, Hamlet thinks be-
fore he acts, which is a sign of great
strength, great power of mind.
Hamlet loves Ophelia. He renounces
his love, he renOunces study, he re-
nounceS everything in order to gain his
object, and he attains it. He kills the
king while in the blackest, most mortal
sin, but kills him only when he is abso-
lutely sure When sent to England he
takes the first opportunity of leaping
alone into the enemy's vessel and an
nounces his name in order that he NAV
be made a prisoner, certain that he will
be brought back. He calmly sends
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to death.
All this bespeak a young, strong de-
termined character.
When he dreams it is of his plan, his
suicide he would have killed himself
in disgust with the world; but since he
cannot kill himself he will kill to con-
clude sin.
Permit me to say that Shakespeare,
by his colossal genius, belongs to the
universe, and that the French or Ger
man or Russian brain has a right to
admire and understand him.
SARAH BERNHARDT."
In appearance and effect Bernhardt's
Hamlet gives no illusion of manhood,
and it is less like woman than an old
young child with precocious wit and
abnormally developed face. The pre-
occupation of mind, torment of soul,
mystery and pathos which hitherto
have been essential characteristics of
"the melancholy Dane, "are totally lack
ing in Bernhardt'S impersOnatiOn.
This, together with the absence of
Sha1espearian language and rhpthm
permits an awe-inspiring tragedy to be
transf sformed into a wide-awake drama
of situation and action. AS such it is
admirably acted and staged and uneX-
pectedly interesting.
Bernhardt, who is playing to immense
houses, is to give a performance at
Stratford- -on-Avon, June 29. Forty-eight
hours later she is booked to appear in
Lyons where she will start on a rapid
tour of the continental cities.