The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-06-17
Was Hamlet Mad?
Criticism of the
Great DoEe.

Paper read before the Shakespeare class
| of the Western School of EIocutionA and
Oratory, by Mrs. Ethel Hendee.
| "In the remote past Of early centuAes,
where history and mythology are so inier-
mingled that one cannot be separated
from the other, at the court Of Horwen-
| dillus, lived prince, tenderly and noby
reared
That Shakespeare drew from the quasl
! history OF Hamlet the Dane for his peer
less tragedy. is a matter Of historical rec
ord.
1.-THE main facts are the san1e In or
der TO avenge his fathers death and de-
posa his uncle, who had married his
mother, the real Hamlet assumed a sim
pie foolish demeanor, but he Shakes
peare's poeticat nature rebelled against
the part. and the world was given that
exquisite bit of acting so perfectly ac-
comphshed that opinion is divided TO this
day If Hamlet be mad or not mad
a mind with such brilliant flights OF
fancy, such profound understanding OF
human nature, coupled with wit so keen
and caustic that our admiration is equally
excited in all his varying moods, if he be
melancholy he deals forthwith with the
grayest problems OF life In so mastery a
way that we ara astonished TO find our
avn thoughts and feeling clothed before
rs; moods too vague for US to attempt TO
describe are being brought forth and
clearly deanSd.
The shelves of our storehouse, where
we have thrust so many unsolved prob
lems are busted and put IN ORDER and
henceforth for human truths we turn to
him.
so we could run the gamut bf the
minor human moods and Shakespeares
Hamlet gives matches expression to
them all
Hamlet. the prince OF royal manners,
the scholar, the dreamer, with
Unmatched form and feature of blown
YOUTH
Here is
" The courtfers. scholars, soldiers eye,
tongue, sword,
The expectancy and rose Of the fair state,
The glass of fashion and the mould Of
form,
The observed Of all Observers
Here is a character marked by refine
ment of thought, Of contemplation rather
than of action.
This is Hamlet, the prince, when the
death Of his noble father brought with
the funeral cortege such an host of evil
destinies. From the beginning of the play
his life is overshadowed by a great crime.
What his character would have been I'M
der less tragic circumstances we can only
conjecture from the context of.the play.
None Of mis- happier moods are given; not
one happy care, free word or 5smile But
one whose words are OF such poetic
thought and fancy. shows the possession
of rich nature capable of its deepest
joys.
eat the opening of, the play Hamlet
has reached the age of 80 years, the age
when the ideality of youth is sottened
and merged into maturer thought, when |
all the faculties have reached a vigorous |
and perfected state, supposedly when one |
is best able-to. grapple with the problems
Of lfe-standing securely between the !
rashness of youth and the infirmities of |
age; when reason stands eminent |
N the souls casket-
His assumed madness dates from the |
light Of the ghost revelation to him, after
is dreadful disclosures and its injunc- |
ions-frst to revenge the foul murder
-s.-%'If -thou-hast nature in thee, bear 1t
not:
let not the royal bed Of Denmark be
couch for luxury and damned incest,
But howsoever thou pursueys this alct
faint not thy mind, W thy soul con-
trive
Against thy mother aught. '-
I'VE see him grooming. writhing, almost
rushed beneath a mission for which by
nature he is totally untitled.
His anguish of spirit as he exclaims
Hold, hold, my heart,
md you my sinews grow not instant Old,
5ut bear me stiffly up
Before his mental vision rises the pic
ure of his ruined future. Life's panorama
asses before him in awful detail with
ghtning swiftness, and ne makes a vow
D renounce everything that viii inter
ere with his revenge.
Remember theei
ga, from the table Of my memory
Il wipe away all trivial fond records,
II saws of hooks all forms all pressures !