The San Francisco call., 1905-03-24
QUEER THEORY
ABOUT HAMLET
German Professor Declares
Characters in Play Typify
Temperament of the Hero
RIDES A MOTOR CYCLE
DR.. Conan Doyle's Principal
Recreation Is a Bicycle
Propelled by Electricity
Special Dispatch to The Call.

| LONDON, March 23.-With a labori-
BUSINESS and convictions truly Teutonic,
Herr Heinrich, German professor,
has just set forth what is about the
queerest theory yet propoupded regard
ing Shakespeare Hamlet" The pro-
fessor believes that all the characters
in the play were intended by Shakes
peare to be representations CT the vari-
Gus sides of Hamlet's temperament and
| this belief he elaborates in a brochure
consisting of over ninety pages of close
/ type, which has just been published in
the Fatherland under the title OF Die
J Namen Hamlettragodie.
1t demonstrates again that there's
practically no theory tco absurd to be
substa inflated, in a way, if you only
devote enough patience and ingenuity
! to The business. Professor Heinrich en-
/ deavors to justify his assumption by
! tracing the names of all the characters
| in Hamlet to their source. The hero'S
cwn appellation he traces back through
almost countless generations and shows
| that II was originally spelled both
| Hambiet and Hamlet, and further de-
clares that the name OF shakespeare
I son, Hamnet. is only a variation. Herr
/ Heinrich considers that Hamlet was
derived originally from the old English
word hamelian," to halt or be lame,
and maintains that the name, there
fore, is intended to be symbolical of the
| halting or indecisive side of Hamlet's
character The name of Gertrude, the
professor follows indefatigably through
the "Geruthe" of Belleforest to the
gerry Venus of Chaucers Knights
Tale" and he makes this name mean
1.-The inconstant" 'Laertes" is de-
| clared by the German savant to be de-
rived from leo" and heart and,
therefore, to stand for Hamlets brav
cry. Polonius, the professor thinks.
stands for Hamlet's lack of youth; Ho-
ratio represents the philosophical and
skeptical sides of Hamlet's character;
Rosencrantz and Guildenst.rn stand
for craftiness and lack of will power,
, and Osric, through the Latin os'-
mouth-and German "reich"-full Of
for the love of self-communing.
REMARKABLE DEDUCTION.
Most remarkable of all. however,
Herr Heinrich declares that the name
Ophelia must have been derived by
Shakespeare from either MephistC-
pheles" or ''offaI," ana in support of the
latter supposition he quotes the Danes
comment "a good kissing carrion.
He says that Ophelia represents the
womanish side OF Hamlets character
and asserts that we have numerous in
stances in Shakespeare of his poor
opinion of women. Herr Heinrich
brings his extraordinary thesis to
close by asserting that Shakespeare
undoubtedly found the germ or his
tragedy in the history of Mary, Queen
OF scots, Darnley aid Boutwell, with
James L as the Prince.
DR. Conan Doyle is now at Under
shaw" his picturesque country house
at Hindhead, Surrey, and is engaged
on a new literary work, of whose ma
ture, however, he declines TO give so
much as a hint. The authors princi-
pal recreation at present is motor-cy-
cling, machine OF this sort having re-
Gently been added to his garage. Sir
Arthur of course, has been an enIhusi-
J astic InotCIist for several years, and
has two cars of ten and twenty horse
power respectively, but he says he pre-
1ers his new motorcycle, which Is a
Roc, for short distances, and expects
to make some lengthy tours on 1T as
soon as the weather gets warmer.
! Oscar Wilde's DE Profundis" is still
I the chief topic of talk in literary cir
cles here. Numerous excisions were
made in the original by Robert Ross,
who published it, and / was told re-
! Gently by one who had seen the manu-
script that the parts cut out consist
/ of savage denunciations of one man. a
J former friend of Oscar Wilde. these
diatribes occurring again and again in
his literary will and testament" as
i Wilde called the strange document
/ composed in Reading JAIL