The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1906-07-31
ABOUTTHEPLA}SO SHAKESPEARE

@ iss lt&e : =
ar aslt e "a
II. ~. s f
Lee #H4 Macbeth Ts w. s
ha- #ars ~ attraction ar
fa-e tstn t1+n tn. tIret -
than Al ~ tIe other u tra
iuen tr.a#. u.etar y
rata written ft tasH aI, .ftar tn-
T@-t. 7 aNa.H - ue aa. /
." .s"Ea- purpose - present
N"i discussed As EIaaIfaf
Ma Great actors - ueG au .r-
CeHt critics atye discussed Fl. ARA ..tH
OBI ing Eta&-- The greatest Amer
lean iraeslian ~, late Edwin Booth.
Some iHiFtE ur more wears a.s s.ret.
th'- NihtaH. aAd te m- lt G- garIe. tt
SANE" and sound
"1ef. #iiI conf. that E. 8a not
consider Hamlet mAa-eN,ept IA
craft My opinion msg lars "a Itfs.
value h4f Us tua result - m.aT
weary walk with him .far hour. ta-
geta=E. here in the lobby
iAWe T.. Murdoch another ~ape-
Tt9' actor, q man OF ability otherwise
wrote Ian the New York Forum FOR
July. 1880. rejecting ta. idea of las
insanity, and most interestingly He.
among other most pointed things said
True, ia times IF heavy gloom
ana dark Dependency the balance of
his mind dips deep. yet he maintains
through all mis- reasons poi~e.
THE question OF Hamlets insanity.
though discussed To tcdieuSuces. has
not. / think been considered I'M the
light Of its fun Importance. Il is in
fact the main motive Of liz whole.
anim@ting every scene and situation.
For has il ever occurred -
them to inquire how Hamlet could
hope to deceive rhc court if ne did
no .4aI1 mo. -
able madness Madness is hardly the
stuff of which, among many other
things. his most profound soliloguies
are made"
The truth is tina the tuo most
striking characteristics OF tho splendid
play is its great Intellectually and
amazing cloquence. Hamlet himself
is the most tremendous embodiment
Of mental amplitude n energy that
belongs to human rcatiOu as see
it. But as Mr.. Booth intimates hc is
q great puzzle. What did Shakespeare
mean by that wondrously fascinating
creation, with his almost supplemental
cIoquence, his luminous thoughts. the
vast intellect which no man has per-
haps eve fathomed2 Was it shakes
peare himself embodied moro or less
in the wonderful character? Mr..
Booth is right when he says that
Hamlet was not really mad-'cNcopt
in craft That is, | suppose, that OF
no time was he actually mad" |
think the attentive. careful. thought
full reader must see this If not ridden
by some crotchet or theory previously
formed. BY craft that
Mr.. Booth means that Hamlet feigned
madness TO carry out his plan Of re
Venge This is evidently sound criti-
cism II which is fully sustained by
the very words of Hamlet himself in
his pgnNerS9 tinn- wifi HnP9fia@ inlI1a-
diateIy after that wonderful scene with
the Ghost of his murdered father.
Listen. as he speaks to his friend
Horatio.
Here, as before, never, so help you.
mercy,
How strange or odd, soccer l bear my
AS I, ~perchance, hereafter shall think
meet
To put an antic disposition on" &c.
Here he clearly intimates his pur-
pose to feign madness. This was the
opinion held by the acutest Of all
critics-Samuel Taylor Coleridge,-
the most intellectual EngIishman
possibly since John Milton. He speaks
Of Hamlet as playing that subtle
trick of pretending to act the lun-
attic.
Coleridge admits that at times Ham
let NdS very neal beillS, what he pre-
tends to act" just so. for he knew
what lay before him-that he must
murder the villain who killed his
father and then occupied his throne.
This greatly eXCiteS his brain. Brave
and strong and Intellectual and noble.
he evidently has d horror of the deed
he must perform. No wonder he is
aften almost crazed with the thoughts
that crowd upon him. No wonder he
heSitated. postponed, the bloody ac-
ton. Mr.. Murdoch suggestively says:
This tendency Of Hamlet Shakes
peare shows in less ideal form in the
utterances of many other characters.
Brutus, Macbeth. Richard H., Iago.
as they contemplate action. all speak
of the hating doubling overthought
in which stagnate the powers of ac-
cOmpliShment.
of himself. feeling too we'll the
different plague Of each calamity
Hamlet says:
Now. whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven
scrupIe
OF thinking too precisely on the
A thought. which. quarter'd. hath but
one part wisdom
And ever three parts coward do
not know
Why yet l live to say, n thing
u 60.
! How keenly. too. he must have felt
the comment IF the player king.
Il do believe. you think what now
YOU speak:
But. what We do determine oft we
break.
What to ourselves in passion We pro
pose.
The passion ending, doth the purpose
lose
From the play we might quote many
such passages. but these are sufficient
to sound the keynote of the terrible
discord that cracked in the ring the
music Of Hamlets life
There is 50 much that might be
cited from h play bearing upon the
ours Of Hamlet's action and his
meditative thoughts as expressed. that
l cannot reproduce it here unless ]
trench too much upon my space. For
thirty years | have never doubted as
to the sanity of Hamlet. n there
is one passage hat has always az
pealed 10 me aS Of greatest impor-
lance. and as showing that he con-