Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-04-07
Hamlet mean? Goethe said that Ham
let represented the man who saw what

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let represented the man who saw what
was to be achieved, snt could not
achieve it. The story ]. Hamlet runs
as follows: Hamlet, heir to the throne
of Denmark, goes to Wirtemburg to
college. AS he leaves, the people stand
IN the streets and bow to him, and
wish him well, and cheer him. When
he leaves home he thought to hold a
scepter was the imperial dignity Of
the world, but now he begins to dream
and to think. Night after night he sits
under the stars and talks with his
friend, Horatio. Hamlet's hand was
built to hold a scepter, but now he
forgets Denmark and lives in the
realm Of dreams and thoughts. One
night he heard the fast galloping of a
horse Gathering on the street below,
and with a candle he descends
to the door. The servant blurts out,
Your father is dead Putting togeth-
er a few of his belongings he leaps in
to the saddle and goes to mingle his
tears with his mothers.
What is Hamlet? All the world
dreams of him. Nobody knows how he
looks, and everybody dreams of him
as they conceive him to be. Hamlet
had brains and they didn't worry him.
He was the kind Of a man | would
have liked to have had for a neighbor.
He understood men, but he didn't un-
derstand women. That's the genius
of him. He was brave. When the
ghost came and beckoned to him
whom we have never seen with "a
sword or in the battle, he answered,
Go on, I will'come.'
Hamlet means the question Of I'M
requited evil. That changes it from a
question Of logic to one Of life. This
young man, fresh from college, with
all his dreams, finds himself not among
the stars, but walking on sword
The meshes hold him hand and foot,
and he cannot get through. So job
Of old and Hamlet are become neigh
bors; they clasp hands in the problem
of unrequited evil.
"The greatest question that ever
faced a people is this problem Of UNI
requited evil. I defy anyone to go
far into the history of the world with
out getting to where his face will
blanch trying to deal with this prob
lem. How can you explain this evil?
ib0 Sdi11iOC ldh0 d 1SdIuGI anu turll
aside swords. So you cannot get along
without meeting this question:. / want
you to pity Hamlet. He was a youth
fresh from college, and the tragedy OF
Hamlet is that he died from the prob
lem Of unrequited evil. My heart
aches for Hamlet like the beating of
a death dirge. Therefore it is my
suggestion that the majesty of Ham
let is not that it is an intellectual play
SO much Is it is the foremost moral
play of the world. Sin stains all the
pages Of history. You can't wink at
it, close your eyes on it. You must
deal with it. But nobody knows how.
Hamlet didn't don't. Hamlet was
trying to find out the ethical basis Of
behavior. When he went out into the
night, he wanted his murdered father,
And SO he saw his fathers ghost.
Hamlet had a grave yard in his heart,
He was a man that had all of life. He
was trying to hitch the gown Of life,
beauty, with the verb of life, behave.
To have life you must have both of
these. Hamlet was trying to find his
duty. I call you all to witness that ev-
cry great question, the problem of un-
requited evil, of love, of death, all are
raised, but none are answered.. Such
is Hamlet"