The riddles of Hamlet and the newest answers

Front matter

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Chapter I

Conflicting Theories. — Sir Philip Sidney. — Hamlet Foreign to Shakespeare's Times. — Touches Him on Many Sides. — The Poet's Mental Sufferings. — Causes. — Essex and Southampton.— Religious Dissensions and Persecutions. — Richard II. and Queen Elizabeth. — Julius Caesar. — Essex and Brutus. — Conspiracy Crushed. — Misfortunes of Friends. — Personal Danger. — Melancholy. — The Tragedy Revised. — The Gloominess of Hamlet more Emphasized 1

CHAPTER II Religion of Denmark in Hamlet's Day

Christianity Introduced into Denmark. — Worshippers of Odin. — Harold the Christian. — Swengen. — Canute the Great. — A Catholic Hamlet of the Elizabethan Era. — Saxo Grammaticus. — The Incarnation of Protestantism. — Refutation. — Thornbury. — Cardinal Newman 11

CHAPTER III Is Hamlet a Positivist

Positivism Ancient and Modern. — A Religious System. — Its Negations in Contrast with Hamlet's Affirmations. — "The Undiscovered Country. ' ' — A Misconception. — Refutation. — The Visible and the Invisible World. — The Common Law of Divine Providence 1?

Chapter IV

Varied Claims. — Giordano Bruno. — Shakespeare Attends his Lectures. — Borrows his Philosophic" Principles. — Brief

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CONTENTS \

Page Sketch of Bruno. — Arrives in London. — Queen Bess. — Letter to Oxford University. — Theories Unacceptable. — Lampoons the University. — Assumption Refuted. — Bruno's Pantheism and Shakespeare's Faith Contrasted. — Christian Pantheism.— The Angelic Doctor. — An Epitaph 21

CHAPTER V Hamlet a Student op Philosophy in Germany

At School in Wittenberg. — An Anachronism. — Philosophic Schools in Germany. — The Renaissance and Universities of Europe. — A Conspiracy. — Recent Discoveries. — Testimony of non-Catholic Authors. — Celebrated Philosophic Schools in Germany. — Magdeburg. — Hildesheim. — A Professor and Countryman of Hamlet. — In Opposition to the "Reformers" of Wittenberg 30

CHAPTER VI The Age op Hamlet

Controversy. — Skillful Legerdemain. — An Allusion. — Contradictory Ideas. — Duration of Time. — Accelerated and Retarded Movements. — Hamlet's Real Age. — Convincing Evidence. — Objection Refuted. — Age of Students in the Elizabethan Era. — A Disparity. — An Historic Fact. — Hamlet's Maturity.— A Compromise. 35

Chapter VII

The Legitimate Heir. — Werder and Hudson. — Refutation. — Nullity of the Queen's Marriage. — Three Canonical Impediments.— Claudius and the English Uxorcide. — An Error. — Case of Queen Catherine of Aragon and of Gertrude not Parallel. — Hamlet 's Insistence upon the Nullity of the Marriage.— His View that of Shakespeare and his Times. — The Catholic View. — Claudius the de facto King. — Hamlet the Se jure King 43

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Page CHAPTER VIII

The Real or Assumed Madness of Hamlet

Critics in Opposition. — The Court of Claudius. — Eminent Physicians.— A Modern Instance. — Shakespeare's Unaided Genius; Refutation. A Recent Discovery. — His Intention. — Striking Contrasts and Resemblances. — Lear and Ophelia; Hamlet and Edgar. — The Original Amleth. — Intermittent Flashes. — Objection Refuted. — Theory of Insanity Opposed to Canons of Dramatic Art. — An Insane Hamlet affords no Tragic Motive 53

CHAPTER IX Hamlet's Alleged Defect of Character

The Old Subjective School. — Goethe, Coleridge, Ulrici. — Objections.— Theory of the Recent Objective School. — Klein, Werder. — Exposition. — A man of Action and Energy of Will. — The Ghost's Threefold Command. — How prove the Guilt of Claudius. — Christian Principles and Nature of the Revenge. — Cause of Delay not Subjective. — Original Amleth in Contrast with the Christian Hamlet. — The Former Proper to the Subjective School; the Latter to the Objective. The Recent Theory Preferable. — One Defect 63

Chapter X

Divergent Opinions. — Causes. — Hamlet and Prince Hal. — Contrasts and Resemblances. — In Happier Days. — Natural Disposition.— Temperament. — Prudence, Self-command, Sincerity, Affection, Filial Devotion, Reverence for his Father. — Mental Gifts and Culture. — Love of Honesty. — Horatio. — Repugnance to Life at Court. — Interest, Admiration, Sympathy ■■•■' 72

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$art Bttatto

A New Commentary on the Tragedy of Hamlet

Page ACT I

Scene First

Weird Expectations. — Attraction of the Preternatural. — Objective Reality of the Ghost. — Horatio's Scepticism. — A Strange Visitor. — The Latin Tongue. — Whispered Reports. — "101 Cross It ".—A Good Spirit.— A Triple Appeal.— "The Hallowed Season." — A Christian Horace. — Popular Beliefs. — Horatio and a Rationalistic Critic 85

Scene Second

A Public Audience. — Speech of Claudius. — Reproachful Bearing. — Pious Preachment. — "My Cousin and My Son". — "Frailty, Thy Name is Woman". — Haunting Suspicions. — Immersed in Grief. — Overcomes Temptation. — A Dual Affliction. — Incestuous Union. — A Startling Disclosure. — Presentiments of Evil. — Midnight Watch 100

Scene Third

Calumnious Strokes. — Brotherly Affection. — Laertes ' Speech. — Admonition Countered. — Paternal Counsel. — Borrowed Precepts. — Instinctive Prying. — Mistrusted Love. — Ophelia's Bewilderment. — Hamlet's Fixed Judgment . . . 118

Scene Fourth

"A Vicious Mole of Nature". — On the Ramparts of Elsinore. — Clang of Trumpets. — Moralizings. — "Angels and

-, Ministers of Grace". — "Spirit of Health or Goblin damn 'd ' '. — ' ' Royal Dane ' '. — Impassioned Pleadings. — "I'll follow Thee".— Silent Beckoning.— A Conflict.— Resolute of Will. . . 126

Scene Fifth

A Purgatorial Visitor. — A Challenge. — Nature of the Revenge.— Christian Principles. — An Error. — Secrets of the

Page Grave. — A Triple Complaint. — A Strict Injunction. — Reality of the Ghost. — A Rationalist's Argument. — A Sworn Resolve. — Hamlet's Tablets. — A Difficult Situation.— Theories. — Curiosity of Friends. — "By St. Patrick."— Irish Missionaries in Northern Germany. — St. Patrick's Purgatory. — A Famous Pilgrimage. — Bollandists. — Chroniclers. — The Shakespeare of Spain. — The Crusader's Oath. — Hamlet's Insistence. — "The Fellow in the Cellerage." — The Philosophy of Hamlet and Horatio. — The Masquerade. — "The Time is out of Joint." — A Leading Error 134

Scene First

The Agent's Instructions. — Social Life. — A Burlesque of Lord Burghley. — A Special Purpose. — A Revelation. — An Unannounced Visitor. — Ophelia Tested. — A Secret Disclosed.— Mistakes of Polonius 165

Scene Second

New Arrivals. — Secret Purpose. — Ambassadors. — Anxiety of Polonius. — Hamlet's Letter. — A Ruse. — An Intruder. — A Humorous Dialogue. — The Spies. — An Error. — A Twofold Norm. — A Positivist. — King and Beggar. — A Secret Mission. — ' ' How Like an Angel. ' ' — A Contrast. — The ' ' Inhibition."— Theatrical Rivalry. — Toying with Polonius. — Testing the Players. — Polonius a Critic. — In Mental Conflict.— Man and Superman. — "The Play's the Thing." — "It may be the Devil." ' 176

Scene First

Report of Spies. — Words of Irony. — A Daughter of Polonius.—"To Be or Not To Be."— A Fertile Field.— Integrity of Text. — No Intent of Suicide. — A Dilemma. — Hamlet and Claudio. — Suicides. — Not Dead but Sleeping. — "Something after Death. ' '— ' ' The Undiscovered Country. ' '—Non-Catholic Critics. — The Oracle of God. — "Conscience." — Courage or Cowardice. — "Enterprises of Great Pith and Moment." — A Resolution. — A Rationalist's Objection. — Freethinkers.

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Page

— Attacks on Hamlet's Faith. — "No Friar Laurence." — "Let Priests Resolve His Doubts." — "An Aimless Wanderer after Truth." — Ignore Hamlet's Real Character. — Lawful Espials. — Ophelia's Position. — "Are You Honest?" — A Discovery. — A Test. — A Little Lie. — A Triple Farewell. — 1 ' Get Thee to a Nunnery. ' ' — Treatment of Ophelia^ — A New Stratagem 226

Scene Second

Identified with Hamlet. — Idealization of Art. — Negative Laws. — Mystery and Miracle Plays. — A Secret Interview. — Friendship for Horatio. — A Secret Purpose. — Entrance of the Royal Party. — Plays His Role with Dexterity.— The Old Minister's Vanity. — Assumed Merriment. — A Prologue. — A Dark Puzzle. — The Mouse Trap. — Player-King and Consort.— Effect on Gertrude. — Alarm of Claudius. — A Challenge.— Entrapped. — Hamlet 's Nervous Tension. — ' l Come ! Some Music!" — Unrestrained Joy. — Error of a Recent Critic. — An Urgent Message. — Quondam Friends. — A Trialogue — A Marvellous Distemper. — Mock Civility. — "Easy as Lying." — Turns upon His Plaguers. — "I Will Speak Daggers."— A Nero and a Claudius. — Doubts of His Mother's Guilt , 283

Scene Third

A Royal Stratagem. — Maternal Partiality. — Critical Errors. — Theoretical Catholic. — Practical Pagan. — Attempted Repentance.— "All May be Well." — Divergent Views. — "My Offence is Rank. "—" Pray I Cannot. "—" Enough Rain in Sweet Heavens." — "What's in Prayer?" — " Forgive me my Foul Murder." — "Try what Repentance can." — An Astounding Discovery. — Punishment more Fitting. — Prophetic Spirit. — Real and Fictitious Reasons. — A Twofold Duty. 309

Scene Fourth

In Secret Interview. — A Rash Intruder. — Thunders in the Index. — Gertrude's Innocence or Guilt. — Her Moral Sense. — A Contrast. — ' ' King of Shreds and Patches. ' ' — A Comic Stock-character. — A Ghostly Visitor.— Most Opportune. —

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Page Contradictory Views. — "Confess Yourself to Heaven." — The Visor Lifted.— Master the Devil.— A Method.— The Fate of Polonius. — A Caution. — Marshalled to Knavery. . . . 330

Scene Third

"A Cherub That Sees Them."— Fears of Claudius.— Convocation of Council. — Witticisms. — A New Project. — \ Angels. — The King's Treachery. — Show of Affection. — Claudius Humiliated. — A Refutation. — Effect of Hamlet 's Blunder. — His Reasons for Departure. — Claudius in Soliloquy , . . 360

Scene Fourth

Mental Conflict. — Man and Superman. — An Army on the March. — Contrasts. — No Parity. — Conclusion 368

Scene Fifth

Sweet Rose of May. — The Queen 's Obstinacy. — Pleadings of Horatio. — A Poetical Creation. — Nursery Rhymes. — Recent Memories — Fears and Forebodings. — An Insurrection. — Evil Traits of Laertes. — Claudius at His Best. — Underdone on the Modern Stage. — A Bold Front. — Laertes Dumbfounded. — Wrath Allayed. — A "Document in Madness." — Ophelia's Entrance. — Meaningless Refrains. — A Conjecture. — Association of Ideas. — Language of Flowers. — ' ' He made a Good End."— Reenkindled Grief 372

Scene Sixth

A Successful Counterplot. — A Mysterious Letter. — Safe Again in Denmark. — The Incident of the Pirate Ship and the Subjective School. — Convincing Evidence 389

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Page

Scene Seventh

In Repentant Mood. — Conspirators in Secret Conference. — Feelings of Disgust. — Shattered Dreams. — A Specious Plot. — A Cunning Tactician. — ' ' Cut His Throat in the Church. ' ' — Right of Sanctuary. — Its History. — Triple Knavery. — Alacrity of Laertes. — Flurried Spirits. — A Poetical Description.—The Queen's Grief 394

Scene First

Christian Burial. — A Remarkable Change. — The Grave-dig- ^ gers' Dispute. — A Modern Instance. — "Make the Grave Straight.'' — Unexpected Visitors. — "The Pate of a Politician."—A Trial of Wit.— "An Absolute Knave."— Princely Courtesy. — Yorick's Skull. — Moralizings on Vanities of Life. — Ophelia's Funeral. — A Bombastes Furioso. — Divergent Criticism. — Discrepancy in Text. — Three Serious Errors. — Buried with Full Catholic Ritual Service. — A Captious Critic. — Refutation. — The Original Text Free from Contradictions. — The Poet in Error or Our Text is Corrupt. ■ — "Sweets to the Sweet." — Boisterous Exaggeration. — "What, the Fair Ophelia! ' ' — Leaps into the Grave. — Grapplings and Curses. — A Challenge. — Sham Love Vanquished by True Love. — Maternal Solicitude. — Trepidation of Claudius 405

Scene Second

A Private Conference. — A Thrilling Story. — The Secret Packet. — ' ' A Divinity that Shapes our Ends. ' ' — Man 's Free Will. — Influence of Undesigned Incidents. — Under the Guidance of Providence. — Fate of the Spies. — Objective Views. — Common Opinion. — Solution Arises from Hamlet's Moral Views. — ' ' The Interim. ' ' — Silence of Standard Criticism.— Surprising Revelations. — Imminent Presence of Death. — Spirit of Atonement. — "A Difference in Each Other's Wrong." — Envoy of the Conspirators. — "Fools Circuitous or Rampant." — The Water-fly. — A Type. — Laertes ' Panegyrist. — An Urgent Summons. — Fitness of the King. — Presentiments of Evil. — Sublime Faith. — Fatalism.

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Page — A Common Error. — Reconciliation. — Entrance of Royal Party. — A Play on the Word Madness. — Nobility and Baseness in Contrast. — Satirical Strokes. — The Contest. — The Unbated and Poisoned Blade. — Claudius in Joyful Mood. — A Precaution. — The First Bout. — Pathetic Situation. — A Safeguard. — The Second Trial. — A Fat or Lean Hamlet. — Burbage. — The Queen's Imprudence. — The Third Bout. — Time for Fatal Stroke Prearranged. — A Scuffle. — Laertes Loses the Unbated and Poisoned Sword. — Caught in their Own Snare. — "Treachery, Seek it Out!" — Latent Energy Unloosed. — Overtaken by Nemesis. — Unmasked in Open Court. — Witnesses, Judge, Executioner. — Mutual Forgiveness.— Stays the Folly of Horatio. — Last Will. — Dying Moments.— "Farewell, Heaven Receive My Soul." — Startling v Revelations 434

Epilogue

An Enigma. — Thoughts Troubled and Perplexed. — Effect Different upon the Christian and Unbeliever. — Revealed Truths Deeply Graven on the Poet's Mind. — Heighten the Moral Scope and Significance of The Tragedy. — Solve Its Mysteries. — The Hero's Soul not Avowedly, yet Assuredly at Stake. — The Struggle of the Man and Superman II- * lumined by the Light of Christian Revelation Loses all Mystery.— His not the "Be All and the End All here."— A Silent and Mysterious Power Invisibly at Work throughout The Tragedy. From the Spirit World a Visitor Dominates The Hero's Thoughts and Actions. — Angels in fine Bear Away his Soul to eternal Rest in that "Undiscovered Country" Where "The Happy Smile, the Cursed Damn'd." There Reigns ' ' Even-handed Justice. " 485

Appendix 491 xv

The interest inherent in The Tragedy of Hamlet is perennial. As Shakespeare 's most popular work, it continues to-day as in centuries past to captivate men's minds and to awaken their deepest sympathies. Other tragedies may equal it in beauty of imagery, in richness of plot, and in variety of characters, but there is one trait by which it excels all others, and that unique trait marks it distinctly as a tragedy of thought.

It is a mine of profound wisdom. "It is a work of such prophetic design," says Gervinus, "and of such anticipation of the growth of the human mind that it has been understood only, and appreciated after the lapse of three centuries. ' ' The hero under difficulties insurmountable moves with magnificent intellect in isolation and towering prominence against hateful and opposing forces, and exposes to our view the psychological action of the mind under strange and conflicting influences. He is himself the tragedy. He is a universal type of man's endless anxiety when, stripped of the delusive hopes of the present life and harassed by the personal sense of his helplessness, he is brought alone face to face with the silent and mysterious world of destiny.

Hamlet is in a manner the most typical work of Shakespeare. In it as in no other are blended his genius and his personality. Written near the close of Elizabeth's reign, it was often revised during the ensuing years while he was suffering acute oppression of mind and heart. Hence it is imbued with his melancholy, and reflects his world-weariness and sense of the foulness, emptiness, and fleetingness of life. "How," asks a critic, "could a man delineate a Hamlet, a

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Coriolanus, a Macbeth, so many suffering heroic hearts, if his own heroic heart had never suffered V9

If then the tragedy reflect the poet's own experience and be the growth of his own mature judgment concerning the realities of life ; if it picture the thoughts and actions of the hero under all the circumstances in which he moves and lives, as well as the religion and moral principles that dominate these same thoughts and actions; it should surely be treated in more than a conventional way, in a way, which instead of giving rise to doubts and difficulties, shall attempt to expose the mysteries that gem-like enrich the most glorious drama of Christian thought in modern times.

Hamlet is not professedly a religious drama. But if we consider that it is replete with religious thoughts and frequent allusions to an invisible power, supreme over human affairs; that its action begins with a preternatural visitor from the spirit world, and closes with the supernatural idea of angels bearing away a human soul to eternal rest; it is clear that Shakespeare has enriched this tragedy more than any other with religious elements of uncommon interest. Carlyle has not hesitated to say that "the poet and his era, as the outcome and flowerage of all which had preceded it are attributable to the Catholicism of the Middle Ages. The Christian Faith which was the theme of Dante's song, had produced this practical life which Shakespeare was to sing. For religion then as it now and always is, was the soul of practice ; the primary vital fact in man 's life. ' '

If then Hamlet's religion was the soul of practice, the primary vital fact of his life, is it not surprising that its supreme influence should be commonly ignored? Any one who is an adherent of the Faith of the hero and acquainted with the history of English literature of the last three cen~

xviii turies, must recognize the utter hopelessness of looking for a truthful and adequate presentation of the Prince 's religious beliefs and practices. The more noted commentators, true enough, readily admit that he was a "very religious man"; but, unlike Carlyle, they seem to forget that the same Faith was his soul of practice and the primary fact of his life. Their commentaries, therefore, while most excellent in other respects, are unsatisfactory on the score of Hamlet's religion. Some ignore it altogether; others, failing to grasp its controlling influence, accord it but slight and incidental treatment; others whose religion is based on the principle of private judgment, measure his Faith with their own, and mis^ judge him from a lack of correct information concerning the true nature of his tenets; others whose sole knowledge of the Church has been imbibed from hostile sources, asperse and malign his religion, and misrepresent its sway upon him ; others again who reject all belief in Christianity and align themselves with one or other of the schools of Freethought, confound his Faith with that of the many Christian sects, and while decrying all dogmatic truths of divine revelation, are ever ready to dogmatize against all things Christian. It would indeed be strange and a thing unheard-of, if under such conditions writers with minds thus indifferent, or obscured, or prejudiced, or hostile, were to give a just appreciation of a character whose thoughts and deeds are largely controlled by his Faith and its principles of morality.

This indifferentism and misapprehension concerning a most important element of the tragedy, the author purposes to expose, and, moreover, to exhibit how the hero's religion wields a paramount influence in the development of the drama. No one can hope to attain a correct understanding of Hamlet unless he view, as far as possible, its action and personages with the eyes of Shakespeare himself. He, as is well known, was familiar with the teachings and moral principles of the olden Church, and having once decided to make his hero a firm adherent of that Faith, he, a master artist, observed the law of consistency, and portrayed him in conformity therewith. But the Faith of His "most religious hero" is not mere emotion, nor sentiment, nor a something extrinsic, which, as a mantle, may be thrown on or off at pleasure. It is an intrinsic force. It is the primary vital fact of his life and the animating principle of his thoughts and actions; for, rooted in his intellect, enthroned in his will, and enshrined in his heart, it governs him in every crisis of conflicting interests and passions.

Hence, the exposition of this mastery will not only illumine, to a great extent, the many obscurities of the tragedy, but also save the reader, on the one hand, from a mere subjective concept of the hero, as an abstract or ideal personage, fashioned and colored according to the whim and fancy of each individual, and, on the other, hinder him from confining his attention solely to the externals of the man whom he considers the victim of chance, impulse, moods, and accidents. The comprehension of this grand central principle which animates and controls Hamlet's mind and heart, brings him more distinctly before us in a close and intimate relation; throws new light on his life, thoughts, acts, and sentiments; and, by disclosing the secret and invisible mainsprings of his movements, opens to our view a clearer vision of the mind of the hero and his creator, and so affords a solution of the several riddles which otherwise seem insoluble.

The author has not confined himself to a mere commentary. The nature of the work, he felt, required him to present pen-portraits of the various characters, not, indeed, in accordance with popular fancy, but as mirrored in the text of the tragedy; to examine many opposing and misleading opinions of celebrated commentators, in order to expose in the light of the principles established, their discordance with the religious belief of Hamlet.

Part First is preliminary, and deals with many questions which, because of their important and intimate connection with The Tragedy, require a special and fuller treatment. Among them are the invalidity of Gertrude 's marriage, Hamlet's right to the crown, his feigned madness, his commonly alleged vacillation and defective power of will, his character, as well as his religion and philosophy. All these present ditficulties, the solution of which will throw light upon the new point of view taken by the author, and in consequence lead to a clearer understanding of Part Second, or the commentary proper.

The book with its many new solutions may perhaps merit the attention of all who are desirous of reading something new upon the most popular of Shakespeare's tragedies. If the perusal of its pages aiford to these lovers of the Bard of Avon even a small degree of interest, or entertainment, or illumination, the author shall deem himself well rewarded.

The work is mainly based on materials gathered together by the author during many years for the purpose of lectures given both in college courses and in public. When any one writes on Shakespeare he naturally is indebted to a host ot scholars who for more than a century have delved in the same literary field of criticism, and it is next to impossible for him to state each source from which he derived his information. Where, however, the author has consciously availed himself of previous works, he acknowledges his obligation, and this in particular to the Variorum Shakespeare of Dr. Furness.

St. Ignatius College, Cleveland Ohio.

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Chapter I

Attempts have been made to identify the characters of Hamlet with actual men and women of Shakespeare's day. If one critic holds that the hero is throughout a satire on the famous essayist, Montaigne, another is equally certain that the whole tragedy is a veiled picture of the relations between the Queen of Scots, Darnley, Bothwell and James I. Other theorists identify Hamlet with Sir Philip Sidney; Polonius with Lord Burghley; Laertes and Ophelia with Robert and Anne Cecil; and Bernardo with Sir Walter Raleigh. According to another theory, the dramas of Shake* speare, whether comedies or tragedies, are largely Aristophanic in their intent, and are filled with topical sketches and allusions to which in many cases the clue is now lost. These theories, though entertaining to the curious reader, seem with the exception of that in regard to Sir Philip Sidney and Lord Burghley to have little objective reality, and to be the product of a playful imagination, rather than of sound critical judgment.

It is, however, highly probable that in moulding the character of the melancholy Dane, Shakespeare took a contemporary as a model in certain traits. Sir Philip Sidney had a remarkable personality, and was the most accomplished courtier of the Elizabethan era. He was curiously lacking in the characteristic blitheness of his times, and looked by preference on the gloomy side of things. Like Hamlet, he was a scholar and an idealist, and, living in an uncongenial environment, was ever striving in vain to escape from it into a life of action ; and again, like Hamlet, in the lingering and futility of his later years, which were due in a great measure to the force of external circumstances, may be clearly traced the Dane's apparent irresolution and impotence of will.1

Sidney was a special favorite of "Queen Bess," and. when wishing to sail with Sir Francis Drake on an expedition against the Spaniards in the West Indies, was expressly forbidden, because of Elizabeth's anxiety, "lest she should lose the jewel of her dominions." Though no brilliant achievement illustrated his short life, the singular beauty of his character won for him the universal love and esteem of his countrymen. "The nobility of his nature and the winning courtesies in which its gentle magnanimity expressed itself, took captive all hearts while he lived, and have since kept sweet his memory. Sublimely mild, a spirit without spot, he lives in the history of his country as a rare and finished type of English character, in which the antique honor of chivalry is seen shading into the graces of a modern gentleman. His sonnets are of rare merit; and his Arcadia is a work of indisputable genius, flushed with the light of a fine imagination, and its purity and tenderness of sentiment gives an authentic reflex of the lovely moral nature of the writer."2 The universal esteem in which he was held was strikingly manifested at his death, when a general mourning was observed throughout the country. Another parallel is noted in the plaintive verses of the wits and poets of his day. They lament him, "The prince of noblesse and chivalry," in language, which naturally suggests Ophelia's moaning over her distracted lover :

"Oh, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!

The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword,

Th' expectancy and rose of the fair state,

The glass of fashion and the mould of form.

Th' observed of all observers, quite, quite down!"

Others, again, see in Hamlet a reflex of Shakespeare himself. The Prince is generally conceded to be in advance of

i Of. E. K. Chambers' "Hamlet", Introd. 2 Fox Bourne's "Memoirs of Sir Sidney".

his age. It may, then, well be questioned how came the Poet to create a character so foreign to the spirit of his times? In the light of history, we are wont to view the Elizabethan era as ardent and vigorous. It was animated by a spirit which, restless at home, looked abroad, and, enamored of maritime greatness, reached out to enterprises of discovery and colonization. Laertes rather than Hamlet was its exponent. The national life, wholly absorbed in material growth and development, was little troubled with vexed questions and intellectual subtleties. What, therefore, so stirred the Poet's soul as to prompt him to create a character so remarkable and born out of time ?

"We know that Shakespeare was not Hamlet, but, nevertheless, he seems to touch him on many sides. "The concentration of interest, the intensity of feeling, the hushed passion which characterize the play, make us feel that it has some exceptionally close relation to the Poet's own experience, and that, in an unusual degree, his personality pervades it."3 Is there perhaps something to connect the tragedy with the happenings of his own life and the development of his own spirit ? Is there anything in the fact that it was produced in the tragic period of his dramatic labors and immediately precedes his two most sombre dramas? In their creation, we seem to see the creator's world- weariness reflected, and to catch his repeated sighs for a peaceful rest from the turmoil of a religious persecution which was harassing so many of his friends.

Commentators are in agreement that a dark shadow had fallen upon the Poet, overclouding his spirits, and filling his mind with gloom. He was stirred to his inmost soul, and, in the grand series of tragedies composed at this period, reveals the thoughts and feelings then most agitating his troubled mind. In them he struggles with the stern realities of life as he felt them under the political abuses and religious

3Mabie: "Shakespeare, Poet, Dramatist, and Man".

persecution of the day ; in them he emphasizes the weaknesses of human-kind in its baseness, lawless lust, ungoverned jealousy, serpent-like ingratitude, disregard of human rights, and shameless treachery ; and over all he holds, as a moralist, the terrors of conscience and the unfailing vengeance of the sword of fate.4 Some commentators ignore the cause of this gloom as something unfathomable, others assign only partial reasons, and others again explain it in a manner wholly unsatisfactory. This, no doubt, is due to one-sided views, which arise from the perusal of imperfect or distorted histories of those troublesome times. But modern authors, less biased and more critical, enable the open-minded reader to see light amid darkness. Former historians, following in the wake of their predecessors, were accustomed to repeat the story of the golden days of Elizabeth, and to portray with magic pencil the unprecedented happiness of her people. The sunlit cloud, however, bears a very dark side, as is shown by the dismal picture drawn by Catholic writers of the same period.

The nation was divided by religious dissensions into opposite parties of almost equal numbers, the oppressed and the oppressor. The operation of the penal statutes had ground many ancient and opulent families to the dust; and, enriched by their impoverishment, new families had sprung up in their place; and these, as they shared the plunder, naturally eulogized the new anti-Catholic system to which they owed their wealth and ascendency. But their prosperity was not the prosperity of the nation ; it was that of one half obtained by the legalized robbery of the other. It is evident that neither Elizabeth nor her ministers understood the benefits of civil and religious liberty.6 The great stain on the character of Elizabeth, affirms Macaulay,6 is the fact that, being herself an Adiaphorist without scruples about