A History of English Literature

the men of the royal family; but Prince Hamlet had reason to feel that
Claudius had taken advantage of his absence to forestall his natural
candidacy. The respect shown throughout the play by Claudius to Polonius,
the Lord Chamberlain, now in his dotage, suggests that possibly Polonius
was instrumental in securing Claudius' election. A very few weeks after the
death of King Hamlet, Claudius married Gertrude. Prince Hamlet, recalled to
Denmark by the news of his father's death, was plunged into a state of
wretched despondency by the shock of that terrible grief and by his
mother's indecently hasty marriage to a man whom he detested.
There has been much discussion as to whether or not Shakspere means to
represent Hamlet as mad, but very few competent critics now believe that
Hamlet is mad at any time. The student should discover proof of this
conclusion in the play; but it should be added that all the earlier
versions of the story explicitly state that the madness is feigned.
Hamlet's temperament, however, should receive careful consideration. The
actual central questions of the play are: 1. Why does Hamlet delay in
killing King Claudius after the revelation by his father's Ghost in I iv?
2. Why does he feign madness? As to the delay: It must be premised that the
primitive law of blood-revenge is still binding in Denmark, so that after
the revelation by the Ghost it is Hamlet's duty to kill Claudius. Of course
it is dramatically necessary that he shall delay, otherwise there would be
no play; but that is irrelevant to the question of the human motivation.
The following are the chief explanations suggested, and students should
carefully consider how far each of them may be true. 1. There are external
difficulties, _a_. In the earlier versions of the story Claudius was
surrounded by guards, so that Hamlet could not get at him. Is this true in
Shakspere's play? _b_. Hamlet must wait until he can justify his deed
to the court; otherwise his act would be misunderstood and he might himself
be put to death, and so fail of real revenge. Do you find indications that
Shakspere takes this view? 2. Hamlet is a sentimental weakling, incapable
by nature of decisive action. This was the view of Goethe. Is it consistent
with Hamlet's words and deeds? 3. Hamlet's scholar's habit of study and
analysis has largely paralyzed his natural power of action. He must stop
and weigh every action beforehand, until he bewilders himself in the maze
of incentives and dissuasives. 4. This acquired tendency is greatly
increased by his present state of extreme grief and despondency.
(Especially argued by Professor Bradley.) 5. His moral nature revolts at
the idea of assassination; in him the barbarous standard of a primitive
time and the finer feelings of a highly civilized and sensitive man are in
conflict. 6. He distrusts the authenticity of the Ghost and wishes to make
sure that it is not (literally) a device of the devil before obeying it.
Supposing that this is so, does it suffice for the complete explanation,
and is Hamlet altogether sincere in falling back on it?
In a hasty study like the present the reasons for Hamlet's pretense of
madness can be arrived at only by starting not only with some knowledge of
the details of the earlier versions but with some definite theory. The one
which follows is substantially that of Professor Lewis. The pretense of
madness was a natural part of the earlier versions, since in them Hamlet's
uncle killed his father openly and knew that Hamlet would naturally wish to
avenge the murder; in those versions Hamlet feigns madness in order that he
may seem harmless. In Shakspere's play (and probably in the older play from
which he drew), Claudius does not know that Hamlet is aware of his guilt;
hence Hamlet's pretense of madness is not only useless but foolish, for it
attracts unnecessary attention to him and if discovered to be a pretense
must suggest that he has some secret plan, that is, must suggest to
Claudius that Hamlet may know the truth. Shakspere, therefore, retains the
pretense of madness mainly because it had become too popular a part of the