The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by George MacDonald (big ebook reader TXT) 📕

to have something to show : a man's conviction is no proof, though it may work in others inclination to receive proof. Hamlet is sent to sea just to get such proof as will not only thoroughly satisfy himself, but be capable of being shown to others. He holds now in his hand-to lay before the people-the two contradictory commissions. By his voyage then he has gained both assurance of his duty, and provision against the consequence he mainly dreaded, that of leaving a wounded name behind him. 272. This is the shaping of his ends-so exactly to his needs, so different from his rough-hewn plans-which is the work of the Divinity. The man who desires to know his duty that he may do it, who will not shirk it when he does know it, will have time allowed him and the thing made plain to him; his perplexity will even strengthen and purify his will. The weak man is he who, certain of what is required of him, fails to meet it: so never once fails Hamlet. Note, in all that follows, that a load seems taken off him: after a gracious tardiness to believe up to the point of action, he is at length satisfied. Hesitation belongs to the noble nature, to Hamlet; precipitation to the poor nature, to Laertes, the son of Polonius. Compare Brutus in Julius Caesar -a Hamlet in favourable circumstances, with Hamlet-a Brutus in the most unfavourable circumstances conceivable.]

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Ham . Why man, they did make loue to this imployment[1] They are not neere my Conscience; their debate
[Sidenote: their defeat[2]] Doth by their owne insinuation[3] grow:[4] [Sidenote: Dooes] 'Tis dangerous, when the baser nature comes Betweene the passe, and fell incensed points Of mighty opposites.[5]

Hor . Why, what a King is this?[6]

Ham . Does it not, thinkst thee,[7] stand me now vpon[8]
[Sidenote: not thinke thee[7] stand] [Sidenote: 120] He that hath kil'd my King,[9] and whor'd my Mother, [Sidenote: 62] Popt in betweene th'election and my hopes,

[Footnote 1: This verse not in Q. ]

[Footnote 2: destruction.]

[Footnote 3: 'Their destruction they have enticed on themselves by their own behaviour;' or, 'they have crept into their fate by their underhand dealings.' The Sh. Lex. explains insinuation as
meddling .]

[Footnote 4: With the concern of Horatio for the fate of Rosincrance and Guildensterne, Hamlet shows no sympathy. It has been objected to his character that there is nothing in the play to show them privy to the contents of their commission; to this it would be answer enough, that Hamlet is satisfied of their worthlessness, and that their whole behaviour in the play shows them merest parasites; but, at the same time, we must note that, in changing the commission, he had no intention, could have had no thought, of letting them go to England without him: that was a pure shaping of their ends by the Divinity. Possibly his own 'dear plots' had in them the notion of getting help against his uncle from the king of England, in which case he would willingly of course have continued his journey; but whatever they may be supposed to have been, they were laid in connection with the voyage, not founded on the chance of its interruption. It is easy to imagine a man like him, averse to the shedding of blood, intending interference for their lives: as heir apparent, he would certainly have been listened to. The tone of his reply to Horatio is that of one who has been made the unintending cause of a deserved fate: the thing having fallen out so, the Divinity having so shaped their ends, there was nothing in their character, any more than in that of Polonius, to make him regret their death, or the part he had had in it.]

[Footnote 5: The 'mighty opposites' here are the king and Hamlet.]

[Footnote 6: Perhaps, as Hamlet talked, he has been parenthetically glancing at the real commission. Anyhow conviction is growing stronger in Horatio, whom, for the occasion, we may regard as a type of the public.]

[Footnote 7: 'thinkst thee,' in the fashion of the Friends, or 'thinke thee' in the sense of 'bethink thee.']

[Footnote 8: 'Does it not rest now on me?-is it not now my duty?-is it not incumbent on me (with lie for stand )-"is't not perfect conscience"?']

[Footnote 9: Note ' my king ' not my father : he had to avenge a crime against the state, the country, himself as a subject-not merely a private wrong.]

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Throwne out his Angle for my proper life,[1] And with such coozenage;[2] is't not perfect conscience,[3]
[Sidenote: conscience?] [Sidenote: 120] To quit him with this arme?[4] And is't not to be damn'd[5] To let this Canker of our nature come In further euill.[6]

Hor. It must be shortly knowne to him from England What is the issue of the businesse there.[7]

Ham. It will be short, [Sidenote: 262] The interim's mine,[8] and a mans life's no more[9] Then to say one:[10] but I am very sorry good Horatio , [Sidenote: 245] That to Laertes I forgot my selfe; For by the image of my Cause, I see [Sidenote: 262] The Portraiture of his;[11] Ile count his fauours:[12]

[Footnote 1: Here is the charge at length in full against the king-of quality and proof sufficient now, not merely to justify, but to compel action against him.]

[Footnote 2: He was such a fine hypocrite that Hamlet, although he hated and distrusted him, was perplexed as to the possibility of his guilt. His good acting was almost too much for Hamlet himself. This is his 'coozenage.'

After 'coozenage' should come a dash, bringing '-is't not perfect conscience' ( is it not absolutely righteous ) into closest sequence, almost apposition, with 'Does it not stand me now upon-'.]

[Footnote 3: Here comes in the Quarto, 'Enter a Courtier .' All from this point to 'Peace, who comes heere?' included, is in addition to the
Quarto text-not in the Q. , that is.]

[Footnote 4: I would here refer my student to the soliloquy-with its
sea of troubles , and the taking of arms against it . 123, n. 4.]

[Footnote 5: These three questions: 'Does it not stand me now upon?'-'Is't not perfect conscience?'-'Is't not to be damned?' reveal the whole relation between the inner and outer, the unseen and the seen, the thinking and the acting Hamlet. 'Is not the thing right?-Is it not my duty?-Would not the neglect of it deserve damnation?' He is satisfied.]

[Footnote 6: 'is it not a thing to be damned-to let &c.?' or, 'would it not be to be damned, (to be in a state of damnation, or, to bring damnation on oneself) to let this human cancer, the king, go on to further evil?']

[Footnote 7: '-so you have not much time.']

[Footnote 8: 'True, it will be short, but till then is mine, and will be long enough for me.' He is resolved.]

[Footnote 9: Now that he is assured of what is right, the Shadow that waits him on the path to it, has no terror for him. He ceases to be anxious as to 'what dreams may come,' as to the 'something after death,' as to 'the undiscovered country,' the moment his conscience is satisfied. 120. It cannot now make a coward of him. It was never in regard to the past that Hamlet dreaded death, but in regard to the righteousness of the action which was about to occasion his death. Note that he expects death; at least he has long made up his mind to the great risk of it-the death referred to in the soliloquy-which, after all, was not that which did overtake him. There is nothing about suicide here, nor was there there.]

[Footnote 10: 'a man's life must soon be over anyhow.']

[Footnote 11: The approach of death causes him to think of and regret even the small wrongs he has done; he laments his late behaviour to Laertes, and makes excuse for him: the similarity of their condition, each having lost a father by violence, ought, he says, to have taught him gentleness with him. The 1st Quarto is worth comparing here:-

Enter Hamlet and Horatio

Ham . Beleeue mee, it greeues mee much Horatio ,
That to Leartes I forgot my selfe:
For by my selfe me thinkes I feele his griefe,
Though there's a difference in each others wrong.]

[Footnote 12: 'I will not forget,' or, 'I will call to mind, what merits he has,' or 'what favours he has shown me.' But I suspect the word ' count ' ought to be court .-He does court his favour when next they meet-in lovely fashion. He has no suspicion of his enmity.]

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[Sidenote: 242, 262] But sure the brauery[1] of his griefe did put me Into a Towring passion.[2]

Hor. Peace, who comes heere?

Enter young Osricke. [3] [Sidenote: Enter a Courtier. ]

Osr. Your Lordship is right welcome back to [Sidenote: Cour. ] Denmarke.

Ham. I humbly thank you Sir, dost know this [Sidenote: humble thank] waterflie?[4]

Hor. No my good Lord.

Ham. Thy state is the more gracious; for 'tis a vice to know him[5]: he hath much Land, and fertile; let a Beast be Lord of Beasts, and his Crib shall stand at the Kings Messe;[6] 'tis a Chowgh[7]; but as I saw spacious in the possession of dirt.[8] [Sidenote: as I say,]

Osr. Sweet Lord, if your friendship[9] were at
[Sidenote: Cour. | Lordshippe[?]] leysure, I should impart a thing to you from his Maiesty.

Ham. I will receiue it with all diligence of [Sidenote: it sir with] spirit; put your Bonet to his right vse, 'tis for the