Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[graphic][ocr errors]

ntroductory Remarks,

[ocr errors]

AMONG the numberless exquisite portraits delineated, for the delight and instruction of the world, by the hand of the great Dramatic Master, there is one which in a pre-eminent degree solicits and detains the universal gaze; "the observed of all observers." It is that of a young and amiable Prince, in whom the traits of intellect and of feeling are admirably blended: his fine and varied countenance exhibits humor and sensibility, wit and philosophy, in the justest proportions: yet over all, and through all, there is still visible that " pale cast of thought," which might lead even the mere unacquainted spectator to infer, that the possessor had been burthened with a weight of mysterious care, which long oppressed, and finally overwhelmed him. This is that interesting and ever-eloquent friend, with whom we have held delightful converse from boyhood, even to the present hour; whose thoughts have penetrated to the innermost parts of our being; and whom, in despite of his occasional waywardness, weakness, and inconsistency, we have ever loved and respected as a dear and intimate personal friend.-This, in a word, is HAMLET. Of all human compositions, there is, perhaps, not one which in the same compass contains so much just, original, and profound thought, as this gigantic effort of genius; none so suggestive, so imaginative, and yet so practical; none which in an equal degree charms alike the philosopher and the simple rustic, — the poet and the man of the world. From the hour of its first appearance, it has been the especial darling of all classes; and has thus tended, more than anything else, to shew the high capabilities of the universal human mind; - to justify the high eulogium which Hamlet himself, "the general favorite, as the general friend," pronounces so emphatically on his kindred “quintessence of dust." In reference to this point, it may be appropriately mentioned, that in the most remote eastern minor theatre-a locality which an inhabitant of more genial theatric climes would be apt to regard as a mere Boeotia, helplessly devoted to Pantomime and Melodrame - even here, the subtile wisdom and poetic beauty of the play before us, drew crowded houses, at a recent period, for upwards of sixty nights in a single season!

The main incidents on which the play of “ HAMLET " is founded, are related by Saxo-Grammaticus, the Danish historian. The story is also told in the novels of Belleforest, and in a small black-letter volume, entitled "THE HISTORIE OF HAMBLETT." Shakspeare's drama was first printed in 1603; a copy of this edition (supposed to be unique), was discovered of late years, and reprinted in 1825. The title runs thus: "The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet Prince of Denmarke, by William Shake-speare. As it hath beene diverse times acted by his Highnesse servants in the Cittie of London: as also in the two Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, and elsewhere. At London, printed for N. L. and John Trundell." The title to the second quarto edition, published in 1604, states the play to have been "enlarged to almost as much againe as it was, according to the true and perfect coppie." It exhibits also some variations, both of plot and in the names of the characters, as compared with the original sketch. There were reprints of the enlarged quarto in 1605, 1609, and 1611; besides another edition without date. These various evidences of the great popularity of the play, were all precursors of the general folio collection, published by the Poet's "fellows," in 1623. Some further remarks on the different versions of " HAMLET" will be found in the Notes.

[merged small][graphic][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]
[blocks in formation]

Fran. Nay, answer me: stand, and unfold yourself.

Ber. Long live the king!

Fran. Bernardo?

Ber. He.

Fran. You come most carefully upon your hour.
Ber. 'Tis new struck twelve; get thee to bed,
Francisco.

Ber. Say,

What, is Horatio there?

Hor.

A piece of him.

Ber. Welcome, Horatio; welcome, good Marcellus.

Hor. What, has this thing appeared again to

night?

Ber. I have seen nothing.

Mar. Horatio says, 't is but our fantasy;
And will not let belief take hold of him,
Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us:
Therefore I have entreated him along
With us to watch the minutes of this night;

Fran. For this relief, much thanks: 't is bitter That, if again this apparition come,

cold,

And I am sick at heart.

Ber. Have you had quiet guard?

Fran. Not a mouse stirring.

Ber. Well, good night.

If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,

The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.

Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS.

He may approve our eyes, and speak to it.
Hor. Tush, tush! 't will not appear.
Sit down awhile,

Ber.

[blocks in formation]

Fran. I think I hear them :- Stand, ho? Who When yon same star, that's westward from the

[blocks in formation]

pole,

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Mar. Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio. Ber. Looks it not like the king? mark it, Horatio.

Doth make the night joint-laborer with the day;
Who is 't that can inform me?
Hor. That can I;

Hor. Most like: it harrows me with fear and At least, the whisper goes so.

[blocks in formation]

Our last king,

Whose image even but now appeared to us, Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway, Thereto pricked on by a most emulate pride,

Hor. What art thou, that usurp'st this time of Dared to the combat; in which our valiant Hamlet

night,

Together with that fair and warlike form

In which the majesty of buried Denmark

(For so this side of our known world esteemed

him)

Did slay this Fortinbras; who, by a sealed compact,

Did sometimes march? By heaven I charge thee, Well ratified by law and heraldry,

speak!

Mar. It is offended.

Ber.

See! it stalks away.

Hor. Stay; speak: speak, I charge thee, speak! [Exit Ghost.

Did forfeit with his life, all those his lands
Which he stood seized of, to the conqueror:
Against the which, a moiety competent
Was gagéd by our king; which had returned
To the inheritance of Fortinbras,

Mar. 'T is gone, and will not answer.
Ber. How now, Horatio? you tremble and look And carriage of the article designed,

Had he been vanquisher; as by the same cov'nant,

pale:

Is not this something more than fantasy?

What think you on 't?

His fell to Hamlet. - Now, sir, young Fortinbras,
Of unimproved mettle hot and full,
Hath in the skirts of Norway, here and there,

Hor. Before my God, I might not this believe, Sharked up a list of lawless resolutes,
Without the sensible and true avouch

[blocks in formation]

Mar. Thus twice before, and just at this dead hour,

With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch. Hor. In what particular thought to work, I know not;

But, in the gross and scope of mine opinion,
This bodes some strange eruption to our state.
Mar. Good now, sit down, and tell me, he that
knows,

Why this same strict and most observant watch
So nightly toils the subject of the land?
And why such daily cast of brazen cannon,
And foreign mart for implements of war;
Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task
Does not divide the Sunday from the week:
What might be toward, that this sweaty haste

For food and diet, to some enterprise

That hath a stomach in 't: which is no other
(As it doth well appear unto our state)
But to recover of us, by strong hand,
And terms compulsatory, those 'foresaid lands

So by his father lost: and this, I take it,

Is the main motive of our preparations;
The source of this our watch; and the chief head
Of this post-haste and romage in the land.

Ber. I think it be no other, but even so:
Well may it sort, that this portentous figure
Comes arméd through our watch; so like the king
That was, and is, the question of these wars.

Hor. A mote it is, to trouble the mind's eye. In the most high and palmy state of Rome, A little ere the mightiest Julius fell, The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets. *** As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood, Disasters in the sun; and the moist star, Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands, Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse. And even the like precurse of fierce events (As harbingers preceding still the fates, And prologue to the omen coming on)

« AnteriorContinuar »