This is the first instance of self-reproach that we find in her. Claudius seems, for the moment, somewhat humanised by the sorrows that have come so thick upon both of them, and shows signs of tenderness in the presence of the wretched, distracted, Ophelia. But there is no sign of genuine repentance. With marvellously placid hypocrisy he speaks of Hamlet's removal from the country as if he had not given the treacherous mandate for his death; he laments his short-sightedness in yielding to the first impulse of fear and causing the body of Polonius to be interred in "hugger-mugger;" but he does not hint at the real cause of such imprudent haste, namely, the danger that any inquiry into the circumstances of the old courtier's death might lead to very inconvenient disclosures, and might betray the nature of the mistake through which that death had taken place. It may be noted here that Polonius would seem to have been popular: for the people resented his obscure funeral" as well as his unexplained death; they seem to have felt no anger against Hamlet, but rather to have believed that Claudius, for his own ends, had got rid of the minister who was most regarded by them, and to whose hearty support it was very probably owing that the succession of that king to the throne had been so little disputed. The last words of this speech of Claudius — O my dear Gertrude, this, Like to a murdering-piece, in many places seem to indicate that he is nearly breaking down under the burden of his guilt and its consequences; but the entry of one of the attendants of the Court, with the news of the rebellion in favour of Laertes* having actually broken out, immediately rouses him into action, and calls forth that dignity and self-possession which it is evident he knew well how to assume. Gertrude is no less ready in throwing off her dejection, and in putting on that calmnesss and courage which become a Queen. Every one is familiar with the fine lines, in which the King rebukes Gertrude's fear for his personal safety Let him go, Gertrude; do not fear our person: There's such divinity doth hedge a king, That treason can but peep to what it would, One can hardly repress a smile at the idea of any divinity hedging such a remarkably valueless piece of ground (morally * Additional Notes, No. 12. speaking) as Claudius was; but there is no denying that if the respect he claimed was due to his office more than to himself, he acts the part of His Majesty to perfection; and no doubt, on the score of morality, he was not very far behind many of his royal prototypes in History. From the questions, which Laertes puts, it is evident he could have received but a very confused account of his father's death, while he would seem to be entirely ignorant of his sister's madness. It is very difficult to reconcile this with the King's words in his speech Her brother is in secret come from France, Where was Laertes when these buzzers were infecting his ear? How long had he been in Denmark without coming to Elsinore? I am afraid we must leave these points in doubt, and be content with supposing that he had, for his own reasons, kept himself in concealment at some distance from Elsinore, and had not held any communication with Ophelia. may be that on his arrival in Denmark he wrote at once to her, but that she could return no answer to his letters owing to her unhappy state of mind. It The language of Laertes is more passionate than dignified, and Claudius has certainly the advantage over him in this respect. O thou vile king, Give me my father! is a somewhat abrupt manner of addressing one's sovereign. But Claudius meets him with such self-possession and such well-acted nobility of demeanour, that the rage of Laertes is soon reduced to less formidable and more rational dimensions. But first he has his say How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with: To hell, allegiance! vows, to the blackest devil! These be "brave words;" but I cannot join Gervinus* in his panegyric on the conduct or language of Laertes; nor can I accept such violent rant as the equivalent of daring action. * See Authorised Translation (First Edition, vol. ii., pp. 119-20). It seems to me that all this fine talk about giving “both the worlds to negligence," and sending "allegiance, conscience, &c., to hell," only ends in this noble-minded young man making himself the instrument of as mean an act of cowardly assassination as ever was planned by two cut-throats. It is a beautiful touch, on the part of Shakespeare, that the discussion between Laertes and Claudius should be interrupted by the entrance of Ophelia, whose pitiable condition not only serves to rekindle the fury of Laertes, but calls forth from him such expressions of anguish, and creates for him so much sympathy in the hearts of the audience, that they are prepared to look on him with so favourable an eye, as to be somewhat blind to the hideous treachery of that scheme of vengeance which he afterwards, with the assistance of Claudius, contrives. The exclamation of Laertes when Ophelia quits the scene is, indeed, so full of simple pathos that our sympathies, chilled, if not alienated, by his bombastic language on his first entry, return to him— Do you see this, O God? Nothing can be more touching than this cry of grief. Laertes is so genuinely affected by the sight of his sister's madness that his passion is moderated into a rational anger; he listens patiently enough to the King's promise to explain the circumstances of Polonius' death, and accepts his well-timed offer to submit the question of his share in it to the arbitration of Laertes' own friends. The language of Claudius is singularly judicious: Laertes, I must commune with your grief, Or you deny me right. Go but apart, Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will, If by direct or by collateral hand They find us touch'd, we will our kingdom give, Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours, To you in satisfaction; but if not, Be you content to lend your patience to us, And we shall jointly labour with your soul To give it due content. Laertes could not but be impressed by such well-assumed generosity; his answer is just and temperate The omission of all the proper ceremonies, and of the honours usually paid to the noble dead, evidently had much to do with the violent indignation of Laertes. His pride and the honour of his family were touched. This speech is one of the additions in "the true and perfect coppie" of 1604; in the earlier edition Laertes' speech is very different You haue preuail'd my Lord, a while I'le striue, Which once vnhearsed, then the world shall heare The whole scene between Claudius and Laertes has been much elaborated from the original bald sketch found in the first quarto. Shakespeare seems to have spent great care on the character of the latter; and the mention of the "obscure funerals," &c., is evidently meant to impress on our minds how much the "honour" of Laertes was of that conventional and fashionable type, which suffers more from the neglect of that ceremony demanded by etiquette than from the commission of a dishonourable action-provided it is not likely to be found out. While Claudius is relating to Laertes the way in which Polonius met his death, the stage is occupied by a scene (Act IV., Scene 6) replacing that one in the earlier play, between Horatio and the Queen, which I have transcribed in the Appendix.* Horatio is visited by some sailors, who bring him letters from Hamlet, announcing his capture by the pirates, &c. There are two or three points to notice in this. Horatio says: scene. I do not know from what part of the world This passage seems to imply, what the rest of the play confirms, that Horatio's was a singularly lonely position. Who or what he was we can only conjecture: all we know is that he was a fellow-student of Hamlet's, but of what rank in life we are not told. His fortune, we know from Hamlet's own words, was very small For what advancement may I hope from thee, That no revenue hast but thy good spirits, To feed and clothe thee? + and it would seem that he was equally poor in friends, since he knew of no one who was likely to send any letter to him but Hamlet. This very loneliness was probably one of the causes which first drew the young prince towards Horatio. Another point in this scene worth noticing is that the sailor who delivers the letters alludes to Hamlet as The ambassador that was bound for England; which shows that Hamlet had preserved his incognito to all but the chiefs of the pirates, perhaps even to them; though he must have told them he was a person of great influence at Court, as they treated him well because he was to do a good turn for them." It is not difficult to believe that Hamlet fraternised with these rough sailors just as he did with the actors, and probably enjoyed his stay among them well enough. Horatio loses no time in setting out with the sailors to join Hamlet, whereby he would be prevented from hearing of Ophelia's death till, in company with his friend, he witnesses the "maimed rites of her burial. In the next scene (Act IV., Scene 7) we find that the King has completely satisfied Laertes not only that he was innocent of Polonius' death, but that he stood in great danger himself from the violence of Hamlet. What was the exact account which Claudius gave of the affair we do not know; but probably he contented himself with very much the same account as that given by the Queen (Act IV., Scene 1, lines 8-12): in his lawless fit, Behind the arras hearing something stir, It will be remembered that then he expressed his fears for his own life. It had been so with us, had we been there : but the story is incomplete in one very important pointClaudius, naturally, withholds Hamlet's reason for seeking his life from Laertes-an omission which makes him ask with much reason: but tell me Why you proceeded not against these feats, As by your safety, wisdom, all things else, The King's answer is plausible enough; his devotion to the Queen made him unwilling to punish the son whom she loved so much, and Hamlet's popularity was so great that |