As the older _Hamlet_ was performed by the Lord Chamberlain's Company in
the year 1594, it is possible that Shakespeare might then have undertaken
the part of the Ghost, a character he afterward assumed in his own
tragedy. There is a curious inedited notice of this personage in
Saltonstall's _Picturae Loquentes_, 1635: "a chamberlaine is as nimble as
Hamlet's ghost, heere and everywhere, and when he has many guests,
stands most upon his pantofles, for hee's then a man of some calling."
There are a number of critics, following the lead of Coleridge, who tells
us that Shakespeare's judgment is commensurate with his genius; but they
speak of the former generally as if it were always unfettered, and
neglect to add that it was continually influenced by the conditions under
which he wrote, and that it was often his task to discover a route to a
successful result through the tortuous angularities of a preconceived
foreground. There is every reason to believe that this was the case with
the tragedy of _Hamlet_ and, if so, it is certain that no genius but
that of Shakespeare could have moulded the inartistic materials of a
rude original into that harmonious composition, which, although it has
certainly been tampered with by the players, and is therefore not the
perfect issue of his free inspiration, is the noblest drama the world is
ever likely to possess.
Pages:
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502