" But this
duty, it is important to observe, was never sought to be relinquished.
The influences practically render delay a matter of necessity with him,
and leaving a murderer to contend against one who, as he must have felt,
would not have scrupled to design his assassination if at any moment
safety could be in that way secured, his determination to assume the garb
of insanity in the presence of the King and of those likely to divulge
the secret, is easily and naturally explained.
Hamlet is wildly impetuous in moments of excitement, so that his
utterances are not invariably to be accepted as evidences of his general
nature. Much of the difficulty in the interpretation of the tragedy
arises from the oversight of accepting his soliloquies as continuous
illustrations of his character, instead of being, as they mostly are,
transient emanations of his subtle irritability. Even in the midst of his
impetuosity the current of violent thought was subject to a controlling
interruption by a sudden reaction arising from the influence of reason;
but it was natural on occasions that, stirred by his desire for revenge,
he should doubt the validity of his reasons for delay. A wide distinction
also must be drawn in the matter of time for vengeance, between action
resulting from sudden and that from remoter provocation.
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