THE PLAYS OF SHAKSPEARE. HAMLET. 141 



The astounding calamities of a father's unnatural death and a mo- 

 ther's accumulated guilt, root out of his bosom the very germ of 

 every attachment : . 



* * " I have of late (but wherefore I know not) lost all my mirth, 

 foregone all custom of exercise ; and, indeed, it goes so heavily with 

 my disposition, that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a 

 sterile promontory ; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, 

 this brave o'er-hanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with 

 golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and 

 pestilent congregation of vapours. What a piece of work is man ! 

 How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, 

 how express and admirable ! in action, how like an angel ! in appre- 

 hension, how like a god ! the beauty of the world ! the paragon of 

 animals! and yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man 

 delights not me:" 



The stream of his affections had been dried up ; " all bond and pri- 

 vilege of nature broken ;" and the stern " get thee to a nunnery" falls 

 like a death-note on the affrighted ear of the pretty Ophelia. 



The essence of the character, however, always remains entire ; 

 " Lord Hamlet" is always " a prince :" he never derogates from 

 himself, whatever be the nature of the scene in which he is placed. 



The variety of phases in this character is beyond all praise ; the 

 numerous forms in which it appears, the frequency of contrast that 

 occurs from the opening to the close of the piece, gives a peculiarity 

 and strength to the colouring, sustains the interest, and enlivens the 

 attention of the spectator, while each particular feature appears with 

 additional lustre from the very effect of comparison. In the open- 

 ing of the piece, for instance, when the recent marriage had cast off 

 the " nighted colour" of all the other personages, Hamlet is dis- 

 covered in his mourning garb; the same maybe remarked of differ- 

 ent scenes wherein he appears with the king, the queen, Polonius, 

 Osrick, the grave-digger, and others. 



Shakspeare seems to have pictured to himself the beau ideal of 

 dramatic effect in his conception of Hamlet. His design is borne out 

 by nature and by fact; the man is here the creature of circumstance, 

 weak, irresolute, and sometimes even inconsistent ; and, if we wish to 

 discover the prototype of this character, we must look for it among 

 men as they are, upon the great stage of the world. There we shall 

 perceive that the genius of our poet was nurtured by an attention 

 to those invariable principles of nature which are the only infallible 

 guides in dramatic composition. 



Hamlet is, however, always emphatic, always to the life, whether 

 at "his breathing time of day" he caricature the beard of his old 

 friend the actor " whose face is valenced ;" or " wring the heart of 

 the guilty queen" in the following finely-wrought and highly classic 

 effusion : 



" Look here upon this picture, and on this ; 

 The counterpart presentment of two brothers. 

 See what a grace was seated on this brow ! 

 Hyperion's curls ; the front of Jove himself; 



