104 BERTHA'S VISIT TO HER 



two objects most worth noticing. Unless young 

 people learn how to see and think for them- 

 selves, liking or disliking becomes the mere 

 effects of caprice or fashion. 



" In this play, Bertha, the object of chief 

 interest is not the plot nor even the events it 

 is character. The reader easily anticipates the 

 story, and feels no great suspense as to the fate 

 of the king or queen; and though our love of 

 justice naturally makes us rejoice in the punish- 

 ment of vice, almost all our feelings are absorbed 

 by the character of Hamlet the impulses of his 

 noble mind, and the indignation he feels at un- 

 expected wickedness. 



" The passions of the various persons in this 

 drama are displayed with equal truth and 

 strength. Hamlet's grief and horror at the 

 death of his father, and at his mother's baseness, 

 are beautifully and naturally expressed. He 

 feels as a virtuous and honourable man, but he 

 feels also as a son; and in those contending 

 feelings lie the great interest of the piece. 

 Even in the utmost vehemence of his indig- 

 nation, his manner of treating his mother is 

 remarkable ; and, as some writer has observed, 

 it is that which chiefly distinguishes his cha- 

 racter from that of Orestes, and shews indeed, 

 in the difference between those two heroes, the 

 opposite principles of the Christian, and the 

 heathen, authors. 



