66 L. A. Sherman 



the time that was out of joint. Moreover, above all and under 

 all is the subconsciousness that we have been called in to witness 

 the operations of genius at the topmost level of human insight and 

 expression. 



The acme of literary achievement is attained when an author 

 has made his scenes and experiences undistinguishable, in the 

 mind of his reader, from remembered actuals of his own exist- 

 ence. When we reread the play of Hamlet, we seem to be re- 

 viewing matters in which we have in some way figured. The 

 people of the cast take rank with folk once or now belonging to 

 our circle. A page of text, like a page of Hawthorne, seems 

 taken from the journal, the memory, of former days. 



One dissents here and there from observations of our author 

 on minor points of workmanship. He holds to the not uncommon 

 view that the soliloquy, 



To be or not to be, — 



is evidence that Hamlet contemplated suicide as an escape from 

 the execution of his promise. But does Quiller-Couch imagine 

 Hamlet thought to face his father in the underworld with the 

 racial blood-vengeance unsatisfied? Is not this soliloquy in 

 eftect a key to the psychology of the whole interval of waiting? 

 The ghost has pointedly and precisely charged him. 



Howsoever thou pursu'st this act, 

 Taint not thy mind. 



So, were the vengeance to serve as means of putting Hamlet on 

 the throne of his father, not only would his name be wounded, 

 but also his conscience and his honor. Was not that what he 

 felt was under the horizon when he accepted the terrible 

 commission ? 



The time is out of joint. O cursed spite 



That ever I was born to set it right. 



Otherwise he must have welcomed the ordered vengeance as his 

 opportunity. By no other means can he now expect to acquire 

 his rights. But noblesse oblige blocks the path that way. Not 

 from the act of assassinating their king, even as the murderer of 

 Hamlet's father, may he expect the thanes of Denmark to vote 



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