Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

to Atossa, who does not break forth with that passion and tenderness one should expect, on the sight of her long-lost husband; but very calmly informs him, after some flattery on the constant prosperity of his reign, of the calamitous state of Persia under Xerxes, who has been stimulated by his courtiers, to make war upon Greece. The phantom, who was to appear ignorant of what was past, that the ear of the Athenians might be soothed and flattered with the detail of their victory at Salamis, is allowed, for the same reason, such prescience, as to foretell their future triumph at Platea. Whatever else he adds by way of counsel or reproof, either in itself, or in the mode of delivering it, is nothing more than might be expected from any experienced counsellor of state. Darius advises the old men to enjoy whatever they can, because riches are of no use in the grave. As this touches the most absurd and ridiculous foible in human nature, the increase of a greedy and solicitous desire of wealth, when the period of enjoyment of it becomes more precarious and short, the admonition has something of

a comic

a comic and satirical turn, unbecoming the solemn character of the speaker, and the sad exigency upon which he was called. The intervention of this præternatural being gives nothing of the marvellous or the sublime to the piece, nor adds to, or is connected with its interest. The supernatural, divested of the august and the terrible, make but a poor figure in any species of poetry; useless and unconnected with the fable, it wants propriety, in dramatic poetry. Shakspeare had so just a taste, that he never introduced any præternatural character on the stage, that did not assist in the conduct of the drama. Indeed he had such prodigious force of talents, that he could make every being his fancy created, subservient to his designs. The uncouth, awkward monster, Caliban, is so subject to his genius, as to assist in bringing things to the proposed end and perfection. And the slight fairies, weak masters though they be, even in their wanton gambols and idle sports, perform great tasks by his so potent art.

But to return to the intended comparison between the Grecian shade, and the Danish

ghost.

ghost. The first propriety in the conduct of this kind of machinery seems to be, that the præternatural person be intimately connected with the fable; that he increase the interest, add to the solemnity of it, and that his efficiency, in bringing on the catastrophe, be in some measure adequate to the violence done to the ordinary course of things, in his visible interposition. These are points peculiarly important in dramatic poetry, as has been before observed. To these ends it is necessary, this being should stand acknowledged and revered by the national superstition, and thus every operation that developes the attributes, which vulgar opinion, or the nurse's legend, have taught us to ascribe to him, will augment our pleasure; whether we give the reins to cur imagination, and, as spectators, willingly yield ourselves up to pleasing delusion, or, as critics, examine the merit of the composition. I hope it is not difficult to shew, that in all these capital points our author has excelled. At the solemn midnight hour, Horatio and Marcellus, the school

L

J

schoolfellows of young Hamlet, come to the centinels upon guard, excited by a report that a Ghost of their late Monarch had, some preceding nights, appeared to them. Horatio, not being one of the believing vulgar, gives little credit to the story, but bids Bernardo proceed in his relation.

BERNARDO.

Last night of all,

When yon same star, that's westward from the pole,
Had made his course t' illume that part of heav'n,
Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself,
The bell then beating one-

Here enters the Ghost, after you are thus prepared. There is something solemn and sublime in thus regulating the walking of the spirit, by the course of the star: it intimates a connection and correspondence between things beyond our ken, and above the visible diurnal sphere. Horatio is affected with that kind of fear, which such an appearance would naturally excite. He trembles, and turns pale. When the violence of the emotion subsides, he reflects, that probably this supernatural event portends some danger

danger lurking in the state. This suggestion gives importance to the phænomenon, and engages our attention. Horatio's relation of the king's combat with the Norwegian, and of the forces the young Fortinbras is assembling, in order to attack Denmark, seems to point out, from what quarter the apprehended peril is to arise. Such appearances, says he, preceded the fall of mighty Julius, and the ruin of the great commonwealth; and he adds, such have often been the omens of disasters in our own state. There is great art in this conduct. The true cause of the royal Dane's discontent could not be guessed at: it was a secret which could be only revealed by himself. In the mean time, it was necessary to captivate our attention, by demonstrating, that the poet was not going to exhibit such idle and frivolous gambols, as ghosts are by the vulgar often represented to perform. The historical testimony, that antecedent to the death of Cæsar,

The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets,

[blocks in formation]
« ZurückWeiter »