2
How many things still remain to say of Hamlet! Before I touch on his relation to Ophelia, I will choose but two. Neither of them, compared with the matters so far considered, is of great consequence, but both are interesting, and the first seems to have quite escaped observation.
(1) Most people have, beside their more essential traits of character, little peculiarities which, for their intimates, form an indissoluble part of their personality. In comedy, and in other humorous works of fiction, such peculiarities often figure prominently, but they rarely do so, I think, in tragedy. Shakespeare, however, seems to have given one such idiosyncrasy to Hamlet.
It is a trick of speech, a habit of repetition. And these are simple examples of it from the first soliloquy:
O God! God!
How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on't! ah fie!
Now I ask your patience. You will say: 'There is nothing individual here. Everybody repeats words thus. And the tendency, in particular, to use such repetitions in moments of great emotion is well-known, and frequently illustrated in literature—for example, in David's cry of lament for Absalom.'
This is perfectly true, and plenty of examples could be drawn from Shakespeare himself. But what we find in Hamlet's case is, I believe, not common. In the first place, this repetition is a habit with him. Here are some more instances: 'Thrift, thrift, Horatio'; 'Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this troubles me'; 'Come, deal justly with me: come, come'; 'Wormwood, wormwood!' I do not profess to have made an exhaustive search, but I am much mistaken if this habit is to be found in any other serious character of Shakespeare.[68]
And, in the second place—and here I appeal with confidence to lovers of Hamlet—some of these repetitions strike us as intensely characteristic. Some even of those already quoted strike one thus, and still more do the following:
| (a) | Horatio. | It would have much amazed you. |
| Hamlet. | Very like, very like. Stay'd it long? | |
| (b) | Polonius. | What do you read, my lord? |
| Hamlet. | Words, words, words. | |
| (c) | Polonius. | My honourable lord, I will most humbly take my leave of you. |
| Hamlet. | You cannot, sir, take from me anything that I will more willingly part withal: except my life, except my life, except my life. | |
| (d) | Ophelia. | Good my lord, How does your honour for this many a day? |
| Hamlet. | I humbly thank you, well, well, well. |
Is there anything that Hamlet says or does in the whole play more unmistakably individual than these replies?[69]