“There is another reason why, on clear nights at least, the cold is more severe in low confined places that are sheltered from the wind. The radiation of heat into the sky, which I lately explained to you, reduces their temperature below that of the air, except what is in immediate contact with them; and there being no wind, there can be no circulation of the warmer air to replace the heat they have lost.”
17th.—Hamlet was mentioned yesterday after dinner; a great deal was said about it, and many different opinions were expressed. At last, to my great vexation, my uncle observed that I took no part in the conversation.
“Come, my little Bertha, we must have your opinion, pro or con; are you one of those who overlook the merits to mark the faults? Tell me what you think.”
This direct question of my uncle’s was really terrible; every creature was silent—and I was obliged to acknowledge that I had only read Hamlet once, not having felt as much interest in it, as in many other tragedies of Shakspeare. There was something which appeared to me a little confused in the whole plot—the ghost, too, disappointed me:—and Hamlet seemed unnecessarily unkind to poor Ophelia—and in short I did not very much like the play, perhaps because I did not understand it.
My uncle praised me for having courage to express honestly what I thought; and he said he would read the play to us, that I might enter into the spirit of it while the conversation was fresh in my recollection. He had taken but little part in the conversation, his object being rather to draw out all our opinions, than to influence them by his own; but as he was going to begin, he said, “It appears to me that Hamlet is not quite suited to very young people: it scarcely comes within the range of their views of the human mind. One of the earliest critics on Shakspeare remarked that Hamlet ‘can only please the wiser sort;’ and I will therefore endeavour, by a few hints, to direct your attention to the main object of the play, and to one or two objects most worth noticing. Unless young people learn how to see and think for themselves, 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 punishment 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 unexpected 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 indignation, his manner of treating his mother is remarkable; and, as some writer has observed, it is that which chiefly distinguishes his character from that of Orestes, and shews indeed, in the difference between those two heroes, the opposite principles of the Christian, and the heathen, authors.
“As to his madness, you may perceive that it was feigned in order to prevent all suspicion, on the part of the king, of the enterprise he was engaged in; and to confirm that idea he affects a severity of conduct towards Ophelia in direct opposition to his former sentiments. In the distracted state of his mind, he could not possibly explain to her the cause of his suspended affection. His ruling passion was to think, not to act; and all his principles of action were unhinged by the harassing scene around him. Though he contrived the scene in the play to prove the truth of the ghost’s suggestions, yet he appears to rest satisfied with the confirmation of his suspicions, and declines to act upon them. But, though his character does not shew strength of will, it is every where marked by quick sensibility, and refinement of thought.
“The other characters have also great merit. Ophelia is beautifully painted; her love, her madness, and her death, are described with the truest touches of tenderness and pathos. Polonius is an excellent representation of a large class of men, who talk wisely and act foolishly. The advice he gives his son is sensible, while that to the king and queen respecting Hamlet’s madness is ridiculous; but, the one is the sincere advice of a father, the other that of a meddling and officious courtier; and throughout this part Shakspeare keeps up the nice distinctions between the understanding, the habits, and the motives of mankind.
“The plot of this play may be, as Bertha says, confused, and the catastrophe, as Johnson tells us, not very happily produced by the awkward exchange of weapons; but if you study it as a display of character, you will discover fresh beauties every time you read it; you will perceive that it is of a higher order of dramatic painting than many of Shakspeare’s more popular works, and that it abounds in the most eloquent and striking reflections on human life.”