“Laertes is a good character, but,” &c.—Warburton.
Mercy on Warburton's notion of goodness! Please to refer to the seventh scene of this act;—
“I will do't;
And for that purpose I'll anoint my sword,” &c.—
uttered by Laertes after the King's description of Hamlet;—
... “He being remiss,
Most generous, and free from all contriving,
Will not peruse the foils.”
Yet I acknowledge that Shakespeare evidently wishes, as much as possible, to spare the character of Laertes,—to break the extreme turpitude of his consent to become an agent and accomplice of the King's treachery;—and to this end he re-introduces Ophelia at the close of this scene to afford a probable stimulus of passion in her brother.
Ib. sc. 6. Hamlet's capture by the pirates. This is almost the only play of Shakespeare, in which mere accidents, independent of all will, form an essential part of the plot;—but here how judiciously in keeping with the character of the over-meditative Hamlet, ever at last determined by accident or by a fit of passion!