nce, and his scheme for
eluding suspicion, combine to show that from the first he perceived its
fulfilment would be hard, saw the obstacles in his way, and knew it
would require both time and caution. That even in the first rush of his
wrath he should thus be aware of difficulty, indicates moral symmetry;
but the full weight of what lay in his path could appear to him only
upon reflection. Partly in the light of passages yet to come, I will
imagine the further course of his thoughts, which the closing couplet of
the first act shows as having already begun to apale 'the native hue of
resolution.'

'But how shall I take vengeance on my uncle? Shall I publicly accuse
him, or slay him at once? In the one case what answer can I make to his
denial? in the other, what justification can I offer? If I say the
spirit of my father accuses him, what proof can I bring? My companions
only saw the apparition--heard no word from him; and my uncle's party
will assert, with absolute likelihood to the minds of those who do not
know me--and who here knows me but my mother!--that charge is a mere
coinage of jealous disappointment, working upon the melancholy I have
not cared to hide. (174-6.) When I act, it must be to kill him, and to
what misconstruction shall I not expose myself! (272) If the thing must
so be, I must brave all; but I could never present myself thereafter as
successor to the crown of one whom I had first slain and then vilified
on the accusation of an apparition whom no one heard but myself! I must
find _proof_--such proof as will satisfy others as well as myself. My
immediate duty is _evidence_, not vengeance.'

We have seen besides, that, when informed of the haunting presence of
the Ghost, he expected the apparition with not a little doubt as to its
authenticity--a doubt which, even when he saw it, did not immediately
vanish: is it any wonder that when the apparition was gone, the doubt
should return? Return it did, in accordance with the reaction which
waits upon all high-strung experience. If he did not believe in the
person who performed it, would any man long believe in any miracle?
Hamlet soon begins to question whether he can with confidence accept the
appearance for that which it appeared and asserted itself to be. He
steps over to the stand-point of his judges, and doubts the only
testimony he has to produce. Far more:--was he not bound in common
humanity, not to say _filialness_, to doubt it? To doubt the Ghos