hought even is not admitted that any of Shakespeare's
productions can be wanting in genius, or that any of the principal
personages in his dramas can fail to be the expression of a new and
deeply conceived character.

Shakespeare takes an old story, not bad in its way, relating:

"Avec quelle ruse Amlette qui depuis fut Roy de Dannemarch, vengea la
mort de son pere Horwendille, occis par Fengon son frere, et autre
occurrence de son histoire," or a drama which was written on this theme
fifteen years before him. On this subject he writes his own drama,
introducing quite inappropriately (as indeed he always does) into the
mouth of the principal person all those thoughts of his own which
appeared to him worthy of attention. And putting into the mouth of his
hero these thoughts: about life (the grave-digger), about death (To be
or not to be)--the same which are expressed in his sixty-sixth
sonnet--about the theater, about women. He is utterly unconcerned as to
the circumstances under which these words are said, and it naturally
turns out that the person expressing all these thoughts is a mere
phonograph of Shakespeare, without character, whose actions and words do
not agree.

In the old legend, Hamlet's personality is quite comprehensible: he is
indignant at his mother's and his uncle's deeds, and wishes to revenge
himself upon them, but is afraid his uncle may kill him as he had killed
his father. Therefore he simulates insanity, desiring to bide his time
and observe all that goes on in the palace. Meanwhile, his uncle and
mother, being afraid of him, wish to test whether he is feigning or is
really mad, and send to him a girl whom he loves. He persists, then sees
his mother in private, kills a courtier who was eavesdropping, and
convicts his mother of her sin. Afterward he is sent to England, but
intercepts letters and, returning from England, takes revenge of his
enemies, burning them all.

All this is comprehensible and flows from Hamlet's character and
position. But Shakespeare, putting into Hamlet's mouth speeches which he
himself wishes to express, and making him commit actions which are
necessary to the author in order to produce scenic effects, destroys all
that constitutes the character of Hamlet and of the legend. During the
whole of the drama, Hamlet is doing, not what he would really wish to
do, but what is necessary for the author's plan. One moment he is
awe-struck at his father's ghost, another moment he