Search -
Essays on Shakespeare's Dramatic Characters (1812)
Essays on Shakespeare's Dramatic Characters - 1812 Author:William Richardson Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ESSAY II. ON THE CHARACTER OF HAMLET. IN analyzing the mind of Hamlet, I shall accompany him in his different situations. I shall observe the various princ... more »iples of action that govern him in various circumstances; and sum up the whole with a general view of his character. In his first appearance, he discovers grief, —/ aversion, and indignation. These emotions are in themselves indifferent: they are neither objects of censure nor of applause: they are of a secondary nature, and arise from some antecedent passion or affection. To judge, therefore, of their propriety, we must examine their motives, and the temper er state of mind that produces them. Foe we may grieve for the loss of a vicious gratification, no less than for those that are virtuous: and we may conceive aversion at worthy characters, no less than at their op- posites. But the grief of Hamlet is for the death of a father: he entertains aversion against an incestuous uncle, and indignation at the ingratitude and guilt of a mother. Grief is passive: if its object be irretrievably lost, it is attended with no desires, and rouses no active principle. After the first emotions, it disposes us to silence, solitude, and inaction. If it is blended with other passions, its operations will pass unnoticed, lost in the violence of other emotions, though even these it may have originally excited, and may secretly stimulate. Accordingly, though sorrow be manifest in the features and demeanour of Hamlet, aversion and indignation are the feelings he expresses. Aversion not only implies dislike and disapprobation of certain qualities, but also an apprehension of suffering by their communion; and, consequently, a desire of avoiding them, As it arises on the view of groveling and sordid qualities, we treat the character theybel...« less