Page 56 - Hamlet: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

INTRODUCTIO N xlix

speare is able to give his puppets an appearance of
life so overwhelming that his legerdemain remains un-
perceived not only by the spectator, who is allowed no
time for consideration, but even by most readers. In the
case of Horatio he secures this end by emphasising his
humanity at three critical moments of the play: in the
first scene, just before the Gonzago play, and in the
finale. In shorty we feel we know Hamlet's friend so
well that it never occurs to us to ask questions about him.
Aparti however, from dramatic artifice or the possible
effects of revision, there is a third group of problems
in Hamlet which concern matters vital to our under-
standing of what is actually happening upon the stage.
To cite a handful of examples: What is the meaning of
Hamlet's extraordinary behaviour towards his father's
spirit in the Cellarage-scene? Why do Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern lure Hamlet on to discuss ambition with
them? Does Hamlet know that Claudius, or Polonius,
or both, are behind the hangings in the Nunnery-scene,
and if so how does he learn it? Why does not Claudius
break off the Gonzago play when he sees the Dumb-
show, which represents all the circumstances of his
crime, including the poisoning through the ear of the
victim? Why does Hamlet make Lucianusthe 'nephew*
and not the brother of the murdered King of the play?
What is the explanation of Hamlet's consistent use of
obscene or insulting language to Ophelia or about her?
The reply which tie historical critics would furnish to
.these queries is a simple one, namely the ramshackle
character of Elizabethan drama in general and of Hamlet
in particular. Even Mr Granville-Barker declares that
'the ploti as a plot^ is worked out with scandalous
1
ineptitude .' Yet before we can decide whether a plot
works effectively we ought at least to enquire whether
all the parts of the plot are in working order. It is my

1
v. Aspects of Shakespeare, p. 64.