Page 62 - Hamlet: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

I N T R O D U C T I O N lv

is no question of an elective monarchy in Sazo and Belle-
forest, who tell us that Amleth's father and uncle were
governors or earls of Jutland appointed by the King of
Denmark. Possibly it was Kyd who enlarged the scene
to include the whole Mngdom and possibly he made a
point of the elective character of the Danish monarchy
in his lost Hamlet)-. But had Shakespeare intended him-
self to make use of this constitutional idea, we can be
certain not only that he would have said more about it,
but that he must have said it much earlier in the play.
He could assume the audience would realise the fact of
usurpation without any underlining on his part, because
such realisation merely meant interpreting the Danish
constitution in English terms. But it is absurd to suppose
that he wished his spectators to imagine quite a different
constitution from that familiar to themselves, when he
makes no reference to it until the very last scene. My
own belief is that in putting the term 'election' into
Hamlet's mouth, he was quite unconscious that it
denoted any procedure different from that which deter-
mined the succession in England. After all, was not the
monarchy of Elizabeth and James an 'elective' one?
The latter like Claudius owed his throne to the deliberate
choice of the Council, while the Council saw to it that
he had the 'dying voice' of Elizabeth, as Fortinbras has
2
that of Hamlet . In any event, we can be certain that
few if any spectators and readers of Hamlet at the begin-
ning of the seventeenth century gave even a passing

1
There are indications that at some period the Hamlet
play was handled by a dramatist who knew more about
Denmark than Shakespeare appears to have done; cf. Notes,
Names of the Characters and G. 'Dansker.'
2
v. note 5. 2. 354 below. Steevens first pointed out that
the throne of Denmark was elective; Blackstone corroborated
with all the weight of his legal authority, and since he
oped his lips not a dog among the critics has dared to bark.
V.BoswelTs Malone: Hamlet, pp. 199-200.