P. 76. _This goodly frame and Man delighted not_. ii, 2, 310-321.
P. 77. _too much i' th' sun_. i, 2, 67.
_the pangs_. iii, 1, 72.
P. 78. _There is no attempt to force an interest._ Professor Saintsbury
("History of Criticism," III, 258) calls this utterance an apex of
Shakespearian criticism. Hazlitt makes a similar comment in the character
of "Troilus and Cressida": "He has no prejudice for or against his
characters: he saw both sides of a question; at once an actor and a
spectator in the scene." Dr. Johnson had observed this attitude in
Shakespeare, but he had seen in it a violation of the demands of poetic
justice: "he carries his persons indifferently through right and wrong,
and at the close dismisses them without further care, and leaves their
examples to operate by chance. This fault the barbarity of his age cannot
extenuate; for it is always a writer's duty to make the world better, and
justice is a virtue independent on time or place." (Nichol Smith's
"Eighteenth Century Essays on Shakespeare," p. 123.)
_outward pageant_. Cf. i, 2, 86: "the trappings and the suits of woe."
_we have that within_. i, 2, 85.
P. 79. _He kneels._ Cf. iii, 3, 73: "Now might I do it pat, now he is
praying."
P. 80. _How all occasions_. iv, 4, 32.
P. 81. _that noble and liberal casuist_. Doubtless suggested by Lamb's
description of the old English dramatists as "those noble and liberal
casuists." (Works, ed. Lucas, I, 46.)
_The Whole Duty of Man_, a popular treatise of morals (1659).
_Academy of Compliments_, or the Whole Duty of Courtship, being the
nearest or most exact way of wooing a Maid or Widow, by the way of
Dialogue or Complimental Expressions (1655, 1669).
_The neglect of punctilious exactness_, etc. The entire passage follows
pretty closely the interpretation of Lamb: "Among the distinguishing
features of that wonderful character, one of the most interesting (yet
painful) is that soreness of mind which makes him treat the intrusions of
Polonius with harshness, and that asperity which he puts on in his
interviews with Ophelia. These tokens of an unhinged mind (if they be not
mixed in the latter case with a profound artifice of love, to alienate
Ophelia by affected discourtesies, so to prepare her mind for the breaking
off of that loving intercourse, which can no longer find a place amidst
business so serious as that which he has to do) are parts of his
character, which to reconcile with our admiration of Hamlet, the most
patient consideration of his situation is no more than necessary; they are
what we _forgive afterwards_, and explain by the whole of his character,
but _at the time_ they are harsh and unpleasant.... [His behavior toward
Ophelia] is not alienation, it is a distraction purely, and so it always
makes itself to be felt by that object: it is not anger, but grief
assuming the appearance of anger,--love awkwardly counterfeiting hate, as
sweet countenances when they try to frown." "On the Tragedies of
Shakespeare." (Works, ed. Lucas, I, 103-104)
_He may be said to be amenable_, etc. Cf. Coleridge (Works, IV, 145): "His
thoughts, and the images of his fancy, are far more vivid than his actual
perceptions, and his very perceptions, instantly passing through the
_medium_ of his contemplations, acquire, as they pass, a form and a colour
not naturally their own. Hence we see a great, an almost enormous,
intellectual activity, and a proportionate aversion to real action,
consequent upon it, with all its symptoms and accompanying qualities."
P. 82. _his father's spirit_. i, 2, 255.
_I loved Ophelia_. v, 1, 292.
_Sweets to the sweet_. v, 1, 266.
P. 83. _There is a willow_. See p. 39.
_our author's plays acted_. See pp. 70, 87.
P. 84. _Kemble_, John Philip (1757-1823), younger brother to Mrs. Siddons
and noted as the leader of the stately school in tragedy. Hazlitt often
contrasted his manner with that of Kean: "We wish we had never seen Mr.
Kean. He has destroyed the Kemble religion; and it is the religion in
which we were brought up." Works, VIII, 345.
_a wave o' th' sea_. "Winter's Tale," iv, 4, 141.
_Kean_, Edmund (1787-1833), the great English tragic actor whom Hazlitt
was instrumental in discovering for the London public. Shylock and Othello
were his most successful roles. For accounts of his various performances,
see "A View of the English Stage" (Works, VIII). Most of the points in
this essay are reproduced from the notice of Kean's Hamlet (VIII,
185-189).