The psychology of Hamlet : read at the meeting of the Psychological Society of Great Britain, May 1, 1879 / by Mr. Serjeant Cox.

  • Cox, Edward W. (Edward William), 1809-1879.
Date:
[1878]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The psychology of Hamlet : read at the meeting of the Psychological Society of Great Britain, May 1, 1879 / by Mr. Serjeant Cox. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    of this conflict of emotions, his impulse almost to embrace her, and then his restraining endeavour to sustain even by exaggerating, the part he was playing, is to my mind the true embodiment of Shakespeare’s design, as it is a triumph of dramatic art—one of those bursts of true genius for which we would gladly forgive the Actor’s faults were they ten times more numerous. Then his advice to the players. Is that madness or anything that anybody but a mad-doctor could torture into madness ? He is now no longer irresolute. His mind is made up. The path is plain before him. He had certainly imparted to his bosom friend, Horatio, all his doubts and suspicions; he now confides to him his plot of the play and invites his assistance. It is given cordially, with what result we all know. Assured now that it was an honest Ghost—persuaded that his college friends Rosencrantz and the gentle Guildenstern weref commissioned to watch him, he main- tains his assumed character with them. The reappearance of the Ghost in the midst of his passionate interview with his mother marks the irresolution that had so long held him inactive. And again at the close of this marvellous scene he tells his mother not to let the King by his endearments Make you to ravel all this matter out, That I essentially am not in madness, But mad in craft. The irresolution had again shown itself in the closet when, the King kneeling in prayer and the opportunity for vengeance offering, he failed to avail himself of it—his wavering reasons for inaction plainly proving that he could not make up his mind. Hearing a noise behind the arras he kills Polonius believing the spy to be the King. It was infirmity of purpose still, not insanity. [278]