HAMLET IN A RELIGIOUS LIGHT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14925, 24 February 1912, Page 4 (Supplement)

HAMLET IN A RELIGIOUS LIGHT.

Of the various commentaries upon the character of Hamlet which have from time • to time .come under our-notice, it is re- ' markable • that the theocratic element, so " absolute in the Prince of Denmark's complex personality, should have been either cursorily dismissed with the barest refer- ' ence, or else, as more frequently hap- ' pened, totally disregarded. . That Hamlet breathes the atmosphere, i and has imbibed the spirit, of* a saintly ■ anchorite is apparent from his frequent tits of mental abstraction and love of solitude, together .with persistently recurring moods of serious introspection, penitence, and prayer. . He says to bosom.friends ; I hold it fit that we shake hands and part; Von g$ your bujine*s and deciro shall.point you ; fVr ; every, man hath business and desire Such, a.< it'island" for my own poor part, Look you,'l will go pray. ■ •. On the. momentous occasions of his being i fronted by the ghostly presence of his father, it is. important'to note that before addressing the august phantom,, he trem- i blingly implores Divine protection against | any possible chance of evil: . . ; Anjels and ministers of grace defend us. I Save m?, and hover o'er mc with your wing*, You heavenly guards. . Contrition and candour are alike displayed j in the voluntary, passionate avowal" of j incalculable faults, none of which, how- i ever trivial or exaggerated, he "dares to i palliate, much less to ignore; and also by [ the devout aspiration that his accumulated j guilt may not be neglected in the simple j supplications of the innocent Ophelia— . j ' Xymph in thy orison j Be all my, sim remembered. The solemn, admonition to- the erring i Queen — . j Confess yourself to heaven . j Repent what's past, avoid what is to come is - not the less an outpouring of pious, earnest solicitude, than it is the supreme manifestation of the closest, filial attachment. Then conies the profound and philosophic meditation upon death, with the uncertainties and obscure involvmeuts of the after state: W hen we have shuffled off this mortal coil. The undiscovered country from wlio»e bourn No traveller returns. And lastly, reverently acknowledging " a Divinity that shapes our ends" and "a special Providence in the fall of a sparrow." he reconciles existing temporalities to the stupendous issues of an Eternal World, and "reduces the vast problems of individual destiny and of humanity's final , triumph to the positive concrete of a single sentence—brief, pregnant, and comprehensive— The readiness i* all. ]