In every conceivable
circumstance the young prince must be the centre of attraction.
Nevertheless, no graver injury can be done the play as an acting drama
than by treating it as a one-part piece. The accepted method of
shortening the tragedy by reducing every part, except that of Hamlet,
is to distort Shakespeare's whole scheme, to dislocate or obscure the
whole action. The predominance of Hamlet is exaggerated at the expense
of the dramatist's artistic purpose.
To realise completely the motives of Hamlet's conduct, and the process
of his fortunes, not a single utterance from the lips of the King,
Polonius, or Laertes can be spared. In ordinary acting versions these
three parts sink into insignificance. It is only in the full text that
they assume their just and illuminating rank as Hamlet's foils.
The King rises into a character almost of the first class. He is a
villain of unfathomable infamy, but his cowardly fear of the discovery
of his crimes, his desperate pursuit of the consolations of religion,
the quick ingenuity with which he plots escape from the inevitable
retribution that dogs his misdeeds, excite--in the full text of the
play--an interest hardly less intense than those wistful musings of
the storm-tossed soul which stay his nephew's avenging hand.
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