It would seem that
Ducis and his countrymen deemed the purpose of art to be alone
fulfilled when the artistic fabric was divorced from the ugly facts of
life.
A like problem is presented by Dumas's efforts in more pacific
conditions to adapt Shakespeare for the Parisian stage. With his
friend Paul Meurice Dumas prepared the version of _Hamlet_ which long
enjoyed a standard repute at the Comedie Francaise. Dumas's ecstatic
adoration for Shakespeare's genius did not deter him, any more than
Ducis was deterred by his more subdued veneration, from working havoc
on the English text. Shakespeare's blank verse was necessarily turned
into Alexandrines. That was comparatively immaterial. Of greater
moment is it to note that the _denouement_ of the tragedy was
completely revolutionised by Dumas. The tragic climax is undermined.
Hamlet's life is spared by Dumas. The hero's dying exclamation, "The
rest is silence," disappears from Dumas's version. At the close of the
play the French translator makes the ghost rejoin his son and
good-naturedly promise him indefinite prolongation of his earthly
career. According to the gospel of Dumas, the tragedy of Hamlet ends,
as soon as his and his father's wrongs have been avenged, in this
fashion:--
_Hamlet.
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