Book Description

Excerpt from The Mystery of Hamlet: An Attempt to Solve an Old Problem The views set forth in this little work not only suffer from the lack of literary experience upon the part of him by whom they are presented, but they are in themselves so different from those which have usually been held in relation to the character of Hamlet, that but little favor can be hoped for them. That most will pass them by in silence, and that some will crush them beneath the weight of their scorn, may be expected. No theory could offer a more inviting target for the shafts of ridicule; none could, at first sight, seem more absurd. If true, why has no one seen the truth before? Who can tell! The art of Shakespeare was used to reveal the character yet conceal its real nature. Many have seen something of the truth, but stopped just short of discovery. All have recognized the human character of Hamlet, and yet all have failed to discern the true type of that humanity through the disguises by which it was clothed. The new may be true. Even that which at first seems an absurdity may, upon investigation, prove to be the sober reality. It is something to see, or to believe that one sees the path that Shakespeare followed, - to observe how difficulties were met, - how, with the growth of his power, he learned to substitute Hamlet's inherent personality as the origin of the prolongation of the movement of the drama, for the extraneous events which, in its earlier form, were the causes of the delay. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.