Page:The Journal of English and Germanic Philology Volume 18.djvu/24

 18 The Play Scene in "Hamlet " wood! Wormwood!" and finally breaks out into the open chal- lenge "Madam, how like you this play?" Gertrude, under the eyes of the court, can only gasp, in confusion, "The lady doth protest too much, me thinks." It thus seems highly probable that the play-scene, which confirmed for Hamlet the truth of the Ghost's accusation of Claudius, led to false conclusions in regard to his mother's guilt. Meanwhile, the King is watching his chance to save the situa- tion, to stop the play if possible. But to break it off at this point would be dangerous. The Queen is painfully agitated; may not her distress be interpreted as guilt of the accusation in the play that "none wed the second but who kilPd the first?" Such a conclusion must be avoided at all costs. The gibes at women who marry a second time are offensive, but no revelation all the court knows of the Queen's second marriage. To stop the play on this ground would be to admit that the marriage was offensive, a sub- ject to be handled with gloves, a disgraceful thing. Hamlet's tact- less insistence upon it can be forgiven a prince suffering from mental disease, just as his indecorous jests to Ophelia are forgiven. One cannot take offence at the disordered outpourings of a lunatic. The danger, as the King well knows, is that the play, or Hamlet himself, will reveal the true facts of the murder, in such a way that the court will understand them. But if this does not happen, and he can keep his composure, it will be better for him not to stop the play. He prepares, however, to break the piece off, should it be- come necessary, by a technicality. Stage-plays performed before royalty should contain nothing irritating to exalted sensibilities. It is to be presumed that this play, given under the direction of the prince, and obviously very familiar to him, will have been thus scrutinized. If, however, in consequence of Hamlet's unsettled mind, or some oversight, this has not been done, the play can be stopped. The King can invoke this solution, then, if worst comes to worst. But a better line of defence is feigned surprise at the whispers that are going about the court. His query to Hamlet, then, "Have you heard the argument? Is there no offence in't?" is really intended for the ears of the court, as much as to say, "I see no offence in this play as yet, but I observe that people are exchanging glances; are you sure that there is nothing inadmissible in the lines to come? "