Page:The Russian Review Volume 1.djvu/166

144 witness to the energy and the greatness of his soul. As to his lack of resolution, it is the result of his inward discord and of the fact that he is dominated by his tendency to reflection and contemplation. A man of such a nature cannot go further than the first start, so much so, that the role of a hangman was not in Hamlet's nature." It is difficult to find in critical literature a more earnest and passionate plea for Hamlet.

Hamlet was also Turgeniev's favorite Shakespearean hero. He even wrote a story, Hamlet of the Shchigrov District, in which he humorously depicted the Russian Hamlet. Other characters in Turgeniev's novels are typical Hamlets: Rudin (in the novel of the same name), Sanin (Spring Waters), and others.

And what superb Hamlets the Russian stage has seen! We owe wonderful histrionic incarnations of Hamlet to the greatest Russian actors of former times, such as Shchepkin and Mochalov, who played in the fifties of the last century, and Kachalov, the pride of the Moscow Art Theatre, which is the best theatre in Russia, and, perhaps, not in Russia alone. Nor do these names exhaust the list, for many other less known actors played Hamlet to perfection. To what degree Hamlet is popular in Russia may be seen also from the fact that many phrases from Hamlet's monologues have become a part of the conversational language of the Russian educated class.

Other plays of Shakespeare, notably Othello, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, were received in Russia with equal warmth. In late years Russian theatres began to stage such dramas as Winter's Tale, Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth. The Moscow Art Theatre included in its repertory Julius Caesar, in addition to Hamlet, and its staging has been recognized by connoisseurs of the dramatic art, in general, and of Shakespeare in particular, as one of the best in the world.

At the beginning of this article, I pointed out the fact that Russia is behind Germany in her knowledge of Shakespeare. While this is true, we should not omit to mention that Russia, too, is introducing the cult of Shakespeare. Learned societies and circles founded for the purposes of a many-sided and accurate study of the dramatist, are gradually increasing in number, and enlarging the scope of their work. It is noteworthy that such societies and circles had existed in former years, thouhgthough [sic] they were not widely known. For instance, it was only in 1902 that we learned about a very remarkable Shakespeare Circle that existed in Moscow in the seventies of the past century. This Circle was founded by a group of students of Moscow