THE PLAY SCENE IN HAMLET
It is one of the oddities of Shakspere-criticism that, in the mass of exegesis and philosophizing which has grown up about 'Hamlet,' one of the most conspicuous and important scenes in the whole piece should have received comparatively little attention.[1] The performance of the play within the play before the assembled court is of the highest dramatic significance. Beneath the thinnest disguise of lip-civility, the opposing wills of the villain and the hero meet in a struggle of uncommon tensity, the consequences of which are of the greatest moment for them both. The scene occupies a place about midway in the third act, a position in which Shakspere frequently set climactic action. Its importance is enhanced by its pageantry; even on the Elizabethan stage it must have been given with some elaborateness, with rich costumes and courtly ceremonial, with torches carried by the guard, and with the music of drums, trumpets and hautboys. Shakspere can hardly have failed to consider with some care the dramatic significance of the details of the action, as well as the total effect of the scene and its relation to the rest of the play.
The whole episode is, however, full of difficulties, and the more attentively it is studied the more perplexing these are likely to appear. Discussion has hitherto concerned chiefly the "dozen or sixteen lines" which Hamlet tells the First Player he intends to set down and insert in the play—a distinctly minor question. It is
- ↑ Since this study was placed in the hands of the editor of this journal, Mr. J. Dover Wilson has written two articles, to which those who are interested in this general subject may be referred. The first of these, entitled 'The Parallel Plots in Hamlet: a reply to Dr. W. W. Greg,' appeared in the Modern Language Review, Vol. XIII, pp. 129-156 (April, 1918). In this the play-scene is briefly discussed. A more extended exposition will be found in the Athenæum for July, August and September, 1918, under the title 'The Play-Scene in Hamlet Restored.'
I am in accord with Mr. Wilson as to the unsoundness of Dr. Greg's theories, but to the interpretation of the play-scene set forth in the articles just mentioned I cannot agree. A discussion of this would take more space than is at my disposal here. I have thought it best, therefore, to let my own article stand just as it was written. It will be all the clearer, I hope, because it was put together purely as a piece of exposition, and not with a view to demolishing another hypothesis.
