There are more irregularities and unexpected turns of action in Hamlet than in any other of Shakespeare's plays. Our belief is, that the poet became charmed with the creature of his own imagination, as it developed itself from his fertile brain; that as he gave loose rein to poetic fancy and philo sophic reverie, he more than ever spurned the narrow limits of dramatic art. The works of Shakespeare's imagination, contrasted with those of the Greek dramatists, have been said
to resemble a vast cathedral, combining in one beautiful structure various forms of architecture, various towers and
pinnacles, the whole irregular, vast, and beautiful.
The
drama of the Greeks, on the other hand, has been said to
resemble their temples, finished in one style, perfect and regular. The simile is true and instructive, and in no case more so than in its application to Hamlet. If in our admira tion of its whole effect,
if in our reverent examination of its
parts, its pinnacles of beauty, its shrines of passion, its gorgeous oriels of many-coloured thought,
we venture to
express the difficulties we experience in understanding how one part grew out of another, and the many parts grew to form the wondrous whole, let our criticism be accepted as that of one who examines only to learn and to enjoy. It is known that Shakespeare devoted more time to it than to any other of his works, and that in its construction he altered and re-altered much.
The work bears evident traces of this elabo
ration, both in its lengthy and slow action, in its great diver sity of incident and character, and in the great perfection of its parts contrasted with some loss of uniformity as a whole. Some of his plays (as the Merry Wives of Windsor), Shakes peare is said to have thrown off with incredible rapidity and fa cility; but this certainly is not one in which he “warbled his native wood-notes wild.” It was the laboured and elaborate result
of years of toil, of metaphysical introspection and observation. It was the darling child of its great author, and ran some risk
