course of action to be regarded. And if the reader will concede that the data afforded by the text are partly irreconcilable,[1] he will agree that the question at once arises, which of these data are to be considered as beyond question significant.
In the opinion of the present writer, critics have hitherto, as a rule, overlooked the peculiar importance, in this connection, to be attributed to the utterances of the ghost. Nowhere have I seen it affirmed that the first step in the interpretation of Hamlet is to scrutinize the actions and utterances of the ghost, to note what it does and what it leaves undone, what it says and what it refrains from saying, and to regard the results of such scrutiny as the fundamental data of the play. True, in the course of the constant study to which the play has been subjected, the words of the ghost have not escaped notice, and his attitude towards Hamlet and his language have been cited in evidence of particular views. Thus Mr. Bradley says, with perfect justice (Shakespearean Tragedy, p. 100), "Surely it is clear that, whatever we in the twentieth century may think about Hamlet's duty, we
- ↑ "Again it may be held without any improbability that, from carelessness or because he was engaged on this play for several years, Shakespeare left inconsistencies in his exhibition of the character which must prevent us from being certain of his ultimate meaning." A. C. Bradley, Shakespearean Tragedy, p. 93.
