13484.75 13484.75 1871, July 1. Shapleigh Fund. HARVARD RY TUCKER AND CO. PRINTERS, PERRY'S PLACE, OXFORD STREET. HAMLET. IN the second volume of his "Notes on Shakspeare," in speaking of the play of "Hamlet," Coleridge says:-"I confess that Shakspeare has left the character of the Queen in an unpleasant perplexity. Was she, or was she not, conscious of the fatricide?" He does not tell us whether by this "consciousness of the fatricide," he meant a knowledge of the intended crime before its commission by Claudius, or only a subsequent discovery of the fact, on the part of the Queen. But, whichever construction be put upon his words, the answer to the question appears to be very far from generally agreed upon amongst the readers of the play. In the hope of attracting to the subject the attention of those most conversant with the writings of Shakspeare, and so, of obtaining, if it be possible, a solution of the problem, I propose in the present paper to consider the "Hamlet so far only as it relates to the murder of Hamlet's father; and, having first linked together all the alleged evidences of the Queen's share in the crime in question, I shall proceed to weigh such proofs against those which appear to be in favour of her innocence. The evidences commonly adduced to prove her participation in the murder are the following: 1. The fact that she married Claudius within a month after the death of her first husband-act i. sc. 2: Frailty, thy name is woman A little month; or ere those shoes were old (O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason, Would have mourn'd longer)—married with my uncle. 2. Her parade of excessive grief at the funeral of her first husband: With which she follow'd my poor father's body |