ADJUSTING
HAMLET
systematically commits, which is to dissolve the play into the myth on
which it is based, to mistake the dramatic situation for the theme.
In particular, what Dr. Jones sets out to do is to solve the old
riddle. Hamlet, we are told, hesitates to kill Claudius because to do so
would be to risk becoming conscious of his own unacknowledged desire
to possess his mother. This is admittedly speculation; the very nature
of the theory precludes the finding of textual support. But is it convinc–
ing even as speculation? Given such a desire on Hamlet's part, and sanc–
tioned by his father's ghost, he would seem to be in the best possible
position to rid himself of his rival
without
having to face up to his
unconscious. Why he delays "I do not know .. . . Sith I have cause and
will and strength and means to do't." To add sexual rivalry to this
imposing list of motives is only, in common sense, to deepen the mystery
of his inaction.
I think there is a good deal of point to T. S. Eliot's remark that
in
Hamlet
Shakespeare's images did not entirely encompass his mean–
ings. But for those who cannot admit imperfections in
Hamlet,
there
is a comforting theory- or anti-theory- supported by Mr. Hazleton
Spencer and other historical scholars which calmly buries the aesthetic
question. Mr. Spencer finds that
Hamlet
is not so much a drama of
character as a well-written variant of the old melodramas of revenge.
He agrees that in the other tragedies there is a palpable relation between
being and doing, and that what a character says is usually a reliable
clue to what he is. Yet he warns us not to expect the same clairvoyance
of Hamlet. His rueful soliloquies are merely "elocutionary arias in
th~
conventional vein of heroic avengers," and Hamlet himself is "ardent,
masculine . . . . a gallant boy playing a lone hand for revenge and a
throne against a great opponent." Mr. Spencer's Hamlet
is
a well-ad–
justed man.
F. W. Dupee
THE ART OF THE FILM
THE ART OF THE FILM. By Ernest Lindgren. Macmillan. $4.50.
CHAPLIN: LAST OF THE CLOWNS. By Porker Tyler. Vanguard. $3.00.
The Art of the Film
is an expert's account of the possibilities
of film technique, written to stimulate "film appreciation" through pub–
lic enlightenment. The dust-jacket says that Mr. Lingdren has made
a "special study" of film technique and appreciation, and the unaffected
seriousness with which he pursues his educational aim may be seen
in
the
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