cess of wonder. I can say with cer–
tainty that Racine surpassed him–
seH
in
PhUre,
and I can put this
tragedy at the summit of his
achievement-for each of his trag–
edies moves, more or less success–
fully, towards the same ideal per–
fection. It is otherwise with Shake–
speare: not only in subject matter
does each one of his plays differ
from the others, but also in man–
ner, in insight, in language. Were
it not for a certain incomparable
master-craft that in equal degree
animates each play, one might
be
led to believe that they were pro–
duced by different hands. But not
a single one of Shakespeare's con–
temporaries attained to this nobil–
ity,
to
this profound sense of order,
to this plenitude, to this splendor,
to this powerful radiance.
If
there–
fore each one of his masterpieces
seems to us wonderful in itself, it
is
all the more wonderful that a
single mind was capable of such a
variety
of
masterpieces. I would
not know how to choose my fav–
orite among them, as I have said,
and, truly,
Hamlet
is far from be–
ing the most perfect of the plays."
"What is there in
Hamlet
that,
across the centuries, holds us spell–
bound?"
"Hamlet
is doubtless the one
work that most astonishes, that
troubles most, the one that lends
itself to the greatest variety of in–
terpretations, and the one that
catches up with us, across the years,
in most secret fashion (I almost
said: in a most indiscreet fashion) :
218
no, indeed, it is not the most per–
fect work. Let me add that with
a like subject perfection is inad–
missible. The conciseness, the clar–
ity of design of
Othello,
of
Mac–
beth,
of
Julius Caesar,
or of
Corio–
lanus
would never suit
Hamlet,
whose temper involves a certain
twilight, a certain imprecision of
outline, an unbroken possibility of
elusiveness in all directions. What
is most astonishing is that this play,
so esoteric in quality, so opulent in
its trappings, so subtle and ornate
in expression that it would seem to
speak to the most cultivated minda
only, should, in counterpoint to the
philosophizing, admit of an action
that is so startling and so adroitly
handled that it compels the inter–
est and holds in suspense the atten–
tion of the most diversified public.
It is for
Hamlet
that the public
declares, we are told, in preference
to any other play. It is
Hamlet
that Fielding's Partridge sees on the
boards in London; it is
Hamlet
that comes up in the novels of
Dickens. It is
Hamlet
that first en–
ters into the literature of the most
diverse nations."
"At school we talk for hours
about why Hamlet delays killing
the King. Why does he?"
''Curious question! Had Hamlet
killed the King, there would have
been no play. The very subject of
this play, the secret of the charac–
ter of Hamlet, is that he thinks
before acting.
A>nd thus the native hue of
resolution
