Lectures and Notes
on
Shakspere
and Other English Poets -
Transcribed and edited by Thomas Larque. Page numbers are given in the web text, in square brackets, at the start of each page.
This edition is Copyright © Thomas Larque, 2001. See the copyright notice on http://shakespearean.org.uk for more details.
NOTE ON SPELLING - Unless otherwise mentioned these texts are produced with
their original spellings intact. This means, for example, that Hazlitt's essay
on Hamlet refers to "Shakespear" and Coleridge, in his lectures, to "Shakspere". These are not mistakes. Shakespeare's name
was spelled in many different ways during the Renaissance (including at the most
extreme "Shagspere", "Shexpere" and "Shaxberd"), Shakespeare himself, in his
surviving signatures, spelled his name "Shakspere" or "Shakspeare", and the
modern fixed spelling ("Shakespeare") was not considered to be the only correct
one until some time into the 20th Century. For more information see
Dave Kathman's page on the Renaissance Spelling and
Pronounciation of Shakespeare's name [External link].
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[531] Hamlet. - "Hamlet's character is the prevalence of the abstracting and generalizing habit over the practical. He does not want courage, skill, will, or opportunity; but every incident sets him thinking; and it is curious, and at the same time strictly natural, that Hamlet, who all the play seems reason itself, should be impelled, at last, by mere accident, to effect his object. I have a smack of Hamlet myself, if I may say so." - June 15, 1827.
Polonius. - "A Maxim is a conclusion upon observation of matters of fact, and is merely retrospective; an idea, or, if you like, a Principle, carries knowledge within itself, and is prospective. Polonius is a man of maxims. While he is descanting on matters of past experience, as in that excellent speech to Laertes before he sets out on his travels, he is admirable; but when he comes to advise or project, he is a mere dotard. You see Hamlet, as the man of ideas, despises him. A man of maxims only is like a Cyclops with one eye, and that eye placed in the back of his head." - June 15, 1827.
Hamlet and Ophelia - "In the scene with Ophelia, in the third act, Hamlet is beginning with great and unfeigned tenderness; but perceiving her reserve and coyness, fancies there are some listeners, and then, to sustain his part, breaks out into all that coarseness." - June 15 1827.
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