CHAPTERS. Hamlet: Comic Elements. T h e T r a g e d y o f H a m l e t, P r i n c e o f D e n m a r k (1601) is the longest of the great

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1 62 CHAPTERS Hamlet: Comic Elements T h e T r a g e d y o f H a m l e t, P r i n c e o f D e n m a r k (1601) is the longest of the great tragedies of Shakespeare that bears certain relations to romantic tragedy. The beginning of the play deals with the killing of Hamlet s father by his incestuous uncle, Claudius. In the play, Hamlet strives hard to take revenge on his father s murderer and he finally succeeds in his mission at the cost of his own life. The action of the tragedy develops through a strong psychological conflict which leads Hamlet to a kind of melancholia or an abnormal pattern of behaviour. It is the mystery of his father s murder that impels Hamlet to put up the pretence that he is mad in order to unravel the plot. He assumes an antic disposition in order to avenge the murder and also to defend himself from becoming actually mad under the pressure of his ingrown tensions. Shakespeare changes the focus of the action effectively from the revenge motive by centering the point on Hamlet s madness. This mayhem also suggests that Hamlet s madness acts as a safety-valve to his turbulent mind. In most cases, Hamlet s mordant wit, his sarcastic humour and his playacting as a mentally deranged person make the play outwardly comical, but in effect these things are profoundly tragic, illustrating once more how one mode can be used to reinforce the other. In the play, Shakespeare depicts Hamlet as an existentialist hero of exceptional variety and complexity. It has been well-said that, it is not the interest and variety of Hamlet s mind that comes first but the wonder and variety of all human experience which his quality of mind makes peculiarly evident. ' It is quite wonderful to note that there are at least three Hamlets in the play - the dreamer, the lover and the revenger. In

2 63 fact, Hamlet s main passion is not his romantic love for Ophelia, as is the case in R o m e o a n d J u l i e t, but his revenge-spirit that leads him through a variety of complications. The atmosphere of Hamlet s world is not an atmosphere of unrelieved pathos proper to Senecan tragedy. The seriousness of action is not properly maintained chiefly owing to the interactions of certain comic elements which can be classified as follows : 1) Hamlet s Antic Disposition. 2) Grave-diggers Scene. 3) Polonius Pompous Foolery. 4) Osric s Humour. 5) Rosencrantz and Guildenstem. 1) Hamlet s Antic Disposition: Comic Treatment It is quite fair to point out that in Elizabethan theatre, the pattern of madness is often treated as a material for comedy. The scenes representing madness in H a m l e t are apparently related to the ridiculous and Shakespeare projects a kind of tragic disillusion by catering certain comic incongruities to this play. In Shakespeare s tragedies, there is no tragic hero so complex as Hamlet, who bears a certain similarity with King Lear only in respect of his madness. He is delineated as one who is speculative, imaginative and melancholic by nature, just from the beginning of the play. The mysterious death of his father and the hasty remarriage of his mother, Gertrude make Hamlet so terribly shocked that he falls into a kind of melancholia, causing a gradual degradation of his mind. Gretrude s moral lapse and his uncle, Claudius murderous treachery have made Hamlet all but mad and he cannot but take a cynical view of the world of affairs.

3 64 A sensitive idealist that he is, Hamlet tries his best to look into the cause of his father s death till the mystery is revealed to him by his father s ghost. After the revelation, he resolves to take revenge on the mvirderer. Being a bit speculative by nature, he examines every word of the ghost in order to confirm the truth. Before plunging into revenge, he also meditates on the matter for sometime. Naturally his plans of revenge are delayed and thereupon, he becomes irresolute to perform the vindictive action. In other words, Hamlet sinks beneath the burden he can neither bear nor throw off. The world of affairs opens to him like the globe of Columbus, the greater portion of which remains still unexplored: To be, or not to be that is the question. (3.1.58)^ The problem of Hamlet is so grave that he, with frayed nerves and heavy heart feels himself incompetent for the task of revenge he has undertaken. He looks upon both his mother and uncle with a strange indifference to get himself painfully amused by their moral deviations. They are also equally surprised to see Hamlet behaving like a madman and therefore, they try to discover the reason behind it. In order to determine whether Hamlet is really mad or not, they set Polonius on him as their spy which Hamlet suspects and therefore, treats Polonius with bitter jest. A brief conversation between Hamlet and this old courtier pin-points the humour in his insanity: Polonius. Do you know me, my lord? Hamlet. Excellent well, you are a fish-monger. Polonius. Not I my lord. Hamlet. Then I would you were so honest a man. Polonius. Honest, my lord! Hamlet. Ay, Sir; to be honest; as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand. ( ).

4 65 The wild irrelevancies hurled at Polonius, to whom Hamlet was so near, mark the fun made with this old silly sycophant of Claudius. In his conversation with Hamlet, Polonius believes that Hamlet may be mad as he professes ; Though this be madness, yet there is method in it ( ). Obviously Hamlet has assumed an antic disposition; he pretends to be mad only when he deems it necessary. Prof Bradley also supports this view and insists that Hamlet is not really mad. It is however, a kind of prudential mask adopted to deceive Claudius, who has committed the crime of incestuous murder. It is significant to note that Hamlet, like other sane men, behaves normally with his friend Horatio to whom he conjfides his problems. In addition, Hamlet is completely sane and sound when he spares Claudius hfe at his prayers. He rationally reasons that if Claudius is killed while at his prayer, he would go directly to heaven where his soul will be saved. In fact, Hamlet has not lost his sanity even in the midst of his turmoils. Shakespeare does not make Hamlet struggle with the inconsistency between a barbaric tribal code and the Christian code of morals in the matter of revenge. Regarding Hamlet s madness, questions have been raised whether it is genuine or fake. Obviously Hamlet gets in and out of his madness and therefore, it is rather difficult to determine its reality. In Shakespeare s tragedies appearance and reality often merge into each other. The madness of Hamlet, as he himself tells us, is a mask, a kind of selfprotection. ^ To say so is to suggest that if Hamlet s madness is not a case of real insanity, there is a sheer comic unreality in his antic disposition which is not remote from the ridiculous. In most cases, it provokes our lau^ter and brings down the gravity of the play near to the verge of a grotesque comedy. Critics like Eliot insist that Hamlet s madness is less than insanity but more than feigning. Other critics are also of the same opinion. In the words of Stopford. A. Brooke:

5 66 Shakespeare never intended to represent Hamlet as mad or half-mad or verging on madness. He expressly made him a feigner of madness. when he wishes to represent madness, he creates the real madness of Ophelia, and does it with wonderful truth and skill. In this sense, the manifestations of real madness are always pathetic, pitiful and serious. The opposite is true of the instance of unreal madness or feigning. The pattern of abnormal behaviour in Hamlet is convincingly comical in the closet scene (3.4), where Hamlet s madness commands our laughter. In his mother s closet, Hamlet speaks daggers to his mother, pushing her madly down into a chair : I essentially am not in madness but mad in craft. ( ). The manifestation of his incongruities of manners masquerades comic wit. The same comic incongruity is further created in the closet scene where Polonius, having been employed by Claudius to observe Hamlet s insanity, plays the fool behind the tapestry. In order to confirm the reason of Hamlet s antic disposition, Polonius hides himself behind the arras in the Queen s closet. When Hamlet beheves rudely to the Queen, she screams out for help and Polonius foolishly responds to her exclamations. But unknowingly Hamlet thinks him to be the king and plunges his sword into the arras; thus killing Polonius by mistake. After having killed Polonius, he feels no remorse, rather epigrammatically speaks ; I must be cruel only to be kind. ( ). In factjhamlet speaks with a kind of comic detachment. In this connection, Clifford Leech remarks ; Hamlet s wild and whirling words, his pathological incapacity for the task of revenge, his very extravagance of jubilation after the play-scene give to his story too an undercurrent of grim comedy. ^ It is clear to the queen after Polonius murder that Hamlet is really mad. She exclaims in horror : Alas, he s mad. (3.4.96). The king also marks Hamlet as a madmam stained with the guilt of Polonius murder and so he proclaims ; Hamlet in

6 67 madness hath Polonius slain. (4.1.33). Besides, when the king asks Hamlet about Polonius, he gives an amusing reply to him and a dialogue between them bears a touch of comic levity; King. Now Hamlet, where s Polonius? Hamlet. At supper. King. At supper, where? Hamlet. Not where he eats but where a is eaten : a certain convocation of politic worms are e en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet. ( ) The quibble on words, as spoken by Hamlet, also bears out his sarcastic wit and humour. The same sanpine humour is again clearly found in his continued dialogue with the king given partially hereunder: King. Where is Polonius? Hamlet. In heaven. Send thither to see. If your messenger finds him not there, seek him I th other place yourself ( ). In the play, Shakespeare depicts Hamlet as a tragic hero suffering terribly from a strong psychological conflict, a kind of melancholia and also a brunt of ingrown tensions which lead him to the verge of madness. But Hamlet has already assumed an antic disposition for self-protection, more clearly as a means of concealing his actual disturbance of mind. Yet in the midst of all these mental turmoils, he does not fail to retain his own ironical wit and humour. So it is often thought that Hamlet s madness is nearer to the kind of barbed non-reason of the traditional Elizabethan wisefool than to insanity.

7 68 There are certain factors to Hamlet s madness; Ophelia s love cannot help him to sustain sanity of mind. The moral problem is so absorbing for him that he does not hesitate to chuck out Ophelia from his heart, nor does he realize what an agony he is causing to an innocent girl by recommending for her nothing more than initiation to a nunneiy. It is not probably his madness that compels him to reject his sweet heart whom he claims to have loved more than forty thousands brothers could. (5.1). pertiaps Gertrude s incestuous crime and infidelity disillusions him about womanhood and love. Comedy in Hamlet is at once more obvious and more deeply embedded than in R o m e o a n d J u l i e f \ ^where the lover are not disillusioned by adverse emotions. The audience can sense the cause of Hamlet s madness as he exclaims : Go to. I ll no more on t. it hath made me mad. I say we will have no more marriages. Those that are married already-all but one-shall live. The rest shall keep as they are. To a nunnery, go. ( ). The problem of Hamlet s madness is so entangling that it is impossible for him to do justice to Ophelia and her father, Polonius to whom he was once so near and dear. He makes fun of the silly sycophancy of both Polonius and others who belong to the court. He even engages himself in the game of wit and humour with his treacherous schoolfellows viz. Rosencrantz and Guildenstera, who come to worm out the secret of his madness. These observations of the world and man, the paragon of animals, appears to him to be nothing but the quintessence of dust. The world he lives in, seems to him almost stale, weary and dull, and this world-weariness irresistibly leads him to the threshold of madness. The scenes representing this madness are not only exciting but also comic. So Clifford Leech says : Comedy and madness had an association in

8 69 Elizabethan mind as they have today. We have seen in Lear and Hamlet a touch of the grotesque, not remote from comedy. * 2) Grave-diggers Scene : Comic Interlude The Grave-diggers scene in Hamlet (5.1) comes off after the sad death of Ophelia, before the catastrophe of the play. It serves the purpose of a comic interlude in Shakespeare s tragedies, providing necessary comic relief for the audience. The scene represents an appearance of the grave-diggers*^e engaged in delving a grave for dead Ophelia but in the course of their work they sing some songs. They also indulge themselves in cutting jokes on different trivial matters. The pathos of Ophelia s death has hardly touched their hearts. They are so accustomed to such somber job that they sing flu and cut jokes at such grim moment. In this sense, the grave-yard scene is almost an A emblem of this paradox. ^ The grave-diggers are all clownish in their manners and even grotesque in their ideas. They discuss whether Ophelia, owing to her death by drowning herself, deserves a Christian burial or not; the question of decency of her burial in the consecrated ground of the churchyard is, therefore, uppermost in their minds. Their philosophical discourse of the subject deepens the gloom and solemnity of the whole action, but their colloquy of the grim reality sounds almost humourous. So Prof Dowden rightly says : The gravediggers have a grim grotesqueness and might almost appear as figuresin the D a n c e M a c a b r e s of the Middle ages; each a himiourous jester in the court of death, It can be said that the grave-diggers are some country-folk endowed with a rustic sense of wit and humour. There is a touch of shrewd folk-wisdom in their clownish

9 70 remarks about Ophelia s decent burial, but their jesting about Ophelia s suicidal death by drowning lightens the grimness of the situation; First Clown. Give me leave. Here lies the water - good. Here stands the man - good. If the man go to this water and drown himself; it is will he, nill he, he goes. Mark you that. But if the water come to him and drown him, he drowns not himself; argal he that is not guilty of his own death shortens not his own life. Second Clown. But is this law? First Clown. Ay, marry, is it : Coroner s quest law. Second Clown. Will you ha the truth on t? If this had not been a gentlewoman, she would have been buried out o Christian burial. (5.1,15-25). The grave-diggers still continue their discourse, emphasizing the greatness of their calling. They play on the old rhyme. There is no ancient gentleman but the gravemakers, for they carry on Adams profession. Even the houses they build last till the dooms-day. Thus, they hold their professional status in high esteem and feel proud of it. But the way they speak all about it is quite humorous. It is curious to note that the grave-diggers are comical to us because they have no feelings for the sad event of Ophelia s death and the gruesome business they perform. They, being detached from the everyday-life affairs of the phenomenal world, can hardly feel any grief at any sorrowful moment. Shakespeare has made their apartness from the terror and pity of circumstances around them almost shocking; yet this apartness of theirs seem to enhance the tragic elements. In spite of their apartness from the world of affairs, the grave-diggers are not at all extraneous in the play. While digging the grave, they sing the tag-ends of old songs

10 71 that provide ample scope of entertainment for the groundlings. The First Clown sings in a jovial mood: In youth v^hen I did love, did love, Methought it was very sweet To contract-o-the time for-a-my behove, 0 methought there-a-was nothing-a-meet. ( ). The First Clown s song also provides comic relief for the audience, but Stemfeld says that, the grave-digger s song in H a m l e t and Pandarus song in T r o i l u s a n d C r e s s i d a are treated in a manner which deprives them of their wholly comic character and makes them part of the general artistic design. The First Clown s song is, however, interrupted by the sudden appearance of Hamlet and his friend Horatio, who are surprised by his songs at the grimmest moment. The light song of the sexton accompanies the grave reflections of Hamlet and sets them into relief The First Clown sings and throws up the skulls but the professional indifference of the Clown contrasts comically with the sensitivity of Hamlet. There is, however, a bitter irony in Hamlet s jests with the first Clown because Ophelia s death is still a mystery to him. The Clown, on the other hand, seem to be comical to the audience only because they have no feelings for the gruesome business in which they are engaged. They only know very well whose grave they are digging, nevertheless it seems, as if, they are not doing a serious action. The grave-diggers are a classic example of the harmed quibbles of Elizabethan Clowns. The low comic atmosphere of this scene is almost fraught with deep tragic import as Hamlet waders into the world of imagination in the course of his conversation with the Clown ; Hamlet. What man dost thou dig it for?

11 72 First Clown. For no man sir. Hamlet. What woman, then? First Clown. For none, neither. JIamlet. Who is to be buried in t? First Clown. One that was a woman, sir, but rest her soul, she s dead. ( ). The First Clown runs into a comic atmosphere with his frivolities about the skulls he digs out. He throws up the skulls quite indifferently but Hamlet joins issues with them in the quibbling game, remarking that they could have belonged to a lawyer or a courtier. The skull, as Hamlet imagines, also had a tongue in it and could sing like a clown. We can again hear Hamlet speaking much of a skull which he thinks to have belonged to Yorick, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy who has borne him on his back a thousand times in his childhood. (5.1). It is also quite ridiculous to note that Hamlet again imagines that the skull of Yorick also had a lip which he had kissed. He is not only imaginative but also philosophical in his jesting with horror. The grave-diggers suddenly disappear as soon as Ophelia s dead body is brought in a coffin at the grave-yard. The grim humour of the whole scene is suddenly embittered by the pathos of the tragic scenes that follow next. Shakespeare feels that if the joking of the clowns goes on much longer, the tragic atmosphere of the play would be diluted. There soon follows a relapse of the seriousness with Ophelia s obsequies. Yet it cannot be denied that the humorous jesting of the clowns relieves the intensity of tragic tensions. The gravediggers scene in H a m l e t, the porter s scene in M a c b e t h are interludes of light relief in the superficial sense only. In fact, their grim humour serves to make us even more aware of the sombre mood of death surrounding them.

12 73 The references of the grave-yar(^ skulls, dead-body etc. cannot be taken as granted for comic treatment, rather they are closely related to the macabre objects which are quite remote from comedy. In this sense the grave-diggers scene is, perhaps the most important comic interlude used in the tragedy for the proper understanding of the play. Even the scene with its clownage, in a superficial sense, is not far from being one of Shakespeare s great comic intermezzos to appeal our sense our tragedy as well as to our sense of comedy. 3) Polonius s Pompous Foolery: Comic Interest There are so many fools in Shakespeare s plays but these fools are not always comical. Polonius in H a m l e t may be treated as one of Shakespeare wise-fools; he never laughs at others like the fool in King Lear, but he has a sense of humour that makes others laugh. In this sense Polonius is a comic fool whose pompous foolery gives the tragedy a peculiar touch of comedy. In the play, Polonius acts as a foolish old man. He plays the role of a comic catalyst to both Hamlet and Claudius. He is an old experienced man and loyal to the king. So he is employed by the king to spy into the reason working behind hamlet s madness. The pompous foolery of Polonius necessarily heightens the whole tragic action by contrast. According to Polonius belief, Hamlet might have gone mad chiefly owing to Ophelia s love. But this belief can hardly substantiate the reason. Hamlet also sees through Polonius transaction and suspects him to have been used to play the role of a spy on the king s behalf The audience cannot but laugh at Polonius when tries to convince Claudius of Hamlet s madness. He pleads that he would hide himself behind

13 74 the arras when Hamlet would come to meet his mother in her closet. By doing so, he wants to convey what he finds from behind the tapestry. Sir. Arthur Quiller-Couch says : His advice to the king and queen on the subject of Hamlet s madness is very ridiculous. Shakespeare depicts Polonius as a wise-fool - a great adviser not only to the king but also to his son, Laertes. Like a philosopher, he exhorts Laertes about some practical matters. In his long advice he says ; Give every man thireear but few thy voice and also he continues : Neither a borrower nor a lender be etc. ( ). Even he seems wise enough in his exhortations to Ophelia to avoid Hamlet s lusty advances. But he exists in the play only for a short period of time till he gets killed by Hamlet in the queen s closet. The scene of PoloniusMeath is undoubtedly exciting as well as abysmal. But Hamlet s sarcastic humour lightens its seriousness as he says to his mother : A bloody deed - almost as bad, good mother, as kill a king and marry with his brother. ( ). There is, again, a slight touch of comedy in the dialogue between Polonius and Hamlet that shows how the la^r outwits the former by means of his own sarcastic w it: Hamlet. Do you see yonder cloud that s ahnost in shape of a camel? Polonius. By th mass, and tis like a camel, indeed. Hamlet. Methinks it is like a weasel. Polonius. It is backed like a weasel. Hamlet. Or like a whale. Polonius. Very like a whale. ( ).

14 75 4) Osric s Humour; Comic Potentiality The existence of comic chairs in H a m l e t is not an unnatural phenomenon. The role played by Osric is as irrational as that of Polonius, but neither of them can claim equality with Sir. John F^lstafif. In Shakespeare s hands, these comic figures have achieved certain sense of humour congenial to their nature. Osric appears to be one of such comic counterparts of this tragedy. In Hamlet the humorous figures of the court are all a little contemptible and odious. Polonius, Osric, Rosencrantz and Guildenstem serve as irritants to stimulate Hamlet s dissatisfaction with living and impatience of the world. To combine the comic figures with the clowns or fools is Lyly s pet formula which Shakespeare takes up as a comic device and then transcends it in his great tragedies. Like Polonius, Osric also excites Hamlet s world-weariness. Though not ironical towards Hamlet, Osric also acts as a fool to him. He is privileged to cut jokes with Hamlet when the situation is disagreeable, uncongenial and arbitrary. Shakespeare unmistakably breathes into such a humorous figure the sparks of reality and thereby makes the audience feel his sportive mood, as if in a comedy: Osric. I thank your lordship, tis very hot. Hamlet. No believe me, tis very cold. The wind is northerly. Osric. It is indifferent cold, my lord, indeed. Hamlet. Methinks it is very sultry and hot for my complexion. Osric, Exceeding, my lord. It is very sultry, as t were - 1 cannot tell how. ( ). From the above dialogue between Osric and Hamlet, it is quite clear that Osric s humour is not less inferior to that of Juliet s nurse. Shakespeare parodies the

15 76 affectations of court-dialect in the Osric scene and at the end of the scene we have the slow-witted reasoning of the rustic clown. Convincingly Osric is no other than a clown in his conversation with Hamlet. In this play, Osric s role is very short and unimportant; he suddenly disappears and the comic potentiality of the play is then abruptly injured. After all, Osric s humour though not predominantly relieving, invariably touches the brink of the grotesque comedy. 5) Rosencrantz and Guildenstem; Comic Perspective In H a m l e t, there are some minor characters like Osric who play the role of comic figures. Rosencrantz and Guildenstem are two typical hangers-on of the court, playing the role of the comic characters. The king employed these two school-fellows of Hamlet to probe into Hamlet s problem and thereupon, they acts as a couple of spies to watch the prince s course of action. They are ordered to take Hamlet to England where he might be executed by the English king. They, accordingly, take him to England in a ship, but Hamlet somehow manages to steer clear of them. It is however, satirical to note that when Hamlet speaks out of his feelings of world-weariness, these two spies laugh at him. The audience also cannot but laugh aj Hamlet gets irritated and speaks out: He keeps them, like an ape, an apple in the comer of his jaw, first mouthed to be last swallowed. ( ). It has already been said that Hamlet has killed Polonius through mistake but his dead-body is to be brought to the king by Rosencrantz and Guildenstem. They are ordered by the king to bring it and, therefore, they meet Hamlet who, by his sarcastic wit, outsmarts them; Rosencrantz. My lord, you must tell us where the body is and go with us to the king.

16 77 Hamlet. The body is with the king, but the king is not with the body. The king is a thing - Guildenstem. A thing, my lord? Hamlet. Of nothing. Bring me to him. Hide fox, and all after. ( ). The above dialogue between Hamlet and his two school-fellows bears a spirit of comicality that does not, in any way, mar the tragic effect of the play; rather it relieves the optimum tension arising out of the serious action. These two spies are more foolish than knavish, and so towards the close, their knavery is detected. Thereupon, they are tricked to the death, originally meant for Hamlet. It can be remembered that in the Absurdist theatre, Tom Stoppard s play ' R o s e n c r a n t z a n d G u i l d e n s t e m a r e D e a d " (1958) appears to be a modem dark comedy to retrospect the comic perspective in H a m l e t. To sum up, Shakespeare s treatment of these court-figures also brings out the comic fecundity of the whole tragedy. NOTES 1. E. M. W. Tillyard, S h a k e s p e a r e ' s P r o b l e m P l a y s, (London: Chatto and Windus Ltd., 1957) p Stanley wells and Gary Taylor, Ed. W i l l i a m S h a k e s p e a r e : T h e C o m p l e t e W o r k s, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998) p. 58. (The quotation and all subsequent references to the play are made from this edition and they have been incorporated in the text parenthetically.) 3. Wolfgang Clemen, S h a k e s p e a r e s D r a m a t i c A r t : C o l l e c t e d E s s a y s, 1972, rpt,(london : Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1980) p. 175.

17 78 4. Stopford. A. Brooke, T e n m o r e P l a y s o f S h a k e s p e a r e, 1969, rpt, (Ludhiana; Lyall Book Depot, 1997) p Clifford Leech, 5 T r a g e d i e s a n d o t h e r S t u d i e s, 1950, rpt, (London: Chatto & Windus Ltd., 1961) p Terrence Hawkes, S h a k e s p e a r e a n d t h e R e a s o n : A S t u d y o f t h e T r a g e d i e s a n d t h e P r o b l e m P l a y s, (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd., 1964) p Susan Snyder, T h e C o m i c M a t r i x o f S h a k e s p e a r e ' s T r a g e d i e s, (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Univ. Press, 1978) p Clifford Leech, S h a k e s p e a r e ' s T r a g e d i e s a n d o t h e r S t u d i e s 1950, rpt, ((London: Chatto &Windus Ltd., 1961) p John Halloway, T h e S t o r y o f t h e N i g h t, (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd., 1961) p Edward Dowden, S h a k e s p e a r e : A C r i t i c a l S t u d y o f h i s M i n d a n d A r t, (London; Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd., 1875) p Stopford. A. Brooke, T e n m o r e p l a y s o f S h a k e s p e a r e, 1969, rpt, (Ludhiana: Lyall Book Depot, 1997) p F. W. Stemfeld M u s i c i n S h a k e s p e a r e a n T r a g e d y, (London; Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., 1963) p Wolfgang Clemen, O p. c i t, p Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, S h a k e s p e a r e s W o r k s m a n s h i p, (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1951) p Edward Dowden, O p. c i t, p George Rylands, Ed. N e w C l a r e n d o n S h a k e s p e a r e : H a m l e t, Delhi: Oxford Univ. Press, 1996) p. 25.