]
NOTE E.
THE GHOST IN THE CELLARAGE.
It has been thought that the whole of the last part of I. v.,
from the entrance of Horatio and Marcellus, follows the old
play closely, and that Shakespeare is condescending to the
groundlings.
Here again, whether or no he took a suggestion from the old
play, I see no reason to think that he wrote down to his
public. So far as Hamlet's state of mind is concerned, there
is not a trace of this. Anyone who has a difficulty in
understanding it should read Coleridge's note. What appears
grotesque is the part taken by the Ghost, and Hamlet's
consequent removal from one part of the stage to another. But,
as to the former, should we feel anything grotesque in the
four injunctions 'Swear!' if it were not that they come from
under the stage--a fact which to an Elizabethan audience,
perfectly indifferent to what is absurdly called stage
illusion, was probably not in the least grotesque? And as to
the latter, if we knew the Ghost-lore of the time better than
we do, perhaps we should see nothing odd in Hamlet's insisting
on moving away and proposing the oath afresh when the Ghost
intervenes.
But, further, it is to be observed that he does not merely
propose the oath afresh.
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