The Observed of All Observers
Hi AMLET- it is said that schoolmasters still gravely debate with their charges the .question whether he was mad or not-is the latest of Shakespeare’s characters to visit 3YA, and the compilers of the BBC broadcast have hit on the scheme of leaving out the Prince’s own person and words, and having him merely described by the words of the other characters. I am afraid that this idea was not particularly fortunate; it argues in the listener a familiarity with Hamlet’s character as revealed by his own words and actions, which will allow the listener to make comparison with what Hamlet’s friends and enemies have to say about him. For surely it is the case-and the point-that these last are never very perceptive or valuable. Claudius, Gertrude, and Polonius have no real understanding of even his superficial motives-even Claudius, when he says "For like the hectic n the blood he rages" is feeling Hamlet, not knowing him. Again, Ophelia’s "The courtier’s, scholar’s, soldier’s, eye, tongue, sword" is merely the conventional portrait of the Renaissance nobleman. When all is said and done, Hamlet, more almost than any other tragic hero, exists not in his relations with other characters, but in his relations with the audience, set up by dramatic poetry that comes perilously near to losing the name of action,
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19461025.2.44.2
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 383, 25 October 1946, Page 22
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224The Observed of All Observers New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 383, 25 October 1946, Page 22
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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