In the second scene of Act First, the king and queen expostulate with Hamlet on his immoderate grief for the death of his father; reminding him that it is a common occurrence, and urging him to “cast his nighted color off.” In the next scene, Laertes, who is about to embark for France, makes a long speech to Ophelia, recommending throughout reserve in her conduct toward Hamlet:

The admirable speech of Polonius to Laertes, which immediately follows, is composed of ponderous maxims, all of the same import; as, for example, “Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice;” “Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment;” “Neither a borrower nor a lender be,” etc., etc. And the scene closes with a speech from Polonius to Ophelia, in which he cautions her respecting Hamlet, telling her to be “somewhat scanter of her maiden presence,” etc.

In the next scene (the fourth) occurs Hamlet’s speech to Horatio on drunkenness, which, it will be observed, in conformity with the theme, turns entirely upon the imprudence of the practice. In the fifth scene of the same act, Hamlet, after his interview with the Ghost, baffles the curiosity of Horatio and Marcellus. Not content with keeping his own secret, and swearing them not to reveal what they had seen, he makes them further promise that if he should see fit “to put an antick disposition on,” they never will, “with arms encumbered thus, or this head-shake, or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase, as Well, well, we know; or, we could, and if we would; or, if we list to speak, or such ambiguous giving out,” intimate that they “knew aught of him.” In the same scene the Ghost says: “I could a tale unfold,” etc. “But that I am forbid to tell the secrets of my prison-house.”

In the first scene of the third act, Hamlet’s rude speeches to Ophelia, “Get thee to a nunnery,” etc., are mainly on the same subject; and the next following scene contains the celebrated advice to the players, every word of which inculcates reserve or moderation; it teaches the same lesson as the speeches of Polonius and Laertes, above referred to, though it is applicable to very different circumstances. Hamlet’s speech to Horatio, immediately after, is to the same purpose:

In the same scene Rosencrantz and Guildenstern endeavor to find out Hamlet’s secret; but he baffles and rebukes them with the beautiful illustration of the flute:

Such are a few of the chief passages in which the lesson of “reserve” is taught directly. The reader will find many others, (maxims, illustrations and allusions,) in every scene; but I pass on to the notice of some instances in which the same lesson is taught indirectly or by contrast. These passages may properly be arranged under several heads.

(1.) Extravagance of conduct and language.

Hamlet is for the most part, calm and self-possessed. But on the occasion of his first interview with the Ghost, in the 4th scene of the first act he is transported (as, indeed, he well might be,) beyond all bounds of moderation: in the words of Horatio:

His speech to Laertes at the grave of Ophelia is a still more remarkable example of extravagance:

Ophelia’s madness is caused by the extravagance of her love; and it is worthy of remark that she is finally drowned in consequence of venturing too far on the “pendent boughs” of a willow which grew “ascaunt the brook.”

In the last scene Hamlet and Laertes, whilst playing with rapiers, become “incensed,” and thus the final catastrophe is produced.

In the last scene of the second act Hamlet meets the players and makes them recite Eneas’ tale to Dido. The only justification of this long and otherwise tedious passage, will be found in its close connection with the theme; for it is an admirable specimen of bombast.

How different this from Shakspeare’s own style! We shall presently see that the speeches of the Player King and Player Queen are direct illustrations of another aspect of the theme; indeed every thing connected with this “play within the play,” is directly to the main purpose.

In the latter part of the first scene of act second Ophelia relates to her father the wild conduct and appearance of Hamlet, and Polonius attributes it to the extravagance of his love:

and descants on the “violent property” of that passion. Laertes, as we have seen, could speak well in favor of reserve, but he seldom practiced it. His conduct is generally violent, and his speech ranting; as in his riotous appearance before the king in act fourth, scene fifth, and in his contest with Hamlet at the grave of Ophelia.

(2.) Espionage.

This method of ferreting out secrets is extensively practiced throughout the play.

In the first scene of act second, Polonius instructs Reynaldo (who is going to Paris), where Laertes then was, to “make inquiry of his (Laertes’) behaviour;” to find out his associates, and by pretending to know his vices—by “putting forgeries upon him,”—draw from them an account of his way of life:

In the next scene the king and queen employ Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as spies upon Hamlet; and, to ascertain whether he loves Ophelia, the king and Polonius agree to hide behind the arras, whilst the latter, as he expresses it, “looses his daughter to him” in the lobby. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern make several attempts to sound Hamlet, but, as they report to the king and queen—act third scene first—he “with a crafty madness keeps aloof.” In act third, scene fourth, Polonius again plays the eaves-dropper in order to overhear the conversation between Hamlet and his mother, and Hamlet, hearing him, and supposing him to be the king, makes a pass through the arras and kills him.

(3.) Inquisitiveness.

Inquisitiveness is a very prevalent feature of the play. There are the challenging of sentiments—ghost-seeing—the sending and receiving of messages—soliloquies—(a species of self-examination,)—and the conversation is to an unusual extent made up of questions and answers. To this head may also be referred, (at any rate the reader will at once recognize their relation to the central idea,) the riddles of the old grave-digger in the church-yard scene, (act fifth, scene first,) and his witty evasions of Hamlet’s questions. Also Hamlet’s refined speculations, in which, as Horatio says, he “considers the matter too curiously;” as, when he shows in act fourth, scene third, how a “worm may go a progress through the guts of a beggar;” and “traces the noble dust of Alexander till he finds it stopping a bung-hole,” in act fifth, scene first; and in his reflections on the lawyer’s skull, and on that of “poor Yorick.”

(4.) Flattery.

In act third, scene third, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern vie with each other in flattering the king. In act fourth, scene seventh, the king flatters Laertes respecting his skill in fencing. Osric plays the flatterer when he agrees with Hamlet first that it is very hot, then cold, then hot again; and Polonius, when he sees the cloud in the shape of a camel first, then of a weasel, and then of a whale, according as Hamlet directs. In act second, scene second, Hamlet says to Rosencrantz: “My uncle is king of Denmark; and those that would make mouths at him while my father lived, give twenty, forty, fifty, an hundred ducats a-piece for his picture in little.” And in act third, scene second, he teaches the use of flattery: