“(an epistle to the reader) should be like the Never-too-well read Arcadia, where the Prose and verce (Matters and Words) are like his Mistresses eyes, one still excelling another and without Co-rivall: or to come home to the vulgars Element, like Friendly Shakespeare’s Tragedies, where the Commedian rides, when the Tragedian stands on tip-toe: Faith it should please all, like Prince Hamlet. But in sadnesse, then it were to be feared he would runne made Insooth I will not be moonesicke, to please: nor out of my wits though I displeased all ” (Preface, “Diaphantus; or, the Passions of Love” 1604)
The play _Hamlet_ appears during the period of the 'war of the theatres', and the classically-inspired concept of the learned 'theatre of one' also appears in conjunction with another play of the Poetomachia, Ben Jonson's _Poetaster_, in a bellicose statement from the author himself.
Hamlet:
let your own DISCRETION be your
tutor. Suit the action to the word, the word to the action; with
this special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of
nature: for anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing,
whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as 1900
'twere, the mirror up to nature; to show Virtue her own feature,
scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his
form and pressure. Now this overdone, or come tardy off, though
it make the unskilful laugh, cannot but make the JUDICIOUS
grieve; the CENSURE of the which one must in your allowance 1905
O'ERWEIGH A WHOLE THEATRE OF OTHERS. (Act III, Scene 2)
At the height of the Poetomachia, the same tribute to discretion and artistic restraint appears in Jonson's address to the Reader in his 'comical satyr' _Poetaster_, as the Author (Jonson) swears off Comedy and the 'reeling claps' of the multitude:
From Poetaster
T O T H E R E A D E R.
IF, by looking on what is past, thou hast deserv'd that Name, I am willing thou should'st yet know more, by that which follows, an Apologetical Dialogue; which was only once spoken upon the Stage, and all the Answer I ever gave to sundry impotent Libels then cast out (and some yet remaining) against me, and this Play. Wherein I take no pleasure to revive the Times; but that Posterity may make a difference between their MANNERS that provok'd me then, and mine that neglected them ever. For, in these Strifes, and on such Persons, were as wretched to affect a Victory, as it is unhappy to be committed with them. Non annorum canities est laudanda, sed morum.
(note-Non annorum canities est laudanda, sed morum. Nullus pudor est ad meliora transire 1 ; "Not the ancienty of years, but of MANNERS, is commendable. No shame it is to pass to better.")
...But, that these base and beggerly conceits
Should carry it, by the multitude of Voices,
Against the most abstracted work, oppos'd
To the stuff'd Nostrils of the drunken rout!
O, this would make a learn'd and liberal Soul,
To rive his stained Quill, up to the Back,
And damn his long-watch'd Labours to the Fire;
Things, that were born, when none but the still Night,
And his dumb Candle, saw his pinching throes:
Were not his own free merit a more Crown
Unto his Travels, than their reeling Claps?
This 'tis, that strikes me silent, seals my Lips,
And apts me rather to sleep out my time,
Than I would waste it in contemned strifes,
With these vile Ibides, these unclean Birds,
That make their Mouths their Clysters, and still purge
From their hot entrails. But, I leave the Monsters
To their own fate. And, since the Comick Muse
Hath prov'd so ominous to me, I will try
If Tragœdie have a more kind aspect;
Her favours in my next I will pursue,
Where, if I prove the pleasure but of one,
So he JUDICIOUS be; He shall B'ALONE
A THEATER UNTO ME:
In _Jonsonus Virbius_ a poem signed L.Cl. praises the singular judgement of the dead Jonson:
"Who first reform'd our Stage with Justest Lawes,
And was the first best Judge in your owne Cause?
Who (when his Actors trembled for Applause)
Could (with a noble Confidence) preferre
His owne, by right, to a whole Theater;
From Principles which he knew could not erre...
Jonson's 1616 Folio and his play _The Alchemist_ bore an epigraph adapted from Horace:
"Neque, me ut miretur turba, laboro: / Contentus paucis lectoribus"
- " I do not expend my efforts so that the multitude may
wonder at me: I am contented with a few readers"
******************************
Author: Holland, AbrahamTitle: Naumachia, or Hollands
sea-fight Date: 1622
A Caveat to his Muse
Well Minion you'le be gadding forth then? Goe,
Goe, hast unto thy speedy overthrow:
And since thou wilt not take my warning: Hence,
Learne thy owne ruine by experience.
Alas poore Maid (if so I her may call
Who itches to be prostitute to all
Adulterate censures) were it not for thee
Better, to live in sweet securitie
In my small cell, than flying rashly out,
Be whoop't, and hiss't, and gaz'd at all about
Like a day-owle: Faith Misris you'le be put
One of these daies to serve some driveling slut,
To wrap her sope in, or a least be droven
To keepe a Pie from scorching in the Oven:
Or else expos'd a laughing stock to sots,
To cloke Tobacco, or stop Mustard pots,
Thou wilt be grac't if so thou canst but win
To infold Frankincense or Mackrills in,
You deem it a matter of high worth
To have a fame among 'em: New come forth:
And thinke your chiefe felicity is marr'd
If you be not perch't up in Paules Church-yard
Where men a farre may know you in a trice,
By some new-fangled, brasse-cut Frontispice.
Such book's indeed as now-dayes can passé
Had need to have their faces made of brasse.
A Caveat to his Muse
Well Minion you'le be gadding forth then? Goe,
Goe, hast unto thy speedy overthrow:
And since thou wilt not take my warning: Hence,
Learne thy owne ruine by experience.
Alas poore Maid (if so I her may call
Who itches to be prostitute to all
Adulterate censures) were it not for thee
Better, to live in sweet securitie
In my small cell, than flying rashly out,
Be whoop't, and hiss't, and gaz'd at all about
Like a day-owle: Faith Misris you'le be put
One of these daies to serve some driveling slut,
To wrap her sope in, or a least be droven
To keepe a Pie from scorching in the Oven:
Or else expos'd a laughing stock to sots,
To cloke Tobacco, or stop Mustard pots,
Thou wilt be grac't if so thou canst but win
To infold Frankincense or Mackrills in,
You deem it a matter of high worth
To have a fame among 'em: New come forth:
And thinke your chiefe felicity is marr'd
If you be not perch't up in Paules Church-yard
Where men a farre may know you in a trice,
By some new-fangled, brasse-cut Frontispice.
Such book's indeed as now-dayes can passé
Had need to have their faces made of brasse.
Is it not then sufficient for you
To stay at home among the residue
Of better sisters: where my dearest Will, (my note - Will Browne?)
And other friends would praise and love thee still:
Him and my other harts-halfes I account
Intire assemblies, and thinke they surmount
A Globe of addle Gallants: I averre
One judging Plato worth a Theater.
To stay at home among the residue
Of better sisters: where my dearest Will, (my note - Will Browne?)
And other friends would praise and love thee still:
Him and my other harts-halfes I account
Intire assemblies, and thinke they surmount
A Globe of addle Gallants: I averre
One judging Plato worth a Theater.
***********************************
Despite Hamlet's insistence that he 'know(s) not seems', most people in the play believe that Hamlet is mad, and have no reason to believe that he may be other than he seems. Those who witnessed the appearance of the ghost have been sworn to secrecy, and only Hamlet and Horatio know of the Ghost's claim that Claudius is a murderer. Without intelligence of these critical matters, the other characters in the play believe that Denmark is a functioning, legitimate monarchy; Claudius is recognized by the court as their rightful king; and all are grieved by the sudden appearance of madness in the Prince, who is King Claudius' chosen heir. Their subsequent behaviours are governed by their understandings of the social realities of Denmark.
Hamlet's hyperbolic and elitist conception of the 'judicious theatre of one' is no mere statement of dramatic theory - throughout the play, and particularly during the staging of the "Mousetrap", Hamlet deliberately plays to his 'theatre of one', Horatio. No other members of the court are permitted to learn of Claudius's potential guilt, or are made aware that the play is the means by which Hamlet will test the veracity of the ghost's story. The result is that Hamlet, the playwright, has an audience of precisely one.
Hamlet to Horatio:
There is a play to-night before the King.
One scene of it comes near the circumstance,
Which I have told thee, of my father's death.
I prithee, when thou seest that act afoot,
Even with the very comment of thy soul
Observe my uncle. If his occulted guilt
Do not itself unkennel in one speech,
It is a damned ghost that we have seen,
And my imaginations are as foul
As Vulcan's stithy. Give him heedful note;
For I mine eyes will rivet to his face,
And after we will BOTH OUR JUDGMENTS JOIN
In CENSURE of his *seeming*. (III,ii)
**********************************
Yet the play that is directed to a knowing audience of one is staged within full view of a multitude that have been kept unknowing. Hamlet's contempt for the injudicious opinions of others leads him to disregard their perceptions, and his tendency to equate courtesy with outward show causes him to violate the 'spirit' of courteous behaviour. Intent on wresting the 'truth' from the action he is oblivious to the effect his bizarre behaviour is having on the court, and to the resulting corruption of language and destabilization of Danish society. Whether or not the Prince is genuinely mad becomes increasingly insignificant, as events in Denmark proceed as if Hamlet is as mad as he seems.
As fellow students at Wittenberg, Hamlet and Horatio's 'judgements' have been formed upon similar lines; the habits of their minds are congenial to each other. Yet in the world beyond the university, Hamlet's neglect of the sensibilities of others and his inability to empathize with different viewpoints - ironically, his incivility - has tragic ramifications for Danish society. Hamlet's uncourteous and abusive treatment of the virtuous Ophelia is observed by a court that also witnesses him narrating a play in a manic mood, dramatically calling attention to the fact that it is a 'nephew' who murders a king for his 'estate'.
Since Hamlet has kept the ghost's appearance and Claudius's guilt a sworn secret, there appears to be only one way the assembly (the whole theatre of others) can interpret Hamlet's 'mad' actions - that he is threatening the life of his uncle, the king. This includes Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who unaware of any possibility of murder have been called to the court by Hamlet's mother and stepfather to find out the source of his distemper. They have begged Hamlet to confide in them but he has deceived them and maintained his facade of madness in his apparent belief that they are informers and flatterers rather than loyal subjects. There is every reason to believe that they are genuinely distressed about Hamlet's mental state and that Hamlet's 'judgement' of their motivations is unfounded and clouded by his belief that Denmark is 'out of joint'. If anything, it is Hamlet's own reckless behaviour and conversation that confirms their judgement that he is genuinely mad. After the 'Mousetrap', he informs Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that the source of his discontent is the fact that he 'lacks advancement' - that he is ambitious! Just as Lucianus was ambitious, poisoning Gonzago 'for his estate'.
Hamlet grows careless about what he says to others, but he is unconcerned with potential consequences. Preoccupied with his own inability to act, he seems forgetful of the possibility of action in others. Hamlet's 'judicious' audience, Horatio, may understand his motivations - but it is not possible that any other character can. Hamlet's secrecy ensures that everyone remains ignorant of Hamlet's 'truth'. As a group, they form their own conclusions; their own truth. This critical disjunction is confirmed when Hamlet kills King Claudius and the court cries out 'Treason'. Hamlet's private search for truth and his exclusive theater have deadly results, for Hamlet and for others. As Laertes stated, because of his exalted social position Hamlet is not free to 'carve' for himself:
"He may not, as unvalued persons do, /
Carve for himself, for on his choice depends/ The safety and health of
this whole state, / And therefore must his choice be circumscrib'd / Unto
the voice and yielding of that body / Whereof he is the head" (I. iii. 19-24).
Danish society has observed that Hamlet is mad and has threatened the life of their rightful king. Hamlet suspects this when after killing Claudius he orders Horatio to stay alive to tell his story - he has heard the cry of 'treason'. Hamlet's only audience member remains as his only witness.
Social virtues and customs are disregarded in _Hamlet_ with disastrous consequence for the 'safety and health of (the) whole state'. The concept of the 'theatre of one' is hostile to the interests of human society in general, and is a particularly dangerous conception in a Prince. Truth, like honour, must rely on more than a single judgement.
Courteous Laertes, his manners informed by gentle France rather than harsh Wittenberg, provides a model for behaviour that assists in preserving the peace and health of a community - a morality based on experience, custom and consensus rather than severe idealism.
LAERTES:
I am satisfied in nature,
Whose motive in this case should stir me most
To my revenge. But in my terms of honour
I stand aloof, and will no reconcilement
Till by some elder masters of known honour
I have a voice and precedent of peace
To keep my name ungor'd. But till that time
I do receive your offer'd love like love,
And will not wrong it. (Act V, Sc. II)
Laertes will defer to the 'judgements' of older, wiser and more experienced men. His conception of 'honour' is not private or self-determined, but is an 'outward', public virtue.
*********************************
Not forgotten:
Jonson, Cynthia's Revels
Hold your peace, you are a hobby-horse (Anaides to Amorphus)
