It is
not, however, very wonderful that Hamlet, who was but a part of
Shakspere, should exhibit to us more than the whole of Montaigne,
and the external facts appear to contradict any notion of a French
ancestry for the Dane, as the play is said to have been produced
in 1600, and the translation of the English not for three years later.'
During our long search through the Commentaries written on
_Hamlet_, we also met with the following treatise: 'HAMLET;
_ein Tendenzdrama Sheakspeare's_ (sic!!) _gegen die skeptische
und kosmopolitische Weltanschauung des Michael de Montaigne, von G.
F. Stedefeld, Kreisgerichtsrath_. Berlin, 1871.'
The author of the latter-mentioned little book holds it to be
probable that Shakspere wrote his _Hamlet_ for the object
of freeing himself from the impressions of the famous French sceptic.
He regards this masterwork as 'the Drama of the Doubter;' as 'the
apotheosis of a practical Christianity.' Hamlet, he says, is wanting
in Christian piety. He has no faith, no love, no hope. His last words,
'The rest is silence,' show that he has no expectation of a future
life. He must perish because he has given up the belief in
a divine government of the world and in a moral order of things.
We believe we have read the Essays of Michel Montaigne with
great attention.
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