Produced by David Starner, Curtis Weyant and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
Transcriber's Note: This is a heavily edited version of _Hamlet_. It was used for Charles Kean's 1859 stage production. Phrases printed in italics in the book are indicated in this electronic version by _ (underscore). Footnotes originally appeared at the bottom of each page. For this electronic version the footnotes are collected at the end of each act. In Act I, Scene 5, the word Uumix'd has been changed to Unmix'd. A closing bracket ] was added to Act IV footnote 37 after _Naked on your kingdom_,. A closing bracket ] was added to Act IV footnote 50 after _Venom'd stuck_,. The word o'er-crows appears in Act V, Scene 3; in footnote V.81, o'ercrows appears without a hyphen. Both are as they appear in the book.
ARRANGED FOR REPRESENTATION AT THE Royal Princess's Theatre
AS PERFORMED ON MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 1859.
BRADBURY AND EVANS, 11, BOUVERIE STREET. 1859.
LONDON: BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.
HAMLET (_son to the former and_ _nephew to the present King_). Mr. CHARLES KEAN.
POLONIUS (_Lord Chamberlain_) Mr. MEADOWS.
LAERTES (_son To Polonius_) Mr. J. F. CATHCART.
ROSENCRANTZ } { Mr. BRAZIER. GUILDENSTERN } (_Courtiers_) { Mr. G. EVERETT. OSRICK } { Mr. DAVID FISHER.
GHOST OF HAMLET'S FATHER Mr. WALTER LACY.
GERTRUDE (_Queen of Denmark, and_ _mother of Hamlet_) Mrs. CHARLES KEAN.
OPHELIA (_daughter of Polonius_) Miss HEATH.
R. H. means Right Hand; L. H. Left Hand; U. E. Upper Entrance; R. H. C. Enters through the Centre from the Right Hand; L. H. C. Enters through the Centre from the Left Hand.
RELATIVE POSITIONS OF THE PERFORMERS WHEN ON THE STAGE.
R. means on the Right side of the Stage; L. on the Left side of the Stage; C. Centre of the Stage; R. C. Right Centre of the Stage; L. C. Left Centre of the Stage.
The reader is supposed _to be on the Stage_, facing the audience.
The play of _Hamlet_ is above all others the most stupendous monument of Shakespeare's genius, standing as a beacon to command the wonder and admiration of the world, and as a memorial to future generations, that the mind of its author was moved by little less than inspiration. _Lear_, with its sublime picture of human misery;--_Othello_, with its harrowing overthrow of a nature great and amiable;--_Macbeth_, with its fearful murder of a monarch, whose "virtues plead like angels trumpet-tongued against the deep damnation of his taking off,"--severally exhibit, in the most pre-eminent degree, all those mighty elements which constitute the perfection of tragic art--the grand, the pitiful, and the terrible. _Hamlet_ is a history of mind--a tragedy of thought. It contains the deepest philosophy, and most profound wisdom; yet speaks the language of the heart, touching the secret spring of every sense and feeling. Here we have no ideal exaltation of character, but life with its blended faults and virtues,--a gentle nature unstrung by passing events, and thus rendered "out of tune and harsh."