An essay upon the ghost-belief of Shakespeare / by Alfred Roffe.

  • Roffe, Alfred, 1803-1871.
Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay upon the ghost-belief of Shakespeare / by Alfred Roffe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    believe, must have observed how common it is for the latter, when fairly brought to a stand still, to lapse into a dead silence, instead of saying, as a Lover of Truth vi^ould do, what you have alleged is very reasonable, and I will now examine. Thet/ can say no more, nor may you. Accordingly, to the incontrovertible speech of Hippolyta, Theseus makes no reply. It is truly remarkable that to the Skeptical Theseus should have been allotted the skeptical idea concerning the Poet, namely, as being the emhodier of the unreal, and not as the Copyist of what is true. It is exactly in character that the doubting Theseus should thus speak of the Poetic Art, and thence we may he sure that the Poet who wrote the lines for him thought precisely the very reverse. Owing, however, to the general doubt concerning the Supernatural, and the consequent assumption of Shakespeare's disbelief, this point seems never to have been considered, and it may be safely affirmed that ninety-nine out of every hun- dred readers would gi'avely quote the lines upon the Poet, as containing Shakespeare's own idea,* altho' only five lines previously, 27teseMS has placed the Poet iii the same Category with the Lunatic. From the purely dramatic nature of his Works, Shakespeare can never speak in his own person, but he can always act, that is, so frame his Story, that Skepticism shall be shewn to be entirely at fault. * Mr. Macaulay has done so, in his Essay on Milton-