lo; "we shall now get rid of Wittenberg
and the university, which was always a sorry piece of business. I think
your idea extremely good: for except these two distant objects, Norway
and the fleet, the spectator will not be required to _fancy_ anything:
the rest he will _see_; the rest takes place before him; whereas his
imagination, on the other plan, was hunted over all the world."
"You easily perceive," said Wilhelm, "how I shall contrive to keep the
other parts together. When Hamlet tells Horatio of his uncle's crime,
Horatio counsels him to go to Norway in his company, to secure the
affections of the army, and return in war-like force. Hamlet also is
becoming dangerous to the King and Queen; they find no readier method of
deliverance than to send him in the fleet, with Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern to be spies upon him: and as Laertes in the mean time comes
from France, they determine that this youth, exasperated even to murder,
shall go after him. Unfavorable winds detain the fleet; Hamlet returns:
for his wandering through the church-yard perhaps some lucky motive may
be thought of; his meeting with Laertes in Ophelia's grave is a grand
moment, which we must not part with. After this, the King resolves that
it is better to get quit of Hamlet on the spot: the festival of his
departure, the pretended reconcilement with Laertes, are now solemnized;
on which occasion knightly sports are held, and Laertes fights with
Hamlet. Without the four corpses I cannot end the piece; not one of them
can possibly be left. The right of popular election now again comes in
force, and Hamlet gives his dying voice for Horatio."
"Quick! quick!" said Serlo; "sit down and work the piece; your plan has
my entire approbation; only do not let your zeal for it evaporate." ...
Wilhelm had already been for some time busied with translating Hamlet;
making use, as he labored, of Wieland's spirited performance, by means
of which he had first become acquainted with Shakespeare. What in
Wieland's work had been omitted he replaced; and he had at length
procured himself a complete version, at the very time when Serlo and he
finally agreed about the way of treating it. He now began, according to
his plan, to cut out and insert, to separate and unite, to alter and
often to restore; for satisfied as he was with his own conception, it
still appeared to him as if in executing it he were but spoiling the
original.
So soon as all was finished, he read
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