第四冊第9篇：哈姆雷特

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The seeming inconsistencies in the conduct and character of Hamlet have long exercised the

conjectural ingenuity of critics; and, as we are always loth to suppose that the cause of defective apprehension is in ourselves, the mystery has been too commonly explained by the very easy process of setting it down as in fact inexplicable, and by resolving the phenomenon into a misgrowth or lusus of the capricious and irregular genius of Shakespeare. The shallow and stupid arrogance of these vulgar and indolent decisions I would fain do my best to expose.

哈姆雷特的行動和性格似乎很不一致。長期以來，這已使文藝評論家絞盡腦汁，加以推測;而由于我們總是不愿設(shè)想，理解上存在缺陷的原因在于我們自身，所以通常都以一種非常簡單的方式來解釋這個奧秘，即把它看成實際上是無法說明的現(xiàn)象，并把這一現(xiàn)象歸之于莎士比亞的變幻莫測和不同尋常的天才的畸形發(fā)展。對于這些卑俗和怠惰導(dǎo)致的結(jié)論所表現(xiàn)出來的淺薄而愚昧的狂妄態(tài)度，我愿盡力予以揭露。

I believe the character of Hamlet may be traced to Shakespeare’s deep and accurate science in mental philosophy. Indeed, that this character must have some connection with the common fundamental laws of our nature may be assumed from the fact, that Hamlet has been the darling of every country in which the literature of England has been fostered. In order to understand him, it is essential that we should reflect on the constitution of our own minds. Man is distinguished from the brute animals in proportion as thought prevails over sense: but in the healthy processes of the mind, a balance is constantly maintained between the impressions from outward objects and the inward operations of the intellect; for if there be an overbalance in the contemplative faculty, man thereby becomes the creature of mere meditation, and loses his natural power of action.

我相信哈姆雷特的性格根植于莎士比亞對心理學(xué)準確而深刻的認識。在每個受過英國文學(xué)熏陶的國家里，哈姆雷特都是人們心愛的人物;從這個事實我們可以設(shè)想：哈姆雷特這個人物和我們性格中的共同基本規(guī)律，一定有某種聯(lián)系。為了理解他，我們必須思考我們自己的心理構(gòu)造。人和野獸的區(qū)別，同思想駕馭感官知覺的程度成正比?？墒?，在正常的思維活動過程中，外界事物所產(chǎn)生的印象和內(nèi)心的智力活動之間經(jīng)常保持平衡;因為，如果思維的機能占了優(yōu)勢，人就會變成思索的中心，而喪失了行動的本能。

Now one of Shakespeare’s modes of creating characters is, to conceive any one intellectual or moral faculty in morbid excess, and then to place himself, Shakespeare, thus mutilated or diseased, under given circumstances. In Hamlet he seems to have wished to exemplify the moral necessity of a due balance between our attention to the objects of our senses, and our meditation on the workings of our minds, -- an equilibrium between the real and the imaginary worlds.

莎士比亞塑造人物的方式之一是：設(shè)想任何一種智能或精神官能處于不健康的過度發(fā)展狀態(tài)，接著就把因此變得帶有心理傷殘或病態(tài)的他自己――莎士比亞――至于特定的環(huán)境之中。他似乎想以哈姆雷特為例，說明對感覺對象的注意和對心理活動的深思研究之間，也就是現(xiàn)實世界和想象世界之間，保持應(yīng)有的平衡在精神上的必要性。

In Hamlet this balance is disturbed: his thoughts, and the images of his fancy are far more vivid than his actual perceptions, and his very perceptions, instantly passing through the medium of his contemplations, acquire, as they pass, a form and a colour not naturally their own. Hence we see a great, an almost enormous, intellectual activity, and a proportionate aversion to real action consequent upon it, with all its symptoms and accompanying qualities.

在哈姆雷特身上，這種平衡被破壞了：他的思想，以及他幻想的形象，比他實際感覺到的東西生動得多;而他所感覺到的那些東西本身，因為要立即通過一種媒介，即他的種種沉思，所以在通過的時候便獲得了一種非其自身天然具有的形狀和色彩。因此，我們見到一種巨大的、甚至是龐大無比的理性活動，我們還見到了隨此理性活動產(chǎn)生，并與之成正比例的，對采取具體行動反感，以及此反感的種種表現(xiàn)和固有特點。

This character Shakespeare places in circumstances, under which it is obliged to act on the spur of the moment: -- Hamlet is brave and careless of death; but he vacillates from sensibility, and procrastinates from thought, and loses the power of action in the energy of resolve. Thus it is that this tragedy presents a direct contrast to that of "Macbeth;" the one proceeds with the utmost slowness, the other with a crowded and breathless rapidity.

莎士比亞將這個人物置于特定的使他不能不在一時的沖動下行動的環(huán)境之中：哈姆雷特是勇敢的，他把生死置于度外，可是他由于過分敏感而動搖，由于思慮太多而拖延，由于致力于下決心而失掉了行動的力量。這就是這個悲劇和麥克佩斯的悲劇形成截然相反對照的緣故：前者的發(fā)展過程極其緩慢，而后者則頭緒紛繁，并且是以令人透不過氣的速度展開的。