. Shakespeare on the stage. edly formal manner. Kemble, when makingHamlets exit, following the receding phantom,allowed his right arm to droop, so that the sword, heldby the right hand, was trailed behind him. Thestage usage had been to present the point of the swordtoward the spectre. Booth reversed the sword, so asto present the hilt, which, being in the shape of across, might be supposed protective against a spiritpossibly evil, which had assumed a pleasing shape,and, as far as I can ascertain, he was the first todo so. The business certainly was original withhim. The main structure of Boot
. Shakespeare on the stage. edly formal manner. Kemble, when makingHamlets exit, following the receding phantom,allowed his right arm to droop, so that the sword, heldby the right hand, was trailed behind him. Thestage usage had been to present the point of the swordtoward the spectre. Booth reversed the sword, so asto present the hilt, which, being in the shape of across, might be supposed protective against a spiritpossibly evil, which had assumed a pleasing shape,and, as far as I can ascertain, he was the first todo so. The business certainly was original withhim. The main structure of Booths performance, afterit had been matured, that is from about 1870 till thelast, remained unchanged, but he sought relief from themonotony of repetition by the expedient of varyingdetails of business. Thus, in the Closet Scene, hesometimes caused both the picture of the dead KingHamlet and that of the living King Claudius to behung upon a wall of the room; at other times, thepicture of King Claudius was pendent on the breast. From a photograph hij Saruiuj EDWIN BOOTH AS HAMLET HAMLET 347 of the Queen, while that of King Hamlet hung uponthe wall; at others, and tliis was Ms usual custom,Booth, as Hamlet, wore a medallion picture of hisfather, suspended on a chain worn about his neck,while that of his uncle was either placed upon thewall or worn by the Queen: sometimes no actualpictures were used, both being upon the fourth wall,and left to the imagination of the audience. One of Booths important innovations was intel-ligent treatment of the use of the skulls in theChurchyard Scene. The Grave-digger is making agrave for Ophelia, and as he digs he throws up severalbones and skulls. Booth caused him to pause in hislabor, to look carefully at one of the skulls, to whichhad adhered a fragment of soiled leather,—the tatteredremnant of a fools cap,—to pat it in a kindly, jocoseway, and to lay it aside, and later when he saidThis skull has lain in the earth three and twentyyears, to
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectshakespearewilliam15
