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I know of nothing in all Drama more incomparable from the point of view of Art, or more suggestive in its subtlety of observation, than Shakespeare’s drawing of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. They are Hamlet’s college friends. They have been his companions. They bring with them memories of pleasant days together. At the moment when they come across him in the play he is staggering under the weight of a burden intolerable to one of his temperament. The dead have come armed out of the grave to impose on him a mission at once too great and too mean for him. He is a dreamer, and he is called upon to act. He has the nature of the poet and he is asked to grapple with the common complexities of cause and effect, with life in its practical realisation, of which he knows nothing, not with life in its ideal essence, of which he knows much[158a]. He has no conception of what to do, and his folly is to feign folly[158b]. Brutus used madness as a cloak to conceal the sword of his purpose, the dagger of his will,[158.1] but to Hamlet madness is a mere mask for the hiding of weakness. In the making of mows and jests[158c] he sees a chance of delay. He keeps playing with action, as an artist plays with a theory. He makes himself the spy of his proper actions, and listening to his own words knows them to be but “words, words, words.” Instead of trying to be the hero of his own history, he seeks to be the spectator of his own tragedy. He disbelieves in everything, including himself, and yet his doubt helps him not, as it comes not from scepticism but from a divided will[158d].
纵览古今戏剧，我不知道还有什么能像莎士比亚对罗森克兰兹和纪尔顿斯丹的刻画那样，达到艺术上无与伦比的高度，或者能在观察精妙的暗示上更胜一筹。他们是哈姆雷特在学校时的朋友，少年的同伴。他们带来的是对往日相处的好时光的回忆。在剧中他们遇到哈姆雷特时，他正脚步踉跄的，肩负着一个令他那种气质的人苦不堪言的重任。死去的人全副披挂的从坟墓里出来，强加给他一个对他来说太伟大又太渺小的使命。他长于幻想，却要他去行动。他有诗人的天性，却要他费尽心思解开俗人们前因后果的纠缠，面对的是生活的现实功利，对此他一无所知，而不是生活的理想本质，对此他又知道多多[158a]。该怎么办他毫无主意，而他傻就傻在装疯卖傻[158b]。刺杀恺撒的布鲁图借疯癫为外衣，遮掩他毅力的尖刀、意志的利剑，但是对哈姆雷特来说，疯癫不过是一副掩饰软弱的面具。通过扮鬼脸说怪话[158c]他借机拖延。 他同行动周旋，就像艺术家同理论周旋。他让自己侦探监视自己应该采取的行动，听着自己的话知道这些不过是“空话、空话、空话”而已。他非但不努力成为自己历史的英雄，反而尽力要成为自己悲剧的观众。他对什么都不相信，包括他自己，而他的疑虑又帮不了忙，因为这不是出自质疑的态度，而是由于意志上的进退失据[158d]。
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