Mr. Copeland talked last evening before a large audience in Sever 11, on "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark," as a play. In brief Mr. Copeland's talk was as follows:

Hamlet is the most popular of all of Shakespeare's plays, and managers are always sure of filling their theatres when they offer it for presentation. This is not wonderful, for the work is a melodrama pure and simple. It is a "tragedy of blood," and is a play in which action is the predominant feature. The plots and conspiracies; the play within a play; Hamlet's journey to England and return; the madness of Orphelia; all are full of action, and form a potent attraction for the popular mind. Throughout the play there is a bleak, cold humor, which never fails to amuse an audience. Hamlet himself is thoughtful and philosophic. With his friends he is pathetic, with his enemies bitterly humorous, and eloquent. He is an idealist in the strict sense of the word, a dilitante, and utterly unfit for the terrible task imposed upon him.

It is not the melodramatic side of the play that appeals the most to lovers of Shakespeare. It is to them a work of genius, upon which famous illustrators have for hundreds of years been engaged, and which generations of great actors have interpreted. It is to be ranked with but three other works of Shakespeare: Othello, Macbeth and King Lear. When considering these plays in relation to Hamlet, one point of contrast immediately presents itself. In Hamlet it is not the hero of the play who acts and keeps you in suspense. He is the one unhappy soul hurried along by the fates and he only acts when he must. In each of the other three plays the hero is the chief actor and is a man of clear and vigorous thought.

The question concerning what Shakespeare intented to teach by his play, and whether the madness of Hamlet was real or feigned, have formed the themes of countless discussions. It is probable that Shakespeare never contemplated teaching any lesson. He was much too great an artist for that. It is certain that, whatever may be the result of these discussions, it will never be known what Shakespeare thought about the madness of Hamlet. The mystery in the play is its chief attraction. It would have been easy for Shakespeare to make a puzzle in the first four acts, and to solve this puzzle in the fifth act. If he did not wish to do this, why should we? The work is Shakespeare's most conspicuous confronting of the mysteries beyond this life.

The play of Hamlet is unceasingly attractive in its human and dramatic power. Throughout the tragedy there is an artful blending of realism with high poetic skill. The drawing of the characters is definite, keen, and very impressive.

A striking fact about the character of Hamlet, as contrasted with most of Shakespeare's heroes is his reality, - his almost corporeal presence. He is as real to us as the people about us in our daily life, perhaps more real than many of them. We feel with absolute certainty that Hamlet lived, and that he died. There is perhaps no other character in Shakespeare, with the exception of Sir John Falstaff, whom we can not picture as being even now alive. But the death of Hamlet we feel as we do that of a friend.

On Tuesday, March 19, Mr. Copeland will speak again in Sever 11, on Hamlet as seen on the stage.