He may be said to be amenable only to
the tribunal of his own thoughts, and is too much taken up with the
airy world of contemplation to lay as much stress as he ought on the
practical consequences of things. His habitual principles of action
are unhinged and out of joint with the time. His conduct to Ophelia
is quite natural in his circumstances. It is that of assumed
severity only. It is the effect of disappointed hope, of bitter
regrets, of affection suspended, not obliterated, by the
distractions of the scene around him! Amidst the natural and
preternatural horrors of his situation, he might be excused in
delicacy from carrying on a regular courtship. When 'his father's
spirit was in arms', it was not a time for the son to make love in.
He could neither marry Ophelia, nor wound her mind by explaining the
cause of his alienation, which he durst hardly trust himself to
think of. It would have taken him years to have come to a direct
explanation on the point. In the harassed state of his mind, he
could not have done otherwise than he did. His conduct does not
contradict what he says when he sees her funeral:
I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers
Could not with all their quantity of love
Make up my sum.
Nothing can be more affecting or beautiful than the Queen's
apostrophe to Ophelia on throwing flowers into the grave:
--Sweets to the sweet, farewell.
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