Quincy High School - Goldenrod Yearbook (Quincy, MA)

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THE GOLDEN - ROD. CHARLES H. BROOKS, JVancoc c 77 ar cet. Groceries and Provisions. Workman’s Cash Market BREWERS CORNER. Cor. HANCOCK and SAVILLI: streets. C. H. BROOKS, Proprietor. ■. TIU ... School - Greenleaf An Attractive, Home- - Shoes like Hotel, J v Jt QUINCY, MASS. MRS. W. ROLLINS ABRAMS, Granite Shoe Store, Lessee. QUINCY. CALL ® is a mental whistle used by the boatswain and his mate on shipboard. We have never been to sea and cannot say that we are familiar with this kind of CALL. But we take this opportunity to CALL everybody of Quincy and vicinity to Adams Building, where all kinds of Photographic work is produced in the best manner. Class work done at Boston prices. F. A.. SKINNER, PHOTOGRAPHER. Charles C. Hearn, PHARMACIST + 1295 Hancock Street, - - QUINCY -THE WAMPATUCK CAEE MRS. E. M. JEVETT. 4 Washington Street, City Square. Quincy. EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN PLANS. ICE CREAM PARLORS. FIRST. CLASS CATERERS.

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THE (iOLDKX-ROI). THE RELATIONS OF HAMLET AND OPHELIA. To appreciate the play of “ Hamlet,” and to understand it correctly, it should he studied from the text, as Shakespeare wrote it, and not from the modern actor’s rendering, since, for stage production, many scenes are necessarily cut, until the version is almost a distorted one. With the Folios for a basis of our interpretation, we cannot hesitate to believe that Hamlet sincerely loved Ophelia, and that throughout the play all his actions result not from anger, but from affection for her. Until the dreadful night with the ghost, he had hoped that she would become his wife, and this hope had been “ the spur to prick the sides of his ambition.” The spectre’s revelations, however, made this union impossible, since heretofore the high- est praise Hamlet could give Ophelia was to say that she was like his queen-mother. What he learned from the ghost made this likeness fatal. Up to the arrival of his college-mates, Ilosencranz and Guildenstern, Ophelia had been almost his only companion, and in the many interviews they had had, of which we are not told, Hamlet had been able to gain a clear insight into her char- acter. He knows that with him she “loves to tread the prim, rose path of dalliance,” and, moreover, that she is ever obedient, pliant, and susceptible to all influence. These characteristics expose her to danger. Then from the moral training Polonius would give his daughter, a pure minded, high principled char- acter could hardly result. Another reason for Hamlet’s determination to break off all connections with Ophelia is to secure his own peace of mind. He has been shaken in his belief in all woman kind by the knowl- edge of Gertrude’s treachery, and has become convinced that Ophelia is, by nature, no better than his mother, and that a union with her would expose him to the same overwhelming un- happiness that his father had suffered. Perhaps after all a trifle confirmed his decision. Ophelia tells her father, old Polonius, that, at Hamlet’s visit to her room, she was much affrighted. Hamlet may have seen this shrink- ing fear, and attributed it to changing affection, or the inability to meet his questions as frankly as they are put. Yet all our sympathies enwrap Ophelia when we see her scorned by one whom she is unconscious of ever having offended, and we can hardly find an excuse for Hamlet's cruel taunts and repudiations, save the belief that they are wrung from him by the thought that Claudius, Polonius, Gertrude, and Ophelia are leagued together to force him to a marriage that the revelations of the ghost have made impossible. In his “ wild and whirling words ” against Ophelia, Hamlet is nearer his loss of reason than ever before. He is alienated from his nobler self, and we do not wonder that, after he has left her, Ophelia, forgetting that her father and Claudius have overheard the interview, mourns so bitterly over the supposed dethronement of her lover’s reason, and her own consequent un- happiness. Mabie says, in speaking of this scene, “Hamlet has disar- ranged her relations to the universe. His tenderness tries to make her understand that a union with him would not be desir- able, and at the same time, his jealous love seeks to separate her from all other men.” “ Get thee to a nunnery!” he says. This to him does not seem a hard or cruel sentence. He has found the world so harsh and bitter that seclusion from it means to him happiness, and a nunnery, safety and peace. At Ophelia’s grave all other emotions give way to his over- whelming grief and love. Death has raised Ophelia above the reach of all earthly taint, and his affection for her is paramount. It seems almost a desecration to criticise Ophelia. She is so real a creation, and her grief is so heart-rending, that we treat her rather as we would a dear child. We feel about her far more than we can say. After all, was not Hamlet wrong in rejecting Ophelia? Gilchrist seems to answer this when he says, “Hamlet’s fidelity to ideal, which separated him from her, entailed an unnecessary sacrifice for both. Ophelia’s love had loot in the very fibres of her heart. Such a love could have blossomed only once, and would have bloomed for Hamlet alone.” Marjorie Louise Mathews, ’02. BE1TT BUSH Design and Make CLASS CAPS CLASS PINS with embroidered devices. in Gold, Silver and Enamels. AT POPULAR PRICES. 387 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON.

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TIIK GOLDEN -ROD. THE QUINCI DAILH LEDGER And LEDGER READERS API: ALWAYS PLEASED At t7ie Success of the Young Men, and Youixg Ladies in Colleges and Universities. JPlease forward all items of interest promptly. • + Vacation Address. SPECIALTIES: jt Pine Stationery Society Engraving Monk Books Playing Cards 5 W. C. HARTWELL, vv“ Newsdealer SUBSCRIPTIONS SOLICITED FOR ALL PUBLICATIONS. No. t Granite Street, Corner Hancock. SPECIALTIES: J Photographic Supplies Cameras Confectionery Novels Wedding Rings. GOG 10 k, 14 R 16 R SOLID GOLD, ALL SIZES. WEDDING PRESENTS. A GREAT VARIETY. CHOICE RESIGNS. Look for the Big Gold Ring. WIERIAA5 1473 Hancodj Street Qoinc . The University Maine, ORONO, MAINE. A public institution maintained by the State and the United States. Undergraduate courses; Classical, Latin- Scientific ; Scientific; Chemical. Agricultural, Preparatory Medical; Civil, Mechanical, Electrical and Mining Engi- neering ; Pharmacy, four and two-year courses; Short and Special courses in Agriculture. ANNUAL tuition, $so. Total Expenses very low. School of Law, loaned In Bangor, maintains tliree years’ course. Tuition, $ 0 per year; Diploma ree only extra charge. ror Catalogue and Circulars address GEOPGE CHCRY ECLLOWS, President.