But if it is intended to
assert that Shakspere has so eliminated himself from his writings as to
make it impossible to trace anywhere the tendencies of his own thought
at the time when he was writing, it must be most emphatically denied for
the reasons just stated. Freedom from prejudice must be carefully
dissociated from lack of interest in the motive that underlies the
construction of each play. There is a tone or key-note in each drama
that indicates the author's mental condition at the time when it was
produced; and if several plays, following each other in brisk
succession, all have the same predominant tone, it seems to be past
question that Shakspere is incidentally and indirectly uttering his own
personal thought and experience.
120. If it be granted, then, that it is possible to follow thus the
growth of Shakspere's thought through the medium of his successive
works, there is only one small point to be glanced at before attempting
to trace this growth in the matter of supernaturalism.
The natural history of the evolution of opinion upon matters which, for
want of a more embracing and satisfactory word, we must be content to
call "religious," follows a uniform course in the minds of all men,
except those "duller than the fat weed that roots itself at ease on
Lethe's wharf," who never get beyond the primary stage. This course is
separable into three periods.
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