Letter from John Quincy Adams, Washington, D.C. to actor James H. Hackett. [manuscript], 1839 February 19

Washington, D.C., 1839 February 19.

1 item ; 254 x 208 mm

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272752 MS

From dealer's description: ""The most exquisitely drawn tragical character in the whole compass of the drama" John Quincy Adams Discusses His Idolization of Shakespeare and Analyzes the Character of Hamlet John Quincy Adams Autograph Letter Signed. Four pages on a bifolium, 10 x 8 inches (254 x 208 mm). Washington, February 19, 1839. Addressed to the Shakespearean actor James H. Hackett. A fascinating insight into a Founding Father's values and creative outlook through Shakespeare's Hamlet. Shakespeare's plays and the values and perspectives found therein have been part of America's story from its very beginning, second only to the Bible in its impact. Indeed, many of the Founding Fathers, including George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson, frequently referenced and quoted Shakespeare in their correspondence. John Adams and Abigail Adams were no different, often quoting Shakespeare in their letters to each other, and they brought up their son in the same intellectual and literary vein. Though it is unclear at what age John Quincy Adams saw his first Shakespeare play, he had already read many of the immortal bard's works by the time he was ten, reporting to his father in a letter dated October 1774, "I read my Books to Mamma." Hamlet was always a particular favorite of his. Adams notes in his diary that he saw the play at least seven times from 1790-1822, and read Hamlet aloud no less than five times during the same period. Desiring to inculcate his children with the same love for the "glories of the immortal Bard," Adams and his wife, Louisa Catherine, took their sons, George and John, to see Hamlet, their first play, in April 1809. Later that same year, the family took a tour of the Baltic that included a stop at Kronborg Castle - better known as Shakespeare's Elsinore. John Quincy Adams writes here to the actor James Henry Hackett, espousing and elaborating on the merits of Shakespeare and presenting a full analysis of the character and nature of Hamlet. Though initially unsuccessful, Hackett soon achieved a reputation for performing in the works of Shakespeare, particularly as the eccentric Falstaff, traveling back and forth between the United States and Britain with some frequency. It was during this time that he came into contact with Adams, and the two exchanged several letters on the subject of Shakespeare and Hamlet. Hackett would later compile much of the material, including Adams's own commentary and analysis, into his Notes and Comments on Certain Plays and Actors of Shakespeare (1864). Adams writes, in part: "I return herewith your Tragedy of Hamlet, with many thanks for the perusal of your manuscript notes, which indicate how thoroughly you have delved into the bottomless mine of Shakespeare's genius... I look upon the Tragedy of Hamlet as the Maser-Piece of the Drama - The Master-Piece of Shakespeare - I had almost said the Master-Piece of the Human Mind... "What is tragedy? It is an imitative representation of human action and passion, to purify the heart of the spectator through the instrumentality of terror and pity. This, in substance, is the definition of Aristotle; and Pope's most beautiful lines, in the prologue to Cato, are but an expansion of the same idea. "Hamlet is the personification of man in the prime of life, with a mind cultivated by the learning acquirable at a university, combining intelligence and sensibility in their highest degrees, within a step of the highest station attainable upon earth, crushed to extinction by the pressure of calamities inflicted, not by nature, but against nature; not by physical, but by moral evil. Hamlet is the heart and soul of man, in agonizing conflict with human crime in its highest pre-eminence of guilt. Hamlet is all heart and all soul. His ruling passions are filial affection, youthful love, manly ambition. His commanding principles are filial duty, generous friendship, love disappointed and subdued, ambition and life sacrificed to avenge his father... "The reasoning faculty of Hamlet is at once sportive, sorrowfully indignant, and melancholy. His reflections always takes the tinge of the passion under which he is labouring, but his conduct is always governed by the impulse of the moment. Hence his madness, as you have remarked, is sometimes feigned and sometimes real... His real madness is towering passion, transient, momentary, the furor brevis, which was the ancient definition of anger. It overwhelms at once the brightest genius, the soundest reason, and the kindliest heart, that ever was exhibited in combination upon the stage. It is man, in the ideal perfection of his intellectual and moral nature, struggling with calamity beyond his power to bear, inflicted by the crime of his fellow-man - struggling with agonizing energies against it - sinking under it to extinction. What can be more terrific? what can be more piteous?" Here can be seen not only the exceptional intellectual prowess of a Founding Father, but an analysis of Hamlet heavily situated in and influenced by the American Enlightenment, the tension between passion and reason so characteristic of the age, and the values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that are written into the founding documents of the United States. An extraordinary letter, well-suited for any student of theatre, literature, Enlightenment philosophy, or American history. This lot is accompanied by a Letter of Authenticity from PSA/DNA Authentication Services. Condition: Once separated along period folds, now repaired with tape, somewhat affecting a single line of text, pencil notation at bottom of final page, lightly toned, minor text block edgewear. Very good. Provenance: Property of A Distinguished American Collector From The Pacific Northwest." Ordered from Justin G. Schiller, D9685, 2023-09-28, purchased at Heritage Auctions, 2023 July 8 Historical Platinum Signature® Auction #6275, Lot #42002

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