Final answer:
Authors have diverse beliefs about Hamlet's character, ranging from seventeenth and eighteenth-century critics focusing on dramatic art to modern interpretations of psychological complexity, original practices, and Catholic symbolism. Eliot and Bloom contribute additional perspectives on Hamlet's madness and the authenticity of the ghost.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question asked pertains to the original beliefs about the character Hamlet as understood by the authors who have critiqued the play over time. Looking at the work of both Mr. J. M. Robertson and Professor Stoll, we can see that there is an appreciation for the interpretations from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries which, while less informed on psychology, felt closer to Shakespeare's artistic motives by focusing on the overall dramatic art rather than strictly on Hamlet's character. The Atlanta Shakespeare company emphasizes understanding Shakespeare's original practices, suggesting that contextual factors such as Elizabethan and Jacobean influences, as well as staging practices, play a significant role in interpreting the play.
Harold Bloom's interpretation asserts that Hamlet's ghost is indeed King Hamlet's spirit, while other scholars suggest Hamlet's caution is justified due to the possibility of the ghost being demonic. T.S. Eliot raises the point that Shakespeare might have struggled to adapt the revenge motive from the source material into his more complex thematic structure focusing on a mother's guilt. The play's layers of meaning, including the symbolic representation of the ghost as the oppression of Catholics and the question around Hamlet's real or feigned madness, illustrate the richness of Hamlet's interpretations throughout history.
Finally, T.S. Eliot suggests that the character of Hamlet offered a vicarious existence for critic-creators who could not realize their creative potential, potentially skewing their interpretations. Eliot implies that Hamlet is pretending to be mad rather than actually being insane, a view that stems from Shakespeare's adaptation and modification of an earlier Hamlet play which had a simpler revenge narrative.