Notes for lines 0-1017 ed. Bernice W. Kliman
| 1016 This must be knowne, which beeing kept close, might moue | 2.1.115 |
|---|
1015 1017 1688 3436
1747 warb
warb
1016-17 Warburton (ed. 1747): “i.e., This must be made known to the King, for (being kept secret) the hiding Hamlet’s love might occasion more mischief to us from him and the Queen, than the uttering or revealing of it will occasion hate and resentment from Hamlet. The poet’s ill and obscure expression seems to have been caused by his affectation of concluding the scene with a couplet.”
Ed. note: warb does not recognize the possibility that
Polonius’ own convolutions could be the point. Since
mal rarely includes Warburton’s notes and Steevens often excludes them, it seems likely to me that they include this long note because they think it belongs to Johnson.
1765 Heath
Heath
1016-17 Heath (1765, p. 535): “The sense, however obscurely expressed, is not difficult to discover. The concealment of it may be attended with consequences productive of greater calamity than the displeasure can possibly be with which the disclosing it may be received.”
Heath’s interpretation makes Pol. brave for telling the K and Q what they may not want to hear and doesn’t drag Hamlet into it unnecessarily.
1765 john1
john1 = warb; see han VN
1016-17 Johnson (ed. 1765): “Hanmer reads,
More grief to hide hate, than to utter love. Johnson.”
1765- mDavies
mDavies
1016-17 Davies (1765-): “The plain meaning of this passage is It will be much safer to acquaint ye King & Queen with Hamlet’s love to you than conceal it—Hamlets hate & resentment ont seem to be out of ye question.”
1773 v1773
v1773 = warb; john1
1016-17
1774 capn
capn: Heath
1016-7 This . . . loue] Capell (1774, 1:1:129): “The sense of that ill-express’d couplet [1016-17], is very properly given by the ‘Revisal” [Heath] in these words; ‘The concealment of it may be attended with consequences productive of greater calamity than the displeasure can possibly be with which the disclosing it may be received.’ ”
1778 v1778
v1778 = warb without attribution; john1 but credits john with whole note.
1016-17 Steevens (ed. 1778): Johnson (apud ed, 1778): “i.e., This must be made known to the king, for (being kept secret) the hiding Hamlet’s love might occasion more mischief to us from him and the Queen, than the uttering or revealing of it will occasion hate and resentment from Hamlet. The poet’s ill and obscure expression seems to have been caused by his affectation of concluding the scene with a couplet.
“Hanmer reads,
More grief to hide hate, than to utter love. Johnson.”
1785 v1785
v1785 = v1778 including miscredit
1016-17
1787 ann
ann = v1785 minus (last sentence from warb and all of john) but all credited to john
1016-17
1790 mal
mal = v1778 including miscredit
1016-17
1791- rann
rann ≈ Heath without attribution
1016-17 Rann (ed. 1791-): “It may be worse to conceal Hamlet’s passion, than to reveal it: the hiding it may be productive of more dreadful consequences, than the displeasure can possibly be which may attend it’s discovery.”
1793 v1793
v1793 = mal including miscredit
1016-17
1803 v1803
v1803 = v1793
1016-17
1805 Seymour
Seymour: misalludes to john for warb note
1016-17 Seymour (1805, 2:167): “The construction of this passage is very perplexed, and Dr. Johnson has in vain endeavoured to disentangle it: —the best explanation I can offer is this; this must be known, which would eventually, in the concealment, occasion of grief a greater measure than could of anger attend the disclosure, which would be an act of love.”
1813 v1813
v1813 = v1803
1016-17
1819 cald1
cald1 = v1813 (including citing john for warb note +
1016-17 This . . . loue] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “By this artificial, antithetical, and riddling style, our author, in other parts of his drama, frequently embarrassed his sense: but to conclude acts and scenes with a couplet, was the very opposite of affectation. The custom of the age fully warranted it; and not to have done it occasionally would have been an affectation of singularity. Ben Jonson did so in his tragedies; and it was the almost invariable course for a century afterwards.”
1821 v1821
v1821 = v1813
1016-17
1826 sing1
sing1 = cald1 without attribution; warb without attribution
1016-17 Singer (ed. 1826): “This must be made known to the King, for (being kept secret) the hiding Hamlet’s love might occasion more mischief to us from him and the queen, than the uttering or revealing of it will occasion hate and resentment from Hamlet.’ Johnson, whose explanation this is, attributes the obscurity to the poet’s ‘affectation of concluding the scene with a couplet.’ There would surely have been more affectation in deviating from the universally established custom.”
BWK: cald but with a slight twist; CALD says “occasionally” and SING1 implies that it is “always” appropriate to have the couplet-conclusion.
1832 cald2
cald2 = cald1 +
1016-17 This . . .
loue]
Caldecott (ed. 1832):
“The sentiment here is simply this: ‘the keeping of this love affair a secret might be the cause of more mischief and unhappiness than all the evil passions, that would be set afloat by making it public.’ But the fashionable enigmatical quaintness and antithesis (and in this case more especially the latter, by the opposition of
Love, the subject matter, to
Hate) have introduced a jumble and confusion in the idea, if it has not entangled the grammatical construction of the passage. Our literal rendering would be; ‘suppressed it might create more general sources of unhappiness and heart-burning to conceal this Love, than it would that particular source of unhappiness, or passion, Hate, Love’s immediate opposite, to proclaim and avow it.’ Nor in any place by introducing matter nor very serviceable to his great end, could our author have complied more aptly with that rule, imperative upon every Play-wright, ‘Populo ut placeret Fabula.’
“And it may be here observed, that, at the close of an Act or when the Scene is shifted, and there is a pause in the action or business of the Drama, it was the usage of our Dramatists, down to the middle of the last century, not simply to divert attention from the main object, as here, by the introduction of a couplet or rhymes, but to make the subject of such couplet foreign altogether to the interests of the Drama, an unconnected flourish, and that, not infrequently, a laboured and florid simile.
“In such cases, in mere recitation, in unimpassioned scenes, in passages not marked with any particular character or interest, David Garrick, the child of nature, and within the last half century at least, certainly our only great general actor, was so much out of his element and to such a degree offended against all propriety and the common principles of recitation, as would in the upper forms of our great seminaries have discredited a schoolboy, (he had not had a regular education,) and has repeatedly given us pain, and made us feel both for him and ourselves; and equally admiring him, to think it no way unnecessary for his warm eulogist Churchill to say ‘Whist working from the Heart, and Fire I trace, And mark it strongly flaming to thy Face; Whilst in each Sound I hear the very Man—I can’t catch Words—and pity those, who can.’ Resciad,
“Johnson [sic] says, “The ill and obscure expression seems to have been caused by the poet’s affectation of concluding the scene with a couplet.’ For the charge, so pointed, there is not the slightest foundation.
“By this artificial, antithetical, and riddling style, our author, in other parts of his drama, frequently embarrassed his sense: but to conclude acts and scenes with a couplet, was the very opposite of affectation. The custom of the age fully warranted it; and not to have done it occasionally would have been an affectation of singularity. Ben Jonson did so in his tragedies; and it was the almost invariable course for a century afterwards.”
1854 del2
del2
1016-17 Delius (ed. 1854): “Die Verhehlung dieser Dinge, schliesst
Polonius in dem ihm zusagenden gesuchten Antithesenstyl, würde mehr Schmerz verursachen, wenn [wie] wir ihn verbergen, als Hass, wenn wir die Liebe (d.h. Hamlets vermeintliche Liebe zur
Ophelia) offenbarten. —Die Qs. fügen diesem Relmpaar noch ein
Come bei.” [The concealment of these things,
Polonius decides in his accustomed antithetical style, would cause us more pain if hidden, than hate, if we reveal the love (that is, Hamlet’s apparent love for
Ophelia).
Delius does not think that the hate will come from Hamlet but from the king and queen, it seems.
1856 hud1
hud1 ≈ sing1 (including warb and disagreement with warb) without attribution
1016-17
1865 hal
hal = warb without attribution; john
1016-17
1868 c&mc
c&mc: standard
1016-17 Clarke &
Clarke (ed. 1868): “‘Might occasion us more mischief were we to hide it from the king, than hate from Hamlet were we to speak of his love.”
1869 tsch
tsch
1016-17 Tschischwitz (ed. 1869,
apud Furness, ed. 1877), says
Furness, “cannot persuade himself that the author of the
Sonnets and of
Venus & Adonis could have composed lines so faulty in logic and style as these, and he therefore finds that even sticklers for the authorized text will pardon him for changing line [1017] to ‘More grief to him, then hate to us their love.’ He also marks ‘
Ophelia’s exit’ after [1015].”
1870 Abbott
Abbott
1016-17 Abbott § 390: “i.e. ‘this ought to be revealed, for it (273), by being suppressed, might excite more grief in the king and queen by the hiding (356) of the news, than our unwillingness to tell bad news would excite love.”
1870 rug1
rug1: Davies without attribution
1016-17 Moberly (ed. 1870): “The king may be angry at my telling of Hamlet’s love; but more grief would come from hiding it.”
1872 cln1
cln1
1016-17 Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “In the couplets which conclude scenes, the sense in frequently sacrificed to the rhyme. The sense here seems to be—Hamlet’s mad conduct might cause more grief if it were hidden than the revelation of his love for
Ophelia would cause hatred, i.e. on the part of the King and Queen. Yet the Queen afterwards expresses her approval of the match, [1688].”
Ed. note: They might also have mentioned the graveside speech: 3436.
1872 hud2
hud2 : hud1 gloss; warb on rhyme without attribution
1016-17 Hudson (ed. 1872): “The sense is rather obscure, but appears to be,—By keeping Hamlet’s love secret, we may cause more of grief to others, than of hatred on his part by disclosing it. The Poet sometimes goes out of his way to close a scene with a rhyme.”
1873 rug2
rug2 = rug1
1016-17
1877 v1877
v1877: warb; Heath; cald shortened with ref to warb added; cln1, with ref. to 3436 added; tsch
1016-17 Furness (ed. 1877): “
Warburton: That is, this must be made known to the King, for (being kept secret) the hiding of Hamlet’s love might occasion more mischief to us from him and the Queen, than the uttering or revealing of it will occasion hate and resentment from
Hamlet. The poet’s obscure expression seems to have been caused by his affectation of concluding the scene with a couplet.
Heath: The concealment of it may be attended with consequences productive of greater calamity than the displeasure can possibly be with which the disclosing it may be received.
Caldecott: At the close of an act or when the scene is shifted, and there is a pause in the action of the drama, it was the usage of our dramatists, down to the middle of the last century, not simply to divert attention from the main object, as here, by the introduction of a couplet or rhymes, but to make the subject of such couplet foreign altogether to the interests of the drama, an unconnected flourish, and that, not infrequently, a laboured and florid simile. Such a custom in Sh., so far from being what Warburton calls it, was the very opposite of ‘affectation;’ and not to have done it occasionally would have been an affectation of singularity.
Clarendon: In the couplets which conclude scenes, the sense in frequently sacrificed to the rhyme. The sense here seems to be—Hamlet’s mad conduct might cause more grief if it were hidden than the revelation of his love for
Ophelia would cause hatred, i.e. on the part of the King and Queen. Yet the Queen afterwards expresses her approval of the match [1688]/ Compare also [3436].
Tschischwitz cannot persuade himself that the author of the
Sonnets and of
Venus & Adonis could have composed lines so faulty in logic and style as these, and he therefore thinks that even sticklers for the authorized text will parden him for changing [1017] into ‘More grief to him, than hate to us their love.’ He also marks ‘
Ophelia exit’ after [1015].”
1881 hud3
hud3 ≈ hud2 +
1016-17 Hudson (ed. 1881): “ . . . The Poet sometimes strains the language pretty hard in order to close a scene with a rhyme. The infinitives are here gerundial.”
1885 macd
macd; standard + in magenta underlined
1016-17 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “He hopes now to get his daughter married to the prince. We have here a curious instance of Shakspere’s not unfrequently excessive condensation. Expanded, the clause would be like this: ‘which, being kept close, might move more grief by the hiding of love, than to utter love might move hate:’ The grief in the one case might be greater than the hate in the other would be. It verges on confusion, and may mot be as Shakspere wrote it, though it is like his way. [quotes Q1].”
1901 gol
gol ≈ cald without attribution
1016-17 Gollancz (ed. 1901) defends Sh. against john1 [again the error] for following the “universally estabish custom” of ending scenes with couplets.
1904 ver
ver: standard king’s anger; standard on obscurity
1016-17 Verity (ed. 1904): “i.e. it will annoy Claudius to hear of Hamlet’s love of
Ophelia, but still more trouble would be caused if it were kept from him. No doubt
Polonius means that trouble might ensue to himself; cf. [1158-68]. where he is at such pains to disclaim connivance. The rhyme (together with the antithesis) accounts here, as often, for a certain obscurity of expression.”
1918 TLS
Sargeaunt
1016-17]
Sargeaunt (“Hamlet’s Solid Flesh,”
TLS 1918: 417-18) <p. 417> In the quarto, but not the folio,
hate always means
ha’t, the contraction of
have it. The usual interpretation is that “to utter love” means “to reveal Hamlet’s love to the King and Queen. I hope I have something more rational to suggest. . . . By ‘This’
Polonius means the fact that Hamlet is mad for love of
Ophelia. He has found the great secret, and is ready enough to make use of it to win favour. He would say, ‘That Hamlet is mad for your love must be known, which being kept close, might move more grief to hide, than it to utter </p. 417> <p. 418> would move love.’ He raises a strong objection to hiding and a sufficient reason for uttering the secret.” </p. 418>
Ed. note: Sargeaunt is correct that elsewhere in Ham.“hate” = have it: 1580, 3148, 3829.
1929 trav
trav
1016-17 Travers (ed. 1929): “To hide which might cause more grief (because more harm) to us than to utter (let out, tell) the Prince’s love for you may cause hatred on the part of the King and Queen (who may well suspect you of having entrapped him, and me of having either assisted or connived [see 1157-68]. Rhyme, antithetical emphasis, and compactness of emphasis, and compactness of sententious phrasing that might verge on oracular crabbedness, best suited (to Elizabethan ears and minds) the conclusion of a scene.”
1934 rid1
rid1
1016-17 Ridley (ed. 1934): Though the lines are possible to force into comprehensibility, “hate ia an oddly strong word, and the grammatical construction of love is awkward, and I feel there is probably some corruption.”
1938 parc
parc
1016-17 Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938): “This probably means: keeping Hamlet’s love a secret may cause more grief (i.e. in the continuation of his madness) than publishing it will cause hate (either on Hamlet’s part for having his love exposed or on the part of his royal parents).”
1939 kit2
kit2: standard
1016-17 which . . . loue]
Kittredge (ed. 1939): "For us to conceal it might cause the King (and us) more sorrow than he will feel displeasure at learning that Hamlet loves you.
Polonius, though of very high rank, does not believe that the King and Queen will approve Hamlet’s marrying
Ophelia. He is mistaken, as the Queen’s words prove in [3436]."
kit2: standard
1016 close] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "secret."
1947 cln2
cln2: standard
1016-17 which . . . loue] Rylands (ed. 1947): "i.e. if we conceal it we may do more harm than the displeasure which will be caused by informing Claudius of Hamlet’s love."
1957 pel1
pel1: standard
1016 close] Farnham (ed. 1957): “secret.”
pel1: standard
1016 moue] Farnham (ed. 1957): “cause.”
1970 pel2
pel2 = pel1
1016 close] Farnham (ed. 1970): “secret”
pel2 = pel1
1016 moue] Farnham (ed. 1970): “cause”
1980 pen2
pen2
1016 This . . . knowne] Spencer (ed. 1980): “we must make this known to the King (probably, rather that ’whatever we may do to conceal it, the story of this will soon become common knowledge’).”
pen2: xref
1016-17 moue . . . loue]
Spencer (ed. 1980): “cause more ill-feeling if I conceal this love (by leading to further derangement of Hamlet’s mind) than will be the indignation provoked in the King if I reveal (
utter) it.
Polonius feels that his daughter is no match for Hamlet; but later the Queen approves, discreetly at 3.1.38-42 and (after
Ophelia’s death) plainly at 5.1.240-1.”
1982 ard2
ard2:
1016-17 might . . . loue]] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “Concealment might cause more grief (presumably because of what the mad lover might do—see 1001-2) than the publication of Hamlet’s love would give offence.”
1985 cam4
cam4
1016 close] Edwards (ed. 1985): "secret."
1987 oxf4
oxf4
1016-17 might . . .
loue]
Hibbard (ed. 1987): "i.e. this love affair could cause us more trouble and suffering, should we try to hide it, than any we may undergo (in the form of royal displeasure) for revealing it.
Polonius, still casting beyond himself, thinks, quite mistakenly, that the King and Queen are sure to disapprove of a match between the heir to the throne and his daughter."
oxf4
1016 knowne] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "made known (to Claudius and Gertrude)."
oxf4 = Abbott § 377
1016 beeing kept close]
1988 bev2
bev2: standard
1016 close] Bevington (ed. 1988): “secret.”
bev2: standard
1016-7 might . . . loue]
Bevington (ed. 1988): “i.e., might cause more grief (because of what Hamlet might do) by hiding the knowledge of Hamlet’s strange behavior to
Ophelia than unpleasantness by telling it.”
1996 Kliman
Kliman
1016-17 Kliman (1996): “Either
Polonius poises Hamlet’s resentment (hate) against the king’s ability to cause
Polonius grief, or
Polonius weighs the king’s resentment at this love affair against the danger of keeping it secret;
Polonius, one would think, would have less concern about Hamlet than about the king.
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2: standard
1016 knowne] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “i.e. made known (to the King)”
ard3q2: standard
1016 close] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “secret”
ard3q2: standard
1016-17 might . . . loue] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “i.e. it might cause more pain to hide this love than distress to reveal it.”
1016 3436
