Notes for lines 0-1017 ed. Bernice W. Kliman
| 165 But looke the morne in russet mantle clad | 1.1.166 |
|---|
1602-1607 [?] author
Tomkis? ≈
Hamlet 165-6 Tomkis? ([Lingua,] 1602-1607?, sig. B2v apud Moore Smith in Ingleby et al. 1932, 1: 113 and 113n):
[Mendacio:] Now chast Diana grant my netts to hold.
[Tactus:] The blasting of Child-hood of the cheerful morne
Is almost growne a youth and ouer-climbes
Yonder gilt Easterne hills,—
Ingleby et al. call this a dubious allusion, “but the play contains other strange similarities to Shakspere.”
96 165 166
1733 theo1
theo1: Cym.
165-6 Theobald (ed. 1733, 6:371-2, n.13) glosses Cym. 2.2.49 (955-6) “Swift, swift, you Dragons of the Night! that Dawning May bear the raven’s eye”: the image “means that [the dawn] should rise, and shew that Colour [i.e. the color of the raven’s eye]. Now the Raven’s Eye is remarkably grey; and grey ey’d, ’tis known, is the Epithet universally join’d to the Morning. Nor has our Shakespeare forgot to allude to the Morning being grey in other Passages.”
Theobald quotes Ado, Tit., JC, Rom. and Ham. as proof that Sh. refers to the grey dawn. For Ham., he explains that “russet is dark brown, grey.” [Theobald misquotes Ham., for “But look” substituting “And see”; mtby3 corrects him.]
1752 Dodd
Dodd
165-6 Dodd (1752, 1: 216): “See [MND ] 1.8. and the note.”
Dodd
165-6 Dodd (1752, 1: 86 n.12, re MND 3.2.419 (1463)“Night’s swift dragons”): “The poets have all exerted themselves in their descriptions of the morning; perhaps Shakespear may claim the preference: however, the reader will see, in [Rom. 3.7.?] several passages selected from the best writers, and he may be not disagreeably amused by comparing them together.”
Dodd
165-6 Dodd (1752, 2: 212-14, re
Rom. 3.5.19 [2051]
): <p. 212>“The poets in general seem to have exerted themselves in their description of the morning: the
English may justly claim the preference over the
Greeks and
Romans, and
Shakespear I think over all . . . .[quotes Homer, and from
Lay Mionastery p. 229, Dryden’s Virgil, Ovid by Trap, Tasso by Fairfax, Spenser in
F.Q., </p. 212><p. 213> Milton in
PL. “There is something rather too puerile (I think) in this conceit of
Milton’s.” He adds B&F near end of 4th act of
Faithful Shepherdess, mentions that Taylor the Water-poet “boasts that he has exprest the
rising of the sun, the morning, (I think) a thousand different ways.” Says Milton took hint from B&F for a passage in L’Allegro. </p. 214>
1773 gent
gent:
165-6 Gentleman (ed. 1773): “The former part of this speech, though founded on a superstitious opinion, we must be pleased with; the latter (165-6?) is beautifully poetical.”
1778 v1778
v1778 in 2H4 2.3.19 (977)
165 morne in russet mantle clad] Steevens (ed. 1778, 5:487 n. 5) re 2H4 2.3.19 (977) “grey vault of heaven”: “So, in one of our author’s poems to his mistress [Son. 132.6]: ‘And truly not the morning sun of heaven Better becomes the grey cheeks of the east, &c.’ Steevens.”
1785 v1785
1785 = v1778
165 morne in russet mantle clad]
1790 mal
mal = v1785
165 morne in russet mantle clad]
1791- rann
165-6 Rann (ed. 1791-): “a grey cloud, streaked with black, and faintly tinged with red by the rising sun.”
1793 v1793
v1793 = mal +
165 morne in russet mantle clad]
BWK: analogue. See S&A doc. Steevens ends with the comment with which he began his note in earlier editions: Eastern and eastward, alike signify toward the east.”
1801 Todd/Milton
Todd/ Milton
165 russet mantle] Todd (1801, 3:37) for P.L. 7.373 “the gray Dawn,]] It is a singular coincidence, that the same phrase occurs , with the same collocation, in Carew’s Poems, 1642. See a Pastoral Dialogue; the Nymph to the Shepherd; ‘The yellow planets, and the gray Dawn, shall attend thee on thy way.’ ”
Ed. note: In his 1809 ed., 3:383, Todd signs this note.
Todd/ Milton
165 morne] Todd (1801, 4:303-4) for P. R. 4.426 “—till Morning fair Came forth, with pilgrim steps, in amice gray;]] See the notes on Lycidas, ver. 187. Comus, ver. 188, and [P. L. 7.374].
“The morrow gray, as Mr. Dunster observes, was a common expression with our early poets for the break of day; and he cites the following lines frin Sackville’s beautiful Induction, st. 40. ‘The morrowe grey no sooner hath begun To spread his light euen peeing in our eyes, Than he is vp and to his work yron.’
“I will add a passage, which seems to prove this point exactly, from Hawe’s Pastime of Pleasure, 1554. chap. i. —‘the night was well nere past, And fayre golden Phebus,in the morow graye, with clowdes redde, began to break the daye.’ ”
1803 v1803
v1803 = v1793
165 morne in russet mantle clad]
1813 v1813
v1813 = v1803
165 morne in russet mantle clad]
1819 cald1
cald1: Steevens on time
165 morne] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Doubtless the almost momentary appearance of the Ghost, and the short conversation preceding and subsequent to it, could not have filled up the long interval of a winter’s night in Denmark, from twelve till morning. But, indifferent as was Shakespeare to all dramatic rules and laws, there was no other license so large as that which he took with Time. In whatever direction and eherever he sped, ‘Still panting Time toil’d after him in vain.’
“With the interesting topic he has contrived to introduce at the close, and dazzled also as an audience would be by the splendor of his poetry, this irregularity would not in representation be generally detected at any time; and at this time it would neither be thought of or regarded: and when the age and the audience so little attended to it, as Mr. Steevens represents to be the case, the playwright was not likely to be very anxious about it. He tells us, in his notes upon
Hamlet’s advice to the players, that ‘dumb shews sometimes supplied deficiencies, and in others filled up the space of time which was necessary to pass, while business was supposed to be transacted in foreign parts. With this method of preserving one of the unities, our ancestors seem to have been satisfied.’”
on time, mentioned in time doc. quotes Steevens. Nothing really new here.
1821 v1821
v1821 = v1813
165 morne in russet mantle clad]
1832 cald2
cald2 = cald1 +
165 morne]
Caldecott (ed. 1832): “But in his Treatise of Church Government, Milton, when speaking of
epic poetry, even in his manner of putting the question decides it: ‘Whether the rules of Aristotle are
herein strictly to be kept, or
nature to be followed: which in them, that know
art and use judgment, is no transgression, but an enriching of art.’ Whether this be so or not in epic poetry, surely it may be asked, although
the scene shifting drama, both as to time and place, and
fidelibus oculis, presents a succession of impossibilities, yet if transported by that living scene, the imagination persuades itself, that which passes before it is real; if in the representation there is nothing revolting, how much less is it than nature? And, if she is no further overstepped, why is it, that we exclaim, and talk of forms or rules violated? Or, if we so do, why do we step within the walls of a theatre?
“No reasoning will allow that we can actually be one minute at Thebes and the next at Athens; or wherever the scene is laid, that we are at no other than at home. The only question to be entertained is, whether the mind, by its habit of cherishing these associations and delusions so fondly that they have become a second nature, is in any particular instance by want of skill or talent in the dramatical artificer outraged or disgusted?
“Unless by some deviation or relaxation of the severity of his rules our critic shall condescend to suffer himself so to sympathise and be transported, he can have no feeling for what passes, not even for the first scene any more than for the last; nor can he by any flight be carried further than the bench on which he seated himself as a spectator.”
Ed. note: Aristotle, as trans. by Heath, says: “Tragedy is an immitation of an action that is admirable, complete and possesses magnitude; in language made pleasurable, each of its species separated in different parts; performed by actors, not through narration; effecting through pity and fear the purification of such emotions.”
1839 knt1
knt1: cald2 +
165 morne]
Knight (ed. 1839): “Caldecott, whose edition of
Hamlet is greatly superior to any of its predecessors, sometimes falls into that fault-finding tone by which most Shaksperian critics assert their occasional superiority over their author: ‘The almost momentary appearance of the ghost, and the short conversations preceding and subsequent to it, could not have filled up the long interval of a winter’s night in Denmark, from twelve till morning.’ Such is Mr. Caldecott’s objection to this scene. But how does he know that it was a
winter’s night? Francesco, indeed, says ‘ ’tis bitter cold;’ but even in the night of
the early summer of the north of Europe, during the short interval between twilight and sunrise, ‘the air bites shrewdly.’ That this was the season intended by Shakspere is indicated by Ophelia’s flowers. Her pansies, her columbines and her daisies belong to the winter; and her ‘coronet weeds’ were the field-flowers of the latter spring, hung upon the willow in full foliage, ‘That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream.’”
1843- mLewes
mLewes: cald; knt
165 morne] Lewes (ms. notes in Knight, ed. 1843) criticizes both: “Caldecott’s objection is absurd enough but Knight’s defense is worse. It surely does not make the scene a whit more probable, to prove that the night was a summer night; a few minutes may as well represent four hours as two, the demand on our belief is the same.”
-1845 mHunter
mHunter: Milton, Ovid analogue
165-6 Hunter (-1845, fol. 222-222v): <222r>“Russet and dewy had before been used by Ovid. [quotes] Amor. Lib.1. St. 13. </222r> <222v> The red appearance of the early morning is a [?] the attention of the Poets. Virgil [?] while he omits dewy, & gives as the principal circumstance belonging to the morning that it restores light [quotes] An. IV. 5 &6. How evidently inferior to either Shakspeare or Milton. [quotes something]!” </222v>
1845 Hunter
Hunter : Milton
165-6 Hunter (1845, 2:216): “It must have been in emulation of these lines that Milton wrote— ‘Now morn her rosy steps in th’ eastern clime Advancing, sowed the earth with orient pearls.’ [P. L. 5.1]. We have the same characteristics of morning in both— “Russet ’— ‘rosy.’ ‘Eastern hill’ —‘eastern clime.’ ‘The dew’ —‘orient pearls.’ In Shakespeare, morning is the lusty husbandman brushing away the dew as he goes forth to work and his labour till the evening. Milton’s morning is Aurora herself, moving like a goddess lightly along. Milton’s is Corinthian, Shakespeare Doric; but both are works of a great master, and a critic would find a difficulty in deciding to which to give the preference.”
165-6 Collier (1853, p. 419): “More passages than usual are crossed out in this play, owing to its extreme length; and wherever the person who abridged it thought that even two or three lines could be dispensed with, they are erased. Thus in
Horatio’s speech, [165-6 and 171-2] are struck out . . . .”
1854 del2
del2
165 russet mantle] Delius (ed. 1854): “russet bezeichnet sowohl die braunrothe Farbe, als auch den so gefärbten Stoff, in den zu Sh.’s Zeit sich die Landleute zu kleiden plegten.” [russet means both the reddish-brown color and also the material thus colored in which, in Sh.’s time, peasants used to dress themselves.]
1860 stau
stau
165 russet mantle] Staunton (ed. 1860): “In the recapitulation of his labours at the conclusion of the Ænead, Gavin Douglas says,—‘Quhen pale Aurora with Face lamentabill Her Russet Mantill bordourit all with sabill.’
1863 Clarke
Clarke ≈ Stau
165-6 Clarke (1863, p.73) exclaims on the “poetry” of these last moments.
1865 wh1
wh1 ≈ Hudson comparing Milton and Sh without attribution +
165-6 White (ed. 1866, 1:ccxxi-ii): <p. ccxxi> Milton “is nearer, especially in the rosy steps [than he had been in another passage reminiscent of 165-6]; but still </p.ccxxi > <p. ccxxii> there is a severance between morn and the eastern clime, between morn and the pearl. Shakespeare, describing the same event, says, in his compact way,—[quotes 165-6]. This is the production of no acquired art, but of an inforn faculty. Shakespeare displayed the fulness of its strength in his earliest plays [and he quotes
Rom and
3H6]. </p. ccxxii>
1877 v1877
v1877: cald, knt
165 morne]
v1877: Hunter (2.216) (minus all but 1st two sentences); Strachey , n. 96
165-6
1878 rlf1
rlf1 ≈ Hunter on Milton P.L.
165-6
1890 irv2
irv2: contra Hunter
165 russet] Marshall (ed. 1890): “For russet—not ‘rosy.’ as Hunter explains it, but ‘grey’—see [MND 3.2.419 (1463)], note 173. Everyone who has kept watch out of doors all through the night knows that grey light which is the first precursor of morning, after which comes, if it comes at all, the red and golden colour. Shakespeare refers to this characteristic of early dawn in [Ado 5.3.27 (2548), quotes] and in [Rom. 3.5.19 (2051) quotes].”
1903 rlf3
rlf3 = rlf1
165-6
1904 ver
ver: standard on grey
165 Verity (ed. 1904): “The picture is rather of the first grey streaks of dawn than of sunlight. [. . . ] Either ‘grey’ or ‘red, reddish’ suits russet in Elizabethan E. and here the context makes ‘grey’ the more likely, as indicating the earlier period.”
1909 subb
subb = cald +
165 Subbarau (ed. 1909): “Q. How do we pass from midnight to morning [10] and [165] with ‘the almost momentary appearance of the Ghost and the short conversations preceding and subsequent to it?’ Caldecott perceived this difficulty but not the solution, and, in attempting to explain it, erroneously concluded that the scene could not have taken place on a winter-night. The solution will be found in the Exposition.”
<pp. xii-xiii> subb claims that the ghost throws a hypnotic spell of a few hours over the men, of which they are unaware, but their frozen stares would, sub says, be effective on stage. </p. xiii>
<p. xiv> The Ghost had left the men to visit
Hamlet each of the three nights, but he had not believed what he had seen. </p. xiv>
subb: standard on grey; cites Clark & Wright ; cham; Rom. // = Dodd without attribution; Ado //
165 russet] Subbarau (ed. 1909): “‘Grey, ash-coloured’ (Clark and Wright). ‘The earliest color of dawn is not red but grey (Chambers). Cf. [Ado 5.3.27 (2548)]: ‘the gentle day Before the wheels of Phoebus, round about Dapples the drowsy east with spots of grey.’ Also [Rom. 3.5.19 (2051)]: ‘I’ll say yon grey is not the morning’s eye.’”
1912 dtn3
dtn3: contra grey; standard on Milton analogy
165-6 russet . . . Walkes] Deighton (ed. 1912): “dressed in roseate, or ruddy, hues; the personification of the morning is carried on in Walks, in the next line.”
1922 thur
thur ≈ ver without attribution
165-6 Thurber (ed. 1922): “‘Russet’ means gray; it is dawn, not sunrise.”
1929 trav
trav ≈ thur without attribution + in magenta underlined
165 russet mantle]
Travers (ed. 1929): “was first the name of a kind of coarse homespun woolen cloth (reddish brown
or grey,
or of some neutral colour), worn by peasants. Reddish brown is the hue now generally meant . . . .
Newton, however a hundred years after Hamlet still has, in a passage of his Optics, which Johnson quoted in his Dictionary (1755), ‘russet or dark grey. In [MND 3.2.21 (1043)] choughs, i.e. jackdaws . . . . are described as ‘russet-pated,’ which must refer to the ash-coloured parts of the jackdaw’s head; and it may well be that what is suggested here (together with homely, rustic associations) is those earliest grey streaks of dawn of which Romeo speaks in [
Rom. 3.5.19 (2051)].”
1934 cam3
cam3
165 russet] xref to Introd. xxxvi
1934 cam3
cam3: standard
165-6 Wilson (ed. 1934, p. xxxvi): “ . . . the word ‘russet,’ used to describe the indeterminate reddish-brown or grey of the sky at daybreak, recalls the coarse homespun cloth, which is its original sense, and so gives birth to the image as Dawn as a labourer mounting the hill to his work of the day, his mantle thrown across his shoulder.”
1939 kit2
kit2 ≈ rann without attribution; ≈ cam3 without attribution + in magenta underlined
165 Kittredge (ed. 1939): “The dawn is cloudy or misty. Russet was a kind of coarse homespun, either brown or grey in colour. Cf. [LLL 5.2.413 (2340)]; Peele, Essex his Welcome, l. 15 (ed. Bullen, II, 270): ‘thy rude tire and grey russet coat.’”
1944 Bethell
Bethell
165-6 dawn]
Bethell ((1944, rpt. 1970, p. 83): “The matter-of-fact
Horatio has a lyrical outburst upon the dawn: [quotes 165-6].” Bethel mentions this lyricism in support of his thesis that Sh. did not particularly strive to adapt characters’ speeches to their personalities. [
Ed. Note: While
Horatio employs a metaphor, his reference to the rough brown garment of the worker is not particularly lyrical. As for metaphor, his first speech is a metaphor: 28.]
1947 cln2
cln2
165-6 Rylands (ed. 1947, p. 27) considers this to be a lyrical verse form such as that found in Romeo and Juliet.
cln2 ≈ kit2 without attribution
165 russet] Rylands (ed. 1947): “homespun cloth, reddish or grey in colour.”
1951 Clemen
Clemen
165-7 Clemen (1951, p.46): In
Hamlet, in contrast to plays written before Rom., the imagery of daylight is "woven . . . unobtrusively into the texture of the scene."
1973 Moore
Moore
165 Moore (1973, p. 23) uses
Hamlet as an example to illustrate the changes Poel made on a Shakespearean stage: “Though there was no scenery, Poel did attempt effects with lighting; the first scene was in darkness, but at
Horatio’s "in russet mantle clad" the gas lights were suddenly turned up, producing what must have been a ludicrous effect. The performance became important later because it was Poel’s first production, and marked the beginning of his attempt to restore Shakespeare to an Elizabethan stage.”
1974 evns1
evns1 ≈ cln2 without attribution
165 russet] Kermode (ed. 1974): “ coarse greyish-brown cloth”
1980 pen2
pen2
165-6 Spencer (ed. 1980) comments on the change of mood, from terror to “the contemplation of the health and grace of Christmas nights, and then to the dawn of the new day with a revival of courage and determination.”
1980 pen2
pen2 ≈ Hunter without attribution
165-6
1980 pen2
pen2: standard
165 morne] Spencer (ed. 1980) notes the compression of time.
pen2: standard gloss +
165 russet] Spencer (ed. 1980) thinks that Sh. may have intended both grey and reddish. “The light and colour replace the darkness and shadow of the early part of this episode.”
1982 ard2
ard2 contra cam3 and others; Douglas; Spenser; // Rom.
165-6 Jenkins (ed. 1982): “A very literary description.” LN: He insists that this is a poetic image, associated other uses of the term russet mantle: “in Gavin Douglas (The Palace of Honour, Prol. l. 2) [it] had belonged to ‘Aurora’; while Spenser had associated the cock’s ‘note shrill’ (cf. [150]) with Phoebus’ car ‘climbing up the eastern hill’ (FQ, I. ii. 1). Shakespearean dawns include ‘the grey-ey’d morn . . . Checkering the eastern clouds’ in [Rom. 2.2.188-9 (Arden Text)], etc. The F eastern is perhaps a regularization, the Q2 eastward being unique in the Shakespearean texts.”
ard2: Hugh Hunt, Old Vic Prefaces, p. 51; M. Holmes (The Guns of Elsinore, p. 47); Dollerup (pp. 152-3)
165 hill] Jenkins (ed. 1982) reviews the perception that the hill is “a touch of local colour.” He says that regardless of the fact of the flat terrain at Elsinore, Old Vic Actors thought they saw there what Sh. meant, and Dollerup (pp. 152-3) thought the allusion was to a ridge “behind the port of Helsinborg seen in contemporary painting.”
1984 chal
chal: OED + in magenta underlined
165-6 Wilkes (ed. 1984): the image, “associated with countryfolk,” stresses “the wholesomeness of the dawn.”
See OED, which also mentions countryfolk.
1985 cam4
cam4 ≈ evns1 without attribution
165
cam4
165 the morne] Edwards (ed. 1985) notes, “In a few minutes of acting time, we have moved from deepest midnight to the dawn.”
1993 OED
OED
165 russet mantle] OED says for sb 1A “A coarse homespun woolen cloth of a reddish-brown, grey or neutral colour, formerly used for the dress of peasants and country-folk.” The “russet-mantle clad,” does suggest garments, rather than a color, as in Sb 2, “A reddish-brown colour; a shade of this.”
1993 Kliman
Kliman
165 morne in russet mantle]
Kliman (1993, 45): Theobald’s argument about the emendation for
Cym, from Warburton, is fantastic enough to merit Thirlby’s comment (1733-): “most monstrous. If S. wrote & meant as you think it must be reckon’d amongst his greatest faults.” Theobald’s parallels for the grey morning, however, are in a different category.
Ado 5.3.27 (2548): “—and look, the gentle Day, Before the Wheels of Phoebus, round about Dapples the drowsie East with Spots of grey”;
Tit. 2.2.1 (701) “The Hunt is up; the Morn is bright and grey”;
JC 2.1.103 (734), “O, pardon, Sir, it doth; and yon grey Lines, That frets the Clouds, are Messengers of Day.” Then he cites
Hamlet 165 and explains “for
russet is
dark-brown, grey”; then
Rom. 2.3.1 [1006] “The grey-ey’d Morn smiles on the frowning Night, Check’ring the Eastern Clouds with Streaks of Light”, . . . ”
Looking at the Concordance, under grey I find also MND: “grey light” 3.2.419 (1463) and “lark..cuckoo grey” 3.1.131 (0000); Rom. 3.5.19 (0000) “I say yon grey is not the morning’s eye”; and TNK 5.4.9 (0000) “that in lag hours attend | for grey approaches”; and finally Son. 132:6: “better becomes the grey cheeks of th’ east.” Every one of these parallels is verse, not prose.
Under rosy or rose I find no references to dawn.
Theobald’s inference seems correct that dawn and grey are to be linked, and that the russet mantle is to be thought of as grey not red. The image has an effect on
Horatio’s
characterization. This image is poetic, but down to earth and avoids the “rosy-fingered dawn” that better suits Greece than England, which is seldom rosy, most often overcast and grey at dawning. See
“The Dawn in
Hamlet: Rosy or Grey? Theobald and
Horatio,”
The Shakespeare Newsletter 43.3 (Fall 1993):45.
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2: performance
165-6 Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “The cock has duly heralded the dawn which is visible 165 lines after the scene began around midnight. This would not have been a problem on the non-illusionist Elizabethan stage but raises questions for modern lighting designers. The movement from midnight to dawn is even swifter in
Ado 5.3, where there are only nine lines between the appeal to ’Midnight’ to ’assist our moan’ (16) and the observation that ’the gentle day . . . Dapples the drowsy east with spots of grey’ (25-7). These two lines were transferred to
Horatio’s closing speech, after
Hamlet’s death, in Peter Brook’s 2000 production.”
