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Line 2219-20 - Commentary Note (CN)

Commentary notes (CN):

1. SMALL CAPS Indicate editions. Notes for each commentator are divided into three parts:

In the 1st two lines of a record, when the name of the source text (the siglum) is printed in SMALL CAPS, the comment comes from an EDITION; when it is in normal font, it is derived from a book, article, ms. record or other source. We occasionally use small caps for ms. sources and for works related to editions. See bibliographies for complete information (in process).

2. How comments are related to predecessors' comments. In the second line of a record, a label "without attribution" indicates that a prior writer made the same or a similar point; such similarities do not usually indicate plagiarism because many writers do not, as a practice, indicate the sources of their glosses. We provide the designation ("standard") to indicate a gloss in common use. We use ≈ for "equivalent to" and = for "exactly alike."

3. Original comment. When the second line is blank after the writer's siglum, we are signaling that we have not seen that writer's gloss prior to that date. We welcome correction on this point.

4. Words from the play under discussion (lemmata). In the third line or lines of a record, the lemmata after the TLN (Through Line Number] are from Q2. When the difference between Q2 and the authors' lemma(ta) is significant, we include the writer's lemma(ta). When the gloss is for a whole line or lines, only the line number(s) appear. Through Line Numbers are numbers straight through a play and include stage directions. Most modern editions still use the system of starting line numbers afresh for every scene and do not assign line numbers to stage directions.

5. Bibliographic information. In the third line of the record, where we record the gloss, we provide concise bibliographic information, expanded in the bibliographies, several of which are in process.

6. References to other lines or other works. For a writer's reference to a passage elsewhere in Ham. we provide, in brackets, Through Line Numbers (TLN) from the Norton F1 (used by permission); we call these xref, i.e., cross references. We call references to Shakespearean plays other than Ham. “parallels” (//) and indicate Riverside act, scene and line number as well as TLN. We call references to non-Shakespearean works “analogues.”

7. Further information: See the Introduction for explanations of other abbreviations. Click here for more information about browsing the entries and here for more information about the special symbols used in Hamletworks. Click the question mark icon above to remove this help message.

Notes for lines 2023-2950 ed. Frank N. Clary

For explanation of sigla, such as jen, see the editions bib.

2219-20 Guyl. O my lord, if my duty be too bold, my loue \| is too vnmanerly.

1747 warb

warb

2219-20 if . . . vnmanerly] Warburton (ed. 1747): “i.e. if my duty to the King makes me press you a little, my love to you makes me still more importunate. If that makes me bold, this makes me even unmannerly.”

1765 Heath

Heath

2219-20 if . . . vnmanerly] Heath (1765, p. 540): “The sense is, If you think me too bold in what I have said by the command of your mother, to offer any thing on the single motive of my love to your person would be unmannerly.”

1765 john1/john2

john1, john2 = warb

1765- mDavies

mDavies: see Davies 1784

2219-20 if . . . vnmanerly] [Davies] (ms. notes in Johnson, ed. 1765, opp. 8.229): “This answer to Hamlet’s questions seems to include some kind of gentle reproach to him—as much to say, ‘If in delivering the Queen’s message who desires to see you to, I have shewn too great boldness, my respect in standing out of yr way that you may receive the Recorder & flute with more facility must certainly be interpreted ill manners.”

1773 v1773

v1773 = john1

1774 capn

capn = warb

2219-20 if . . . vnmanerly] Capell (1774, 1:1:138): “the last editor explains the speech thus: ‘if my duty to the king makes me press you a little, my love to you makes me still more importunate; if that makes me bold, this makes me even unmannerly.”

1778 v1778

v1778 = v1773 +

2219-20 if . . . vnmanerly] Tyrwhitt (apud ed. 1778): “I believe we should read —my love is not unmannerly. My conception of this passage is, that, in consequence of Hamlet’s moving to take the recorder, Guildenstern also shifts his ground, in order to place himself beneath the prince in his new position. This Hamlet ludicrously calls ‘going about to recover the wind, &c.’ and Guildenstern may answer properly enough, I think, and like a courtier; ‘if my duty to the king makes me too bold in pressing you upon a disagreeable subject, my love to you will make me not unmannerly, in shewilng you all possible marks of respect and attention.’ Tyrwhitt.”

1784 ays1

ays1=warb

1784 Davies

Davies ≈ mDavies; v1778 (Tyrwhitt)

2219-20 if . . . vnmanerly] Davies (1784, p. 97): “This answer to Hamlet’s question, of ‘why do you go about to recover the wind of me!’ which is not, in my opinion, ludicrous, but objurgative, (for he keeps no measures with his old schoolfellows,) seems to include a sort of reproach. ‘If, in delivering the messages of the King and Queen, I have shewn too great boldness, my respect to you, in standing out of the way, that you might with more ease receive the flute, will certainly be interpreted ill manners.’ And that I am glad to find my opinion confirmed by Mr. Tyrrwhit. But the movement of Guildenstern appeared, to Hamlet, as insidious as the conduct of these courtiers in the second act, when one of them, instead of answering a question directly, says to the other, What say you? which is as much as to say, ‘Shall I speak the truth, or tell a lie.’”

1785 v1785

v1785 = v1778

1790 mWesley

mWesley: contra warb, contra Tyrwhitt

2219-20 my duty . . . vnmannerly] Wesley (ms. notes in v1785): “(W. ‘My duty to the king makes me bold, my love to you makes me unmannerly.’ Tyrwhitt reads ‘not unmannerly.’) I like neither this note of Tyrwhitt or the other of Warburton. The place seems to cry ‘Noli me tangere.’”

1790 mal

mal = v1785

1791- rann

rann ≈ warb; ≈ Heath without attribution

2219-20 if . . . vnmanerly] Rann (ed. 1791-): “if my duty to the king makes me press you a little, my love to you makes me still more importunate; if that makes me bold, this makes me even unmannerly:—if what I have said by command be deemed too bold, to offer any thing from my love to your person must needs appear unmannerly.”

1793 v1793

v1793 = v1785

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793

1805 Seymour

Seymour: Strutt

2219-20 if . . . vnmannerly] Strutt (apud Seymour 1805, p. 180): “If I appear too bold in my duty to the king, it is owing to the unmannerliness of my love to you, by which I am excited. B. Strutt.”

Seymour

2219-20 if . . . vnmannerly] Seymour (1805, p. 180): “Perhaps the meaning is only this,—if my duty be too strongly urged, my love is only in excess. ‘Unmannerly’ may signify, not duly restrained or regulated.”

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

1819 cald1

cald1

2219-20 if . . . vnmanerly] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “If my sense of duty have led me too far, it is affection and regard for you that makes the carriage of that duty border on disrespect.”

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1813

1826 sing1

sing1 ≈ warb without attribution

2219-20 if . . . vnmanerly] Singer (ed. 1826): “Hamlet may say with propriety, ‘I do not well understand that.’ Perhaps Guildenstern means, ‘If my duty to the king makes me too bold, my love to you makes me importunate even to rudeness.’”

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1 + xref.

2219-20 if . . . vnmanerly] Caldecott (ed. 1832): “See ‘Forgive me this my virtue.’ [3.4.152 (2535)] Ham.”

1854 del2

del2

2219-20 if . . . vnmanerly] Delius (ed. 1854): “Guildenstern entschuldigt die Zudringlichkeit seiner Liebe mit seinem übergrossen Pflichteifer.” [Guildenstern excuses the obtrusiveness of his love by his enormous sense of duty.]

1856 hud1 (1851-6)

hud1 = sing1 without attribution

1856b sing2

sing2 = sing1

1857 fieb

fieb ≈ warb; ≈ Tyrwhitt + magenta underlined

2219-20 my duty . . . vnmanerly] Fiebig (ed. 1857): “Warburton explains this passage thus: If my duty to the king makes me press you a little, my love to you makes me still more importunate. If that makes me bold, this makes me even unmannerly.—Tyrwhitt though believes we should read—‘my love is not unmannerly.’ His conception of this passage is that, in consequence of Hamlet’s moving to take the recorder, Guildenstern also shifts his ground, in order to place himself beneath the prince in his new position. This Hamlet ludicrously calls going about to recover the wind,’etc. and Guildenstern may answer properly enough, and like a courtier,’ if my duty to the king makes me too bold in pressing you upon a disagreeable subject, my love to you will make me not unmannerly, in showing you all possible marks of respect and attention.”

1867 ktlyn

ktlyn: contra v1778 (Tyrwhitt)

2219-20 if . . . vnmanerly] Keightley (1867, p. 293): “Tyrwhitt proposed ‘be not too bold. I read, ‘If my duty be too bold, my love [is] too unmannerly . . .’”

1868 c&mc

c&mc

2219 if my duty . . . vnmanerly] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868, rpt. 1878): “‘If my duty in endeavoring to discover the cause of your alienation be too bold, the blame must be laid on my love, which makes me thus unmannerly.’ The courtier’s consciousness that while he professes duty and love to the prince, he is in fact fulfilling an undertaken task for the king, makes him express himself in the confused phraseology which causes Hamlet to reply, ‘I do not well understand that.’”

1872 hud2

hud2 ≈ hud1

2219-20 if . . . vnmanerly] Hudson (ed. 1881): “Hamlet may well say, ‘I do not well understand that.’ The meaning, however, seems to be, ‘If I am using an unmannerly boldness with you, it is my love that makes me do so.”

1872 cln1

cln1: contra v1778 (Tyrwhitt)

2220 too vnmanerly] Clark and Wright (ed. 1872): “Tyrwhitt proposed to read ‘not unmannerly.’ Probably Shakespeare intended Guildenstern’s words to express an unmeaning compliment. As Hamlet did not well understand them, commentators may be excused from attempting to explain them.”

1877 v1877

v1877 = warb, Heath, Tyrwhitt, cald1, sing, ktlyn, cln1

2219-20 if . . . vnmanerly] Furness (ed. 1877): “Warburton: “If my duty to the king makes me press you a little, my love to you makes me still more importunate. If that makes me bold, this makes me even unmannerly. Heath (p. 540): If you think me too bold in what I have said by the command of your mother, to offer anything on the single motive of my love to your person would be unmannerly. Tyrwhitt: Read—my love is not unmannerly. My conception of the passage is, that, in consequence of Hamlet’s moving to take the recorder, Guil. also shifts his ground, in order to place himself beneath the prince in his new position. This, Ham. ludicrously calls ‘going about to recover the wind,’ &c., and Guil. may answer properly enough, and like a courtier: if my duty to the king makes me too bold in pressing you, upon a disagreeable subject, my love to you will make me not unmannerly, in showing you all possible marks of respect and attention. Caldecott: If my sense of duty have led border on disrespect. See ‘Forgive me this my virtue,’ [3.4.152 (2535)]. Singer: Ham. may say with propriety, ‘I do not well understand that.’ Keightley: ‘I read, “If my duty be too bold, my love [is] too unmannerly....”’ Clarendon: Probably Sh. intended Guildenstern’s words to express an unmeaning compliment. As Ham. did not well understand them, commentators may be excused from at tempting to explain them.”

1878 rlf1

rlf1: Tyrwhitt

2219-20 if . . . vnmannerly Rolfe (ed. 1878): “If my sense of duty makes me too bold, it is my love for you that causes it. Bold and unmannerly have essentially the same meaning Tyrwhitt wanted to read ‘not unmannerly.’”

1881 hud3

hud3=hud2

1883 Kinnear

Kinnear: H8 analogue

2219-20 if. . . vnmannerly] Kinnear (1883, p. 405): “i.e. ‘if I am too bold in my service, my love makes me forget manners.’ Hamlet replies, “I do not see that love is concerned in the matter,—you would play upon me, but’ &c. the speech of Guildenstern is a set court phrase. So H8. [5.1.158-9 (2963-4)],—‘Old L. I’ll not come back; the tidings that I bring Will make my boldness manners.’ Ib. [4.2.104-5 (2687-8)],—‘Mess. I humbly do entreat your highness’ pardon; My haste made me unmannerly’”

1885 macd

macd

2219-20 if. . . vnmannerly] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “Guildensterne tries euphuism, but hardly succeeds. He intends to plead that any fault in his approach must be laid to the charge of his love. Duty here means homage—so used still by the common people.”

1885 mull

mull: contra v1778 (Tyrwhitt); contra cam1

2219 my loue] Mull (ed. 1885): “The colloquy between Hamlet and his ‘excellent good friends’ in this Scene, and also in Scene II. Act II., is characterized throughout by the pulverizing style of rejoinder on the part of the former which Guildenstern complains of—’thy love is too unmannerly.’ Just previously he rebukes Hamlet in exactly similar terms: ‘Your courtesy is not of the right breed. If it shall please you to make me a wholesome answer,’ &c. It the previous Act, sc. II., Hamlet says, ‘Let me conjure you, by the rights of our fellowship, by the obligation of our ever-preserved love,’ &c. [2.2.283-6 (1330-3)]; but after some display of this quality in a most unexpected fashion, in a rollicking, jibing, and exasperating strain, Guildenstern is at length provoked to declare plainly, ‘thy love is too unmannerly.’ Rosencrantz also remarks, previously, ‘My lord, you once did love me;’ the sharp rejoinder is, ‘So I do still” [3.2.335-6 (2205-6)]. The conclusion of it all being, as I maintain, that ‘thy love is too unmannerly.’

“At this point, evidence in support of the changes I make presents itself with indisputable force and completeness. The charge so pointedly levelled at Hamlet rouses him to a vigorous defence, to the discomfiture of his ‘excellent good friends,’ and to the turning of Guildenstern’s assault into a brilliant victory. ‘I do not well understand that,’ is the prelude to an episode of remarkable interest, by which he overwhelms them with shame and exposes their designs. The whole contrivance of the flute incident, with its stinging moral, is the direct outcome of the rebuke, ‘if my duty is too bold, thy love is too unmannerly;’ from it directly springs the happy device by which he ‘drove them into the toil’ that ended their knavish designs. If we stand by the received reading, we leave entirely unaccounted for the prompt and curt reply, with all that followed upon it, ‘I do not well understand that.’ Hamlet rightly judged that it was he who had the most reason to complain, and not they; Guildenstern’s indiscretion—’thy love is too unmannerly’—consequently lighted the match which exploded them utterly, and afforded Hamlet his opportunity for turning upon them with destructive effect.

“Finally Guildenstern could not have said of himself, ‘ my love is too unmannerly,’ for not a breath of rudeness or want of courtesy escapes him; he is all courtesy, all deference, all respect, and this must also be said of his companion; but Hamlet’s love, and his alone, was manifestly ‘too unmannerly.’

“The mutilation has misled the commentators into strange suggestions. Tyrwhitt proposed to read ‘not unmannerly;’ and the Cambridge editors remark, ‘Probably Shakespeare intended Guidenstern’s words to express an unmeaning compliment. As Hamlet did not well understand them, commentators may be excused form attempting to explain them.’ Hamlet did understand them, and keenly felt them, to which he gave expression in a designedly careless manner.”

1888 Savage

mPudsey

2219-20 O . . . vnmannerly] Pudsey (apud Savage, 1888, p. 72): “yf my dewty be too bold my loue ys too vnmanerlye”

1890 irv2

irv2 ≈ warb + magenta underlined

2219-20 if. . . vnmannerly] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “This is a vague compliment which need not be forced into a special meanng. As far as any explanation is necessary, or feasible, it is given by Warburton: ‘If my duty to the king makes me press you a little, my love to you makes me still more importuante. If that makes me bold, this makes me even unmannerly.’”

1891 dtn

dtn

2219-20 if. . . vnmanerly] Deighton (ed. 1891): “if in the execution of my duty I seem to go further than I ought, it is my love to you that makes me seem so rude; or, perhaps, when the duty laid upon me is one that needs more audacity than I can boast, the love which bids me discharge it makes me clumsy in my eagerness.”

1899 ard1

ard1: cln1 + magenta underlined

2219-20 O my . . . vnmannerly] Dowden (ed. 1899): “a duty perhaps too bold may have forced my love to express itself ill. Or perhaps—as Clar. Press suggests—‘an unmeaning compliment.’”

1900 ev1

ev1

2219-20 O my . . . vnmanerly] Herford (ed. 1900): “An incoherent apology to the effect that his unmannerly boldness is prompted by his sense of duty, and therefore compatible with his love.”

1903 rlf3

rlf3=rlf1 minus v1778 (Tyrwhitt)

1904 ver

ver

2219 if . . . bold] Verity (ed. 1904): “The directness of Hamlet’s question is too much for Guildenstern; he has no time properly to prepare an evasive answer, and blunders into a sort of apology, viz. that his ‘duty’ to the King and Queen may indeed make him deal with Hamlet in a way that may seem ‘too bold,’ but then his affection for Hamlet is too genuine to trouble about ‘manners!’”

1913 tut2

tut2

2219-20 if . . . vnmannerly] Goggin (ed. 1913): “Guildenstern may mean “You have found me too bold in my duty to the King and Queen; you will find me unmannerly if my love induces me to give you a truthful answer,’ or ‘My love to you has caused me to be rude in the discharge of my duty.’ But he is so confused by Hamlet’s pointed question that he replies awkwardly and obscurely.”

1931 crg1

crg1 ≈ sing1

2219-20 if . . . vnmannerly] Craig (ed. 1931): “if I am using an unmannerly boldness, it is my love which occasions it.”

1934 cam3

cam3: contra cln1

2219-20 if . . . vnmanerly] Wilson (ed. 1934): “i.e. if my behaviour seem a little bold, you must set it down to the impetuosity of my affection. Ham. refuses to understand this, not because it is ‘an unmeaning compliment’ (Clar.), but because of its obvious insincerity. Guild., separated from Ros. and taken aback by Ham.’s sudden question, answers stammeringly.”

1935 ev2

ev2 ≈ crg1

2219-20 Boas (ed. 1935): “If in the execution of my duty I have gone too far, it is my love for you that makes me seem rude.”

1939 kit2

kit2

2219-20 if . . . vnmannerly] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “If, in my devotion to your interests, I am too bold in questioning you, it is my love that causes this breach of good manners. Hamlet, assuming an air of vacancy, pretends to find this apology unintelligible.”

1947 cln2

cln2 ≈ crg1

2219-20 Rylands (ed. 1947): “i.e. if my behaviour seems overbold, impute it to the eagerness of my affection.”

1980 pen2

pen2

2219-20 if . . . vnmanerly] Spencer (ed. 1980): “This is an evasive response to Hamlet’s accusation. It is difficult to work out any exact meaning: perhaps ‘if my manner of behaving to you (in lines [3.2.308-318 (2179-89)] seemed rather insolent, it was only the strength of my love for you which made me discourteous.’ But the antithesis is merely verbal, and it produces Hamlet’s tart rejoinder.”

1982 ard2

ard2 ≈ crg1 without attribution

2219-20 if . . . vnmannerly] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “He makes a merit of offence: if my efforts are too obtrusive, it is my love that makes me gauche.”

1984 chal

chal

2219-20 Wilkes (ed. 1984): “i.e. he excuses his persistence by attributing it to his love.”

1985 cam4

cam4

2219-20 if . . . vnmanerly] Edwards (ed. 1985): “If Hamlet finds this respectful attention bold, he is accusing love of being ill-mannered, because the duty is a matter of love. Hamlet understands the remark perfectly well. What he does not ‘well understand’ is the profession of love, which he thinks false.”

1987 oxf4

oxf4 = kit minus “Hamlet . . . unintelligible.”

2219-20 if . . . vnmannerly] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “i.e. ‘if, in my devotion to your interests, I am too bold in questioning you, it is my love that causes this breach of good manners’ (Kittredge).”

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2 ≈ ard2

2219-20 if . . . unmannerly] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “i.e. if I am too forward in doing what I see as my duty (asking you about your distemper), it is my love for you that causes me to forget my manners.”