Notes for lines 2023-2950 ed. Frank N. Clary
| 2363 Vp sword, and knowe thou a more horrid hent, | 3.3.88 |
|---|
1710 Gildon
Gildon
2363 hent] Gildon (1710, p.lxx: glossary, hent): “took hold of.”
1723- mtby2
mtby2
2363 hent] hint mtby2 conj.
1726 theon
theon: pope1, Ado., WT, JC, Tro., Cym., Rom. //; xrefs.
2363 hent] Theobald (1726, p. 100-2): <p.100> “TIME] This, as I take it, is a
sophisticated Reading, espoused by Mr.
POPE from the more modern Editions. The second
Folio Edition and
Quarto of 1637, both read; ‘
Up, Sword, and know Thou a more horrid HENT;’ The
Editor has taken Notice, at the Bottom of his Page, of this Word, as a
various Reading; but, as I humbly presume, without guessing at the Reason of it. ‘Tis true, there is no such Substantive, I believe, as
Hent; and yet the true Word of the Poet, I am satisfied, lies hid under it, by a slight literal Corruption. Restore it therefore; ‘
Up, Sword, and know Thou a more horrid BENT;’ i.e.
Drift, Scope, Inclination, Purpose, &c. and there is scarce any Word more frequent than This with our Poet, where he has Occasion to express himself in those Senses. (1.)
Ado. [2.3.221-224 (1045-1047)]. ‘
They have the Truth of This from Hero, they seem to pity the Lady: it seems, her Affections have the full BENT.’ </p.100><p.101> (2.)
WT, [1.2.178-180 (261-262)]. ‘
To your own BENTS
dispose you; you’ll be found, Be you beneath the Sky. ‘(3.)
JC, [2.1.209-211 (846-848)]. ‘—
Leave me to work; For I can give his Humour the true BENT
And I will bring him to the Capitol.’ (4.)
Tro., [1.3.251-252 (712-714)]. ‘
I bring a Trumpet to awake his Ear, To set his Sense on that attentive BENT,
And then to speak.’ (5.) Cym., [1.1.12-14 (18-21)]. ‘—
But not a Courtier, (Altho’ theyh wear their Faces to the BENT
Of the King’s Looks;) but hath a Heart that is not Glad at the Thing they scoul at.’ (6.)
Rom. [2.2.143-144 (946-947)]. ‘
If that thy BENT
of Love be honourable, Thy Purpose, Marriage;’ (7.) So twice in
Ham. [2.2.29-31 (1050-1052)]. ‘
—But we Both obey, And here give up ourselves in the full BENT
, To lay our Service at your Feet.’ (8.) And again, [3.2.384 (2255)]. ‘
They fool me to the Top of my BENT. </p.101><p.102>
“I am surpriz’d the Editor could remember this Word from None of these Instances, and a Number more that lie interspers’d in our Poet; especially as it is a Word of his own too in his Preface to the Edition, pag. 4. He hits upon that particular Point, on which the BENT of each Argument turns, or the Force of each Motive depends. I did not think, when I began this Work, to collate the more recent Folio Editions, especially the fourth, publish’d in 1685, for I had it not then by Me; but upon throwing my Eye over it lately, I find it is there printed, as I have here corrected it—a more horrid BENT. I thought my self obliged to make this Confession, that I might not be accus’d of Plagiarism, for an Emendation which I had made, before ever I saw a single Page of That Book.”
1733 theo1
theo1: pope
2363 hent] Theobald (ed. 1773): “bent]] This is a sophisticated Reading, warranted by none of the Copies of any Authority. Mr. Pope says, I read conjecturally; ‘—a more horrid Bent.’ I do so; and why? the two oldest Quarto’s, as well as the two elder Folio’s, read;—a more horrid Hent. But as there is no such English Substantive, it seems very natural to conclude, that, with the Change of a single Letter, our Author’s genuine Word was, Bent; i.e. Drift, Scope, Inclination, Purpose, &c. I have prov’d his frequent Use of this Word, in my SHAKESPEARE restor’d; so shall spare the Trouble of making the Quotations over again here. I took Notice there, that throwing my Eye casually over the fourth Folio Edition, printed in 1685, I found my Correction there anticipated. I think myself obliged to repeat this Confession, that I may not be accused of Plagiarism, for an Emendation which I had made before ever I saw a single Page of that Book.”
BWK notes of this comment: “Theobald emended to bent, Warburton in the 13 cavils (W.b.75—19/142) objected to bent and wanted hest, but in warb he has bent, with no attribution to theo and no explanation. According to HHF, bent was the word in F4, Han, and Warb. But in theo1 1.383, MM “Have hent the gates” TLN 2342, 4.6, he wants to keep hent and says: To hend, Skinner and some other Glossaries tell us, signifies, to seize, lay hold on with the hand; but we find by Spenser, in his Colin Clout, that it likewise signifies, to surround, encircle; (in which Sense it is used here.)
1733- mtby3
mtby3: xref.
2363 hent] Thirlby (ms. notes in Theobald, ed. 1733): a participle in the quoted passage] ...And round about with mighty white Rocks hend.. . . . Also has x-ref to iii.120.2-3 and notes that there the word is hent not hend, as is clear from the quotation, ‘Jog on...And merrily hent the Stile-a’”
Transcribed by BWK.
mtby3
2363 hent] Thirlby (1733-): “when the best hint was giv’n him he not took’t (ita T’s x conjectur a mea) Or did it from his t-ith [?]. v. 157.22”
Transcribed by BWK. who adds: “I am not able to make sense of this note, though he seems to be saying that Thirlby suggested hint but Theobald did not use it.”
1740 theo2
theo2 = theo1 (hent) minus “I have prov’d . . . . Book.”
1745 han2
han2
2363 hent] Hanmer (ed. 1745, glossary): “To hend, to seize, to lay hold of; also, to hem in, to surround.”
1755 Johnson Dict.
Johnson Dict. ≈ han
2363 hent] Johnson (1755) to hend] : 1. “To seize; to lay hold on.”
2. “ To crowd; to surruond.”
1765 john1
john1/john2 = theo2 + expansion (incl. ref. to han. warb)
2363 hent] Johnson (ed. 1765): “This reading is followed by Sir T. Hanmer and Dr. Warburton; but Hent is probably the right word. To hent is used by Shakespeare for to seize, to catch, to lay hold on. Hent is therefore, hold, or seizure. Lay hold on him, sword, at a more horrid time.”
1773 v1773
v1773 = john1/john2
1774 capn
capn
2363 hent] Capell (1774, 1:1:139): “the corrected word ‘hint,’ l. 12, signifies—call to action, or cue; and, when combin’d with it’s epithet—a cue of horror: bent—a word the moderns have chosen, taking it from the last sorry folio [meaning F4],—is either a slip of the press, or a compositor’s criticism.”
capn
2363 hent] Capell (1774, 1:1: glossary, hent): “to hend, Part. hent (WT 61, 16 [1792]: MM 79, 25. 2342],) to reach, to make towards; properly,—catch. v. Skinner, in —“hent.”
1784 ays1
ays1 = 
john minus han,
warb
2363 hent] Ayscouth (ed. 1784): “Hent is hold, or seizure. Lay hold on him, sword, at a more horrid time.”
1790 mal
mal ≈ john
2363 hent] Johnson (apud ed. 1790): “To hent is used by Shakespeare for to seize, to catch, to lay hold on. Hent is therefore, hold, or seizure. Lay hold on him, sword, at a more horrid time. Johnson.”
This note abbreviates john1 addendum in theo2.
mal: xref.
2363 hent] Malone (ed. 1790): “See Vol. II. p. 108. n. 2. Malone.”
1791- rann
rann
2363 hent] Rann (ed. 1791-): “season wherein to lay hold on him.—hint—cue of horrour.”
Embedded variant in italics is conjectural emendation introduced by cap.
1793 v1793
v1793 = mal
Adjusted cross-ref for edition, without attrib. to Malone: “See Vol. IV. p. 354, n. 6. STEEVENS."
1803 v1803
v1803 = v1793
Adjusted cross-ref for edition: “See Vol. VI. p. 381, n. 3. STEEVENS."
1819 cald1
cald1: MM //
2363 hent] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Task, undertaking. In the sense of ‘seize or occupy,’ the verb occurs in MM ‘Have hent the gates.’ [4.6.14 (2342)]. Friar Pet.”
1821 v1821
v1821 = v1813 minus xref.
1822 Nares
Nares
2363 hent] Nares (1822, glossary: hent): “is evidently put for hold or opportunity.”
1826 sing1
sing1 ≈ john1 without attribution
2363 hent] Singer (ed. 1826): “Shakespeare has used the verb hent, to take, to lay hold on, elsewhere; but the word is here used as a substantive, for hold or opportunity.”
1832 cald2
cald2 = cald1 + magenta underlined.
2363 hent]
Caldecott (ed. 1832): “
i.e. have a more fierce, rash or headlong grasp or purpose. ‘Hyntyn or henten, rapio, arripio.’ Prompt. Parvul. Hent, Henten, Hende, arripere: hendan, A. S. Prehendere. from Hand, Manus. Junii Etymolog. Fo. 1743. In the sense of ‘seize or occupy,’ the verb occurs in
MM ‘Have
hent the gates.’ [4.6.14 (2342)], Friar Pet.”
1833 valpy
valpy
2363 hent] Valpy (ed.1833): “Seisure, surprisal.”
1841 knt1 (nd)
knt1
2363 hent] Knight (ed. [1839] nd): “To hent, is to seize; ‘know thou a more horrid hent,’ is, have a more horrid grasp.”
1843 col1
col1
2363 hent] Collier (ed. 1843): “We have previously had ‘hent’ used as a verb. See Vol. ii. p. 87 [MM 4.4.16 (2342)], and Vol. iii. p. 492 [WT 4.3.124 (1792)], and there it meant to seize or to take: substantively it is therefore seizure.”
1847 verp
verp= knt1 without attribution
1848 Strachey
Strachey
2363-70 Strachey (1848, p. 72): “Though assuredly Hamlet would not have deliberately done anything to cause his uncle’s damnation, he gratifies his bitter hatred by saying that he desires, and will contrive it: he gives way (as I have observed on another occasion) to evil inclinations, instead of strictly restraining them, because he feels that they are not so bad, that is, so strong, as to lead to guilt of action. To avenge his father’s murder with his own hand, is, under all the circumstances of country, age, form of government, and social condition, in which Shakespeare has laid the scene of the play, a judicial act required of him by the strictest laws of public and private duty: but with the universal infirmity and sinfulness of human nature, he mixes up more or less of bad feelings with the performance of his duty. He would be an angel, not a man, if he did not.”
1854 del2
del2
2363 Vp sword] Delius (ed. 1854): “up, sword = hinein, Schwert—d. h. in die Scheide, wie to put up einstecken heisst - und lerne eine grauenhafteren Griff kennen, d. h. du sollst zu grauenhafterer Zeit edler Absicht ergriffen werden. [up, Sword means in, sword —i. e. into the scabbard, as to put up means to put away—and learn a more grisly grasp; i. e., you should be grasped with a noble purpose at a more grisly time.]
del2 ≈ john
2363 hent] Delius (ed. 1854): “to hend = ergreifen, fassen; davon das Substantiv hent.” [to hend means to take, seize; from it comes the noun hent (meaning a grasping or purpose).
1855 Wade
Wade
2363-70 Vp sword . . . goes] Wade (1855, p. 11): “This talk, it must be confessed, is horrible enough; and did we not feel very sure that it is talk only, and not resolve, we might begin to doubt whether Hamlet and his worthy uncle were not ‘birds of a feather.’ But we already know him well, and estimate accordingly the mere convulsive energy of a declamatory rage, which has, certainly, ‘No relish of salvation in’t.’”
1856 HUD1 (1851-6)
hud1: contra john; Coleridge; ≈ col1 (WT //)
2363 hent] Hudson (ed. 1851-6): “That is, more horrid seizure, grasp, or hold. Hent was often used as a verb in the same sense. See WT [4.3.124 (1792)], note 19.—Dr. Johnson and others have exclaimed against what Hamlet here says, as showing a thorough-paced and unmitigable fiendishness of spirit. Coleridge much more justly regards the motives assigned for sparing the king, as ‘the marks of reluctance and procrastination.’ At all events, that they are not Hamlet’s real motives, is evident from their very extravagance. With the full conviction that he ought to kill the king, he joins a deep instinctive moral repugnance to the deed: and he here flies off to an ideal revenge, in order to quiet his filial feelings without violating his conscience; effecting a compromise between them, by adjourning a purpose which, as a man, he dare not execute, nor, as a son, abandon. He afterwards asks Horatio,—‘Is’t not perfect conscience, to quit him with this arm?’ which confirms the view here taken, as it shows that even then his mind was not at rest on that score. H.”
1857 fieb
fieb
2363 hent] Fieb (ed. 1857): “To hend is used by Shakespeare for, to seize, to catch, to lay hold on. Hent is, therefore, hold, or, seizure. Lay hold on him, sword at a more horrid time, know thou a horrid purpose.”
1858 col3
col3 ≈ col1 (incl. MM, WT //s)
2363 hent] Collier (ed. 1858): “We have previously had ‘hent’ used as a verb. See MM [4.6.14. (2342)], and WT [4.3.124 (1792)], Vol. iii. p. 68: there it meant to seize or to take: substantively it is therefore the seizure of an opportunity.”
1860 stau
stau
2363 knowe . . . hent] Staunton (ed. 1860): “That is, and feel or be conscious of a more horrible purpose.”
1861 wh1
wh1 ≈ Nares
2363 hent] White (ed. 1861): “i.e., a more horrid having, taking, opportunity.”
1862 cham
cham ≈knt1 + magenta underlined
2363 hent] Carruthers & Chambers (ed. 1862): “seized, taken hold of. Sax. hende.”
1864a glo
glo ≈ col3
2363 hent] Clark and Wright (ed. 1864a [1865] 9: glossary, Hent): “v.t. to seize, take. MM. [4.6.14. (2342)]; WT. [4.3.124 (1792)].”
1866 ktlyn
ktlyn ≈ cham minus Sax. etym.
2363 hent] Keightley (ed. 1866, glossary): “to seize or take possession, to take hold of.”
1866- Wood
Wood
2363-70 Vp sword . . . goes] Wood (Hamlet. Questions and Notes, n.d., p. 26): “This abstention from killing the King was a part of Hamlet’s weakness. His excuses that revenge performed while the criminal was engaged at prayer would be ‘hire and salary, not revenge,’ and that to postpone the deed would but prolong his sickly days, were excuses merely. The real reasons for the hesitation lay in Hamlet’s irresolution and ‘poor validity of purpose.’”
1868 c&mc
c&mc ≈ glo
2363 hent]
Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868, rpt. 1878): “‘Seizure,’ ‘capture.’ See Note 74,
MM [4.6.14. (2342)] and Note 55, “
WT [4.3.124 (1792)].”
1869 tsch
tsch: Mueller
2363 knowe] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “Mache dich bekannt mit, wie im Mhd. do ward im weinen bekant. Ueber hent M. I. 339.” [You should know, as in Middle High German do ward im weinen bekant. About hent see M. I. 339.]
1869 Romdahl
Romdahl
2363 hent] Romdahl (1869, p. 35): “opportunity. A.S. hentan, O.E. henten; aferwards hend, or hent, pret. hent part. hent = to take, or hold; hence the noun hent (hold, opportunity), which very probably is a GREEK HERE.”
1870 rug1
rug1
2363 a more horrid hent] Moberly (ed. 1870): “A more fell grasp on this victim; the verb ‘to hend’ is connected to the words hand, handle, &c.”
1872 hud2
hud2 = hud1 minus john1, Coleridge, WT//
2363 hent] Hudson (ed. 1872): “That is, more horrid seizure, grasp, or hold. Hent was often used as a verb in the same sense.”
1872 cln1
cln1 ≈ col3 (WT, MM //s)
2363 hent] Clark and Wright (ed. 1872): “The substantive ‘hent’ does not seem to occur elsewhere. . . . ‘Hent,’ as a verb, occurs in WT [4.3.124 (1792)], and in MM [4.6.14. (2342)], meaning to seize, to occupy. If therefore the text be right, ‘hent’ is equivalent to ‘grip,’ and Hamlet, as he leaves hold of his sword, bids it wait for a more terrible occasion to be grasped again.”
1876 Davies
Davies: col
2363 Davies, J. (
N&Q, 5th series, V, Mar. 17, 1876, p. 201): <p.201> “This is generally explained to mean ‘take thou a more horrid grasp, or seizure, or opportunity,’ from A.-S.
hentan, to seize. But this explanation is not very satisfactory. Hamlet might grasp his sword, or choose another opportunity for his revenge, but such terms cannot be applied to the sword itself, except by a very harsh metaphor. It seems more probable that Shakspeare uses the word in a sense which is common in some of the western counties, where it means the course, or passage, of the ploughshare up the furrow. This is the W.
hynt. O.W.
hent (
Zeuss, 100, 101), a way, a course, corresponding to the Latin
sent-is and the Gothic
sinths. The words of Hamlet would convey to the mind of a West-countryman a very forcible image; the sword in its shearing through the flesh being compared to the passage of the ploughshare through the earth. One of the quartos reads, ‘Take thou a more horrid
hint,’ and hence some editors have explained the word as meaning a suggestion. This is, however, only another form of
hent, which is sometimes written
hint (
Zeuss, 22). This form is used by Shakspeare in another passage:—[quotes ‘Our
hint of woe,’ [
Tmp. 2.1.3 (677)]. Mr. Collier says that ‘Gonzalo seems to call it a
hint of woe, in reference to its comparative triflingness and ordinary occurrence.’ But a disastrous shipwreck, in which he and his companions had barely escaped with life, would hardly be called a mere hint of war, in this sense of the word. A more satisfactory explanation is that Gonzalo meant to say, ‘Our course, or manner, of woe is common.’” </p.201>
1877 v1877
v1877 ≈ Theobald, Warburton (both in Nichols), cap, cald1, wh1, stau, Dyce (Gloss.), cln1, rug, J. Davies
2363 hent]
Furness (ed. 1877): “
Theobald (Nichols’s
Illust. ii, 572): We must either restore
bent or
hint. [Not repeated in his ed.]
Warburton (Nichols’s
Illust. ii, 648): The true word is plainly
hest, command. [Not repeated in his ed.] As these conjectures are found in the private correspondence between Warburton and Theobald,
Capell cannot be accused of plagiarism for having adopted
hint in his text.
Johnson: To ‘hent’ is used by Sh. for to
seize, to
catch, to
lay hold on. ‘Hent’ is therefore
hold, or
seizure. ‘
Lay hold on him, sword, at a more horrid time.’
Caldecott: ‘Have a more fierce, rash, or headlong grasp or purpose.’ ‘
Hyntyn or
hentyn, rapio, arripio.’ —
Prompt. Parv.
White: ‘A more horrid having, taking, opportunity.
Staunton: ‘Feel or be conscious of a more terrible purpose.’
Dyce (
Gloss.) : A hold, an opportunity to be seized.
Clarendon: Equivalent to
grip. Hamlet, as he leaves hold of his sword, bids it wait for a more terrible occasion to be grasped again.
Moberly: A more fell grasp on the villain.
John Davies (
N. & Qu., ii March,
1876): More probably here used in a sense common in some of the western counties, meaning the
course or
passage of the ploughshare up the furrow. This is the W.
hynt, O.W.
hent (
Zeuss,
100-101), a way, a course; compare Lat.
sent-is, Gothic
sinths. Hamlet’s words would convey to the mind of a West-countryman a very forcible image; the sword, in its shearing through the flesh, being compared to the passage of a ploughshare through the earth.”
1877- Fleay
Fleay: xref.
2363-70 Vp sword . . . goes] Fleay (n.d., p. 94): “Had [Hamlet} forgotten self in the task imposed on him he would probably have succeeded; but the very completeness of his scheme is his cause of failure. Not that as the critics tell us he should have killed Claudius in his prayers; not that his hesitation then is an instance of imbecility or procrastination. The revenge he needed was ‘an eye for an eye: and as his father was sent to his account unhouselled and unannealed (see n. [1.5.77 (762)]), justice required that Claudius should in like manner die in his sins. The feeling is not that of a fiend but that of ‘nature’s savage’: not to be wondered at in a half-trained, hot-blooded youth.”
1877 neil
neil: warb, theo, F4 (variants) for hent
1877 col4
col4 ≈ Nares
2363 hent] Collier (ed. 1877): “Opportunity, occasion.”
1877 Gervinus
Gervinus
2363-70 Gervinus (1877, p. 578): “When he finds his uncle kneeling in prayer, he will not kill him lest he should send the penitent to heaven; when, according to his propensity to neglect the near duty and to consider the remote one, and incapable of his own revenge, he wishes, as it were, to take upon himself the vengeance of God, does he not, in order to find excuse for his inaction, abandon himself to a refinement of wickedness and cruelty, such as before he would not have endured even in his thought.”
1878 rlf1
rlf1: john, Schmidt; ≈ cln1 (WT,
MM //s
), Chaucer analogue;
rug1, cln1
2363 hent]
Rolfe (ed. 1878): “Hold, seizure (Johnson and
Schmidt). No other example of the noun has been found, but the verb (= take) occurs in
WT [4.3.124 (1792)], and
MM. [4.6.14 (2342)]. Cf. Chaucer,
C. T. 700: "till Jhesu Crist him hente," etc.
A more horrible hent = ‘a more fell grasp on the villain’ (M.), or ‘a more terrible occasion to be grasped’ (Wr.).”
1881 hud3
hud3 ≈ hud1
2363 hent] Hudson (ed. 1881): “Hent, both noun and verb, was used in the sense of seizure, grasp, or hold. Here it has the kindred sense of purpose.”
1883 wh2
wh2: wh1 + magenta underlined
2363 a more horrid hent] White (ed. 1883): “a having, or opportunity, of a more horrid sort. It has been objected by some who vainly assume that Hamlet was meant for a perfect and altogether admirable man that this speech is unworthy of him. But it has no quality about it of good or bad in relation to malignancy. It is merely a procrastinating fetch of Hamlet’s, a subtle manifestation of that intellectual dawdling and paltering to which he confesses to himself that he is wont.”
1885 macd
macd
2363 hent] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “grasp. This is the only instance I know of hent as a noun. The verb to hent, to lay hold of, is not so rare. ‘Wait till thou be aware of a grasp with a more horrid purpose in it.’”
1887 Mackay
Mackay ≈ rlf1 (WT //); Halliwell (Arch. Dict.)
2363 hent] Mackay (1887, glossary, hent): “This word is used by Shakspeare in two very different senses. Autolycus sings in the WT [4.3.124 (1792)]—‘Jog on, jog on the footpath way, And merrily hent the stile-a; A merry heart goes all the day, Your sad one tires in a mile-a.’ Here the word seems to be a corruption of hand or handle, in the sense of taking hold of, in which it again occurs in a manuscript quoted by Mr. Halliwell in his Archaic Dictionary,—‘The steward by the throte he hente.’ Lydgate has henter, a holder, a seizer, a grappler. But when Shakespeare makes Hamlet say, when he will not have the king slain at his prayers:—[quotes 2362-4] the word cannot be derived from the same source. The Teutonic gives no clue to the meaning in the latter sense, but the Gaelic supplies sannt, aspirated into hannt. In Irish and Scottish Gaelic sannt, or hannt, signifies purpose, inclination, desire, intention. This exactly meets the senes of the word as employed by Hamlet.”
1888 mulls
mulls: cln1, warb, cap, theo, and rug; also H5, KL, MM, and WT //s; also Milton, Dryden, and Pitt analogues
2363 Mull (1888, pp. 13-14): <p.13> “i.e. ‘watch thou a more gross occupation.’ We must here render ‘horrid’ in its primary meaning as
rugged: the King, by confession, prayer, and repentance, is
smoothing,
making easy, his way to heaven, he is ‘purging his soul,’ he is ‘fit and season’d for his passage,’ Hamlet says, ‘the King ‘took my father
grossly,’ when in the rugged and thorny paths of sinful indulgence: I will take my uncle when he is in some
gross =
rugged occupation, that has no relish of salvation in it.’ See
H5 [3.6.77 (1524)], ‘a horrid suit of the camp;’ and ‘Comus,’ 429, ‘shagged with horrid (ragged) shades;’ also, Dryden, ‘horrid with fern.’ In
Lr. [3.4.46 (1699)], ‘Since I was man, Such sheets of fire, such bursts of horrid thunder, Such groans of roaring wind and rain,’ we have ‘wind’ qualified by ‘roaring;’ a fit epithet is similarly applied to ‘thunder,’ that of
rugged.
“Pitt, in a speech on the American War, said, ‘The smoothness of flattery cannot now avail—cannot save us in this rugged (horrid) and awful crisis.’
“The use of ‘hent’ as
occupation is clear from the context, ‘When he is drunk, asleep,’ &c.; and so previously, ‘When he is doing what is fit to season him, that is not the
occupation,’ &c. See
MM [4.4.14 (2342)], ‘The citizens have
hent (occupied) the gates.’ Also ‘
WT [4.3.124 (1792)]. Autolycus sings, ‘Jog on, jog on, the foot-path way, And merrily hent the stile-a.’ i.e. occupy oneself in leaping over the stiles—not, as Knight </p.13><p.14> and others say, ‘take hold of;’ what merriness would there be in this vague and unintelligible act?
“The Clarendon editors reproduce some suggestions which have been made to clear up what is thought to be obscure, and alterations made in the text that is certainly pure: they may be compared with my rendering: ‘The fourth folio substituted “bent” for “hent,” and a late quarto, that of 1676, “time.” Warburton conjectured “hest,” and Capell adopted Theobald’s guess “hint;”’ they then remark, ‘If the text b e right, “hent” is equivalent to grip, and Hamlet, as he leaves hold of his sword, bids it wait for a more terrible occasion to be grasped again.’ I submit that gross occupation, not ‘terrible occasion,’ is the fit and apt rendering; and that the text is not corrupt.
“The Rugby editor’s rendering is, ‘a more fell grasp on the villain,’ which is an elaboration of the accepted misinterpretation.” </p.14>
1888 Morgan
Morgan: Becket analogue
2363 Vp sword . . .
hent]
Morgan (1888, p. 106): <p.106> “Hamlet drops his point because King Claudius is at his prayers, and the prince will not run the risk of having England (that is his Denmark) take its priest’s cue and canonize a sovereign slain, like Becket, at the altar.” </p.106>
1889 Barnett
Barnett
2363 hent] Barnett (1889, p. 50): “hest and hint have been conjectured.”
1890 irv2
irv2: Dyce (Glossary), cln1; contra theo; contra warb
2363 hent] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “Hent is used as a verb in MM [4.6.14 (2342)], and in wt 4.3.133 [1792]; only here as a noun. In the latter passage, ‘And merrily hent the style-a,’ the word seems to be used in the sense of ‘lay hold of,’ ‘seize’ (and thus clear the stile), as in Chaucer, Prologue, line 638: ‘til Jhesu Crist him hente’ (spoken of Saint Peter’s attempt to walk upon the water). Here, then, it may mean a hold or grip. Dyce in his Glossary explains hent, ‘a hold, an opportunity to be seized,’ and the Clarendon Press edd. say: ‘Hamlet, as he leaves hold of his sword, bids it wait for a more terrible occasion to be grasped again.’ Theobald conjectured that hent might be a misprint for hint; and Warburton considered the word to be plainly hest. The latter is too rash a conjecture, and the former makes very bad poetry.”
1891 dtn
dtn
2363 Vp sword] Deighton (ed. 1891): “return to your sheath; suiting the action to the word.”
dtn
2363 and know . . . hent] Deighton (ed. 1891): “and wait to seize a more terrible opportunity.”
dtn
2363 hent] Deighton (ed. 1891): “is variously explained as grasp, opportunity, grip; it is the participle of O. E. henten, A. S. hentan, to snatch, seize.”
1899 ard1
ard1 ≈ cald1 (incl. MM //) without attribution; F4, Warburton letter conj. + magenta underlined
2363 hent] Dowden (ed. 1899): “seizure, grip. The verb is found in MM [4.6.14 (2342)], and WT [4.3.124 (1792)], meaning seize, take. F4 has bent, followed by several editors. Warburton conjectured hest, command, Why has no ‘ingenious gentleman’ suggested hunt, pursuit, and adduced instances of the use of the hunting-sword in breaking-up the quarry?”
1903 rlf3
rlf3 ≈ rlf1 minus John, Schmidt, Chaucer analogue
; cln1
1905 rltr
rltr: See Davies (v1877)
2363 hent] Chambers (ed. 1905): “course.”
1906 nlsn
nlsn: standard
2363 hent] Neilson (ed. 1906, glossary): “sb., hold, occasion of being seized.”
1907 Werder
Werder
2363-70 Vp sword . . .
goes]
Werder (1907; rpt. 1977, pp.145-6): <p.145 > “How </p.145> <p.146> does the King fall at last? He so falls that we see that every other way would be more lenient, would be ‘hire and salary, not revenge,’ not the vengeance to which the criminal is condemned. He does not finally fall in a sudden fit, not while drunk, asleep, or gaming—then his fate would have been all too easy—but he falls in fact when in the very act of doing what puts him so utterly beyond all hope of salvation that even from the threatening words of Hamlet, terrible as they are, we neither can nor should, when he utters them, anticipate the catastrophe.” </p.146>
1913 tut2
tut2: OED (Holland’s Livy)
2363 a more horrid hent] Goggin (ed. 1913): “usually explained as ‘a hold for a more horrible purpose,’ or ‘a more terrible occasion to be grasped again.’ The noun hent is not found elsewhere in Shakespeare, but the verb occurs twice in the sense of ‘seize, take.’ The N.E.D. [OED] quotes from Holland’s translation of Livy (1600) ‘So (they) put the consull out of his hent,’ where hent, being for Latin consilia, obviously means ‘design,’ ‘intention,’ i.e. ‘that which is grasped by the mind.’ This meaning would make good sense here. Or hent may be for hint, which usually in Shakespeare means ‘opportunity, occasion.’”
1929 trav
trav: OED; xref.
2363 hent]
Travers (ed. 1929): “may be the noun corresponding to a verb of the same form used elsewhere by Shakespeare twice; the meaning would then be
grasp, in the literal sense. It has been suggested, however, that the acceptation is figurative (i. e. what is grasped mentally intention,
design), as in one contemporary passage given by
NED [
OED]. A third authoritatively recognised possibility is that ‘hent’ here = ‘hint,’ in its most frequent sense with Sh., occasion,
opportunity. The physical directness (cp. 3.4.24 (2404)], p. 149 n. 9) of the first interpretation seems most in keeping with the spirit of the speech.”
1931 crg1
crg1≈ nlsn
2363 hent] Craig (ed. 1931): “seizing; or, more probably, occasion of seizure.”
1934 rid
rid
2363 hent] Ridley (ed. 1934): “(meaning doubtful); grasp, or design, or for ‘hint,’ occasion.”
1934 cam3
cam3: john
2363-70 Vp sword . . . it goes] Wilson (ed. 1934): “Johnson and others have found these lines ‘too horrible to be read or to be uttered.’ They would not have shocked an ordinary Elizabethan; the quiet Kentish gentleman, Iden, expresses very similar sentiments in 2H6 4.10.78-9 [2983-4], while they are scarcely more barbarous than Ham.’s own words at [2.2.579-80 (1619-20)], or than what the K. and Laer. say at [4.7.124-28 (3113-3116)]. Ham., too takes good care that Ros. and Guild. shall be allowed ‘no shriving-time’].”
cam3
2363 hent] Wilson (ed. 1934): “A quibble; v. G.”
1934 cam3 Glossary
cam3: WT, MM, Oth. //s
2363 hent] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary): “(sb.), (a) clutch, grasp (a rare sb. Not found elsewhere in Sh.; more common as a vb.; cf. WT. [4.3.124 (1792)] and MM [4.6.14 (2342)]; (b) quibble on ‘hint’ = opportunity (sp. ‘hent’ in Oth. 1.3.141 (487)].”
1936 cam3b
cam3b=trav
2363-70 Vp sword . . .
it goes] Wilson (ed. 1936): “
Travers aptly quotes [1.2.152 (370)]: ‘Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven.’”
1939 kit2
kit2
2363-70 Vp sword . . . goes] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “See Introduction.”
kit2: john. 2H6, H5 //s; several analolgues in footnote)
2363-7 Vp sword . . .
goes]
Kittredge (ed. 1939, Introduction, pp. xv-xvi): <p. xv> “Manifestly it is out of the question for Hamlet to give the real reason for sheathing his sword; for that would be to make him repudiate the traditional code to which he still subscribes, though he has outgrown its literal savagery. The only excuse or pretext for inaction now must consist in his persuading himself, that after all, the moment is not favourable; and there is but one way in which he can so persuade himself—by proving that, if he strikes now, his vengeance will be ineffectual. Hence we have the diabolical outburst which prompted Dr. Johnson’s famous comment: ‘This speech, in which Hamlet is not content with taking blood for blood, but contrives damnation for the man that he would punish, is too horrible to be read or to be uttered.’
“But these diabolical sentiments are not Hamlet’s sentiments. He does not really postpone his uncle’s death in order that he may consign him to perdition. The speech is merely a pretext for delay. The problem is not, ‘Why does Hamlet entertain such infernal sentiments?’ but rather, ‘How happens it that such a pretext occurs to him?’ And the answer is obvious: Because the views in question accord with an old-fashioned convention with regard to adequate revenge. With this convention the Elizabethan audience was familiar, and it made allowance accordingly; for language means only what it is meant to mean by the speaker and what it is understood to mean by the hearer. Examples in abundance establish the convention. Thus
2H6 [4.10.77-79 (2982-2984)], when that mild and almost idyllic character, Alexander Iden, ‘a poor esquire of Kent that loves his king,’ kills the rebel Cade, he expresses himself in just such terms: ‘Die, damned wretch, the curse of her that bare thee! And as I thrust thy body in with my sword, So wish I, I might thrust thy soul to hell!’ </p. xv><p. xvi> And it assumes idiomatic guise when Pistol curses Captain Fluellen: ‘Die and be damn’d! and figo for thy friendship!
H5 [3.6.57 (1504)].1” </p. xvi>
<n1> <p. xvi> “1The fullest expression of this principle occurs in Nashe, The Unfortunate Traveller, 1594) (ed. Grosart, V, 182, 183); cf. Alphonsus (in the Pearson ed, of Chapman, III, 276, 277). See also 2H6 [3.2.225ff. (1930ff.)]; R2 [4.1.25-26 (1948-9)]; Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy, iv, Chorus, 25-48 (ed. Manly, II, 589, 590); 1 Jeronimo, 1, 3, 78-80 (Kyd, ed. Boas, p. 307); Marston, The Dutch Courtezan, iii, 2, 9-12 (ed. Bullen, II, 57, 58; cf. iv, 5, 12-15, II, 80); Webster, The White Devil, v, 1, 67-72 (ed. Lucas, I, 166); Machin, The Dumb Knight (Collier’s Dodsley, IV, 428); Ford, ‘Tis Pity, v, 4 (ed. Gifford and Dyce, I, 195, 196); Otway, Don Carlos (Works, ed. 1712, I, 133); Shirley, The Cardinal, iv, 1 (ed. Gifford and Dyce, V, 316); Southerne, The Disappointment (Works, ed. 1721, I, 136). Wilson, who cites Iden and compares the conversation of the King and Laertes, oddly enough takes ‘not shriving time allow’d’ (v, 2, 47) as actually a part of Hamlet’s missive dooming Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. See note, p. 285, below.” </p.xvi> </n>
kit2
2363 Kittredge (ed. 1939): “Back, sword, into thy sheath, and be thou seized by me at a more horrid moment—when his death will involve his damnation.”
1947 cln2
cln2: xref.
2363 Vp sword] Rylands (ed. 1947): “But Claudius had contrived the same damnation for Hamlet’s father and the Prince allows ‘not shriving time’ for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern [5.2.47 (3549)].”
1951 alex
alex ≈ rid
2363 hent] Alexander (ed. 1951): “grasp, or possibly occasion (hint).”
1953 Joseph
Joseph
2363 Joseph (1953, pp. 117-18) <p. 117> disagrees with those who interpret this line as “another instance here of Hamlet’s central inability to act . . . . But if we reconsider the situation . . . Hamlet’s decision to spare [the king] becomes an error of judgment, no more. . . . </p. 117> <p. 118> [When he kneels in prayer] he looks as quiet and innocent as a new-born babe. . . . Elizabethans were constantly exhorted to remember that a man would be judged after death in the state in which he died.” See 2360-2. </p. 118>
1957 pel1
pel1
2363 more horrid hent] Farnham (ed. 1957): “grasping by me on a more horrid occasion.”
1974 evns1
evns1 ≈ kit2
2363 Vp] Evans (ed. 1974): “into the sheath.”
evns1
2363 know . . . hent] Evans (ed. 1974): “be grasped at a more dreadful time.”
1980 pen2
pen2 ≈ evns1
2363 Vp] Spencer (ed. 1980): “(that is, come out of your sheath).”
This is an evident misreading, as Hamlet is putting his sword away into the sheath rather than taking it out.
pen2
2363 a more horrid hent] Spencer (ed. 1980): “a grasp causing more horror (that is, when he is about to execute a more terrible deed of vengeance upon Claudius).”
1982 ard2
ard2
2363 know] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “meet with, have experience of.”
ard2: contra kit, john; OED
2363 hent] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “Best taken as a variant spelling of hint, occasion, opportunity. But since the noun apparently derives from the verb hent, seize, lay hold of, most commentators explain hent here as an act of seizing, while differing on whether it refers to Hamlet’s seizing of the sword (Kittredge) or the sword’s laying hold of the King (Johnson). OED’s alternative suggestion of ‘intention, design’ seems insufficiently attested and also less appropriate: what is to be ‘more horrid’ is not the purpose but the occasion of executing it.”
1984 chal
chal
2363 Vp, sword] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “Up, sword Hamlet sheathes his sword, or ‘puts it up’.”
chal
2363 hent] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “grasp.”
1984 klein
klein: contra Prosser;
contra W.
Richardson, T. Robinson Coleridge, Hazlitt
2363-70 Vp sword . . .
it goes]
Klein (ed. 1984): “E. Prosser is able to produce a long list of condemnations of such murders of the soul; her conclusion, that the reaction Shakespeare intended to produce in his audience was regretful condemnation of Hamlet (
Hamlet and Revenge [Standord, 1967, end edn 1971], pp. 261-75) one cannot share, it cannot stand. The overall course of the tragedy and in particur the ending contradict it. Moreover, the detestable idea is not realized, already a strong mitigating factor, along with the recollection of his father’s fate as related by the Ghost in 1.5. Furthermore, there remains sufficient time to reintroduce ’lighter’ colouring for Hamlet, something to which the ’darkness’ of his antagonists Claudius and Laertes contributes in the last great phase of the play. Neither is one convinced, on the other hand, by Coleridge (
Shakespearean Criticism, Vol. I, p. 29, following W.
Richardson and T. Robinson) and Hazlitt, who only see a self-deceiving veiling of Hamlet’s inability to act. One must consider, besides instances of Hamlet’s ability to decide quickly and act decisively (esp. [1.4.63 (651)], [3.4.24 (2404)], [3.4.131 [2513ff.] and [5.2.280-327 (3745-3810)]) the conceptual impossibility of having Hamlet take revenge at this point in the face of the Pauline interdiction, which the play’s overall strategy alone enables Sh. to circumvent.”
1987 oxf4
oxf4: OED
2363 hent] Hibbard (ed. 1987): hint] “(1) opportunity, occasion (2) grasp. Hint, meaning ‘occasion’, was sometimes spelled hent (from which it seems to have been derived) in the 17th century; while hent could be spelled hint (OED hent sb. and hint sb.). ‘An occasion to be grasped’ would seem to be exactly what Hamlet has in mind.”
1988 bev2
bev2
2363 knowe . . . hent] Bevington (ed. 1988): “await to be grasped by me on a more horrid occasion.”
1993 dent
dent
2363 knowe . . . hent] Andrews (ed. 1993): “Wait till you can seize on a more horrible occasion. Hent combines a verb meaning ‘seize’ and a noun meaning ‘time’ or ‘opportunity’.”
1998 OED
OED
2363 hent] OED (Sept. 14, 1998): “hent, sb. Obs. Also 6 hint. [f. HENT v.]1. The act of seizing; a clutch, grasp. 1500-20 DUNBAR Poems xxxiii. 88 Scho was so cleverous of hir cluik..Scho held thame at ane hint.
“2. fig. That which is grasped or conceived in the mind: conception, intention, design. 1600 HOLLAND Livy XXV. xiv. 557 So [they] put the Consull out of his hent [consilia ducis disjecit]. “It is doubtful whether in the following we have sense 1 or 2, or whether hent is for hint in its Shaksperian sense. “1602 SHAKS. Ham. III. iii. 88 Vp Sword, and know thou a more horrid hent When he is drunke asleepe: or in his Rage.”
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2 ≈ ard2
2363 hent] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “This could mean ’grasp’ (i.e. occasion to be grasped), or it could be a variant of ’hint’ = opportunity. Hamlet presumably sheathes his sword at this point. ”
2363
