Line 2988, etc. - Commentary Note (CN)

Commentary notes (CN):

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Notes for lines 2951-end ed. Hardin A. Aasand

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

2988-9 were two daies old at Sea, a Pyrat of very | warlike appointment gaue

1819 cald1

cald1

2989 appointment] Caldecott (ed. 1819) : “Equipment.”

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1

2989 appointment]

1869 Hall

Hall

2988ff Ere wee . . . ] Ulrici (apud Hall, 1869, p. 35) : <p. 35> “Captured by pirates, he is set on shore in Denmark against his will, and although he seems at last to make up his mind to act, nevertheless, no one of the subsequent events is brought about by his own free volition, or according to his own intention.” </p. 35>

This is Ulrici’s Shakspere’s Dramatic Art,p.220, cited in Hall’s Shaksperean Fly-Leaves.

1872 cln1

cln1

2989 appointment] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “equipment. Compare [R2 3.5.53 (1637)]: ‘That from this castle’s tatter’d battlements Our fair appointments may be well perused.’”

1877 v1877

1877 v1877

v1877: Coleridge (see n. 2986-7)

2988 Pyrat] Coleridge (apud Furness, ed. 1877): “This is almost the only play of Sh. in which mere accidents, independent of all will, form an essential part of the plot;—but here how judiciously in keeping with the character of the over-meditative Ham., ever at last determined by accident or by a fit of passion.”

1881 hud3

hud3

2989 appointment] Hudson (ed. 1881): “Appointment, here, is armament, or equipment. Still used thus in military language. Also in ‘a well-appointed house’; meaning, of course, well-furnished, or well-ordered.”

1885 macd

macd

2988 two daies old] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “This gives an approximate clue to the time between the second and third acts: it needs not have been a week.”

1885 mull

mull ≈ standard

2989 appointment]

1909 subb

˙sub ≈ standard +

2989 appointment] Subbarau (ed. 1909): "Cf. ’disappointed’ in I.v.77." allusion to 1.5.77

1919 TLS

Greenwood contra Sargeaunt on R&G; xref

2988 Greenwood (1919, p. 98) thinks that Hamlet arranged for the pirate ship to take him away and to leave Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their fate.: Contrary to Sargeaunt (TLS 1919: p. 83) who says that Hamlet had no justification for killing them [they are included in Horatio’s general description of events (3876-80)], Greenwood says Hamlet saw them as co-conspirators with the king, who knew that they were on an embassy that was to lead to Hamlet’s death. Greenwood cites their commission (2276), their willingness to do the king’s bidding (2279-82), Hamlet’s knowledge of them and their purpose and his intention thereto. (2577+1-2577+8).

Ed. note: Greenwood goes beyond the evidence when he says Hamlet arranges for the pirate ship. If so, why doesn’t he say so in telling Horatio the story? 2986-3000; 3561-5

1936 kit1

Kit1 ≈ v1877

2989 appointment] Kittredge (ed. 1936) Glossary)

1938 parc

parc : standard

2989 appointment]

1947 Cln2

Cln2 ≈ Cln1 (minus R2 //)

2989 appointment]

1957 pel1

pel1 : standard

2989 appointment]

1970 pel2

pel2=pel1

2989 appointment]

1980 pen2

pen2 ≈ standard

2989 appointment]

1982 ARD2

ard2

2988 Pyrat] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “The seas round Denmark had plenty of pirate ships both in the pages of Saxo and in Shakespeare’s time. For a possible analogy in Plutarch’s Life of Caesar, see Intro., p. 104.”

2988 Pyrat] Jenkins (ed. 1982, Introduction, 104):<p. 104> “For the episode of the pirates, which neatly tightens the plot by returning Hamlet to Denmark without the digression of English adventures, it is still less necessary to seek a specific source. In tales either of fact or fancy pirates were familiar enough. Bullough cites Sidney’s Arcadia, in which Pyrocles is captured by pirates and afterwards fights alongside them ((I.viii)); but a likelier connection would be with an incident that Shakespeare must recently have come upon in the course of writing Julius Caesar. In the beginning of his Life of Caesar Plutarch tells how Caesar in his youth was captured by pirates and spent thirty-eight days on their ship while his ransom was being procured. They waited on him with muc courtesy and he was merry with them. But, in contrast with Hamlet, the ‘turn’ that Caesar did them was to have them captured and crucified. Whether or not Shakespeare remembered this incident, the ‘mercy’ of his variation ((IV.vi.18-20)) is significant.”</p. 104>

1987 OXF4

oxf4 ≈ standard

2989 appointment]

1988 bev2

bev2 ≈ standard

2989 appointment]

1992 fol2

fol2≈ standard

2989 appointment]

1993 dent

dent ≈ standard

2989 appointment]

dent

2988 two daies old at sea] Andrews (ed. 1989): “had been at sea for two days.”

2000 Edelman

Edelman

2988 Pyrat] Edelman (2000): “The distinction between naval warfare and piracy was so unclear in Shakespeare’s time as to be virtually non-existent [ . . .].

“For the latter part of Elizabeth’s reign, England was in an unofficial naval war, not only with Spain, but all the European powers, in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, and even the Pacific, employing a fleet of over 230 ships, many of them quite small, but 41 of them over 100 tons. They all carried heavy guns— the ‘pirate of very warlike appointment’ [2988] in Hamlet’s letter would be typical of the times. If the ‘pirate’ was English, she would have been financed as a ‘joint-stock’ venture.”

2988 2989

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