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Line 32 - Commentary Note (CN) More Information

Notes for lines 0-1017 ed. Bernice W. Kliman
For explanation of sigla, such as jen, see the editions bib.
32 Mar. Horatio saies tis but our fantasie,1.1.23
32 1920
1723- mtby2
mtby2
32 phantasie] Thirlby (1723-) at 69 refers to 32.
1736 Stubbs
Stubbs
32-9 Horatio . . . appeare] Stubbs (1736, p.8): “These speeches help greatly to deceive us; for they show one of the principal Persons of the Drama to be as credulous, in Relation to the Appearance of Phantoms, as we can be; but that he is at last convinc’d of his Error by the Help of his Eyes. For it is a Maxim entirely agreeable to Truth, if we consider human Nature, that whatever is supernatural or improbable, is much more likely to gain Credit with us, if it be introduced as such, and talk’d of as such by the Persons of the Drama, but at last proved to be true, tho’ an extraordinary Thing, than if it were brought in as a Thing Highly probable, and no one were made to boggle at the Belief of it. The Reason of this seems to be, that we can for once, upon a very great Occasion, allow such an Incident as this to have happen’d, if it be brought in as a Thing of great Rarity; but we can by no means so suspend our Judgment and Knowledge, or deceive our Understandings, as to grant That to be comon and usual which we know to be entirely Supernatural and Improbable.
1769 Mrs. Montagu
Mrs. Montagu
Ed. note: See Drake, below and Ghost doc. in Essays on Hamlet section of hamletworks.org.
1817 Drake
Drake
32 fantasie] Mrs. Montagu (apud Drake, Shakspeare, 1817, 2: 409-10) < p. 409> judges that the poet, by adhering to popular superstition “will augment our pleasure; whether we give reins to our imagination, and, as </ p. 409>< p. 410> spectators, willing yield ourselves up to pleasing delusion [. . . ].” </p.410>
Ed. note: Drake rpt. 1838, p. 537.
1818 Coleridge
Coleridge
32 Coleridge (1818, Lectures, 2:139): Horatio says, It tis but our phantasy and will not let belief take hold of him—preparing us for Hamlet’s after eulogy on him wh as one whose blood and judgement were happily commingled—” [1920].
1843 mLewes
mLewes in knt2 ≈ Stubbs without attribution
32 Horatio . . . vs,] Lewes (1843-): “Preparation for the Ghost: the disbelief of the Audience anticipated, + this belief encouraged.”
1872 cln1
cln1
32 fantasie] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “imagination. Both ‘fantasy’ and ‘fancy’ are commonly used by Shakespeare in this sense. The former is however found in the modern sense of ‘whim,’ ‘caprice,’ in [Oth. 3.3.299 (1934)]: ‘I nothing, but to please his fantasy’.”
1877 v1877
v1877≈ cln1
32 fantasie]
1880 meik
meikcln1
32 fantasie] Meikeljohn (ed. 1880): “Imagination. From Gr. phantasia, the power of making things appear (from phaino-, I make to appear; cogs. are phenomenon and phantasy, which last has been contracted into fancy). S. uses fancy in the same sense. See [TN 1.1.15 (18)]. ‘So full of shapes is fancy, that it alone is high fantastical.’ S. also has both fantasy and fancy in the sense of love.”
1885 mull
mull = cln1 gloss without attribution
32 fantasie]
1891 dtn1
dtn1
32 fantasie] Deighton (ed. 1891): “the fuller form of the word which has now been corrupted into ‘fancy.’”
1903 rlf3
rlf3: standard gloss w new ref. in magenta, including 1H4 ; another meaning xref 2743+55; meaning love MND, AYL
32 fantasie]
Ed. note: See hamletworks Clarke Concordance pp. 249-50
1934 cam3
cam3
32 Wilson (ed. 1934): “Hor., philosopher and student, may be classed as one of the school of Reginald Scot. When he sees the Ghost, of course, his attitude changes. Cf. Lavater, p. xvii, and Intro. pp. l-liii,”
1934 cam3
cam3
32 Wilson (ed. 1934, pp. l-liii) <p. l> discusses the current beliefs about ghosts. Reginald Scot did not believe in them, and Horatio probably represents this view. But this is the exception. James caused Scot’s book to be burnt. Protestants did not believe in the return of departed spirits; any such spirits must be devils or angels in disguise. </p. l> <p. li> Catholics , however, defended the idea of departed spirits returning to ask for prayers. Marcellus represents the simple-minded acceptance of the ghost; Horatio is the Scot-like sceptic; Hamlet is the Protestant at 444-5 and </p. li> <p. lii> in 624 ff . When he speaks with the ghost he believes it is his father but as soon as it leaves he’s back to uncertainty: 778. With ‘O fie’ Hamlet “shuts down the thought of hell; but the thought is there , to prey upon him with added force in moods of depression later: quotes end of 2.2, 1638-45, and in “to be” 1733-4, the undiscovered country &c. And though critics such as Stoll and J. M. Robertson </p. 1ii> <p. liii> condemned the last instance as careless writing, Wilson sees its fit among the rest. </p. liii>
1939 kit2
kit2: standard
32 fantasie] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "imagination."
1947 cln2
cln2cln1 gloss without attribution
32 fantasie]
1947 cln2
cln2cam3 without attribution
32 Rylands (ed. 1947): “Horatio is a student and a scholar. His attitude to ghosts is that of Reginald Scot’s ‘Discourse upon Divels and Spirits’ in The Discovery of Witchcraft, 1584.”
1982 ard2
ard2: //s, Taillepied, Le Loyer, Lavater, Burton, James I, Reginald Scot, Wilson
32 fantasie] Jenkins (ed. 1982) asserts that contemporary belief included the idea that ghost’s could be subjective. He has a long list of references: //s in JC 4.3.274-5 (2290), Mac. 3.4.61ff (1331); Taillepied, chs. 3-5; Le Loyer (Des Spectres, 1586) “distinguishes between a phantom and a spectre. Hence Horatio’s scepticism need not imply that he denies ghosts altogether. Yet that ‘many good and godly men’ held all apparitions to be hallucinations was conceded by Lavater (I. ii). Cf. Burton on spirits (Anat. of Melancholy, I. ii. I (2)), ‘Many will not believe they can be seen.’ This view, called ‘damnable’ by James I, had been maintained in Reginald Scot’s Discovery of Witchcraft (with appendix on ‘Devils and Spirits’), 1584. On the dramatic use Shakespeare makes of conflicting contemporary attitudes to ghosts, see Dover Wilson, WHH, pp. 59 ff.”
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2: standard
32 fantasie]Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006):