Line 3482 - 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.
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Notes for lines 2951-end ed. Hardin A. Aasand
| 3482 {Quee.} <Kin.> This is meere madnesse, | 5.1.284 |
|---|
1730 theol
theol
3482 SP Quee.] Theobald (26 Mar. 1730, [fol. 122v] [Nichols 2:577]): <fol. 122v> “SP. Kin]] The oldest quartos, much more properly in my opinion, give this speech to the QUEEN.” </fol. 122v>
cald1
3482-6 This . . . drooping] Caldecott(ed. 1819 ): “This speech in the 4tos. is given to the Queen, to whose character it is better suited. But if Shakespeare designed it for the King, he may be justified, perhaps, by some such reasoning as this.
“He had told us before, that the King was under extreme apprehension, that the unhappy fate of Ophelia would make the heat of Laertes, which he had then with great difficulty appeased, flame out anew. His speech was therefore the dictate of this apprehension, and did not convey his sentiment. He dissembled: but his interference was more likely to have weight with Laertes than that of the Queen; and, after what had been concerted between him and Laertes, his affected tenderness for
Hamlet would be perfectly understood.”
1832 cald2
cald2 =cald1
3482-6 This . . . drooping]
[1839] knt1 (nd)
knt1 : contra cald2
3482-6 This . . . drooping] Knight (ed. [1839]) disputes CALDECOTT: “We think that the assignment in the folio of so beautiful and tender an image as that of ‘the female dove’ to a man drawn by the poet as a coarse sensualist, proceeds from a typographical error, which not unfrequently occurs.”
Col :
3482-6 Quee. This . . .
drooping]
Collier (1853, p. 430-1): <p. 430>“P. 332 [of COL1]“The whole speech, beginning, ‘This is mere madness,’ [3482-6] is given to the King in the folios; but it is evident that at least part of it could not have been uttered by him: a new prefix, in the margin of the second folio, assigns the three last lines to the Queen, while the two first are continued as </p. 430> <p. 431> before. In the quartos the Queen delivers all five lines; but it seems more likely that the King should interpose to tell the spectators of the funeral,—’This is mere madness; And thus a while the fit will work on him.’ In consistency with this view, the King, just afterwards, desires
Horatio to follow
Hamlet, who had rushed out.”</p. 431>
del2
3482-6 Quee. This . . . drooping]Delius (ed. 1854, Nachwort): “Diese Rede theilt die Fol. dem König, die Qs. der Königin zu. Das Letztere scheint vorzüglicher, obwohl andereseits der Umstand, dass Q.A. die bei ihm entsprechenden Verse ‘Forbear Leartes, now he is mad as is the sea, Anone as milde and gentle as a Dove: Therefore a while give his wilde humour scope.’ dem König zuertheilt, für die Fol. zu sprechen scheint. Das Unsinnigste ist aber jedenfalls das Auskunftsmittle, das der alte corrector ergriffen hat, die beiden ersten Zellen vom König, die drei folgenden, die doch im engsten Zusammenhange damit stehen, von der Königin sprechen zu lassen.” [The Folio gives this speech to the King, which the quartos [give] to the Queen. The latter appears superior,although on the other hand, the [Q1] seems to support the Folio in bestowing the corresponding verse [cites Q1] to the King. The absurdity, in any case, is the resource which the old Corrector has consulted, which assigns both of the first lines to the King, the following three, which surely stand together in intimate connection, to the Queen.”]
1857 elze1
elze1=
3482-6 Quee. This . . . drooping] Elze (ed. 1857): "QB folgg. geben diese Worte nebst den folgg. Versen bis ’will sit drooping’ der Königin, die Fs dagegen dem Könige; MC lässt die ersten anderthalb Verse bis ’will work on him’ vom Könige gesprochen werden, während er das Uebrige der Königin in den Mund legt. Eine solche Zerreissung dieser Rede ist jedoch durchaus gegen Sinn und Zusammenhang. QA theilt zwar die ganze Rede gleichfalls dem Könige zu, allein dafür fehlen in dieser "Ausgabe die im vorigen §. Vom Könige gesprochenen Worte: O! he is mad, Laertes, welche, gleich dem Ausrufe der Königin: For love of God, forbear him, in QA mit der gegenwärtigen Rede verschmolzen sind. Wir folgen daher unbedingt der QB. Die Worte können schon ihrem Inhalte und ihrer Fassung nach nur von der vermittelnden und besänftigenden Königin gesprochen werden, die sich bereits §. 160. In ganz ähnlicher, echt mütterlicher Weise ausgesprochen hat. Der König ist während dessen offenbar bei Seite getreten.—Mommsen P.-S. 23. 37. 350." ["Q2ff gives these words, including the following verse to ’will sit drooping’ to the Queen, the Ff conversely to the King; mCOL1 allows the first 1 1/2 verse lines to ’will work on him’ be spoken by the King, while it places the remaining in the Queen’s mouth. Such a breaking up of this passage in this manner is however against sense and coherency. Q1 in fact assigns the entire passage likewise to the King, yet absent instead in this edition the King’s words in the previous § ’O! he is mad, Laertes,’ which, equal to the queen’s adderess ’for love of God, forbear him," are merged in Q1 with the present speech. We follow thus by all means Q2. The words could have been spoken in the tenor and capacity according to the mediating and soothing Queen, who had spoken in a similarly, real, motherly manner already in §160. The King is during this clearly stepping by her side.—Mommsen P.-S. 23. 37.350."]
1858 col3
col3 : Col
3482-6 Quee. This . . . drooping] Collier (ed. 1858) : ‘ This whole speech in the folio, 1623, is, by some gross blunder, given to the King. In the corr. fo. 1632, the two first lines of it are properly continued to him, and the three last, naturally enough, assigned to the Queen. We have dopted this judicious arrangement.”
1858 Lloyd
Lloyd
3482-6 Quee. This . . .
drooping]
Lloyd (1858,
sig.. [2Q4r ]: <[2Q4r ]> “Whatever energy in action, therefore, is manifested by
Hamlet is in the form of passionate outburst, or reply to sudden provocation, or the impulse of the moment, and his liability to such accesses of excitement apears to have been increased by the excitement of the apparation—itself from another point of view a consequence of excitability, till it carries his mind over the balance that gives fair claim to sane composure. The transitions from excessive violence to perfect repose are throughout remarkable, and the queen herself recognizes in them the recent disturbance of his mind, not its ordinary turn and character:— </p. >[cites 3482-6 erroneously: “His silence will sit
brooding”] </[2Q4r ]> < [2Q4v ]>.
1859 Dyce3
Dyce3 = col3 + magenta underlined
3482-6 Quee. This . . .
drooping]
Dyce (1859, p. 191) : <p. 191>“
Nothing can be more unnatural than this ‘arrangement.’ The five lines evidently belong to the same speaker, viz. the Queen; to whom they are properly assigned in the quartos,—a fact which, for some reason or other, Mr. Collier has not divulged.” </p. 191>
1860 mHal1
mHal1: marks CLN 2072-82 as “all orig[ina]l”, though the 3-text shows that 2072, 2074, 2075, and 2077 correspond to 3482, 3494, 3496, 3498 respectively
1872 del4
del4
3482-6 Quee. This . . . drooping] Delius (ed. 1872): “Diese Rede theilen die Qs. der Königin zu, die Fol. dem König, dem auch Q.A. [Q1] die entsprechenden Verse ihres Textes beilegt.” [“These lines the Qs. assign to the Queen, the Folio to the King, whom also Q1 attributes the corresponding verse of its text.”]
1872 hud2
hud2
3482-6 Quee. This . . . drooping] Hudson (ed. 1872): “The folio gives this speech to the King, in whose mouth it is about as proper as a diamond in a swine’s snout.”
1875 Marshall
Marshall
3482-86 Marshall (1875, pp. 100-01): <p. 100>“The Queen’s description of
Hamlet’s mental condition is very beautiful, and no doubt it is also true; in fact, this is one of the speeches which, like that in wich she describes her son’s grief over the body of Polonius,* is intended to admit us behind the scees, and to reveal to us those phases of
Hamlet’s character which could not be exhiited on the stage.” </p. 100>
<p. 100><n>*See [cites 2610-14]</n></p. 100>
1877 v1877
v1877 ; cald2 (subst) ; knt1 ; Col + magenta underlined
3482-6 Quee. This . . .
drooping]
Furness (ed. 1877) : “
Collier, in his ed. 2, adopted this distribution of the speeches.”
1881 hud3
hud3
3482 meere] Hudson (ed. 1881): “Here, as often, mere is absolute or downright.”
1882 elze2
elze2
3482-6 Quee. This . . . drooping] Elze(ed. 1882): “[Q2] assigns this speech to the Queen, [Q1] and [F1] to the King. The agreement of the two latter copies, however, is of no consequence, as the reading of [Q1] is different and far less unfit in the mouth of the King as that of [F1]; [Q1] reads:—’Forbeare Laertes, now is hee mad, as is the sea, Anone as milde and gentle as a Doue: Therfore a while give his wilde humour scope.’ Here the womanly and, as I may say, motherly tendernesss of the simile is wanting. Under these circumstances there can be little doubt that [Q2] contains the true assignment of these lines. See Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare=Gesellschaft, XVI, 239.”
1885 macd
macd
3482-6 Quee. This . . . drooping] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “I hardly know which to choose as the speaker of this speech. It would be a fine specimen of the king’s hypocrisy; and perhaps indeed its poetry, lovely in itself, but at such a time sentimental, is fitter for him than the less guilty queen.”
1885 mull
mull ≈ standard
3482 meere]
1890 irv2
irv2
3482 Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “This speech is in the Ff. most erroneously given to the King. The Qq. attribute it to the Queen, with whom it is obviously much more in keeping.”
1899 ard1
ard1
3482 Quee. This is meere madnesse]
Dowden (ed. 1899): “Compare this with
Hamlet’s apology to Laertes, [5.2.243 (0000)], spoken at Gertrude’s suggestion.”
1906 nlsn
nlsn
3482 meere] Neilson (ed. 1906, Glossary): “absolute, entire.”
1934 cam3
cam3
3482 Wilson (ed. 1934): “Gertrude pointedly stresses the madness, but the symptoms she describes are genuine enough. Cf. Introd., pp. lxiii-lxiv.”
In this introductory note, Wilson refers to the “convulsive oscillation” in
Hamlet’s mood and Gertrude’s description of it here.
Cam3
3482 meere] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary): “pure, sheer.”
1939 kit2
kit2 ≈ standard
3482 meere]
1957 pel1
pel1 : standard
3482 meere]
1970 pel2
pel2=pel1
3482 meere]
1974 evns1
evns1 ≈ standard
3482 meere]
1980 pen2
pen2 ≈ standard
3482 meere]
1984 chal
chal : standard
3482 meere]
1985 cam4
cam4
3482 Edwards (ed. 1985): “F gives this speech to Claudius, most inappropriately, and is supported by Q1. It looks as though this was an error on the part of the playhouse scribe which was carried over into performance.”
1987 oxf4
oxf4 : contra cam4
3482-6 Hibbard (ed. 1987): “Q2 assigns this speech to the Queen; but the agreement of F and Q1 in giving it to the King seems decisive. Moreover, Claudius has earlier employed much the same image when referring to
Hamlet’s ‘madness’: ‘There’s something in his soul}O’er which his melancholy sits on brood;|And I do doubt the hatch and the disclose|Will be some danger’ ((3.1.165-8)).”
bev2: standard
3482 meere]
1993 dent
dent ≈ standard
3482 meere]
3482