Notes for lines 0-1017 ed. Bernice W. Kliman
| 696 And for the day confind to fast in fires, | 1.5.11 |
|---|
696 697 698 701 710 761 776 1267-73 Aquinas
Aquinas
696 confind . . . away] Thomas Aquinas, 1225-75, has only two pages on Purgatory (the last two) in the Summa theologica (1267-73), wherein he says there is no scriptural justification for the concept but that it is logical that some souls would have some taint of venial sin remaining (even after extreme unction) that would have to be burned away. He discusses whether such saved souls would have been in the same place in Hell as sinners.
1723- mtby2
mtby2
696 Thirlby (1723-): “ƒ.—ing v.v.14. fsql [weak conjecture] confined fast in fire v. 350. 27-30. fsql lasting [Latin] v.v.27.”
Because Thirlby’s cross-references have some relation to fire, he seems to be indicating that fires are a necessary part of the punishment.
1726 theon
theon
696-8 confind . . .
away]
Theobald (1726, pp. 45-7): <p. 45> “Tho’ all the Copies, old and modern, agree, in this Reading, I cannot help suspecting (at least, till I am better informed of the Force of it;) the Expression, —to fast
in Fires. If these are the Poet’s Words, his Meaning in them must be,
to do Penance
in fires: as
Fasting is often a Part of
Penance enjoin’d by the Church for our Sins. But could it be any great
Punishment for a
Spirit, a Being which requires no Sustenance, to
fast?
Or Could
fasting in Fires
burn and
purge away Crimes more effectually, than the not being in such a State of
Abstinence? The Poet certainly, in my Opinion, intends to mix the old
Pagan System here with the more
modern Notion of a
local Purgatory; and to intimate, that Souls are cleansed and purified from their Mortal Stains by the Torment of Fire. The Variation will be but small, to suppose he might have wrote; ‘
And, for the Day confin’d to Roast
in fires;’ Now this takes in all the Ideas necessary to the Punishment, of being
burnt,
scorched,
pain’d, &c. (and the Word, thus meta- </p. 45> <p. 46> phorically used, conveys no meaner an Image than
carving,
scalding,
wringing, and an hundred other
Technical Terms do, frequent in the most elevated Poetry:) But that this was the very Case too of our Ghost, his own Words, in a Speech but just before, sufficiently testify: ‘—
My Hour is almost come When I to sulph’rous and tormenting Flames
Must render up my self.’ And our Poet, I remember, afterwards in this very Play,
pag. 393. again uses the Expression; speaking of
Pyrrhus in the Heat of Rage, and running about the flaming Streets of
Troy: ‘—Roasted
in Wrath and Fire, &c.’ [1503]. There is another fine Passage, that I at present remember, in which our Poet, has touched this Subject of Punishments after Death, and there he does not say the least Word of
fasting in fires: But he makes a Supposition of
fiery Floods, like the
Infernal Rivers, fabled in the old
Heathen Poets, and that the Spirits of the Deceased should be doom’d to
bathe in ’em.
Measure for Measure, pag 363. [quotes 3.1.118-26 (1337-45)]. Now, either to be
roasted, or
bath’d, in Fire, takes in the Idea of being
burnt and
punished; and comes up to the Term among </p. 46> <p. 47> the
Latines,
exurier igni. Whoever will allow
Shakespeare to have imitated any Passages of the
Ancients, will, I believe, be of Opinion with me, that in these two Descriptions he had those fine Verses of
Virgil in his Eye upon this Topick: There are such strokes of Similitude, as well in the Thought as the Diction, of both Poets.
Virg. Æneid. VI.
v. 736, &c. [and he quotes]. Which Passage is thus translated by Mr.
Dryden. ‘
Nor Death it self can wholly wash their Stains; But long-contracted Filth ev’n in the Soul remains. The Reliques of invet’rate Vice
they wear; And Spots of Sin obscene in ev’ry Face appear. For this are various Penances injoin’d; And Some are hung to bleach upon the Wind:
Some plung’d in Waters, Others purg’d in Fires, ’Till all the Dregs are drain’d,
and all the Rust expires.’ ” </p. 47>
1730 mtheo2
mtheo2: theon +
696-8 confind . . . away] Theobald (14 March 1730, fol. 57v; Nichols, Illus. 2: 559): “I had, as you may perceive by Mr. Pope’s Appendix, conjectur’d— ROAST, & back’d it with some show of Authorities: sed Facti panitet.—Indeed for a Spirit to be said to fast in Fires, I can’t help thinking is Nonsense. What if we should read ‘And for the Day Confined Fast in Fires’?”
1733 theo1
theo1: theon; mtheo2; Warburton
696-8 confind . . . away] Theobald (ed. 1733): “I once suspected this Expression—to fast in Fires: because tho’ Fasting is often a part of Penance injoin’d us by the Church Discipline here on Earth, yet, I conceiv’d, it could be no great Punishment for a Spirit, a Being which requires no Sustenance, to fast, But Mr. Warburton has since perfectly convinced me that the Text is not to be disturb’d, but that the Expression is purely metaphorical. For it is the Opinion of the Religion here represented, (i.e. the Roman Catholic) that Fasting purifies the Soul here, as the Fire does in the Purgatory here alluded to: and that the Soul must be purged either by fasting here, or by burning hereafter. This Opinion Shakespeare again hints at, where he makes Hamlet say; ‘He took my Father grossly, full of Bread [2356]. And we are to observe, that it is a common saying of the Romish Priests to their People, ‘If you won’t fast here, you must fast in Fire.’”
Ed. note: In n. 18, Theobald credits Warburton with explaining to him the metaphorical meaning. In warb the latter evidently changed his mind.
1747 warb
warb
696-8 confind . . . away] Warburton (ed. 1747):“We should read too fast in fires. i.e. very closely confined. The particle too is used frequently for the superlative most, or very.”
1752 Anon.
Anon.: warb +
696 Anon. (1752, pp. 16-17): <p. 16> “So all the Editions read, till the last ingenious Editor of
Shakespeare, odserving Deficiency in the Sense, alter’d it to “For the Day
confin’d too fast in Fires.” This is vastly preferable to the common Reading, and yet I cannot think it is the true one. For the Ghost to complain he was
too closely confin’d, seems to carry a Reflection against Providence, as if his Punishment was too severe for his Crimes. Instead of making an Alteration, let us eraze this troublesome Particle, which seems to have been be some Means foisted into the Text, and read the Word
confined at length, without any </p. 16><p. 17> Contraction, and we shall find it answer our Purpose. ‘For the Day,
confined fast in Fires.’ This is agreeable to the Versification of
Shakespeare.” </p. 17>
1752 Dodd
Dodd ≈ theo marked in blue; contra warb, marked in red, without attribution; contra Anon. 1752, marked in green, without attribution
696-8 confind . . .
away]
Dodd (1752, 1: 225-6): <p. 225>“The ghost, in speaking of the horrors of purgatory, says, he was confin’d to
fast in fires: upon which
Mr. Theobald judiciously observes, that it is the opinion of the religion here represented (The Roman catholic) that fasting purifies the soul here, as the fire does in the purgatory, here alluded to: and the soul must be purg’d either by fasting here, or burning hereafter. This opinion, Shakespear again hints at, where he makes Hamlet say, He took my father grosly, full of bread: and we are to observe, it is a common </p. 225><p. 226>
saying of the Romish priests to their people, ‘If you won’t fast here, you must fast in fire.’ —It is a little surprizing any commentator on our author, after this observation, could think of altering the passage and miserably degrading it either into,
‘Confin’d too fast in fires,’ Or
‘Confined fast in fires’: both of which, to every true reader of
Shakespear, carry their own conviction: he could never have exprest himself so meanly on such an occasion, nor would he have made his ghost talk of being confin’d
fast or
too fast in fires:
confin’d in
fires had been enough, and much more poetical, was that all he had to have inform’d us of. The words
burnt and purg’d away, shew the propriety of the reading in the text.” </p. 226>
1752 Grey
Grey: warb +
696-8 confind . . . away] Grey (1752, p.29): “You [warb] would have it read, Confined too fast in Fires; which is right.
“This very Emendation was communicated to Sir Thomas [Hanmer] by a Friend, and though he thought fit to reject it; you, Sir, out of your abundant Good-Nature, (a) have dignified the Emendation, by your Adoption of it.”
<n> (a) “See Mr. Warburton’s Sneer upon Sir Tho. Hanmer, First Part of King Henry IV. Act II. Sc. iii. p. 123. Note.” </n>
Grey fails to identify who communicated the conjecture to han.
1753 blair
blair = warb
696-8 confind . . . away]
1754 Grey
Grey: Smith
696-8 confind . . . away] Smith (apud Grey, 1754, 2:286): “Chaucer has a similar passage, with regard to the punishments of hell. Parson’s Tale, p.193. Mr. Urry’s edition. ‘And moreover, the misese [[uneasiness]] of hell, shall be in defaute of mete and drink: for God saith by Moyses, they shall be wasted with hunger, and the byrdes of hell shall devour them with bitter death; and the gal of the dragon shall be their drink, and the venim of the dragon their morsels.’ Mr. Smith.”
Ed. note:The identification of a Mr. Smith does not help to elucidate who he is.
1765 Heath
Heath: theon, theo
696-8 confind . . .
away]
Heath (1765, pp. 532-3): <p. 532> “I agree with Mr. Theobald, that the word,
fast, in the common reading, </p. 532> <p.533 > ‘
And, for the day, confin’d to fast in fires,’ when applied to a spirit, gives us no very proper idea; but I cannot admit either his emendation, ‘
roast in fires,’ which is mean and burlesque, nor Mr. Warburton’s,
too fast, for,
very fast, which is little better. I should rather suspect the poet might have written, ‘—
to lasting
fires;’ and this reading, is, I think, confirmed by its being so apposite to the line immediately following, ‘
Till the foul crimes, done in my days of nature, Are burnt and purg’d away.’ That is, Fires were to last till the purgation of his crimes was compleated.” </p.533>
mTHEO3FOLc.1 notes Heath’s conjecture but HAN3 does not use it.
1765 john1
john1 = warb +
696-8 confind . . . away] Johnson (ed. 1765): “I am rather inclined to read, confin’d to lasting fires, to fires unremitted and unconsumed. The change is slight.”
Gray (in Johnson, ed. 1765, 8:L12r): “Chaucer has a similar passage, with regard to the punishments of Hell. Parson’s Tale, p. 193, Mr. Urry’s edition. ‘And moreover, the misese [uneasiness) of hell, Shall be in defaute of mete and drink.’ Dr. Gray.”
1765- mDavies
mDavies = Warburton in theo + [with ms. cross-out]
696-8 confind . . . away] Davies (1765-): “By the expression Fast in fires the Author means doing pennance or suffering in the flames—Dr Warburton in his edition with great propriety a note on this passage assures [?] us that it was formerly a common saying of the Romish priests to their Penitents that if they did not fast here they must fast somewhere else.”
1773 v1773
v1773 = warb; john1; Smith +
696-8 confind . . . away] Steevens (ed. 1773) erroneously says that “Chaucer rather means to drop a stroke of satire on sacerdotal luxury, than to give a regular account of the place of future torment. Chaucer is jocular, Shakespeare serious. Steevens.”
1773 v1773
v1773
696-8 burnt and purg’d away] Farmer (apud ed. 1773): “Gawin Douglas really changes the Platonic hell into the ‘punytion of Saulis in ‘purgatory’: and it is observable, that when the ghost informs Hamlet of his doom there . . . the expression is very similar to the bishop’s: I will give you his version as concisely as I can; ‘It is a nedeful thyng to suffer panis and torment—Sum in the wyndis, sum under the water, and in the fire uthir sum: thus the mony vices—Contrakkit in the corpis be done away And purgit’ Sixth Book of Eneados, Fol. p. 191.”
This Farmer note is NOT in the v1773 appendix but in the text. Not in 1765 appendix
1773 gent1
gent1: warb
696-8 confind . . . away] Gentleman (ed. 1773): “It is justly remarked by Warburton, that Shakespeare has adverted to the Roman Catholic purgatory, though the Danes were at that period Pagans; however, we believe, without reference to an intermediate state, he could not have a shadow of excuse for bringing in a ghost.”
1774 gent2
gent2 = gent1
696-8 confind . . . away]
This is a good point. entered into anachronism section of Time in the Play doc.
The note on the speech as a whole is one GENT places at the end of the speech, TLN 708, and I have recorded it there as well, for now.
696-8 confind . . .
away]
Richardson (1774, rpt. 1812, pp. 97-8): <p.97> “The awful horror excited by the foregoing passage, is accompanied by simplicity of expression, and by the * uncertainty of the thing described. The description is indirect; and, by exhibiting a picture of the effects which an actual view of the real object would necessarily produce in the spec- </p.97> <p. 98> tator, it affects us more strongly than by a positive enumeration of the most dreadful circumstances. [Continues with the effect of imagination, which] “travels far into the regions of terror, into the abysses of fiery and unfathomable darkness.” </p. 98>
<p. 97n> * Burke on the Sublime and Beautiful. </p. 97n>
1774 capn
capn: theo without attribution; warb without attribution +
696-8 confind . . . away] Capell (1774, 1:1:127) “i.e. to do penance in fires; a poetical application of what is only a part of the penance, to penance in general: the word was probably chosen for the sake of alliterating; a practice that is not without beauty when judiciously manag’d, as it is in this place, which it causes to move with greater solemnity.”
-1778 mtol2
mtol2
696-8 confind . . . away] Tollet (ms. notes in Heath, p. 533): “Johnson inclines to this alteration [lasting] and says the change is slight. Chaucer has a similar passage with regard to the punishments of hell in the Parson’s Tale, p. 193 Mr. Urry’s Edition, ‘and moreover the misese (uneasiness) of hell Shall be in defaute of mete and drink.’ Dr Grey.”
mtol2
696-8 confind . . . away] Tollet (ms. notes in heath, 1765, pp. 532-3): “Thomas a Kempis book 1.c.24 says the kinds and quality of the pains of hell shall be suited to the sins of each particular person. The glutton and the drunkard shall be gnawed with insatiable hunger, and parched with unquenchable thirst. Perhaps Perhaps [sic] in conformity to some such old theological notion, and in practical justice, Shakespeare makes Hamlet’s father fast in purgatory, for his offence was fullness of bread or gluttony.”
1778 v1778
v1778 = v1773 +
696 confind . . . fires] Steevens (ed. 1778): “Nash, in his Pierce Penniless’s Supplication to the Devil, 1595, has the same idea: ‘Whether it be a place of horror, and darknesse, where men see meat, but can get none, and are ever thirsty, &c.’ Before I read the Persones Tale of Chaucer, I supposed that he meant rather to drop a stroke of satire on sacerdotal luxury, than to give a serious account of the place of future torment. Chaucer, however, is as grave as Shakespeare. So likewise at the conclusion of an ancient pamphlet called The Wyll of the Dewyll, bl[ack] l[etter] no date: ‘Thou shalt lye in frost and fire With sicknesse and hunger; &c. Steevens.”
1780 malsi
malsi
696-8 confind . . . away] Malone (1780) 1:352 “To follow Farmer’s note [see above, in v1773]— Shakspeare might have found this expression in the Hystorie of Hamblet, bl[ack] let[ter] F 2. edit. 1608. ‘He set fire in the foure corners of the hal, in such sort, that of all that were then therein not one escaped away, but were forced to purge their sinnes by fire.’ Malone.”
1784 Davies
Davies ≈ mDavies: Warburton in theo without attribution +
696 fast in fires]
Davies (1784, 3:19-20): <p.19 > “By
fasting in fires, we are to understand the punishment of purgatory, or the purification of the soul by fire. I have somewhere read, that it was formerly an usual threat, of the Roman Catholic priests to their penitents, that, if they did not fast here, they must in a worse place.— </p. 19> <p.20 >
The word fast stands here, by metonymy, for punished.” </p.20 >
1785 v1785
v1785 = v1778 + Whalley see 697-9.
1785 Mason
Mason
696 confind . . . fires] Mason (1785, “This passage requires no amendment.—As spirits were supposed to feel the same desires and appetites they had on earth, to fast might be considered as one of the punishments inflicted on the wicked.”
1787 ann
ann = v1785 only Smith, Steevens, with Whalley in 698
696 confind . . . fires]
1790 mal
mal: Smith on Chaucer, Steevens as in v1778
696 confind . . . fires]
So we see how the earlier commentators drop out, as does emendation. MAL does not keep his note from MALSI here but places it with 698
1791- rann
rann ≈ theo without attribution; Davies without attribution
696-8 confind . . . away] Rann (ed. 1791-): “to do penance in fires: fasting purges the soul; and the Papists hold that we must fast here, or burn hereafter.”
This is pretty much what THEO1 had to say (in part)
1793 v1793
v1793: mal; Mason +
696-8 confind . . . away] Steevens (ed. 1793): “ Again, in [LLL 4.3.120 (1459)]— love’s fasting pain.”
1793- mSteevens
mSteevens as in v1803
696 fast] Steevens (ms. notes in Steevens, ed. 1793): “It is observable, that in the Statutes of our religious Houses, most of the punishments affect the diet of the offenders.”
adds to his LLL quote in note
1793- mSteevens
mSteevens as in v1803
696 fast] Steevens (ms. notes, ed. 1793): “But for the foregoing examples, I should have supposed we ought to read—confind to waste in fires.”
HLA: added in a later hand
1803 v1803
v1803 = v1793 +
696 fast in fires] Steevens (ed. 1803): “It is observable, that in the statutes of our religious houses, most of the punishment affect the diet of the offenders.
“But for the foregoing examples, I should have supposed we ought to read—‘confin’d to waste in fires.’”
1807 Douce
Douce
696-8 confind . . . away] Douce (1807, 2:223): “A member of the church of Rome might be disposed to regard this expression as simply referring to a mental privation of all intercourse with the Deity. Such an idea would remove the inconsistency of ascribing corporeal sensations to the ghost, and might derive support from these lines in an ancient Christian hymn. See Expositio hymnorum, sec. usum. Sarum. ‘Sic corpus extra conteri, Dona per abstinentiam, Jejunet et mens sobria A labe prorsus criminum.’
“The whole of the ghost’s speech is remarkable for its terrific grandeur.”
1813 v1813
v1813 = v1803
696 confind . . . fires]
1819 Jackson
Jackson: Mason +
696-8 confind . . .
away]
Jackson (1819, pp. 348-9): <p.348> “The observations of the Commentators on this passage, particularly Mr. Mason’s, are merely imaginary, and so far removed from probability, that any appearance upon which ideal truth may be founded, becomes necessary to retrieve the text. If, according to Mr. Mason’s interpretation, that the spirit is doomed (feeling no appetite for eating)
to fast in fires till its crimes are burnt and purged away, does not the text then imply, that the spirit will still be doomed to the torments of the fires, and its only mitigation, after a certain time of continued punishment, is,
that it will receive food to appease its appetite? No other literal construction can be put upon the passage.
“Whatever idea we may entertain of the joys of Heaven, unremitting punishments await the wicked in hell; if but for a given period, to cleanse us from unrepented sins, still there remains a prospect of happiness. But, though the Poet has brought a shade from thence to walk the night, must we not conclude its soul remains in torments? Can we suppose that in hell there is either meat to appease hunger or drink to assuage thirst? Besides, if it did, then must the Ghost deviate from the orders it had received: —‘I am forbid to tell the secrets of my prison-house,’ In short, the Author never formed such absurd notions of the infernal regions.
“Hell is a place assigned by the Almighty for the Devil and those rebellious spirits who forfeited Heaven for their apostacy: before the world was, Hell was, and its fires
unconsumable and unquenchable. They require not to be
fed by any combustible, and upon this alone our Author founds his reading: </p.348> <p.349> ‘Doomed for a certain term to walk the night; And for the day, confin’d to
fasting fires.
“Fires, as I have already observed, that are unconsumable, and which require not to be fed by any combustible matter.
“The person who read to the transcriber not having laid any emphasis on the g, in fasting, its value was lost; and this, fast in, for fasting .”
1819 cald1
cald1: Smith; Steevens v1778 on Nash and Will of the Devil
696 confind . . . fires]
1821 v1821
v1821 = v1813
696 confind . . . fires]
1826 sing1
sing1 ≈ Mason (the explanation), Smith (the Chaucer) , Steevens v1778, Steevens v1793 LLL, all without attribution; + magenta underlined
696 confind . . . fires] Singer (ed. 1726): “The spirit being supposed to feel the same desires and appetites as when clothed in the flesh, the pains and punishments premised by the ancient moral teachers are often of a sensual nature. Chaucer in the Persones Tale says, ‘The misuse of hell shall be in defaute of mete and drinks.’ ‘Thou shalt lye in frost and fire, With sicknes and hunger,’ &c. The Wyll of the Dewyll, bl[ac]k l[etter]. Dumain, speaking of his love, says, “This will I send: . . . That shall express my true love’s fasting pain.”
sing1
696 to fast] Singer (ed. 1826, 2:361 n. 10): “Fasting is longing, hungry, wanting.”
1832 cald2
cald2 = cald1
696 confind . . . fires]
Collier : Heathl; Steevens; Farmer; Mason
696 confind . . .
fires]
Collier (1853, p. 422): “. . . we are desired by the old corrector [Perkins F2] to read ‘confin’d to
lasting fires,’ instead of “confin’d to fast in fires,’ a change recommended by Heath in his ‘Revisal.’ Steevens, Farmer, and Monk Mason contend that no alteration is required.”
1854 del2
del2 standard
696 confind . . . fires] Delius (ed. 1854): “Zur Reinigung des Geistes von seinen Sünden gehört das Fasten wie das Reinigungsfeuer.” [Fasting like the purifying fire pertains to the spirit’s purification from his sins.]
1854 White
White: Heath
696 White (1854, p. 410): “Heath’s conjecture that ‘fast in fires’ is a misprint for ‘lasting fires’ seems to me to be a judicious correction of a very probably error. It has been passed by, almost unnoticed; but as it occurs in Mr. Collier’s folio, renewed attention has been recently directed to it.”
1856 hud1
hud1 ≈ sing1 without attribution; hud1: Heath; col1
696 confind . . . fires] Hudson (ed. 1856): “Heath proposed ‘lasting fires,’ and such is the change in Collier’s second folio.”
1856 sing2
sing2 = coln without attribution + in magenta underlined
696 confind . . . fires] Singer (ed. 1856):“The emendation was proposed by Heath, and the word fires seems to confirm it. The first quarto reads, ‘Confin’d in flaming fire.’ Steevens, Farmer, and Mason, think the old reading correct; but I am not convinced by their reasoning, and the word fires seems to require the epithet lasting.”Note that he repeats himself. He does not mention his SING1 choice and note.
1857 dyce1
dyce1: standard summary
696 fast in fires] Dyce (ed. 1857): “So in all the old eds., except the imperfect quarto, 1603, which has ‘Confinde in flaming fire,’ &c. —Heath conjectured ‘—to lasting fires,’ &c.; and so reads Mr. Collier’s Ms. Corrector.— Steevens says that, but for certain passages in Chaucer, Nash, and a tract called the Wyll of the Devyll (for which see the notes ad l. in the Varior. Shakespeare [v1821]), he ‘should have supposed we ought to read ‘—to waste in fires:’ ” —which (if the old text be wrong,—and certainly the passages in Chaucer, &c. do not fully establish it) is perhaps the most probable alteration yet proposed.”
1858 col3
col3 ≈ col1 minus Last sentence + in magenta underlined (i.e. Schlegel, Mommsen)
696 confind . . . fires] Collier (ed. 1858): “ ‘Lasting’ is fast in in the old copies, 4to. and folio, but amended (in consistency with Heath’s proposal) to ‘lasting fires’ in the corr. fo. 1632. Schlegel rendered it zu fasten in der Glut, but Prof. Mommsen altered it to in ew’ge Feuergluth.”
1860 stau
stau: Heath, Collier
696 confind . . . fires] Staunton (ed. 1860): “The reading of all the copies, except the 1603 quarto, which has, ‘Confinde in flaming fire.’ &c. Heath proposed, ‘—to lasting fires,’ and the same lection is suggested by Mr. Collier’s annotator.”
1861 wh1
wh1: mcol1, contra White without attribution, sing1
696 confind . . . fires] White (ed. 1861): “The marginal reading of Mr. Collier’s folio of 1632, ‘confined to lasting fires,’ is very specious to the reader who does not consider that the fires of which the Ghost speaks were the fires of purgatory, in which, too, he was confined for the day only, and so were not lasting fires in any sense. ‘Fast’ may be used here in its radical sense of religious observance, and without any allusion to abstinence from food; or there may be a reference to the notion entertained of old, that, in the words of Chaucer’s Person [sic], ‘the misere of helle shall be in defaute of mete and drink.’ Canterbury Tales, Vol. IV. p. 16, Pickering’s Ed.”
1865 hal
hal = smith, cald (which derives from other texts as shown above)
696 confind . . . fires]
1866 dyce2
dyce2 ≈ dyce1 minus “Steevens”; adds Steevens’ and others’ references, in magenta
696 fast in fires] Dyce (ed. 1856): “So in all the old eds., except the imperfect quarto, 1603, which has ‘Confinde in flaming fire,’ &c. —Heath conjectured ‘—to lasting fires,’ &c.; and so reads Mr. Collier’s Ms. Corrector.— Steevens says that, but for certain passages in In support of the old text the following passages have been cited. ‘And moreover, the misese of helle, shall be in defaute of mete and drinke.’ Chaucer’s Persones Tale, p. 291, ed. Tyrwhitt, 4to. ‘Whether it be a place of horror, stench, and darknes, where men see meat, but can get none, and are ever thirstie,’ &c. Nash’s Pierce Penniless’s Supplication to the Devil, sig. G, ed. 1595, and ‘Thou shalt lye in frost and fire With sicknesse and hunger,’ &c.at the conclusion of The Wyll of the Devyll, bl. l. no date. (for which see the notes ad l. in the Varior. Shakespeare [v1821]), he ‘should have supposed we ought to read ‘—to waste in fires:’ ” —which (if the old text be wrong,—and certainly the passages in Chaucer, &c. do not fully establish it) is perhaps the most probable alteration yet proposed.”
Ed. note: dyce2 has added more exact bib. references
1867 Keightley
Keightley: Heath
696 confind to fast in fires] Keightley (1867, p. 288): “Heath proposed lasting for ‘fast in,’ but I think, with a loss of vigour, if a gain of correctness. ‘Confin’d’ may here signify limited, restrained. See on” MM 4.3.? (0000).
1868 c&mc
c&mc: Heath via someone without attribution
696 to fast in fires]
Clarke &
Clarke (ed. 1868): “Heath proposed to change ‘fast in’ to ‘lasting;’ but it was supposed that departed spirits felt the same desires and appetites as when existing in the flesh; therefore deprivation of food was among the penalties they were believed to endure.”
1869 tsch
tsch
696 confind . . .
fires]
Tschischwitz (ed. 1869,
apud Furness, ed. 1877): “
Lasting cannot be right, because the Ghost was in Purgatory, nor is
to fast in any better, since the old king wanders about outside his ‘prison-house,” and could, if he chose, satisfy his hunger. Clearly, the true opposite to ‘walk’ is what I have adopted in my text, ‘confined fast.’”
1872 cln1
cln1: standard on Chaucer
696 confind . . . fires]
1872 hud2
hud2 = hud1 (minus 1st sentence and last) including Chaucer & Wyll
696 confind . . . fires]
1876 Elze
Elze = Macaulay; Flir
696-8, 762 Elze (1876, rpt. 1901, pp. 462-3) <p. 462> asserts that though Sh. was not a Catholic, he liked certain “doctrines, institutions, and customs” of the church. Elze quotes Macaulay {
Lord Burleigh and His Times] “‘In “Hamlet” the Ghost complains of having died without extreme unction, and, in defiance of the </p. 462> <p. 463> article, which condemns the doctrine of purgatory, declares that he is doomed [quotes
fast . . .
away 696-8].’ These lines, as Macaulay fears, would have called forth a tremendous storm in the theatre at any time during the reign of Charles the Second. They were, he goes on to say, clearly not written by a zealous Protestant. 1 </p. 463>
Note to Flir: Briefe über Shakespeare’s Hamlet, p. 118: in his index, Elze identifies Flir as a Catholic who believes Sh. was Protestant.
<n. 1> <p. 463> “1 Dr. Flir [. . . ] gives a better interpretation of this point than Macaulay. ‘If,’ he says (on p. 116) “Shakespeare’s feeling towards the English Church had been only in the slightest degree unorthodox, he would never have ventured to take any such liberty, much less have himself acted the part of the Ghost.’ According to the popular belief—which in this case coincides with the doctrines of the Romish Church—the Ghost could not have returned either from hell or from heaven, he could only return to earth from purgatory. ‘Shakespeare’s drama,’ says Flir, ‘required a Ghost of this sort from purgatory, and the poet obeyed the demands of his art.” </p. 463> </n. 1>
1877 v1877
v1877: theon, theol, theo1, john, Heath, mcol1, Smith (in Steevens), Steevens, Mason, dyce1, dyce2, wh1, tsch
696 confind to fast in fires]
-1889 Elze
Elze: Macaulay, Flir
696-8 Elze (1901 [-1889 ], pp. 462-3): “Macaulay, in [
Lord Burleigh and his Times], says: ‘In “Hamlet” the Ghost complains of having died without extreme unction, and, in defiance of the </p. 462><p. 463>
article which condemns the doctrine of purgatory, declares that he is doomed [quotes 696-8]. These lines, as Macaulay fears, would have called forth a tremendous storm in the theatre at any time during the reign of Charles the Second. They were. he goes on to say, clearly not written by a zealous Protestant or for zealous Protestants.1” </p. 463>
<n.1> <p. 463> 1 Dr. Flir, l.c. [FNC did not xerox other pages], gives a better interpretation of this point than Macaulay. ‘If,’ he says (on p. 116), ‘Shakespeare’s feeling toward the English Church had been only in the slightest degree unorthodox, he would never have ventured to take any such liberty, and much less have himself acted the part of the Ghost.’ According to the popular belief—which in this case coincides with the doctrines of the Romish Church—the Ghost could not have returned either from hell or from heaven, he could only return to earth from purgatory. ‘Shakespeare’s drama,’ says Flir, ‘required a Ghost of this sort from purgatory, and the poet obeyed the demands of his art.’” </p. 463> </n.1>
1877 dyce3
dyce3 = dyce2
696 confind . . . fires]
1881 hud3
hud3 = hud2
696 confind . . . fires]
1883 wh2
wh2: standard
696 confind to fast in fires] White (ed. 1883): “Hunger was believe to be one of the torments of hell.”
1885 macd
macd
696 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “More horror yet for Hamlet.”
1899 ard1
ard1 = Grey on Chaucer without attribution ; theo, warb, Heath, Ste; + Dekker
696 fast in fires] Dowden (ed. 1899): A character in Dekker’s Dekker his Dreame (1602) “roars for ‘cookes to give him meate.’”
1957 pel1
pel1: standard
696 fast] Farnham (ed. 1957): “do penance.”
1970 pel2
pel2 = pel1
696 fast] Farnham (ed. 1970): “do penance”
1980 pen2
pen2: standard
696 fast] Spencer (ed. 1980): “do penance.”
1982 ard2
ard2: see 695 CN; analogues
696 to fast] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “The idea that fasting is inappropriate to spirits has led to such conjectural emendations as waste and confined fast. The latter has support from More’s Supplication of Souls (see 695 CN), which tells how in purgatory souls are kept fast in fire till their sins are purged. But hell, after all, was physical, and its torments often included hunger. Cf. Chaucer, Parson’s Tale, 194, ’mooreover the myseyse of helle shal been in defaute of mete and drinke’; Pierce Penniless, ’whether it be a place . . . where men see meat, but can get none’ (Nashe, 1: 218)”
1985 cam4
cam4
696 fast in fires] Edwards (ed. 1985): "Fasting amidst the purifying flames is necessary for the Ghost because he never received the absolution of the last rites [761-2]."
1987 oxf4
oxf4
696 to fast]
Hibbard (ed. 1987): "The notion that both in hell and in purgatory the punishment was made to fit the sin was widespread. See, for example, Nashe 1.218 and
John Ford’s
‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore 3.6. Hamlet will say later that Claudius ‘took my father grossly, full of bread’ (3.3.80 [2386]), a remark which accords well with the general impression the play gives of old Hamlet as one who enjoyed his mid-day and his post-prandial nap."
1988 bev2
bev2: standard
696 fast] Bevington (ed. 1988): “do penance.”
1992 fol2
fol2
696 for] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “during”
1997 SQ
Charnes
696-8 Charnes (1997, p. 5): “In Shakespeare’s Hamlet the Ghost is a ’father who knows’ and whose knowledge threatens the status of the symbolic mandate he imposes upon his son. The content of this knowledge consists not only of the ’harrow[ing]’ secrets of this purgatorial prison-house but, more disturbingly, of his ’enjoyment’ of the ’blossoms’ of his sin, for which, he tells Hamlet he is ’confined to fast in fires, Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature Are burnt and purged away’ [701, 761, 696-8]. At once delivering the injunction to ’Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder’ [710] and revealing his own shadowy ’double,’ the Ghost commands Hamlet to ’Remember me’ [776] even as he makes the task impossible, speaking the paternal mandate from a corrupted enunciatory site that splits the integrity of the Law open to reveal its kernel of obscene enjoyment.”
2001 Greenblatt
Greenblatt
696 fast in fires] Greenblatt (2001, p.69 ) says that the image of purgatorial fires, meant to represent the terrible suffering of souls undergoing cleansing, was eventually taken literally as fires because “the image of bodies in flames is more vivid, more intuitively graspable, and more frightening than the abstract notion of a deprivation [of heavenly bliss].”
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2: xref
696 fast in fires] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “a traditional punishment in purgatory, perhaps implying that old Hamlet was literally full of bread [2356], since punishments were thought, as in the classical Hades, to fit the sins or crimes”
