Line 734 - 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.”

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Notes for lines 0-1017 ed. Bernice W. Kliman

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

734 O Hamlet, what <a> falling off was there

1765 john

john

734 falling off] Johnson (ed. 1765, 6. 267n), in discussing Tim., fall 5.1.148 (2384): “Falling off in the quotation [from Ham.] is not disgrace but defection.”

1880 Tanger

Tanger

734 falling off] Tanger (1880, p. 125): Q2’s om. of a “seems to be a simple accidental omission.”

1885 macd

macd

734-42 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “This passage, from ‘Oh Hamlet,’ most indubitably asserts the adultery of Gertrude.”

1980 pen2

pen2

734 falling off] Spencer (ed. 1980): “(both ’decline in moral standards’ and ’desertion’).”

1982 ard2

ard2: xref

734 what falling] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “Metre favours the article, which F supplies. But cf. Q2 What, F. What a at 1350.”

1987 oxf4

oxf4

734 falling off] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "(1) change for the worse (2) revolt form allegiance. Compare [1H4 1.3.93-4 (415-16)], ‘Revolted Mortimer! He never did fall off.’ "

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: ard2: standard gloss; xref

734 what falling off] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “what a desertion or decline in standards. F’s ’what a falling’ improves both grammar and metre, but Jenkins, while printing ’what a falling’, compares Q2’s ’what a piece of work is man’ at [1350].”

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