Line 870 - 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.

870 With armes incombred thus, or {this} <thus,> head shake,	1.5.174

1819 cald1

cald1

870 incombred] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Close pressed upon each other, folded.”

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1

870 incombred]

cald2

870 thus, or thus, head shake] Caldecott (ed. 1832, Addenda): “in such or such a manner, shake the head.”

1872 cln1

cln1 ≈ cald2 without attribution

870 incombred] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “folded, intertwined.”

1873 rug2

rug2 ≈ cald without attribution + in magenta underlined

870 incombred] Moberly (ed. 1873): “Folded thus in sign of wisdom.”

1899 ard1

ard1 ≈ cln1 without attribution + in magenta underlined

870 armes encombred thus] Dowden (ed. 1899): “commonly explained as ‘folded.’ Perhaps intertwined, Hamlet taking the arm of Horatio or Marcellus as he speaks. In Fenton’s Monophylo, B. ii. 12, I find ‘encumbred laborinth.’”

1877 v1877

v1877 = rug2

870 incombred]

v1877 = Corson

870 head shake] Furness (ed. 1877): “Corson: According to the Ff, ‘shake’ is a verb, having ‘shall’ as its auxiliary ‘—with arms encumbered thus, ir thus (suiting the action to the words, head shake.’”

1880 Tanger

Tanger

870 this] Tanger (1880, p. 126) ascribes the variant in F1 as “probably due to the critical revision which the text received at the hands of H.C. [Heminge & Condell], when it was being woven together from the parts of the actors.”

1885 mull

mull: standard

870 incombred] Mull (ed. 1885): “folded.”

1904 ver

ver: standard + //

870 incombred] Verity (ed. 1904): “folded; cf. [JC 2.1.240 (881)].”

1906 nlsn

nlsn

870 this] Neilson (ed. 1906, Glossary): “thus [F1],” with a ref. to Ven. 205.

1917 yal1

yal1 ≈ ard1 without attribution

870 incombred] Crawford (ed. 1917): “probably folded.”

1929 trav

trav ≈ yal1 without attribution + in magenta underlined

870 armes encombred thus] Travers (ed. 1929): Hamlet means with arms “folded as if to bar thoughts in”; thus is his actorly demonstration. Like many characters Hamlet acts out his idea.

1934 rid1

rid1: standard

870 incombred] Ridley (ed. 1934): Thinking that the word and its variant forms may reflect their derivation from an old form of akimbo, “e.g. on kembow or in kenebowe. If Shakespeare could have spelt either of those with a c for the k there would be graphically little difficulty in the corruption.”

1938 parc

parc

870 incombred] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938): “folded.”

1939 kit2

kit2

870 incombred] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "folded, with an air of solemn importance, as of one who knows more than he cares to tell and hugs a secret to his breast."

1947 cln2

cln2: standard

870 incombred]] Rylands(ed. 1947): "folded."

1957 pel1

pel1: standard

870 incombred] Farnham (ed. 1957): “folded.”

1970 pel2

pel2 = pel1

870 incombred] Farnham (ed. 1970): “folded”

1980 pen2

pen2: standard

870 incombred] Spencer (ed. 1980): “folded.”

1982 ard2

ard2: ard1 without attribution

870 incombred] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “folded. No parallel use has been found, but the general sense is entangled, impeded in movement, and an ’encumbered labyrinth’ (translating Fr. touffe trop �pais) occurs in Fenton’s Monophylo, 1572 (sig. T4v). ’Arms across’, ’folded’, ’wreathed’, in a ’knot’, etc., are regularly associated by Shakespeare and others with sights, melancholy brooding, and a mind occupied with more than it can utter.”

ard2:

870 this head shake] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “The hyphenation of head-shake seems the best way of making sense of Q2, which most eds. follow. But it creates a dubious noun and puts some strain on this ( = such as this), and I wish I could feel certain that Q2 is not merely copying Q1 here. F may be right in repeating thus to balance with the previous phrase but hardly in regarding shall . . . shake as the main verb.”

1985 cam4

cam4; Johnson

870 incombred] Edwards (ed. 1985): "entangled. An unusual word in this context, but see Johnson’s Dictionary."

1987 oxf4

oxf4: OED

870 incombred] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "The precise meaning of this word in this context is still to seek; OED suggests folded. What is clear is that the position of the arms signifies the self-importance of one who has secrets which he is eager to reveal."

oxf4

870 head shake] head shaked Hibbard (ed. 1987): "Neither Q2 nor F gives satisfactory sense. Theobald’s introduction of the hyphen results in a very odd nonce-word; while F, as it stands, is meaningless. The assumption behind the present reading is that Shakespeare wrote shakt, the form taken by shaked in Q1 of [Tro. 1.3.101 (560)], which the compositors, mistaking t for e, set up as shake."

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

870 incombred] Bevington (ed. 1988): “folded or entwined.”

1992 fol2

fol2: standard

870 With armes . . . head shake] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “with your arms folded or shaking your head in a knowing way”

2002 Blake

Blake

870 this] Blake (§3.3.2.4e): Compositors and probably speakers seem to have been confused about this and thus.

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: performance

870 Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “Hamlet enacts gestures which would characterize one who has a secret s/he is prepared to reveal.”

ard3q2: performance

870 incombred] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “folded (?), a unique usage of the word (which occurs in all three texts). The following thus calls for a gesture that will clarify the meaning.”

870

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