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Line 3190, etc. - Commentary Note (CN) More Information

Notes for lines 2951-end ed. Hardin A. Aasand
For explanation of sigla, such as jen, see the editions bib.
3190-91 Clowne. Is shee to be buried in Christian buriall, {when she} <that>| wilfully 
3191 seekes her owne saluation? 3191
1854 del2
del2
3191 finds it christian burial] Delius (ed. 1854) : “to find ist der technische Ausdruck für das Gutachten des Kronbeamten (crowner, alt und gemein für coroner), der über einen nicht auf natürliche Weise umgekommenen Todten zu Gericht zu siten (hath sate on her) und den Todesfall näher zu bestimmen hatte.” [“to find is the technical expression for the opinion of the coroner (crowner is the old and common form of coroner ), who sits over a unatural, violent death for a report and then voices details over the occurrence of the death.”]
1855 mHunter
mHunter: see n. 3211
3191 Christian buriall] Hunter (ms notes, 1855, p. 226) : <p. 226> “ In the cause Taylor and Lambert, Court of King’s Bench 3 May 1825, the lord Chief Abbott is reported to have said referring to the case of Sir James Hales in Plowden’s Reports ‘This case certainly furnished a very celebrated poet with material for one of his most entertaining scenes. It was quite impossible not to suppose that Shakspeare was poised at the argument, and drew from it the reflection of his grave-digger on the death of Ophelia: In Sr James Chronicle. No 10, 530. Sir [Shery?] when Sir James Hales case was heard, as he certainly died in the reign of Queen Mary before Shakspeare was born.—Sir J. Hawkins had made the same remark [a word and a page 2.63? I can’t make out] </p. 226>
1857 elze1
elze1: john1 ; Webster ; Halliwell Dictionary ; Schlegel
3191 Christian buriall] Elze (ed. 1857): "’Burial’ bedeutet hier den Begräbnissplatz, ’burial-place’, eine Bedeutung, welche jedoch weder bei Johnson noch bei Webster aufgeführt ist. Als Gegensatz heisst es im folg. §.: out of Christian burial, d.h. in ground unsanctified, wie es in §. 212 ausgedrückt ist. ((QA: She had beene buried in the open fieldes, Where now she is allowed christian buriall.)) Vgl. Beaumont und Fletcher The Scornful Lady IV, i. Um das Begräbniss selbst bekümmern sich die todtgengräber nicht und können auch nicht wissen, in wie weit es ein chrisliches sein wird.—Schlegel: Soll die ein chrislich Begräbniss erhalten u.s.w. Halliwell Dict. S. Buriall." ["’Burial’ here means the place of burial, ’burial-place’, a meaning which however neither in Johnson nor in Webster is specified. To the contrary, it refers in the following §, ’out of Christian burial,’ that is in ground unsanctified, as it is printed in §212. ((Q1: ’She had beene buried in the open fieldes, Where now she is allowed christian buriall.)) Compare Beaumont and Fletcher The Scornful Lady IV, I. Concerning the burial the gravediggers do not trouble themselves, and they could not even know inasmuch it would be a christian [burial].—Schlegel: it should be held a Christian burial. See further Halliwell Dict. See Burial."]
1869 tsch
tsch
3190 when she] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “when she—ist dem Munde des Clown so angemessen, dass es mir vor dem gramm. richtigen that den Vorzug zu verdienen scheint.” [“when she--this so suits the mouth [speech] of the clown, that it seems to me appropriate before the propriety of the grammatical correct that.”]
1872 del4
del4 = del2
3191 finds it christian burial] Delius (ed. 1872) :
1872 cln1
cln1
3191 saluation] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “It is scarcely necessary to remark that the clowns here use words conveying the opposite meaning to that intended, as Launcelot, Mrs. Quickly, Dogberry and Verges, &c., do.”
1882 elze2
elze2
3190 buriall] Elze (ed. 1882): “i.e. burial-ground or burial-place. Compare Stowe’s Survey of London, ed. Thoms (London, 1876), p. 151b: “I have heard . . . that these single women were forbidden the rites of the church, so long as they continued that sinful life, and were excluded from Christian burial, if they were not reconciled before their death. And therefore there was a plot of ground called the Single Woman’s churchyard, appointed for them far from the parish church. Wyclif (Matth. XXVIII, 51 and 52) uses the word in the sense of grave. Compare §202 (out of Christian burial); §212 (in ground unsanctified).”
1885 macd
macd
3191 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “Has this a confused connection with the fancy that salvation is getting to heaven?”
1888 Bry
Bry
3190 Clowne] Bryant (ed. 1888): "The characters of the grave-diggers, and especially the First Grave-digger, are excellently adapted to llow comedians of the better type. Macklin, Buckstone, and Placide are some of the great names associated in the past with the part of the First Grave-Digger." BWK summary: "He also mentions the recent performances by Joseph Jefferson and William J. Florence as the 2 GDs."
1889 Barnett
Barnett
3191 saluation] Barnett (1889, p. 58): <p. 58>“for damnation, in accordance with the habit of all Shakespeare’s clowns.” </p. 58>
1934 Wilson
Wilson
3190 when she] Wilson (1934, 2:265): when she Jen
1933
Stoll, Elmer, Edgar. Art and Artifice in Shakespeare: A Study in Dramatic Contrast and Illusions. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1962. This is a bound paperback ed. of a 1933, rpt. 1934 original Cambridge UP. LibC PR 2995 .S7 1962 c.2.
He has a lot about the grvedigger scene. Check it out for your TLN CNs.
1939 kit2
kit2
3190 Clowne] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “rustics, boors—an elderly sexton and his young helper.”
3190 Clowne] Kittredge (ed. 1939, Glossary): “a rustic, boor.”
kit2
3190 in Christian buriall] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “A regular phrase; not a mistake of the Clown’s. Cf. Martin’s Month’s Minde, 1589 (ed. Grosart, Greene, I, 194, 195): ‘They might not therefore burie him in Christian buriall.’”
kit2
3190-91 when . . . saluation] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “when she wilfully seeks to go to heaven before her time.”
1937 pen1a
pen1a : standard +
3190 in Christian buriall] Harrison (ed. 1937): "The grave diggers (and later the priest) are professionally scandalized that Ophelia should be allowed Christian burial solely because she is a lady of the Court."
1947 Cln2
Cln2
3190-91 Rylands (ed. 1947): “i.e. Is she to be laid in sanctified ground although she brought about her own death?”
1957 pel1
pel1
3190 in Christian buriall] Farnham (ed. 1957): "in consecrated ground with the prescribed service of the Church ((a burial denied to suicides))."
1970 pel2
pel2=pel1
3190 in Christian buriall]
]
1980 pen2
pen2
3190 in Christian buriall] Spencer (ed. 1980): “with the authorized funeral services of the Church and in consecrated ground (as was not permitted to suicides.)”
3191 saluation] Spencer (ed. 1980): “He presumably should say ‘damnation’, but he has muddled notions of her presumptuousness in dying and going to heaven before her due time.”
1982 ARD2
ard2
3190 in Christian buriall] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “Christian funeral rites were denied to suicides ((see below, [3416]n)), who were buried out of consecrated ground ((cf. [3418])), usually at a cross-roads under a pile of stones [3420] and with a stake through the body, a practice which continued into the 19th century.”
3191 Jenkins (ed. 1982): “But see [4.7.171-82], which makes clear that her death was due to accident and the mad mind’s helplessness in it. If the dramatist nevertheless allows scope for different opinions in Elsinore, that is a sign not of inconsistency ((as maintained in SQ, xv, 345-8)) but art. Cf. [4.7.165-82] LN [Longer Notes]. The rustics believe she committed suicide, but the coroner finds otherwise ((l. 4)), while still leaving room for doubt [3416]. In BB [Der bestrafte Brudermord] Ophelia does commit suicide—by throwing herself from a cliff.”
ard2 ≈ standard +
3191 saluation] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “. . . as in [Ado 3.3.3 (0000)].”
1984 chal
chal : standard
3190-1 Wilkes (ed. 1984): "The grave-digger has the idea that Ophelia’s death was suicide-- though it has been described as accidental ((IV.iv. 182-5))-- so that she might not have religious rites or be buried in consecrated ground."
1985 cam4
cam4
3191 wilfully . . . saluation] Edwards (ed. 1985): “Could he mean that she is trying to get to heaven before her time, or does he simply confuse salvation and damnation? The Clown’s muddle is an ironic presentation of the thin deivide which Hamlet finds between salvation and damnation.”
1987 oxf4
oxf4 ≈ standard
3190 Christian buriall] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “i.e. burial in consecrated ground, and with the full service and ceremonies of the Church. The Book of Common Prayer states explicitly that its Office for the Burial of the Dead ‘is not to be used for any that . . . have laid violent hands upon themselves’.”
3191 saluation] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “Like Verges in [Ado], who says, ‘it were pity but they should suffer salvation, body and soul’ ((3.3.2-3)), the First Clown mistakes ‘salvation’ for ‘damnation.’”
1988 bev2
bev2: standard +
3191 saluation] Bevington (ed. 1988): “perhaps a suggestion that Ophelia was taking her own shortcut to heaven.”
1993 dent
dent
3191 saluation] Andrews (ed. 1993): “release. If the clown is a genuine bumpkin, he probably means to say ‘damnation.’ At issue is whether Ophelia committed suicide; if it had been determined that shedid,she would be regarded as one who was guilty of mortal sin ((as Hamlet notes in I.ii.131-32 and III.i.53-86)) and would thus not be entitled to Christian burial rites.”
3190 3191