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. Click here for more information about browsing the entries and here for more information about the special symbols used in Hamletworks. Click the question mark icon above to remove this help message.

1807 Douce

Douce

642 Say . . . doe?] Douce (1807, 2:220-22): <p.220>“This interrogation is perfectly consistent with the opinions entertained by our forefathers concerning ghosts, which they believed had some particular motive for quitting the mansions of the dead; such as a desire that their bodies, if unburied, should receive Christian rites of sepul- </p.220> <p.221> ture; that a murderer might be brought to due punishment, as in the present instance; with various other reasons. On this account Horatio had already thus invoked the ghost; ‘If there be any good thing to be done That may do ease to thee and grace to me, Speak to me.’

“Some of these superstitions have been transmitted from the earliest times. It was the established opinion among the ancient Greeks, that such as had not received the funeral rites would be excluded from Elysium, and that on this account the departed spirits continued in a restless state until their bodies underwent the usual ceremony. Thus the wandering and rejected shade of Patroclus appears to Achilles in his sleep and demands the performance of his funeral. The Hecuba of Euripides supplies another instance of a troubled ghost. In like manner the unburied Palinurus complains to Æneus *. In Plautus’s</p.221> <p.222> Mostellaria, the cunning servant endeavors to persuade his master that the house is haunted by the ghost of a man who has been murdered, and whose body remained without sepulture. The younger Pliny has a story of a haunted house at Athens, in which a ghost played many pranks on account of his funeral rites being neglected. Nor were ghosts supposed to be less turbulent, even after burial, whenever the party had died a premature death, as we learn from Tertullian in his treatise De anima, cap. 56, where he says, ‘Aiunt et immatura morte compleatur ætatis qua cum pervixissent si non intempestivé obiissent.’” </p.222>

<n *> <p.221> “The late Rev. Mr. Hole of Farington in Devonshire, whose loss is deplored by all who knew him, has left an essay on the character of Ulysses, which has been recently published by some kind and grateful friends. In this elegant morsel the learned author has noticed the anxiety which Homer’s favourite heroes constantly manifest to give their enemies a prey to dogs, and thereby prevent the advantage of obtaining admission into the regions of happiness.” </p.221> </n *>

1854 Walker

Walker

642 wherefore] Walker (1854, p. 111): “In Therefore and Wherefore, the accent is shifted at pleasure from the one syllable to the other: I ought rather to say, the stronger accent: for the pronunciation is always thérefóre or thérefóre, never thérefore. I have said that the accent is varied at pleasure; perhaps however thérefóre is the more common ponunication.”¨33*

<n. 33*> <p.111> “The accented capital letter is here used to denote the stronger accent.—Ed.” </p. 111> </n.33*>

Lettsom’s note

1870 Abbott

Abbott § 75

642 why] Abbott (§ 75), referring to Err. 2.2.43 (438), says that “Why, perhaps, refers to a past cause, for what to the future object. . . .

“Compare [542].”

Ed. note: Thus in 542, whymeans what caused you to come, and wherefore refers to what it wants done.

1877 v1877

v1877: Walker; // Rom. 2.2.62 (0000); : Abbott § 75

642 wherefore] Furness (ed. 1877): “See Walker, Vers. 111, for instances where the accent in this word is shifted at pleasure from one syllable to another; see [Rom. 2.2.62 (0000)]/ Also Abbott, § 75, for the use of ‘why.’”

1880 Tanger

Tanger

642-3 Beckins] Tanger (1880, p. 115) considers F1’s SD to be a non-Shn amplification, based on 644.

1885 macd

macd

642 what . . . doe] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “Like all true souls, Hamlet wants to know what he is to do. He looks out for the action required of him.”

1939 kit2

kit2 ≈ macd without attribution + Horatio xref

642 doe] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "Emphatic. Hamlet (like Horatio in [129]) thinks that the Ghost has come back to impose some duty on those who survive."

1950 Tilley

Tilley

642 why . . . wherefore] Tilley (1950, W 332): “The Why and the wherefore [. . . ] 1565 K. Darius, s. G2: Thys is the cause wherefore and why.”

1982 ard2

ard2: xref

642 what . . . doe?] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “Hamlet (like Horatio in 129 ff) supposes that the Ghost requires some action from them.”

1987 oxf4

oxf4: Tilley

642 Say . . . wherefore] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "Compare ‘The why and the wherefore’ (Tilley W332)."

oxf4

642 should] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "must."

1999 Dessen&Thomson

Dessen&Thomson

642-3 Beckins] Dessen & Thomson(1999): “typically occurs in a context of secrecy and/or seduction: [quote F1 642 and others].”

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: standard; xref

642 what . . . doe] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “what must we do (i.e. to help you or ourselves); see [128-36].”