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Line 776 - 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.”

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.

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

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

776 Adiew, adiew, {adiew,} <Hamlet:> remember me. <Exit>	1.5.91

1723- mtby2

mtby2

776 Adiew, adiew, adiew] Thirlby (1723-): “v. 30 [796] but that signifies little or nothing.”

Ed. note: Thirlby refers here to the fact that Hamlet says two adieus, but he rejects using that fact to support the F1 variant, Hamlet.

1770 Gentleman

Gentleman

776 See n. 694

1796 Goethe

Goethe

776-886 Goethe (Wilheim Meister, 1796, ed. and trans. Blackall, 4:13: 145-6): <p. 145> “‘Just to think clearly about this young man, this son of a prince,’ Wilhelm went on to say. ‘Visualize his position, and observe him when he learns that his father’s spirit is abroad. Stand by him when, in that terrible night, the venerable ghost appears before his eyes. He is overcome by intense horror, speaks to the spirit, sees it beckon him, follows, and hears—the terrible accusation of his uncle continues to ring in his ears, with its challenge to seek revenge, and that repeated urgent cry: ‘Remember me!’ </p. 145> <p. 146>

‘And when the ghost has vanished, what do we see standing before us? A young hero thirsting for revenge? A prince by birth, happy to be charged with unseating the usurper of his throne? Not at all! Amazement and sadness descend on this lonely spirit; he becomes bitter at the smiling villains, swears not to forget his departed father, and ends with a heavy sigh: “The time is out of joint; O cursed spite! That ever I was born to set it right!”

‘In these words, so I believe, lies the key to Hamlet’s whole behavior, and it is clear to me what Shakespeare has set out to portray: a heavy deed placed on a soul which is not adequate to cope with it. And it is in this sense that I find the whole play constructed. An oak tree planted in a precious pot which should only have held delicate flowers. The roots spread out, the vessel is shattered.

‘A fine, pure, noble and highly moral person, but devoid of that emotional strength that characterizes a hero, goes to pieces beneath a burden that it can neither support nor cast off. Every obligation is sacred to him, but this one is too heavy. The impossible is demanded of him—not the impossible in any absolute sense, but what is impossible for him. How he twists and turns, trembles, advances and retreats, always being reminded, always reminding himself, and finally almost losing sight of his goal, yet without ever regaining happiness!’ ”

1818 Blackwood’s

T. C.

776 Adiew, adiew, adiew,] Anon. [T. C.] (Blackwood’s, 1818, apud Hudson, below): “The paper of Blackwood, quoted in our Introduction [10:186-7], has the following excellent remarks on the Ghost: ‘The effect at first produced by the apparition is ever afterwards wonderfully sustained. I do not merely allude to the touches of realization which, in the poetry of the scenes, pass away from no memory; —such as, “The star,” —“Where now it burns,’—“The sepulchre,”—“The complete steel,”—“The glimpses of the moon,”—“Making night hideous,” —“Look, how pale he glares,”—and other wild expressions, that are like fastenings by which the mind clings to its terror. I rather allude to the whole conduct of the Ghost. We ever behold in it a troubled spirit leaving the place of suffering to revisit the life it had left, to direct and command a retribution that must be accomplished. He speaks of the pain to which he is gone, but that fades away in the purpose of the mission. “Pity me not:” He bids Hamlet revenge, though there is not the passion of revenge in his discourse. The penal fires have purified the grosser man. The spectre utters but a moral declaration of guild, and swears its living son to the fulilment of a righteous vengeance. H.”

1825 European Magazine

"Gunthio" pseudonym = Collier?

776 "Gunthio" (1825, p. 341 ): “ . . . I do really think if some method could be devised by the Ghost might seem to ’make itself air,’ instead of stalking off at the side-scene, or sinking through a trap, the effect would be far more imposing than as matters are managed at present.”

1843 col1

col1

776 Adiew, adiew, adiew,] Collier (ed. 1843): the folio “is so far supported by the quarto, 1603, that we find ‘Hamlet’ in the line there, in addition to ‘adieu, adieu, adieu!’ ”

1854 del2

del2

776 Adiew, adiew, adiew,] Delius (ed. 1854): “Auch hier, wie vorher (vgl. Anm. 6.) lassen die Qs Hamlet aus, und setzen dafür noch einmal adieu.” [Here as before (see n. 707) the 4tos omit Hamlet and put in its place another adieu.]

1855 Wade

Wade

776-96 Wade (1855, pp. 6-7):<p. 6> “When the horrible story of its body’s murder has been told at great length by the lamentable Ghost, and it takes its reluctant leave of its yet fleshly emanation with that pathetic ‘Adieu! adieu! adieu!—Remember me!’ what does the young Hamlet do? Immediately, as becomes a dutiful son, set about avenging his father’s murder? O, no: he ejaculates commonplace invocations, to ‘all the host of heaven,’ to earth,’ asks if he shall ‘couple hell;’ and vowing that henceforth ‘the table of his memory’ shall be cleared of every thing save the spectral injunction to ‘remember me!”—[quotes “all trivial . . . there” 784-6] </p. 6><p. 7> immediately proceeds to note down in his memorandum-book, ‘That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain,’ at all events, ‘in Denmark;’ and having thus ‘booked’ his uncle—‘So, uncle, there you are!” again recurs to his already violated oath:— [quotes “now . . . it” 795-6].”

1856 hud1

hud1: = T. C. 1818

776 Adiew, adiew, adiew,] Hudson (ed. 1856): “The paper of Blackwood, quoted in our Introduction [10:186-7], has the following excellent remarks on the Ghost: ‘The effect at first produced by the apparition is ever afterwards wonderfully sustained. I do not merely allude to the touches of realization which, in the poetry of the scenes, pass away from no memory; —such as, “The star,” —“Where now it burns,’—“The sepulchre,”—“The complete steel,”—“The glimpses of the moon,”—“Making night hideous,” —“Look, how pale he glares,”—and other wild expressions, that are like fastenings by which the mind clings to its terror. I rather allude to the whole conduct of the Ghost. We ever behold in it a troubled spirit leaving the place of suffering to revisit the life it had left, to direct and command a retribution that must be accomplished. He speaks of the pain to which he is gone, but that fades away in the purpose of the mission. “Pity me not:” He bids Hamlet revenge, though there is not the passion of revenge in his discourse. The penal fires have purified the grosser man. The spectre utters but a moral declaration of guild, and swears its living son to the fulilment of a righteous vengeance. H.”

1858 col3

col3 = col1

776 Adiew, adiew, adiew,]

1872 cln1

cln1

776 pale] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “used transitively only in this passage of Shakespeare.”

1874 Corson

Corson: F1, cam1 +

776 adiew, adiew, adiew] Corson (1874, p. 15): “The addressing his son by name at the conclusion of his speech is more effective from its familiarity, than the third repetition of ‘adieu.’”

1877 v1877

v1877 = c&mc, Corson

776 Adiew, adiew, adiew,]

1880 Tanger

Tanger

776 Adiew, adiew, adiew,] Tanger (1880, p. 125): See [707]. The Q1 reading “confirms, or at least countenances, [the F1] reading.”

1882 elze3

elze3: Elze

776 Adiew, adiew, adiew,] Elze (ed. 1882): “Hamlet, adue, adue]] For this reading I alone am responsible. [Q2, F1, Q1 VN]. Compare Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare-Gesellschaft, XVI, 229.”

1884 Feis

Feis

776 remember me] Feis (1884, rpt. 1970, p.114): Hamlet “only recollects the last words of the Ghost.” He should have remembered “Reuenge his foule, and most vnnaturall murther.” [710]

1904 Bradley

Bradley

776 remember me] Bradley (1904, Note D): Hamlet’s gesture of writing in his tables [792-3] “That one may smile, and smile, and be a villaine,” Bradley believes, “is not merely a desperate jest. It springs from fear of forgetting. A time will come, he feels, when all this appalling experienced of the last half hour will be incredible to him, will seem a mere nightmare to him, will even, conceivably, quite vanishy from his mind.” Bradley speculates then why Hamlet did not write something more clearly a goad to memory.

1913 Trench

Trench

776 remember me] Trench (1913, p. 295) makes the point that in both encounters with the ghost, here and in the closet scene (see Trench CN 2495 and ghost doc.), Hamlet chooses to seize “upon its last words . . . to make of them an excuse for ignoring the purpose of its coming. . . . The impulsion conveyed by the Ghost’s words, instead of being . . . in a direction contrary to [Hamlet’s] natural bent, turns out to be towards continuing to do what he was by temper disposed to do, namely towards thinking.” Ed. note: For Trench the key earlier word is "revenge" [692, 710].

1930 Knight

Knight

776 remember me] Knight (1930, p 21), after outlining the reasons for Hamlet’s grief--his father’s death, his mother’s hasty marriage--asserts that his only recourse is to forget: “If the spirit had been kind, it would have prayed that Hamlet might forget,” but the ghost asks him to do just the opposite, to remember. Hamlet vows to remember and “keeps his oath throughout the play.”

1982 ard2

ard2:

776 Adiew] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “With F’s substitution of ’Hamlet’ for one of the repetitions cf. 707.”

1982 ard2

ard2 contra Knight

776 remember me] Jenkins (ed. 1982, p. 154 n. 2) < p. 154> <n. 2> dismisses G. Wilson Knight’s premise in Wheel of Fire, 1949, p. 39, that the ghost means something different from the obvious by revenge and remember me. ” </n. 2> </ p. 154>

1987 oxf4

oxf4

776 Hibbard (ed. 1987): "The Ghost’s lingering farewell sounds far better suited to one making his exit through a door than to one about to disappear through a trap. He has ample time to which to make his way into the cellarage from backstage before he has to speak again at [1.5.149 (845)]."

1988 Davies

Davies

776 remember me] Davies (1988, 54) comments that the ghost gives Hamlet a reason for living.

1989 Scolnicov

Scolnicov

776 remember me] Scolnicov (1989, pp. 92-3) <p.92> writes of Shakespeare’s use of the play-within in Hamlet and in its totality as the reservoir of memory: “a perfect murder has been committed, one that has left no trace. Except for the murderer, Claudius, no one has </p. 92> <p.93> witnessed the event . . . . The Ghost appears in order to convey the memory of the murder to his son, who now becomes the repository of that memory. This is why he is constantly reminded to ’Remember’.” </p.93>

1992 Duffy

Duffy: Purgatory

776 remember me] Duffy (1992, 2005, pp. 327-8) connects remembering the dead with Purgatory; the living remember the dead by praying for the release of their souls from Purgatory. <p. 327> "The language of memory pervaded the cult of the dead: the obsequies celebrated for each departed soul on the seventh and the thirtieth day after burial, and on the first anniversary, were called the week’s, month’s and year’s ’mind’ or remembrance. "</p. 327> <p. 328> A request to be remembered was a reminder to pray for the soul of the departed. </p. 328>

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2

776 Adiew] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “farewell (literally ’[[I commend you]] to God in French)”

ard3q2: performance

776 Exit Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “It seems possible that at the Globe the Ghost would have descended through a trap-door, especially in the light of his voice coming from under the stage at [845] (see Gurr & Ichikawa, 131). John Ward’s promptbook has ’Ring for Trap to be ready’ and ’Ghost Ready below’ at the appropriate points (see Thompson, ’Ward’, 144), but at the London Globe in 2000 the Ghost used one of the stage doors.”

2008 Kliman

Kliman: Knight; Duffy; contra ard2

776 remember me] Kliman (2008): If one puts together the fact that these are the ghost’s last words in the scene, that he does not return in the prayer scene (3.3) to urge Hamlet to kill the kneeling king but does appear in the closet scene (3.4) to urge Hamlet, again, not to forget, it is possible that the "almost blunted purpose" [2491] is to remember his father in prayer. The visitation comes right after Hamlet has--in some productions, successfully--worked on the ghost’s behest, ’Let not the royall bed of Denmarke be A couch for luxury and damned incest’ [767-8].

Some productions, by changing what the ghost wears, suggests a shift in his nature, from the warrior to the beneficent father and husband, no longer concerned, it seems, with revenge, which he does not mention.

The ambiguity about revenge and what the ghost wants is just another motif among many that Sh. plays more ways than one. For another view see Trench 1913, above.