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Line 778 - 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.

778 And shall I coupple hell, ô fie, hold, {hold} my hart,	1.5.93

1774 capn

778 ô fie] Capell (1774, 1:1:128): “How the words that preceded these—holds [i,.e. ô fie] found their way into the copy at first, there is no conjecturing: they are impertinent in the highest degree; and to be rejected as spurious; and that done, the first [i.e, Q2, since Q1 was discoverd almost 50 years later] and best quarto gives the reading in the present edition.”

1793 v1793

v1793: capn without attribution

778 ô fie] Steevens (ed. 1793): “These words (which hurt the measure, and from that circumstance, and their almost ludicrous turn, may be supposed an interpolation,) are found only in the two earliest quartos.”

1793- mSteevens

mSteevens

778 O fie] Steevens (ms. note in Steevens, ed. 1793): “‘O fie,’ however, might have been the marginal reprehension of some scrupulous reader, to whom the MS had been communicated before it found its way to the press.”

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793+ mSteevens

778 ô fie] Steevens (ed. 1803) adds: “ ‘O fye ’ however, might have been the marginal reprehension of some scrupulous reader, to whom the MS. had been communicated before it found its way to the press.”

1805 Seymour

Seymour: standard concern with meter ≈ cap

778 ô fie . . . hart] Seymour (1805, 2:160): “The quarto does not repeat ‘hold.’ We might read: ‘And shall I couple hell? O hold my heart!’”

note placed in conjectural emendations never used doc.

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

778 ô fie]

1819 cald1

cald1

778 ô fie] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Mend thy thought! stain not thy mind with an association so unfit and unworthy.”

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1803 + long Boswell note:

778 ô fie] Boswell (ed. 1821) “This line in Mr. Malone’s first folio is thus: ‘And shall I couple hell? oh fie: hold my heart.’ The ludicrous words, as Mr. Steevens chooses to term them, are found in a subsequent speech of Hamlet [1628] near the close: ‘Fye upon’t! foh! about my brains.” See also [319]: ‘Fye on’t! oh fye! ’tis an unweeded garden.’ Boswell.”

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1

778 ô fie]

1845 Mitford

Mitford

778 ô fie] Mitford (Gent. Mag 1845, p. 583, apud Furness (ed. 1877) thought the words should be removed (as Capell had done).

1854 del2

del2 ≈ cald2 without attribution

778 coupple hell] Delius (ed. 1854): “Hamlet fragt sich, ob er, wie er Himmel und Erde angerufen, auch noch die Hölle anrufen soll, weist aber diesen Gedanken mit einem ‘fie! zurück.” [Hamlet asks himself whether he, having called upon heaven and earth, should also call upon hell, but then repels this thought with a fie!]

1866 dyce2

Dyce2: Capell, Boswell

778 ô fie] Dyce (ed. 1866): “Capell’s reading ‘And shall I couple hell?— Hold,hold, my heart,’ is probably the right one; though Boswell, in opposition to Steevens, defends ‘O, fie!’ because elsewher in the play we have ‘Fie upon’t’ [1628] and ‘Fie on’t! O, fie!’ [319].”

dyce2:

778 hold, hold] Dyce (ed. 1866): “[re one Hold] So quarto 1611 and the folio.—The quarto, 1604, &c. have, still more unmetrically, ‘And shall I coupple hell, ô fie, hold hold my hart.’

1875 Marshall

Marshall

778 ô fie] see n. 777

1877 v1877

v1877: capn, Steevens, Mitford, Dyce, Boswell

778 ô fie]

1877 dyce3

dyce3 = dyce2

778 ô fie]

dyce3 = dyce2

778 hold, hold]

1881 hud3

hud3 ≈ cald without attribution

778 Hudson (ed. 1881): “Hamlet invokes Heaven and Earth, and then also asks if he shall invoke Hell also. ‘O, fie!’ refers to the latter, and implies a strong negative.”

1885 macd

macd

778 And shall I coupple hell] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “He must: his father is there!”

Ed. note: macd mistakes purgatory for hell.

macd

778 fie] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “The interjection is addressed to heart and sinews, which forget their duty.”

1889 Gilchrist

Gilchrist

778 coupple hell] Gilchrist (1889, pp. 18-19): <p. 18> “Let us punctuate once more: let us alter the place of an interrogation point, and read: And shall I couple? Hell! </p. 18><p. 19>We know that no fault was more common than the interchange or omission of ? and !; and this I believe is what Shakespeare wrote.

“Hamlet has just been told that his father was murdered by the uncle who is now married to his mother, and the duty to avenge this murder has been imposed on him; he has been told that his mother’s seeming virtue is a sham, that her apparent love for his father was only a cover for her intrigue with Claudius, and from the terms of the disclosure he believes that Gertrude was also a party to her husband’s murder. Murderess and Adulteress,—these are the names by which he must henceforth designate his mother! Prostrated, devastated by the disclosure, he exclaims, ‘O all you host of heaven! O earth! what else?’ What must I prepare for next? Instead of wondering whether he shall violate the proprieties, and ‘couple hell’ with heaven and earth, he instinctively thinks of his love for Ophelia, and contemplates it in the light of his father’s revelation: the possible results of a marriage with her occur to him, and his instant repudiation of them and her, and of the idea of any marriage, is shown by the intolerant exclamations, ‘And shall I couple? Hell!’ ” </p.19>

1904 ver

ver ≈ macd without attribution + in magenta underlined

778 ô fie] Verity (ed. 1904): “Is he repudiating his last words, which might seem to imply that his father is in hell? or does the exclamation simply express his general horror at what he has heard?”

1929 trav

trav

778 shall] Travers (ed. 1929): “(stressed) expressing reluctance.”

trav

778 hell] Travers (ed. 1929): the word is justified by the ghost’s suffering, as described in 695-704, though purgatory is what the ghost’s theology calls for.

trav ≈ hud3 without attribution; macd without attribution, Bradley

778 fie]

trav

778 hold] Travers (ed. 1929): do not burst.

1939 kit2

kit2: // Mac.

778 hell] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "Hamlet invokes all the powers of the universe to aid him in his revenge; and he even thinks of calling upon the hosts of hell if they should be needed. Lady Macbeth expressly summons the demons of murder to assist her in killing Duncan [1.5.40 (391)]."

kit2: capn; ≈ vand TMN without attribution

778 hold] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "Before this [Q2 and F1] insert ’O fie.’ [kit2] follows Capell in omitting it. Probably it was an actor’s ’gag.’ "

1980 pen2

pen2: standard

778 coupple hell] Spencer (ed. 1980): “include hell in my invocation.”

pen2

778 ô fie] Spencer (ed. 1980): “(presumably a rejection of the powers of hell).”

pen2

778 hold] Spencer (ed. 1980): “hold together, remain unbroken.”

1982 ard2

ard2:

778 hell] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “Uncertainty about the Ghost’s provenance (cf. 625-6), quieted during its presence, returns when it is gone. Hamlet does not ignore that that to which he now pledges himself may embrace both good and evil. (Cf. 1625.) Cf. Spanish Trag. 3.13.109, where Hieronimo, failing to find justice on earth, will ’down to hell.’ ”

ard2 contra cap and others

778 ô fie] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “Omitted by Capell and others, in defiance of textual authority, as extra-mechanical and inappropriate. But cf. 319, 1628.”

1985 cam4

cam4

778 And shall I coupple hell,] And shall I couple hell? Edwards (ed. 1985): "The enormity of what he has heard makes Hamlet appeal first to heaven to witness, then turn to earth as the scene of these crimes, and finally to hell as their source."

1987 oxf4

oxf4

778 fie] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "i.e. not to be thought of. Compare [Oth. 4.2.134 (2843)], ‘Fie, there is no such man; it is impossible.’ Hamlet mentions the possibility of the Ghost’s infernal origin only to dismiss it."

oxf4

778 hold] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "be firm."

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

778 coupple] Bevington (ed. 1988): “add.”

bev2: standard

778 hold] Bevington (ed. 1988): “hold together.”

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2

778 coupple] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “join, link (not necessarily just two things)”

ard3q2

778 fie] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “an expression of disgust or reproach”