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Line 795 - 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.

795 So Vncle, there you are, now to my word,	1.5.110

1773 v1773

v1773

795 word] Steevens (ed. 1773) : “Hamlet alludes to the watch-word given every day in military service, which at this time he says is, Adieu, adieu, remember me.”

1778 v1778

v1778 = v1773 +

795 word] Steevens (ed. 1778): “ So, in The Devil’s Charter, a tragedy, 1607: ‘Now to my watch-word’ —Steevens.”

1785 v1785

v1785 = v1778

795 word]

1787 ann

ann = v1785

795 word]

1790 mal

mal = v1785

795 word]

1793 v1793

v1793 = mal

795 word]

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793

795 word]

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

795 word]

1813 Gifford Jonson

Gifford

795 word] Gifford (1813, rpt. 1860, 2:98, re Jonson, Every Man Out of His Humour 3.1: “Let the word be, Not without mustard:”): “The motto.”

Ed. note: Examples in Latin from Albion’s England and in Webster’s White Devil without specific references.

1819 Jackson

Jackson

795 word] Jackson (1819, pp. 349-50): <p.349> “Mr. Steevens says, Hamlet means, the military watchword.

“Can we for a moment imagine, that the military watch-word for the night and the parting words of the Ghost </p.349> <p.350> are the same? —Absurd? Besides, Hamlet has only the same ground to go over that he came, and his friends are awaiting his return with anxiety: nay, so close are they. that Horatio is heard, immediately after Hamlet has written down the parting words of the Ghost, to call out—My lord! my lord! and he and Marcellus enter.

“Mr. Steevens is certainly in error: for Hamlet had no occasion for a watch-word. Now to my word, means that he will fulfil the promise he made to the Ghost, whose parting words were—Adieu, adieu! remember me. There, however, appears an error in the text: I am certain our Author wrote: ‘—Now to my word; Its,—Adieu adieu! remember me.

“Its words, the words of the Ghost. See the preceding part of the speech: ‘Remember thee?’ and the conclusion— ‘I have sworn’t.’ He has sworn to remember the words of the Ghost. See his oath previous to his seeking for his tables.

“Both pronouns should be emphatically sounded.— “Now to my word,’ (to keep his word) ‘Its, Adieu adieu! remember me,’ (the Ghost’s words.)” </p. 350>

1819 cald1

cald1: v1813 + in magenta underlined

795 word] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “A soldier on duty must bear in memory the word; and with this idea the play opens. Mr. Steevens instances, in the Devil’s Charter, 1607, ‘Now to my watch-word;’ adding, that at this time it was ‘Adieu, adieu, remember me!’ ”

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1813

795 word]

1826 sing1

sing1: Steevens, Gifford +

795 word] Singer (ed. 1826): “The quarto 1603 has— ‘Now to the words.’ By Now to my word’ Hamlet means now to my motto, my word of remembrance; or as it is expressed by King Richard III, word of courage. Steevens asserted that the allusion is to the military watchword. A word, mot, or motto, was any short sentence, such as is inscribed on a token, or under a device or coat of arms. It was a common phrase. See Ben Jonson’s Works, by Mr. Gifford, vol. ii. p. 102.

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1

795 word]

1843- mLewes

mLewes: thinking of Goethe possibly

795 it may be so in Denmark] Lewes (ms. notes in Knight, ed. 1843): “Is it hypercriticism to hint that even here we have a glimpse of the undecided spirit of Hamlet? This reservation of a general remark to his own Empirical knowledge is in perfect keeping with his scepticism. It ‘may be so in Denmark’ but will not declare it equally true of other countries.”

Ed. note: The it refers to 794, “That one may smile and smile and be a villain.”

1854 del2

del2 standard

795 word] Delius (ed. 1854): “word ist hier militärischer Ausdruck: die Parole, der Tagsbefehl.” [word is here a military expression: the password, the daily order.]

1854 Quincy

Quincy on mF4

795 word] Quincy (1854, p.31, apud Furness, ed. 1877): “Ward’ is substituted for ‘word,’ referring probably to the solemn duty which Hamlet had just undertaken.”

1854 mF4Quincy

mF4Quincy

795 word] Quincy (1854, p.30) “‘Ward’ is substituted for ‘word,’ referring probably to the solemn duty which Hamlet had just undertaken.”

1856 sing2

sing2 check to see if it has sing1 note.

795

1859 Werder

Werder

795-887 Werder (1859, trans. 1907, pp. 106-7): <p. 106> Hamlet wants the men to be secret; he would not be likely to attain this goal if they were to think he is mad. “Hamlet’s most pressing interest is, therefore, that his </p. 106> <p. 107> friends should consider him sane and do what he desires.” </p. 107>

1865 hal

hal = sing [but I have to get the note]

795

1870 rug1

rug1

795 now to my word] Moberly (ed. 1870): “Now I must write down the order given to me.”

1872 cln1

cln1≈ Steevens without attribution

795 word]

1873 rug2

rug2 = rug1

795 now to my word]

1877 v1877

v1877: Steevens on watch word, Quincy

795 word]

1885 macd

macd: standard

795 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “‘my word,’—the word he has to keep in mind; his cue.”

1885 mull

mull ≈ rug2

795 word] Mull (ed. 1885): “The order given me.”

1904 ver

ver

795 there . . . are] Verity (ed. 1904): “i.e. ‘set down’ in Hamlet’s note-book, because the note entered there [792-4] applies to him.”

ver: standard

795 word] Verity (ed. 1904): “watchword.”

1913 Trench

Trench

795-6 my word . . . remember me] Trench (1913, p. 75): Hamlet converts the ghost’s injunction to revenge to one that he can carry out, that is “the merely subsidiary exhortation to ’remember.’ ”

1936 cam3b

cam3b: analogues

795 word] Wilson (ed. 1936, rpt. 1954, add. notes): “Cf. Nashe (Works, ed. R. B. McKerrow, iii. p. 30, l. 20): ‘resoluing to take vp the Word or Motto of my patience, Perdere posse sat est,’ and Marston, Antonio’s Revenge, I. 3. (ed. H. Harvey Wood, i. 77): ‘Ile carrie for my deuice my grandfathers great stone hors, flinging vp his head, and ierking out his left legge. The word: Wighy Purt.’”

1939 kit2

kit2: Wilson on Per.

785 my word] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "my motto; that which expresses the guiding principle of my life henceforth. Dover Wilson aptly compares the ’words’ or mottoes of the knights in [Per. 2.2.20, 27, 30]."

1947 cln2

cln2

795 word] Rylands (ed. 1947): "either watchword, password, or motto, device."

1957 pen1b

pen1b

795 to my word] Harrison (ed. 1957): “for my cue.”

1980 pen2

pen2: standard

795 there you are] Spencer (ed. 1980): “(I have set down my comment on you, accordingly, in my notebook).”

pen2: standard

795 word] Spencer (ed. 1980): “watchword, motto (or perhaps ’promise given).”

1982 ard2

ard2:

795 there you are] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “Referring to what he has just ’set down.’ ”

ard2: //s; analogue; xrefs

795 to my word] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “He adopts the Ghost’s parting phrase as his ’word’ or motto. For word in this sense, see Lr. 2.4.179; Per. 2.2.21; Nashe 3: 30, ’resolving to take up for the word or motto of my patience, Pedere posse sat est. Presumably Hamlet inscribes the word as a mnemonic on his ’tables’ 792; as well as on the metaphorical ’table’ and ’book’ of his brain (783, 788).”

1985 cam4

cam4; Wilson

795 now to my word] Edwards (ed. 1985): "Hamlet has not yet vowed to obey the Ghost’s command. He now gives his word--very solemnly, perhaps kneeling as Wilson suggests, and rising with ’I have sworn’t’ [796] or ’So be it’ [801]."

1987 oxf4

oxf4: standard

795 word] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "watchword."

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

795 there you are] Bevington (ed. 1988): “i.e., there, I’ve written that down against you.”

1989 OED

OED: ver without attribution

795 word] OED for watchword 3b “A word or phrase used as embodying the guiding principle or rule of action of a party or individual,” with the 1st use 1738. In this sense, what Hamlet says is a watchword to him.

1991 Yang

Yang: xref

795 you] Yang (1991, p. 260 n. 4): “In passing, it should be mentioned that in his long stretch of soliloquy (e.g. [777-96]), Hamlet continues his use of thou-forms to the Ghost, but in [795] of the same passage he suddenly switches back to you to refer to his uncle. . . .” This is part of a pattern of thou- forms used with supernatural individuals. [See CN 59, 2487.]

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: performance; xref; //

795 So . . . are] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “Hamlet perhaps contemplates with satisfaction the note in which he has summed up his uncle’s villainy. From here on the lines invite the actor to exhibit a kind of manic exhilaration (see Horatio’s comment at [825]). The shift from fear or horror to jocularity contrasts strangely with Brutus’ response to the ghost of Caesar where he moves in 10 lines from horror at the ’monstrous apparition’ which ’mak’st my blood cold and my hair to stare’ to the stoical ’Well, I will see thee at Philippi then’ (JC 4.3.275-85).”

ard3q2: oxf4; ard2; xref; performance

795 to my word] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “i.e. I must keep my promise to the Ghost (but Hibbard and Jenkins read word as ’watchword’ or ’motto’). Between here and [803] Hamlet may perform some private ritual of swearing before the others enter: see [802 and CN]”