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Line 801 - 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.

801 {Ham.} <Mar.> So be it.	1.5.114

1770 Gentleman

Gentleman

801-60 Gentleman (1770, 1:19): “his conversation with Horatio and Marcellus is judiciously evasive: for the circumstance just learned of his father’s death, does not admit in policy of communication; and if it did, a repetition would pall the audience: however, tho’ this scene altogether has the merit of pleasing propriety, I can by no means, unless Hamlet here assumes his frenzy, commend the light expressions to his father’s shade [quotes phrases from 846-7, 859-60]—especially as he is calling upon his friends, in a most solemn, sensible, manner, for a promise of secrecy.”

1774 capn

capn

801-2 Ham. . . . Mar.] Capell (1774, 1:1:128) says that the speech prefixes must be as in the quartos: “the latter [line, 802] is too light for Horatio, who is a man of education and gravity; and there is something highly solemn and proper, in making Hamlet say the amen to a benediction pronounc’d on himself: Having done it, he assumes in an instant the levity that was proper to cover him, and answers to the call of Marcellus in his own falconer’s language.”

1854 del2

del2

801 Ham.] Delius (ed. 1854): “Einige Herausgeber legen mit den Qs. diese Worte dem Hamlet in den Mund, der jedoch den Ruf seiner Freunde erst hört, wenn sie näher kommen.”[Some editors give this line to Hamlet, who however does not hear his friends until they come nearer.]

If I read him correctly, he misses the point. Hamlet is not responding to them but still musing about the Ghost. His “So be it” is a follow-through to “I have sworn’t” and not at all a response to the other men. However, Delius’ conception is like capn’s.

1868 c&mc

c&mc

801 Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868) do not explain their choice of SP

1869 tsch

tsch

801 Tschischwitz (ed. 1869, apud Furness, ed. 1877): “believes that this [line] refers to Hamlet’s decision to assume an antic disposition, which is immediately put in practice in his hawking answers.”

1870 Booth

Booth

801 Booth (1870, apud Shattuck 1969, p. xvii) assigns the line to Hamlet. In his Notebook, which may predate Tschischwitz, Booth writes: for Hamlet, “thought requires no time to form a plan of action—quick as a flash his mind conceives the means of safety in pursuing his revenge.” He tries out his antic disposition on his friends.

1874 Corson

Corson: F1; cam1

801-2 Corson (1874, p. 15): “The disposition of the speeches in F. is the best. Marcellus seconds Horatio’s ‘Heaven secure him,’ with his ‘So be it;’ Horatio, then, as Hamlet’s bosom friend, uses the falconer’s calls, which would have been familiar on the part of Marcellus, and Hamlet, in his excitement, responds in the same language.”

Not persuasive. It could just as easily go the other way, which is in my view better.

1877 v1877

v1877: capn, Corson, tsch +

801 Furness (ed. 1877): “Capell (i, 128) upholds the distribution of speeches according to the Qq, ‘for the best reasons possible,’ as he says, because “Illo, ho,” is too light for Hor., who is a man of education and gravity; and there is something highly solemn and proper, in making Ham. say the amen to a benediction pronounc’d on himself. Having done it, he assumes in an instant the levity that was proper to cover him, and answers to the call of Mar. in his own falconer’s language. ’ Corson, on the other hand, advocates the distribution of tge Ff: ‘Mar. seconds Horatio’s prayer with his ‘So be it;’ Hor., then, as Hamlet’s bosom friend, uses the falconer’s call, which would have been too familiar on the part of Mar., and Ham., in his excitement, responds in the same language.’ Tschischwitz believes this refers to Hamlet’s decision to assume an antic disposition, which is immediately put in practice in his hawking answers. [If the exclamation be Hamlet’s, which is doubtful, is it necessary to suppose that it is a response to Marcellus’s benediction? May it not refer to the conclusion of Hamlet’s writing in his tables? Ed.]”

1929 trav

trav ≈ Capell and Furness without attribution

801 Ham.] Travers (ed. 1929): spoken by Hamlet, more likely to affirm his oath than in response to Horatio’s prayer.

1939 kit2

kit2

801 Kittredge (ed. 1939): "An instinctive ’Amen!.’ "

1980 pen2

pen2

801 Spencer (ed. 1980): “(either a continuation of his own thought, I have sworn’t, or a response to Horatio’s Heavens secure him!).”

1982 ard2

ard2:

801 So be it] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “Capell noted the solemn effect of this amen. F’s taking these words away from Hamlet would itself impugn its redistribution of the speeches.”

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: Q2; F1

801 So be it] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “Spoken by Hamlet in Q2 where it seems to conclude his private pact with the Ghost (or perhaps just his act of writing); spoken by Marcellus in F where it is an assent to Horatio’s Heavens secure him.”