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Line 853 - 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.

853 Ham. Hic, & vbique, then weele shift {our} <for> ground:	1.5.156

1624 E.S. (B. of D.)

E.S.

853 Hic, & vbique] E.S. (Anthropophagus: The Man-Eater, 1624, p. 14, apud Ingleby et al. 1932, 1: 326): Speaking of, as Lucy Toulmin Smith observes, “time-servers and flatterers”, E. S. comments that “they are like Hamlets ghost, hic, & ubique, here and there, and every where, for their owne occasion.”

1631 Saltonstall

Saltonstall

853 Hic, & vbique] Wye Saltonstall (Picturae Lequentes, 1631, sig. E3v-E4, apud Ingleby et al. 1932, 1: 351) describes a chamberlaine offering rooms to “errant strangers . . . . Hee’s as nimble as Hamlets ghost heere and everywhere . . . .”

printed 1647 Fletcher

Fletcher

853; 860 shift our ground; . . . remooue Fletcher (d. 1625) (The Woman’s Prise, or The Tamer Tamed (5.3) (in Dyce Works, 7:206, apud Ingleby et al. 1932, 1: 200): “Rowland. Swear to all these . . . Tra. I will . . . Let’s remove our places. Swear it again.” “This is plainly a sneer at the scene in Hamlet 1.5 where (on account of the Ghost calling under the stage) the prince and his frinds two or three time remove their situations . . . .” Dyce comments: “there is more of compliment than ’sneer’ in these recollections of Shakespeare.” F (presumably Furnivall) chimes in: “And so say all of us.”

1726 theon

theon n. 214

853 our] Theobald (1726, p. 7): “The Word, For [F1], here seems to be merely supplimental, and introduced to keep the Verse from halting; besides that, to dispatch for Bearers, is a bald and poor Expression. It certainly will be more in the Stile of Majesty, if we may suppose the Poet wrote; ‘—and we here dispatch. You, good Cornelius, and You, Voltimand, Our Bearers of this greeting &c.’ This speaking in the plural Number connects exactly with the Beginning of the Sentence last quoted, We have here writ, and We here dispatch You, and You, Our Bearers of this Greeting to old Norway. Besides, the Mistake of for instead of our is so easy, that, in the second Folio Edition, it has happen’d again in this very Act in another Passage; and the plain Sense has led the later Editors to correct it.”

1796 Goethe

Goethe re his character’s planned production of the play

853 Hic, & vbique] Goethe (1796, p. 195): “The old mole worked in the earth so fast, wherever they moved to, he was always beneath them, crying: ‘Swear!’ They were constantly changing position as if the ground were burning their feet. The effect was heightened by little flames appearing wherever they stood.”

1805 Gifford

Gifford

853 Hic, & vbique] Gifford (ed. Massinger, 1805, 1:104 n. 9), in a note for The Virgin-Martyr 5.1.?, “He is at barley-break, and the last couple Are now in hell,” says, “i.e. in the middle; alluding to the situation of Harpax. This wretched copy of a wretched original, the hic et ubique of the Ghost in Hamlet, is much too puerile for the occasion and the character: —decipit exemplar vitiis imitabile. ”

1825 European Magazine

"Gunthio" pseudonym

853 weele shift our ground] "Gunthio" (1825, p. 345) questions why “Hamlet, when about to propound the oath to Horatio and his associates, shifts his position to a different quarter, whenever the Ghost beneath exclaims, ’Swear!’ The presence of a supernatural being might be thought to impose additional solemnity upon the proposed engagement, and would therefore be courted by him, rather than shunned, at such a moment. At all events, I confess, the drift of his behaviour is by no means apparent to me.”

1833 valpy

valpy: standard

853 Hic, & vbique] Valpy (ed. 1833): “Here and everywhere?”

1854 del2

del2

853 Hic, & vbique] Delius (ed. 1854): “Die lateinischen Worte sind entweder an die Freunde gerichtet, die ‘hier und überall’ sweigen sollen, oder an den Geist, dar sich unter der Erde fortbewegt und dem Hamlet, wie naher canst work i’ the earth so fast, hier zuruft: bist du hier und überall?” [The Latin words are either directed to the friends who are to be silent both here and everywhere, or to the ghost, who moves under the earth and whom Hamlet here (as later he asks canst work i’ the earth so fast) calls, are you here and everywhere? ]

1860 Silberschlag

Silberschlag

853 Hic, & vbique] Silberschlag (Morgenblatt, No. 47 (1860) p. 1113, apud Furness, ed. 1877): “It is highly probable the conclusion of this scene is a remnant, word for word, of the earlier tragedy by Shakespeare’s predecessor; and this little snatch of Latinity upholds this view. The dramatic predecessors of Shakespeare were very fond of interlarding their pieces with such little snatches of Latin, and Shakespeare yielded to the practice only in his very earliest plays, not in his later ones. Therefore, from the use of these little phrases alone we might infer that Shakespeare retained all of these concluding lines from the earlier drama, perhaps from no other reason than that the scene had become a popular favorite.”

1868 c&mc

c&mc

853 Hic, & vbique] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868): “Latin. ‘here and everywhere.’”

1869 tsch

tsch

853 Hic, & vbique] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869, apud Furness, ed. 1877): “The repetition of the oath, the shifting of the ground, and the Latin phrase are taken from the ceremonies of conjurors.”

1877 v1877

v1877 = tsch; = Silberschlag

853 Hic, & vbique]

1880 Tanger

Tanger

853 our] Tanger (1880, p. 126): F1 variant “probably owing to the negligence, inattention, or criticism of the compositor.”

1883 wh2

wh2: standard

853 Hic, & vbique] White (ed. 1883): “here and everywhere. (Lat.)”

1904 ver

ver

853 Hic, & vbique] Verity (ed. 1904): “The words are spoken to the Ghost, not as if to himself. See n. [54].”

1913 Adams

Adams

853, 860 weele shift our ground . . . once more remoue] Adams (1913, p. 40): “Hamlet’s attempt to make his friends swear, in which he shifts to four several places on the stage . . . is apt to be taken as grotesque. Yet perhaps there was something conventional in this, as Professor Bradley suggests (Shakespearean Tragedy, p. 412)> I am reminded of the attempt of Balaam to curse the Children of Israel (Numbers xxiii-xxiv). Each time Balaam found himself unable to utter his curse, and each time Balak suggested a removal of ground (‘And Balak said unto him, Come; I pray thee, with me unto another place . . . . And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place.’). This scene had already appeared on the stage of the mystery plays. In the Processus Prophetarum of the Chester Cycle the stage directions read as follows: ‘Tunc Balaam versus austrum.4 Tunc adducens secum Balaam in montem et ad australem partem respiciens dicat ut sequitur. Tunc adducet eum ad borealem partem. Ad accidentalem partem.’

“It will be observed that in his attempt to curse the Israelites Balaam visits the four corners of the stage, as does Hamlet [?]. Such ‘business’ is surely no more grotesque in Hamlet than it is in the Chester Play; and perhaps the convention (it is be such) may after all be traced back to the Bible.”

<n.4> <p.40> “Omitted from ms. Harl. 2124; supplied from another version.” </p. 40> </n.4>

1929 trav

trav

853 Hic, & vbique] Travers (ed. 1929): the only Latin in the play. He mentions this fact in connection with 54, where Horatio is called a scholar, probably because he knew Latin.

1929 trav

trav: standard gloss + marked in magenta; Bradley

853 Hic, & vbique] Travers (ed. 1929) “ = art thou ubiquitous, able (as a ghost should be) to follow us through any material obstacles, anywhere?” Hamlet tests this ubiquity by shifting his ground, as “a character in Fletcher’s Woman’s Prize also does, when taking an oath (Bradley).”

1935 Wilson

Wilson WHH: Fletcher

853 shift our ground] Wilson (1935, p. 82) finds an analogue for moving while making oaths in Fletcher’s Woman’s Prize 5.3 , ed. Bradley, p. 413.

Wilson WHH ≈ tsch without attribution

853 Hic, & vbique] Wilson (1935, p. 82) calls Hamlet’s exclamation “a scrap from the conjuror’s repertory [. . . ].”

1938 parc

parc

853 Hic, & vbique] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938): “here and everywhere.”

1939 kit2

kit2: standard +

853 Hic, & vbique] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "Here and everywhere—a wanderer’s motto."

Ed. note: Most commentators assume that Hamlet moves away from the ghost, but in performance, he sometimes moves to keep himself and the others just above the ghost. See CN 845 and 879.

1957 pel1

pel1: standard

853 Hic, & vbique] Farnham (ed. 1957): “here and everywhere.”

1970 pel2

pel2 = pel1

853 Hic, & vbique] Farnham (ed. 1970): “here and everywhere”

1980 pen2

pen2

853 Hic, & vbique] Spencer (ed. 1980): “(Latin) here and everywhere?.”

pen2: performance

853 then . . . ground] Spencer (ed. 1980): “Hamlet seems to move his companions around inexplicably. But Horatio and Marcellus perhaps flee in terror from the spot whence the Ghost’s voice comes, and Hamlet follows them to different parts of the stage.”

1982 ard2

ard2:

853 Hic, & vbique] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “See 845 CN.”

1985 cam4

cam4

853 Hic, & vbique] Edwards (ed. 1985): "Here and everywhere."

1987 oxf4

oxf4

853 Hic, & vbique] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "here and everywhere (a Latin tag). The ability to be here and everywhere at once was confined to God and the devil. Compare [TN 5.1.228 (2393)], ‘Nor can there be that deity in my nature Of here and everywhere.’ "

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

853 Hic, & vbique] Bevington (ed. 1988): “here and everywhere. (Latin.)”

1992 fol2

fol2: standard

853 Hic, & vbique] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “here and everywhere”

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: xref; //

853 Hic, & vbique] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “here and everywhere (Latin). All three texts use an ampersand at this point, and they also agree on the spelling ’can’st’ at [859], and the initial capitals in ’Gentleman’ at [854], ’Mole’ at [859] and ’Pioner’ at [860]. Ubiquity is traditionally a property shared by God and the devil. Sebastian evokes the same idea when confronted by his twin at the end of TN: ’I never had a brother; / Nor can there be that deity in my nature / Of here and everywhere’ (5.1.222-4).”