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Line 868 - 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).

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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.

868 To put an Anticke disposition on	1.5.172

1604 Scoloker

Scoloker

868 Anticke disposition] Scoloker (1604, ed. Grosart, 1880, pp. 35-6) <p. 35> describes lunacy in his lover—touching on many conventional features not relevant to Hamlet’s behavior; </p. 35> <p. 36> these continue. Scoloker alludes to “mad-Hamlet” (Grosart, p. 36, st. 2, line 6). In st. 3, lines 5-6, Daiphantus “Puts off his cloathes; his shirt he onely weares, Much like mad-Hamlet; thus as Passion teares.” In the 4th stanza, Daiphantus uses the words “reuenge” and “make the ghosts to reake.” </p. 36>

Grosart sees the reference to the clothes (shirt-sleeves, his gloss for “shirt he onely weares”), and the description of Hamlet as mad a persuasive recollection of Ham. and an allusion to the acting of Burbage. See also Ingleby et al. 1932, 1:133 and note by Lucy Toulman Smith. Cp. 974-6.

1854 del2

del2

868 Anticke disposition] Delius (ed. 1854): “Mit der antic disposition = ‘närrisches Wesen,’ das er möglicherweise annehmen wird, wird auf die Art vorbereitet, wie Hamlet in des folgenden Scenen, zunächst der Ophelia, dann auch Andern entgegentritt.” [With the antic disposition meaning ‘clownish demeanor,’ that he as far as possible will take on, foreshadowed how Hamlet will confront Ophelia, and then others in the following scenes.”

1863 Clarke

Clarke

868 Anticke] Clarke (1863, p.67) anticipates the comment in the edition by a few years.

1868 c&mc

c&mc

868 Anticke] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868): “The earnestly disputed question as to whether Hamlet is really insane or not may here, we think, be appropriately adverted to; since it seems to us sufficiently evident, if only from this one passage, that the author clearly intended Hamlet to assume madness, not to be mad in truth.”

1870 rug1

rug1

868 Anticke] Moberly (ed. 1870): “A counterfeit madness such as Hamlet afterwards uses as a means of discharging the shafts of anger and contempt, by telling home-truths with ‘as large a charter as the wind.’ See Introduction.

1872 cln1

cln1

868 put on] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “assume. See [Lr. 1.3.12 (519)]: ‘Put on what weary negligence you please.’”

cln1

868 Anticke] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “disguised, as in [Rom. 1.5.55 (628)]: ‘What dares the slave Come hither, cover’d with an antic face, To fleer and scorn at our solemnity?’ ‘Antic,’ or ‘antique,’ as a substantive, means a grotesque figure, such as appeared in a masque or pageant.”

1872 hud2

hud2 contra Hudson 1848

868 Anticke disposition] Hudson (ed. 1872): “This has been taken as proving that Hamlet’s ‘antic disposition’ is merely assumed for a special purpose. But our ripest experts in the matter are far from regarding it so. They tell us that veritable madmen are sometimes inscrutably cunning in arts for disguising their state; saying, in effect, ‘To be sure, you may find me acting rather strangely at times. but you must not think me crazy; I know what I am about, and have a purpose in it.’”

Ed. note: See Hamlet doc, madness: Hudson 1848, and hud2 intro.

1873 rug2

rug2 = rug1 +

868 Anticke] Moberly (ed. 1873): “The word ‘antic’ means first ‘old-fashioned;’ then ‘quaint,’ ‘capricious,’ and the like. In much the same way ‘modern’ means ‘ordinary.’ [AYL 4.1.7 (1922)].”

1874 Schmidt

Schmidt

868 Anticke] Schmidt (1874): “4) odd, fantastic, foolish,” with ref. to 868, among others.

1877 v1877

v1877 ≈ cln1; ≈ rug2

868 Anticke disposition] Furness (ed. 1877): “Clarendon: Disguised, as in [Rom. 1.5.58 (000)]. Moberly: A counterfeit madness such as Hamlet afterwards uses. The word ‘antic’ means first ‘old-fashioned;’ then ‘quaint,’ ‘capricious,’ and the like. In much the same way ‘modern’ means ‘ordinary.’”

1879 Halliwell-Phillipps

Halliwell-Phillipps

868 Halliwell-Phillipps (1879, pp. 14-15): <p. 14> “Then Hamlet’s powerful intellect not only enables him to recognise almost instantaneously the difficulties which beset his path, but immediately to devise a scheme by which some </p. 14><p.15 > of them may be overcome. . . . his determination to assume the garb of insanity in the presence of the King and of those likely to divulge the secret, is easily and naturally explained.” </p. 15>

BWK: The material represented by the ellipses are in the Hamlet doc: Delay

1880 Grosart

Grosart: Scoloker, Halliwell-Phillipps

868 Anticke]

This is also in Ham. doc./madness

1881 hud3

hud3 = hud2

868 Anticke disposition]

1885 macd

macd

868 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “Uncertain at the moment how to act, and dreading the consequences of rousing suspicion by the perturbation which he could not but betray, he grasps at the sudden idea of affecting madness.”

1885 mull

mull ≈ rug2 without attribution

868 Anticke disposition] Mull (ed. 1885): “counterfeit disposition.”

1891 dtn1

dtn1 contra Furness (appendix)

868 Anticke disposition] Deighton (ed. 1891, pp. xxv-xxvi), <p. xxv> argues against Furness’s doubt that Hamlet could have formed so quickly “horror-struck as he was, a plan for the whole conduct of his future life.” Deighton declares that Hamlet’s decision is not swift, that at first his odd behavior is meant </p. xxv><p. xxvi> to divert Marcellus’s attention. Once this is successful, “it occurs to him that a like simulation may be useful in the difficulties before him.” </p. xxvi>

1896 Boas

Boas

868 Anticke disposition] Boas (1896, p. 398) believes that the antic disposition is not part of a plan but is evidence of Hamlet’s loss of control over himself. His method is all wrong: the savior of Denmark should be open and sincere, not underhanded. He begins to be tainted with the disease of his enemies. “Moreover Hamlet becomes absorbed in the intellectual fascination of his rôle; he revels in the opportunities it gives him of bewildering those about him, of letting fly shafts of mockery, here, there, and everywhere. But these verbal triumphs are Pyrrhic victories, which draw him further and further from his legitimate task.”

1899 ard1

ard1: Schmidt +

868 Anticke] Dowden (ed. 1899): bizarre, fantastic.”

1904 ver

ver ≈ Schmidt gloss +

868 Anticke] Verity (ed. 1904): “fantastic; see G. Why does Hamlet feign madness?” Verity (ed. 1904, glossary): “‘odd, fantastic’; especially said in Elizabethan E. of carving and stonework. [. . . ] What is old [antique] often appears odd [antic] to later generations; Lat. antiquus.”

1906 nlsn

nlsn ≈ ver without attribution

868 Anticke] Neilson (ed. 1906, Glossary): “adj. fantastic.” He says that the noun means buffoon.

1913 Trench

Trench

868 Anticke disposition] Trench (1913, p. 80) thinks that Hamlet could not prevent an antic disposition from taking control and thus tries to believe that his behavior “is deliberate.”

1929 trav

trav

868 Anticke] Travers (ed. 1929): “absurd from fantastic incongruity.”

trav

868 disposition] Travers (ed. 1929): “turn of mind.”

1929 trav

trav

868 Travers (ed. 1929): feigned madness was an understandable defense in the source story, as it was in the situation of Lucius Junius Brutus. Though it could be used as an excuse [2593; 3684-91], “it was sure to arouse the usurper’s shrewd suspicions and make him take measures accordingly.” On stage, his madness is an expected and traditional part of the character, and though madness is not a logical choice, the pretense is the easiest path to follow and affords him relief from his misery.

1930 Granville-Barker

Granville-Barker

868 Anticke disposition] Granville-Barker (1930, rpt. 1946, 1: 233): “ . . . It is his madness which is on public exhibition. And a very ’antic disposition’ he will at times display—for he must, if he is to claim the madman’s privilege and security—till at last ’his pranks’ become too broad to bear with’ [2377].”

1935 Wilson

Wilson WHH ≈ Trench without attribution; Dowden (ard1, p. xxvi) without attribution

868 Wilson (1935, pp. 92-3) < p. 92> believes that Ham. exhibited the antic disposition three times before he mentions it—at 792, 803, 860. It relieves his feelings, and he [as Trench would say] gives way to it. Wilson makes the odd statement that Hamlet “never thinks anything out.” Since he realizes he’s been acting crazy, he decides to pretend it’s been purposeful. </ p. 92>< p. 93> Hamlet needs time to consider the nature of the ghost and the way to proceed without injuring the queen. </p.93>

1938 parc

parc

868 Anticke] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938): “fantastic.”

1939 kit2

kit2: standard

868 put . . . on] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "A clear allusion to his purpose of counterfeiting madness."

kit2: standard

868 Anticke] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "fantastic."

1947 cln2

cln2: standard

868 Anticke] Rylands (ed. 1947): "odd, fantastic."

1957 pel1

pel1grotesque ≈ cln1 without attribution; mad = standard

868 Anticke] Farnham (ed. 1957): “grotesque, mad.”

1970 pel2

pel2 = pel1

868 Anticke] Farnham (ed. 1970): “grotesque, mad”

1980 pen2

pen2

868 Anticke] Spencer (ed. 1980): “fantastically disguised.”

1982 ard2

ard2: standard

868 Jenkins (ed. 1982, p. 148) considers the antic disposition to be “a cover for feelings genuinely distraught” as well as dramatically justified by the opportunities it gives Ham. for quips, retorts, and the like.

ard2: Cawdry; xref

868 Jenkins (ed. 1982): “The famous announcement of his intention to affect madness. antic, grotesque—’strange or odd’ (866). Cawdrey, A Table Alphabetical, 1604, defines ’anticke, disguised’. The word is particularly used of an actor with a false head or grotesque mask. For put on see CN 1649.”

1985 cam4

cam4

868 an Anticke disposition] Edwards (ed. 1985): "fantastic and foolish manner."

1985 Weimann

Weimann

868 Anticke disposition] Weimann (1985, pp. 283-4): <p. 283> Hamlet’s decision “defeats and subverts its purely defensive representational functions. [Is that necessarily its function?] Although motivated from within the needs of the self-contained play, Hamlet’s madness constantly serves to subvert the representational logic of his own role in the play: in a strictly representational context, Hamlet’s antic </p. 283> <p. 284> pose arouses rather than allays suspicion . . . . [Hamlet does not say his purpose is to allay suspicion.] Madness as a ’method’ of mimesis dissolves important links between the representer and the represented, and can only partially sustain a logical or psychological motivation. . . . [It disassociates] Hamlet from the courtly world of dramatic illusion and aristocratic decorum.” </p. 284>

1987 oxf4

oxf4

868 put . . . on] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "assumes a wild fantastic manner of thought and behaviour. It is also worth remembering that an antic was a clown; for the part Hamlet will now go on to play in his dealings with his opponents will have much in common with that of the witty clown."

1992 SNL

Riess & Williams SNL 42 (spring 1992)

868 Amy Riess & George Walton Williams (1992), in an article on H5, remark that Hamlet, like Hal, “had to put on an antic disposition to deal with a usurping king.”

1999 Dessen&Thomson

Dessen&Thomson

868 Anticke] Dessen & Thomson(1999): In SDs, “grotesque, fantastic, incongruous, ludicrous.”

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

868 Anticke] Bevington (ed. 1988): “fantastic.”

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: OED; analogue

868 Anticke disposition] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “wild, fantastic or clownish manner or behaviour. OED records this as its second instance of antic in this sense, the first being in Marlowe’s Edward II where Gaveston imagines that ’My men like Satyres grazing on the lawnes, / Shall with their Goate feete daunce an antic hay’ (1.1.59-60).”

2007 ShSt

Stegner

868 Stegner (2007, p. 115): “His revelation to Horatio and Marcellus that he intends to ’put an antic disposition on’ manifests his confidence in being able to manipulate exteriors and mask his true motives.”

2007 SQ

de Grazia: Parker

868 Anticke] de Grazia (2007, p. 175) lists many words associated with Hamlet’s fooling: antic(s) (868; 1.5.172), pranks (2377’ 3.4.2), idle(ness) (1946; 3.2.90 and 2389; 3.4.12), confusion (1649; 3.1.2), lunacy (1073; 2.2.49), wildness (1690; 3.1.39), liberty (924; 2.1.32 and 2601; 4.1.14), madness . . . in craft (2563-4; 3.4.187-8), distemp’r[ature] (Q1), ecstasy (2521; 3.4.139), mere madness (3482; 5.1.284), sore distraction (3682; 5.2.230)

2008 Weimann and Bruster

Weimann and Bruster

868 Weimann and Bruster (2008, p. 167): “Early in the play, in his resolve to ’put an antic disposition on’ (1.5.172) there first emerges the semblance of something underneath. . . . Hamlet’s sense of selfhood is coupled with stark capacities, even inclinations, for the screen of an ’antic’ guise.”