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Line 973 - 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.

973 Ophe. My Lord, as I was sowing in my {closset} <Chamber>,	2.1.74

1736 Stubbs

Stubbs

973-80; 984-97 Stubbs (1736, pp. 26-7, p. 30): <p. 26> “Ophelia’s description of Hamlet’s Madness, does as much Honour to our Poet as any Passage in the whole Play. It is excellently good in the Picturesque Part of Poetry, and renders the Thing almost present to us.” However, “Now I must come to mention Hamlet’s Madness, I must speak my Opinion of our Poet’s Conduct in this Particular. To conform to the Ground-work of his Plot, Shakespeare makes the young Prince feign himself mad. I cannot but think this to be injudicious; for so far from Securing himself from any Violence which he fear’d from the Usurper, which was his Design in so doing, it seems to have been the most likely Way of getting himself confin’d, and consequently, debarr’d from an Opportunity of Revenging his Father’s Death, which now seem’d to be his only Aim; and accordingly it was the Occasion of his </p. 26> <p. 27> being sent away to England. Which Design, had it taken effect upon his Life, he never could have revenged his Father’s Murder. To speak Truth, our Poet, by keeping too close to the Ground-work of his Plot, has fallen into an Absurdity; for there appears no Reason at all in Nature, why the young Prince did not put the Usurper to Death as soon as possible, especially as Hamlet is represented as a Youth so brave, and so careless of his own Life.

“The Case indeed is this: Had Hamlet gone naturally to work, as we could suppose such a Prince to do in parallel Circumstances, there would have been an End of our Play. The Poet therefore was obliged to delay his Hero’s Revenge; but then he should have contrived some good Reason for it.

“His Beginning his Schemes of Madness by his Behaviour to Ophelia, was judicious, because by this Means he might be thought to be mad for her, and not that his Brain was disturb’d about State Affairs, which would have been dangerous. </p. 27>

<p. 30> “[I]t was proper that the Prince should conceal his Design from every one, which had he conversed with his Mistress in his natural Stile could not have been.” </p.30>

1752 Dodd

Dodd

973-80 Dodd (1752, 1: 231): “Nothing can express the hurry of spirits and agitation of mind Ophelia was in, more naturally than this description she gives us: ’tis another fine instance of Shakespear’s excellence in the Hyperbaton, which the reader will remember we remark’d just before.”

1773 gent

gent

973-97 Gentleman (ed. 1773): “This is an exceedingly pretty and significant account of Hamlet’s behaviour.”

1784 Davies

Davies

973-97 Davies (1784, 3:36): “The first indication of his assumed madness Hamlet gives to Ophelia, from a supposition that she would impart immediate information of it to her father.”

1825 European Magazine

"Gunthio" pseudonym

973 sowing] "Gunthio" (1825, p. 344): “When Ophelia says to her father, ’My lord, as I was sewing in my closet, &c.’ the image of a chamberlain’s daughter darning her stockings always struck me as somewhat ludicrous; the old play [Q1] reads, ‘Hee found mee walking in the gallery all alone.’ ”

1855 Wade

Wade: sarcasm against Hamlet

973-97 Wade (1855, p. 7): “The next somewhat indirect proceeding of Hamlet towards avenging his father’s murder, is . . . to seek out ‘the fair Ophelia,’ as she is ‘sewing in her closet,’ to frighten the poor lady-sempstress nearly out of her wits by a pantomimic scene of miserable bewilderment. After this notable feat, he amuses himself with making a butt of old Polonius, her father . . . .”

1872 cln1

cln1

973 closset] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “‘Closet’ was used for a private apartment. Hence the king’s private secretary was called ‘clerk of the closet.’ We have the word again in [2201], [Jn. 4.2.267 (1992)].”

1875 Marshall

Marshall: Goethe

973-80; 984-97 Marshall (1875, pp. 135, 136): <p. 135>“ . . . to reconcile such words with the idea of a maiden full of voluptuous ideas and impure desires, prepared to sacrifice her virginity if she has not already done so, is a task worthy of the ingenuity of a German critic . . . . </p. 135> <p. 136>

“It is almost impossible to imagine these words to be spoken by one who had any consciousness of having compromised her virgin purity, or her woman’s dignity, with her lover, either in thought or deed. . . . ” </p. 136>

1877 v1877

v1877 = cln1 (minus quotations)

973 closset] Furness (ed. 1877): “Clarendon: “A private apartment. Hence the King’s private secretary was called ‘clerk of the closet.’ See [2201] and [Jn. 4.2.267 (1992)]..”

1880 Tanger

Tanger

973 closset] Tanger (1880, p. 126): F1 variant “seems to be owing to an interpolation of some Actor.”

1899 ard1

ard1

973-97 Dowden (ed. 1899): “This is the only entirely sincere meeting of Hamlet with Ophelia in the play; and it is entirely silent—the hopeless farewell of Hamlet. Can her love discover him through his disguise of distraction? He reads nothing in her face but fright; he cannot utter a word, and feels that the estranging sea has flowed between them,. In no true sense do they meet again.”

1901 gol

gol ≈ ard1 without attribution

973 closset] Gollancz (ed. 1901) “a private chamber, as in [2201]. This is the only sincere meeting of Hamlet with Ophelia,” his farewell. He looks into her face and sees nothing but her fright. They never in any true sense meet again.

1904 ver

ver ≈ gol gloss without attribution

973 closset] Verity (ed. 1904): “small private room.”

1939 kit2

kit2: standard

973 closset] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "private sitting room, boudoir. Cf. [2201]."

1957 pel1

pel1: standard

973 closset] Farnham (ed. 1957): “private living-room.”

1970 pel2

pel2 = pel1

973 closset] Farnham (ed. 1970): “private living-room”

1982 ard2

ard2: xrefs; //s; analogues

973-7 Jenkins (ed. 1982): “On the ’closet’ episode: The incident of Hamlet’s appearance in Ophelia’s closet has given rise to much perplexity and some groundless inferences. It is often said, e.g., that Ophelia fails Hamlet when he comes to her for support, a view for which evidence is conspicuously absent. Some things, however, are clear. (1) This is the first account of Hamlet’s ’transformation’ (1025, which we do not see until 1204. The audience are bound to connect it with his intention to ’put an antic disposition on’ (868), yet are likely to recognize in the ’look’ (978-80) and the ’sigh’ (991-3) an anguish which goes beyond anything put on. Hence the notorious problem of what is and is not feigned, which is by its nature insoluble. (2) The ’transformation’ as described here (though not as later shown), while having a germ in Belleforest (see 975 CN), takes the form of the ’careless desolation’ conventionally associated with love-madness. Cf. AYL 3.2.346 ff (esp. ’Your hose should be ungarter’d’, etc.); TGV 2.1.65-8; Marston, What you Will, 1.1.21, where the man in love is signalized by being ’unbraced and careless drest’. Such signs are necessary here for Polonius to jump to the conclusion not that Hamlet is mad, of which he is persuaded already (see 1073), but that his madness is caused by love. And it is of course the plot to test this conclusion (1192-6; 1680 ff) that leads to Hamlet’s encounter with Ophelia in the ’nunnery’ scene (1743 ff). But though many have joined themselves with Polonius in explaining Hamlet’s behaviour to Ophelia by her rejection of his letters (1006), nothing in the text suggests that (see [Jenkins’ essay Hamlet and Ophelia, pp. 140-1]). (3) The clearest clues to the significance of the episode are the perusal of the face (987) and the parting with eyes turned back upon the woman parted from (994-7). Deliberately or not, the eyes that ’bended their light’ on her echo Ovid’s description of Orpheus, flexit am oculos (Metamorphoses 10: 57), at the moment of his losing Eurydice when coming back from hell (MLN, 93: 982-9). This is Hamlet’s despairing farewell to Ophelia, and emblematically to his hopes of love and marriage, a silent anticipation of what will be uttered in 3.1. Those who ascribe Hamlet’s renunciation of love to its incompatibility with a dedication to revenge may point to 785-9. But there are obviously far deeper motives, among them his disgust with his mother, and with women (330), which the Ghost’s revelations have intensified (cf. 790).”

1985 cam4

cam4

973 closset] Edwards (ed. 1985): "private room."

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

973 closset] Bevington (ed. 1988): “private chamber.”

1992 fol2

fol2: standard

973 closset] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “private room”

1996 Kliman

Kliman

973 closset] In Q1’s equivalent, Ofelia says Hamlet came upon her in the gallery: “Hee found mee walking in the gallery all alone” (Q1CLN 691). This location is logical, for in Q1 it is also in the gallery that Hamlet is to come upon her reading upon a book.

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: performance; illus; xref

973-97 Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “This encounter is described, not staged, in all three texts, but some productions (and films) presented it in dumb-show, and it became a popular subject for illustration. Its attraction may be the opportunity to present Hamlet in disordered dress (see [1201 CN]).”

ard3q2: standard; Q1; Jardine; Orlin; Stewart; xref

973 closset] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “as in 3.4, a private chamber used for prayer, reading, etc.; not necessarily a bedroom. F’s ’Chamber’ evokes a similar location, but Q1’s ’gallery’ [CLN 691; see Q1 doc] would be a more public space. (See [2202 CN] and Jardine, Orlin and Stewart on the meaning of closet in Elizabethan England.)”