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Line 1187-90 - 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 1018-2022 ed. Eric Rasmussen

For explanation of sigla, such as jen, see the editions bib.

1187 Pol. Take this, from this, if this be otherwise;	2.2.156

1188 If circumstances leade me, I will finde	2.2.157

1189 Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeede	2.2.158

1190 Within the Center.	2.2.159

1725-? mtby2

mtby2

1190 Center] Thirlby (1725-?): “Perhaps he means his head from his body. v. 371.16 (where he questioned whether globe meant head). Then in a different ink, Anviil in The Northern Lass Act 1.sc.2. Let me have these knockd out, these puld off, these pluckd out, & these sawd off. “

1726 Theon

Theon

1187 Take...otherwise] Theobald (1726, p. 65-66): “Take this from this, if this be otherwise [,] Polonius thinks himself so certain of being right in his Discovery, that he is willing the King should take his Head from his Shoulders, if he is out in his Politicks. It must be pointed; Take This from This, —if This be otherwise;”

1766- mwar2

mwar2

1187 Take this, from this] Warner (1766-70): “i.e. Take this Head from these Shoulders.”

1870 Abbott

Abbott

1188-90 If...Center.] Abbott (§371): “Conditional sentences. The Consequent does not always answer to the antecedent in mood or tense. Frequently the irregularity can be readily explained by a change of thought. ‘If we shall stand still (Or rather, if we should, for we shall not) We should take root.’ Hen. VIII. [1.2.85-7. (420-2). ‘I will find Where truth is hid, (and I would find it) though it were hid indeed Within the centre.’—Hamlet [(1188-90)]. Compare Ezek. Xiv. 14, A.V.: ‘Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls,’ with ib.20,, ‘they shall deliver.’ ‘But if the gods themselves did see her then...(If they had seen her ) The instant burst of clamour that she made Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven.’ Hamlet [1553-8].”

1872 cln1

cln1

1190 Center] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “Shakespeare, like Bacon, held to the Ptolemaic system of astronomy. See Troilus and Cressida, i. 3. 85. Compare Titus Andronicus, iv. 3. 12 : ’ ’Tis you must dig with mattock and with spade, And pierce the inmost centre of the earth.’ "

1881 hud2

hud2 ≈ cln1

1190 Center] Hudson (ed. 1881): “Centre here means, no doubt, the Earth, which, in the old astronomy, was held to be literally the centre of the solar system.”

1882 elze

elze : masson

1190 Center] Elze (ed. 1882): “The centre, used absolutely, with Elizabethan and other writers always denotes the centre of the earth, which, in the words of Professor Masson (The Poetical Works of J. Milton, III, 413), ‘according to the old Ptolemaic astronomy, was also the central and one steady point of the whole Universe’, that is to say, the centre [Greek words]. Compare Webster, The White Devil; or, Vittoria Corombona (Works, ed. Dyce, London, 1857, p. 49a): —‘Sirrah, you once did strike me: I’ll strike youInto the centre.’Marston, The Insatiate Countesse, A. I (Works, ed. Halliwell, III, 118): —‘I tread into the center all the thoughtsOf ill in mee toward you, &c.’Milton, Paradise Lost, I, 684 seq.: —‘By him firstMen also, and by his suggestion taught,Ransack’d the centre.’Milton, Comus, 381 seq.: —‘He that has light within his own clear breastMay sit i’th’ centre, and enjoy bright day’.”

1899 ard1

ard1 : theobald + cln1

1187-90] Dowden (ed. 1899): “Theobald here added a stage direction, ‘Pointing to his head and shoulders’; he has been followed by many editors. Stage tradition may have guided Theobald. But see lines 166, 167. May not ‘this from this’ mean the chamberlain’s staff or wand and the hand which bears it?

1190 Centre] Dowden (ed. 1899): “that is, of the earth, and so, according to Ptolemaic astronomy, of the universe. Compare Midsummer Night’s Dream, III.ii.54.”

1909 subbarau

subbarau

1187 Take this, from this, if this be otherwise] Subbarau (ed. 1909): “In either case, it seems to me it would be a most unnatural and inconvenient double gesture to point to head and shoulder, or to wand and hand. The words ‘from this’ are not only superfluous if they refer to ‘shoulder’ or ‘hand,’ but they create a difficulty in suiting the action to the word. And the idea of Polonius’s offering his head as the price of his mistake is neither happy nor suited to his position and character. The especial boast of the old councillor is that his acute intellect had never failed him in the discharge of his duties, and he is ever prepared to give up his office should his judgment prove erroneous, nay to retire and ‘keep a farm and carters.’ There can be little doubt that the words “Take this from this’ are merely a first and mild expression of his readiness to give up his place, but ‘from this’ cannot refer to ‘hand,’ as Dowden surmises. Polonius, according to his habit of ‘roaming’ words in different senses, uses ‘this’ three times in line 154 [1187], accompanying it with a gesture only at the first utterance. ‘From this’ simply means, ‘from this time, from the present time :’ Polonius is quite prepared henceforth to give up his staff or ensign of office if his conjecture should prove incorrect.”