HW Home	Previous CN	View CN	View TNM	View TNI	Next CN

Line 2268 - 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 2023-2950 ed. Frank N. Clary

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

2268 My tongue and soule in this be hypocrites,	3.2.397

1726 theon

theon

2268-69 How . . . consent.] Theobald (1726, p. 98): “The Editor might have taken Notice that a Couplet follows here, in several of the printed Copies, which he mistrusted not to be SHAKESPEARE’s. I will not warrant the Lines to be his, but they are obsolete enough in the Phrase to be so; neither are they so bad, as to be positively disputed. He has many Couplets full as bald and poor in the Diction; and These have an Authority as old as the second Folio Edition, and have found a place in most of the more modern Copies too. The Verses are these. ‘I will speak Daggers to her, but use none. My Tongue and Soul in This be Hypocrites! How in my Words soever She be † shent ,To give them Seals never my Soul consent. Exit.”

<n.> † put to Confusion, roughly treated.” </n.>

1891 dtn

dtn

2268 Deighton (ed. 1891): “in this matter let my soul be a hypocrite to my tongue, i.e. through appearing to approve of my words not assent to my carrying them into action.”

1939 kit2

kit2

2268 Kittredge (ed. 1939): “Subjunctive: ‘Let my tongue and soul be hypocrites.’ His soul is to pretend a savage purpose which it does not feel, and his words are to express it.”

1953 Joseph

Joseph: standard

2268-70 Joseph (1953, p. 95): These lines show that Hamlet means to outwardly show a violence “which he has not within.”

1980 pen2

pen2

2268 be hypocrites] Spencer (ed. 1980): “(deceive her by a show of bitter censure without meaning actually to harm her).”

1993 dent

dent: JC //

2268 hypocrites] Andrews (ed. 1993): "Liars, deceivers (to each other). Hamlet may be aware that in Greek the word for actor is hypocrite; if so, what he is saying is that his tongue and his soul should play different roles and try thereby to keep each other separate, the tongue being cruel, the soul kind. Compare JC [2.1.162-84, 224-28 (795-816, 862-866)].”

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: Hibbard

2268 Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “Hamlet seems to mean that he will behave hypocritically or deceitfully in merely scolding his mother when in his soul he wants to do her physical harm. Hibbard, however, paraphrases: ’let my soul pretend a savage purpose is does not feel, and let my words express it.’”