Notes for lines 2023-2950 ed. Frank N. Clary
| 2518 My father in his habit as he liued, | 3.4.135 |
|---|
1626 Jonson
Jonson
2518 in his habit as he liued] Jonson (The Fortunate Isles, 1626 (Masques, Works, ed. 1640, 2: 136, apud Ingleby et al. 1932, 1: 133): “Enter skogan, and skelton in like habits as they liv’d.”
1773 v1773
v1773
2518 Steevens (ed. 1773): “If the poet means by this expression, that his father appeared in his own familiar habit, he has either forgot that he had originally introduced him in armour, or must have meant to vary his dress at this his last appearance. The father of Hamlet, though a warlike prince, was hardly always in armour, or slept (as is reported of Hacho king of Norway) with his battle-axe in his hand. This difficulty might perhaps be a little obviated by pointing the line thus: ‘My father—in his habit—as he liv’d.’ Steevens.”
1784 Davies
Davies: v1773
2518 habit . . . liued] Davies (1784, p. 109): “A warlike king, such as we are told old Hamlet was, would be dressed as often in armour as in any other habit. The Queen must have often seen him in a military garb; therefore there is no need of Mr. Steevens’s pointing of the line.”
1785 Mason
Mason
2518 habit . . . liued] Mason (1785, p. 390): “A man’s armour, who is used to wear it, may be called “his habit,” as well as any other kind of clothing. “As he lived,” probably means, ‘as if he were alive—as he lived.’”
1790 mWesley
mWesley: v1785
2518 Wesley (ms. notes in v1785): “(S. says the difficulty is a little obviated by punctuating ‘My father—in his habit—as he liv’d’) This is very modest, for the passage, thus read, is clear. ‘As he lived’ means, ‘as he was when he was alive in this world.’”
1791- rann
rann
2518 father . . . habit] Rann (ed. 1791-): “It is my father himself—it is his very dress—he seems actually alive.”
1793 v1793
v1793 = v1785, Mason +
2518 habit . . . liued] Steevens (ed. 1793): “As it is frequently so used in these plays; but this interpretation does not entirely remove the difficulty which has been stated.’ Steevens.”
1819 cald1
cald1: rann
2518 Caldecott (ed. 1819): “In the habit he was accustomed to wear when living.”
1825 European Magazine
"Gunthio" pseudonym: responding to the difficulty expressed in editions before cald 1819 and also after
2518 habit as he liued] "Gunthio" (1825, pp. 341-2): “Here I may mention as worthy of notice, the curious stage-direction which occurs in the closet-scene, ’Enter the Ghost in his night gowne.’ [Q1 CLN 1551. Q1 does not capitalize ghost.] This, and Hamlet’s exclamation, ’’My father, in his habite as he liued’ [here, Gunthio combines the Q2 and F1 orthography], evidently appear to denote that the Ghost’s costume on this occasion was different from that which appeared at the opening of the play; and though a night-gown and slippers would be thought too free and easy in these days of fastidious refinement, some kind of vestment more shadowy and less substantial than armour might here perhaps be assumed with good effect. The Ghost’s present style of dress is, however, as old as Rowe’s time, whatever the pristine garb might be, for the frontispiece to his edition of Hamlet [[1709,]] represents the spirit, armed ’exactly cap-a-pee’ [see CN 391] as we still see it.”
1830 harn
harn: cald1 + Jonson analogue
2518 Harness (ed. 1830): “i.e. In the dress he wore while alive—Gifford’s Ben Jonson, vol. viii. p. 75.”
1832 cald2
cald2 = cald1; ≈ Jonson analogue
2518 Caldecott (ed. 1832): “In Jonson’s Masque of the
Fortunate Isles, 1626, we find ‘Enter Skogam and Skelton,
in like habits as they lived.”
1843 col1
col1: xref.
2518 Collier (ed. 1843): See [3.4.102 (2482)].
1854 del2
del2
2518 Delius (ed. 1854): “Die meisten Herausgeber erklären: "mein Vater in seiner Tracht, wie er lebte", und beziehen habit auf das night-gown (vgl. Anm. 45), als ob der alte kriegerische Held bei Lebzeiten gewöhnlich in solchem "Nachtkleid" umhergegangen sei. Es scheint aber habit hier = gewöhnliche Haltung, äusserlicher Habitus, zu stehen, und as, wie oft bei Sh., hier as if. "Mein Vater ganz und gar, als ob er lebte", wäre demnach der Sinn von Hamlet’s Ausruf.” [Most editors explain: my father in his costume as when he was alive and relate habit to night-gown (Cf. Note 45 [3.4.102 (2482)]), as if the old warlike hero during his lifetime usually went about in such night clothes. Here, however, habit seems to mean usual style, external appearance, and here as meaning as if the way it often does in Shakespeare. My father just as if he were living, would thus be the sense of Hamlet’s cry.]
1856 hud1 (1851-6)
hud1 = col1
1857 fieb
fieb: contra mal
2518 habit . . . liued] Fiebig (ed. 1857): “A man’s armour as well as any other kind of clothing which he is used to wear, may be called his habit. As he lived, after Malone’s opinion probably means—‘as if he were alive – as if he lived.’—But if the poet meant by this expression, that Hamlet’s father appeared in his own familiar habit, he has either forgot that he originally introduced him in armour, (see p. 24) or must have meant to vary his dress at his last appearance. The difficulty, says Steevens, might perhaps be a little obviated by pointing the line thus: My father—in his habit—as he lived,’ which would remind us of a similar line, p. 26, 4): My father’s spirit! In arms! all is not well,’ etc.”
1869 tsch
tsch
2518 My father] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “In dem elliptischen Ausdruck my father ist das zu as gehörige Correlat "so" mit ausgefallen.” [In the elliptical expression my father the correlative so accompanying as has been omitted.]
1872 cln1
cln1
2518 habit . . . liued] Clark and Wright (ed. 1872): “There is supposed to be a difficulty in these words, because in the earlier scenes the Ghost is in armour, to which the word ‘habit’ is regarded as inappropriate. In the earlier for of the play as it appears in the quarto of 1603 the Ghost enters ‘in his night gowne,’ and as the words ‘in the habite as he lived’ occur in the corresponding passage of that edition, it is probable that on this occasion the Ghost appeared in the ordinary dress of the king, although this is not indicated in the stage directions of the other quartos or of the folios.”
cln1: Oth. //
2518 as] Clark and Wright (ed. 1872): “as if, or as when. Compare Oth. [3.3.77 (1677)]: ‘’Tis as I should entreat you wear your gloves.’”
1877 v1877
v1877 ≈ v1773, Mason, cln1
2518 Furness (ed. 1877): “See notes on stage-directions, [3.4.102 (2482)].
Steevens, not having the aid afforded by Q1, endeavored to get rid of the discrepancy between the ‘armor’ of the earlier scenes and the ‘habit’ here by punctuating the lines thus: ‘My father—in his habit—as he lived!’
Mason (p. 390): A man’s armor, who is used to wear it, may be called his habit, as well as any other kind of clothing. ‘As he lived’ means ‘as if he were alive—as if he lived.’ [It is probable, as
Clarendon suggests, that ‘the Ghost appears in the ordinary dress of the king.’]”
v1877: xref.
2518 as]
Furness (ed. 1877): “As if. See [1.2.217 (410)].”
1877- Tannenbaum
Tannenbaum = col4 +
2518 Tannenbaum (n.d., p. 380): See [3.4.103 (2483)].
1879 irv1 (Act ed.)
irv1 (Act. ed.): xrefs.
2518 Marshall (ed. 1879, Preface): <p.vii> “The next point that calls for any notice is in the last scene of Act III., ‘The Queen’s Closet.’ This has been represented, as usual, as an ante-room to her bed </p.vii><p.viii> chamber, hung with tapestry, and one portion of it fitted up as an oratory. The Ghost enters not in ‘armour,’ but in a kind of dressing robe (the ‘night gowne’ of the stage direction in the first quarto): this is more consonant with Hamlet’s exclamation:— ‘My father . .. he lived!’ [3.4.135 (2518)]. He passes through the door leading into the bed-chamber which has been desecrated by the faithless queen. This simple action of the reproachful spirit of his father may well recall to Hamlet the solemn injunction laid upon him at their first meeting:— ‘Let not the royal bed of Denmark be A couch for luxury and damnèd incest’ [1.5.83-84 (768-9)].”
1882 elze:
elze: Jonson analogue
2518 Elze (ed. 1882): “It may be submitted that possibly this passage is sneered at by B. Jonson in his Bartholomew Fair, V, 3: This is the ghost of king Dionysius in the habit of a scrivener. It is well known that Shakespeare excelled in the part of the Ghost--according to Rowe it was ‘the top of his performance.’— and it is highly probable that in his youth he had been a scrivener. Besides, it can hardly be denied that B. Jonson in this comedy has heaped manifold mockery on his fellow-poet and friend.”
1889-90 mBooth
mBooth
2518 habit] [E. Booth] (ms. notes in PB 82, HTC, Shattuck 108): “Habit means—bearing, deportment; not his apparel. E.B.”
1891 dtn
dtn: standard
2518 in . . . liued] Deighton (ed. 1891): “in the very dress he wore when alive.”
1899 ard1
ard1
2518 his habit] Dowden (ed. 1899): “Q1 directs that the Ghost shall appear in his night-gown, that is, dressing-gown.”
1904 ver
ver: Mac. //
2518 in his habit as he liued] Verity (ed. 1904): “i.e. not in armour, as before (Act 1.). Indeed, the 1st Quarto has the stage-direction at 101, Enter the Ghost in his night goune (i.e. dressing-gown—cf. Mac. [2.2.67 (734)].”
1906 nlsn
nlsn ≈ mBooth
2518 habit] Neilson (ed. 1906, glossary): “behaviour.”
This def., though not specifically tied to Hamlet’s line, matches Booth’s.
1936 cam3b
cam3b: Lavater
2518 in his . . . he liued] Wilson (ed. 1936): “Cf. Lavater, p. 69, ‘as he was wonte when he lived.’”
1939 kit2
kit2
2518 as he liued] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “as he was dressed when alive; not, as if he lived.”
1942 n&h
n&h
2518 habit] Neilson & Hill (ed. 1942): “garb.”
1947 cln2
cln2 ≈ n&h
2518 habit] Rylands (ed. 1947): “clothing.”
1947 yal2
yal2
2518 habit . . . liued] Cross & Brooke (ed. 1947): “familiar costume.”
1974 evns1
evns1 ≈ n&h
2518 habit] Evans (ed. 1974): “dress.”
1980 pen2
pen2 ≈ yal2
2518 his habit as he liued] Spencer (ed. 1980): “his familiar everyday clothing.”
1982 ard2
ard2: xrefs.
2518 habit] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “characteristic dress, as at [1.3.70 (535)]. Cf. above, n. [3.4.102 (2482)].”
ard2 ≈ kit2 (w/o attrib.), Jonson analogue
2518 as he liv’d] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “as when he was alive, rather than (as sometimes asserted) as if he were. Cf. Jonson, Fortunate Isles, 1. 312, ‘enter Scogan, and Skelton in like habits, as they lived.’”
1984 chal
chal ≈ cln2
2518 habit] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “clothes.”
1987 oxf4
oxf4: OED; TN //
2518 in . . . liued] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “i.e. the same in dress and bearing as when he was alive. Two senses of habit (OED sb. I and 4) are combined into one. Compare TN [2.5.168-169 (1172-73)], ‘these habits of her liking.’”
1988 bev2
bev2 = evns1 for habit
bev2
2518 as] Bevington (ed. 1988): “as when.”
1993 dent
dent: xrefs.
2518 habit] Andrews (ed. 1993): “Habitual apparel. This noun recalls [1.3.70 (535)], [1.4.29 (621+13)].”
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2: Jonson analogue
2518 in. . . lived] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “either (1) in the clothes he wore when he was alive or (2) dressed as if he were alive. As with the armour in Act 1, it seems important that the actual clothing is recognizable. Some commentators find this phrase incompatible with Q1’s ’night gowne’ but presumably such a garb would have been familiar to members of the family. Jonson has a [stage direction] in his masque The Fortunate Isles, and Their Union (1626), ’Enter Scogan and Skelton, in like habits as they lived’ (Jonson, Masques, 1.193).”
2518
