Notes for lines 2023-2950 ed. Frank N. Clary
| 2659-60 Ham. Of nothing, bring me to him <, hide Fox, and all | after>. Exeunt. | |
|---|
1723- mtby2
mtby2
2659-60 hide . . . after] Thirlby (1723-): “nb. The play of hunting the hare.”
1733- mtby3
mtby3
2659-60 hide . . . after] Thirlby (1733-): “NB the play, Hare & hounds.”
1744 han1
han1
2659-60 hide . . . after] Hanmer (ed. 1744): “There is a Play among children call’d Hide fox and all after.”
1747 warb
warb ≈ han1
2659-60 hide . . . after] Warburton (ed. 1747): “A diversion amongst children.”
1752 Grey
Grey: han1, warb
2659-60 hide . . . after] Grey (1752, p.36): “There is a Play among Children called Hide Fox and all after. Sir Tho. Hanmer’s Note, p. 396. A Diversion amongst Children. Mr.Warburton’s Note, Vol. 2. p.218.”
This illustration is part of Grey’s case against Warburton, whom he charges with plagiarism.
1765 john1/john2
john1 = han1 +
2659 Of nothing] Johnson (ed. 1765): “Should it not be read, Or nothing? When the courtiers remark, that Hamlet has contemptuously called the King a thing, Hamlet defends himself by observing, that the King must be a thing, or nothing.”
1771 han3
han3 = han2 +
2659 fox] Hanmer (ed. 1771, Appendix): “fox, (Vol. 3. 536.) a sword, as the ingenious Mr. Steevens proves from Beaumont and Fletcher. He might have added the following illustration from the same authors. The Captain, Act iii. Sc. 5. vol. vi. p. 58. ‘—Fab. Put up your sword; I’ve seen it often, ’tis a fox.—’ Mr. Warton.”
Annotation not enclosed in brackets, as here, is carried over from earlier editions; bracketed annotations are by T. Hawkins.
1773 mstv1
mtby2
2659 Of nothing] Farmer (apud ms. notes in steevens ed. 1773): “So in The Spanish Tragedy, ‘In troth, my lord, it is a thing of nothing. The same phrase is also in one of Harvey’s letters. Farmer.”
1774 capn
capn
2659-60 hide . . . after] Capell (1774, 1:1:142): “The words that finish this scene, are the name of a childish diversion still in use.”
capn
2659 fox] Capell (1774, 1:1: glossary, fox): “(H. 5, 11.) a cant Word for—a Sword.”
1778 v1778
v1778 = v1773 +
2659 Of nothing] Farmer (apud in Editor, ed. 1778): “The text is right. So, in the Spanish tragedy: ‘In troth, my lord, it is a thing of nothing.’ And, in one of Harvey’s letters, ‘a silly bug-beare, a sorry puffe of winde, a thing of nothing.’ Farmer.”
v1778 = v1773 +
2659 Of nothing] Steevens (ed. 1778): “So, in Decker’s Match me in London, 1631: ‘At what doest thou laugh? At a thing of nothing, at thee.’
“Again, in Look about you, 1600: ‘And believe a little thing would please her, A very little thing, a thing of nothing.’
“Again, in the Interlude of Jacob and Esau, 1568: ‘But a matter of straw, and a thing of naught.’
“Again, in Ben Jonson’s Magnetic Lady: ‘A toy, a thing of nothing.’
“Again, in Chapman’s translation of the 9th Book of the Odyssey: ‘When now, a weakling came, a dwarfy thing, A thing of nothing. Steevens.”
v1778 = v1773 +
2659-60 hide . . . after] Steevens (ed. 1778): “The same sport is alluded to in Decker’s Satiromastix:‘—our unhandsome-faced poet does play at bo-peep with your grace, and cries—All hid, as boys do.’ This passage is not in the quarto. Steevens.”
1784 Davies
Davies: v1778 (on Steevens’s unnecessary references)
2659 Of nothing] Davies (1784, p. 120): “‘A thing of nothing,’ or a matter of no value, is an expression so common to all times, and, I believe, to all languages, that Mr. Steevens might have spared himself the trouble of quoting half a dozen authorities, from plays, to authenticate it.”
1785 v1785
v1785 = v1778 minus //s (after Look about you) +
2659 Of nothing] Whalley (apud ed. 1785): “Mr. Steevens has given here many parallelisms: but the origin of all is to be look’d for, I believe in the 144th Psalm, ver. v. ‘Man is like a thing of nought.’ You must have observed, that the book of Common Prayer, and the translation of the Bible, furnished our old writers with many forms of expression, some which are still in use. Whalley.”
1790 mWesley
mWesley: contra john; Steevens (v1785)
2659 Of nothing] Wesley (ms. notes in v1785): “(J. reads ‘or nothing’; S. defends ‘of nothing’) Steevens is right.”
1790 mal
mal = v1785 minus john1, minus v1778 //s after Look about you
1791- rann
rann ≈ capn (glossary) without attribution
2659-60 hide . . . after] Rann (ed. 1791-): “The name of a childish diversion.”
1819 cald1
cald1 = v1813 +
2659 Of nothing] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Presumptuously interrupted, he fills up his sentence with the tag of an old proverb. That it was such, the commentators show: [here the parallels from earlier editions are provided].”
cald1 = v1813 +
2659-60 hide . . . after] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “‘—Our unhandsome faced poet does play at bo-beep with your grace, and cries—All hid, as boys do.’ Decker’s Satiromastix. ‘All hit, all hid,’ as in LLL [4.3.76 (1412)] Bir. is the children’s cry at hide and seek.”
1822 Nares
Nares: han1, v1821
2659-60 hide . . . after] Nares (1822, glossary, hide fox and all after): “Said by Sir Thomas Hanmer to be the name of a sport among children, which must doubtless be the same as hide and seek, whoop and hide, &c.; but no instance is brought of the expression, except that of the following passage, which occasioned the remark: [Hamlet line cited]. Hide and seek is certainly alluded to in Decker’s Satiromastix, as quoted by Mr. Steevens, where it is said, ‘Cries all hid, as boys do.’ But it throws no light on the fox.”
1826 sing1
sing1
2659-60 hide . . . after] Singer (ed. 1826): “This was a juvenile sport, most probably what is now called hoop, or hide and seek; in which one child hides himself, and the rest run all after, seeking him.”
1832 cald2
cald2 = cald1 minus // (on Of nothing (2659) from Look about you.)
1841 knt1 (nd)
knt1
2659-60 hide . . . after] Knight (ed. [1839] nd): “The name of a boyish sport—‘All hid.’”
1843 col1
col1: han1
2659-60 hide . . . after] Collier (ed. 1843): “This is supposed to refer to the boyish game of All hid, and Sir T. Hanmer expressly tells us that it was sometimes called ‘Hide fox, and all after.’”
1854 del2
del2
2659 Of nothing] Delius (ed. 1854): See [4.2.29 (2658)].
del2
2659-60 hide . . . after] Delius (ed. 1854): “Anspielung auf ein Versteckenspiel der Kinder, bei dem mit diesen Worten den Mitspielern das Zeichen gegeben wurde, den Fuchs, der sich versteckt hat, zu suchen.” [This is a reference to a children’s hide-and-seek game where with these words the signal is given to the participants to search for the fox who has hidden himself.]
1856 hud1 (1851-6)
hud1 = sing1 without attribution
1857 fieb
fieb: v1778 (DeKker, Psalms, Cic. analogues); contra john
2659 Of nothing] Fiebig (ed. 1857): “Steevens give the following parallelisms of this expression ‘a thing of nothing.’ So, in Decker’s Match me in London, 1631: ‘At what dost thou laugh?/At a thing of nothing, at thee.’ Again, in Look about you, 1600; “A very little thing, a thing of nothing. It has been supposed, that the origin of this phrase is to be looked for in the Psalms, ‘Man is like a thing of naught;’ but the same form of expression has been used in Latin. See Cic. Tusc. III, 6: ex quo idem (homo) nihili dicitur.—Johnson is wrong to propose the reading—“Or nothing,’ which he maintains by adding, that, when the courtiers remark that Hamlet has contemptuously called the king a thing, he defends himself by observing, that the king must be a thing, or nothing.”
fieb: v1778 (for Satiromastix analogue)
2659-60 hide . . . after] Fiebig (ed. 1857): “There was a play among children called, Hide fox, and all after; to play at hide and seek. Steevens observes that the same sport is alluded to in Decker’s Satiromastix: ‘—our unhandsome-faced poet does play at bo-peep with your grace, and cries—All hid, as boys do.’”
1858 col3
col3 = col1; ≈ fieb (Dekker analogue)
2659-60 hide . . . after] Collier (ed. 1858): “Dekker mentions the game of All hid; but none of the 4tos. take notice of words only found in the folios, which give Hamlet an opportunity of making his exit with speed.”
1860 stau
stau
2659-60 hide . . . after] Staunton (ed. 1860): “The early name for the boys’ game now known as hoop, or hide and seek.”
1861 wh1
wh1: han
2659-60 hide . . . after] White (ed. 1861): “Hanmer says that the game All hid is so called. The exclamation is merely one of Hamlet’s signs of his feigned madness.”
1864a glo
glo: H5 //
2659 fox] Clark and Wright (ed. 1864a [1865] 9: glossary, Fox): “sb. a sword; a cant word. H5 [4.4.9 (2394)].”
1865 hal
hal
2659-60 hide . . . after] Halliwell (ed. 1865): “Hide-fox, a game, supposed to be the same as Hide and Seek. It was, perhaps, the same as the game of Fox mentioned by Cotgrave, in v. Lamibaudichon, ‘a word used among boyes in a play (much like our Fox) wherein he to whom tis used must runne, and the rest indevor to catch him.’ ‘Not usyinge but refusynge such foolyshe toyes, As commonly are used in these dayes of boyes, As hoopynge and halowynge, as in huntynge the foxe, That men it hearynge deryde them with mockes.’ The Schoole of Vertue, 1557.”
1867 ktlyn
ktlyn ≈ glo (incl. H5 //) + magenta underlined
2659 Fox] Keightley (1867, Index): H5 [4.4.9 (2394)], a name for a sword; possibly so called from the maker’s name, like Andrew Ferrara.”
ktlyn ≈ hud1; Ado //
2659-60 hide . . . after] Keightley (1867, Index): “Ado [2.3.42 (874)], a play of children. It was probably what is now called Hide-and-Seek.)”
1869 tsch
tsch: Psalm 144, Nares (B&F) analogues
2659 Of nothing] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “a thing of nothing scil., ein Mensch, nach Ps. 144, 4. S. Beaum. & Flet. Hum. Lieut. IV. 6. (Nares) Shall then that thing that honours thee, How miserable a thing soever, And though a t h i n g o f n o t h i n g , thy thing ever etc.” [a thing of nothing that is, a person according to Psalm 144:4. See Beaum. & Flet. Hum. Lieut. IV. 6. (Nares): Shall then that thing that honours thee, How miserable a thing soever, And though a thing of nothing, thy thing ever etc.]
tsch
2659-60 hide . . . after] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “Die Worte beweisen deutlich, dass H. einen Sinn in dieselben legt, den seine Umgebung nicht listig genug ist, zu errathen.” [The words prove clearly that Hamlet lays a meaning in this that his surroundings are not clever enough to guess.]
1870 rug1
rug1 ≈ ktln (Ferrara)
2659-60 hide . . . after] Moberly (ed. 1870): “Hamlet sheathes his sword (‘a Toledo or an English fox’—‘point of fox,’ &c., probably from the name of a celebrated maker like Andrea di Ferrara,) and, as if he were playing hide and seek, cries ‘now the fox is hid : let all go after him.’”
1872 hud2
hud2 ≈ hud1
2659-60 hide . . . after] Hudson (ed. 1872): “‘Hide fox, and all after,’ was a juvenile sport, most probably what is now called hide and seek.”
1872 del4
del4 = del2 for hide . . . after
1872 cln1
cln1: Nares; B&F, Psalm analogues
2659 of nothing] Clark and Wright (ed. 1872): “a thing of no value. Nares quotes Beaumont and Fletcher’s Humorous Lieutenant, iv. 6: ‘And though a thing of nothing, the thing ever.’ The phrase is of frequent occurrence. We find ‘a thing of nought,’ Psalm cxliv. 4 (Prayer Book version).”
Nares must be later ed. than 1822.
cln1: Ado //; warb
2659-60 hide . . . after] Clark and Wright (ed. 1872): “A children’s game apparently, like ‘All hid,’ ‘Hide-and-seek.’ In Ado [2.3.42 (874)]. Warburton has with great probability conjectured ‘hid fox’ for ‘kid-fox.”
1874 Tyler
Tyler
2659-60 hide . . . after] Tyler (1874, p. 22): “The words ‘Hide fox and all after,’ found in the Folio, may have a double reference—namely, to the concealment of the body, and to the obscurity of Hamlet’s enigma.”
1877 v1877
v1877 = john; Farmer, v1778, v1785 (Whalley); Nares
2659 Of nothing]
Furness (ed. 1877): “
Johnson: Should it not be read:
Or nothing? When the courtiers remark that Ham. has contemptuously called the King a
thing, Ham. defends himself by observing that the King must be a
thing or
nothing.
Farmer and
Steevens cite instances of the use of this not uncommon phrase, and
Whalley cites
Psalm cxliv, 4: ‘Man is like a thing of nought.’ [—Prayer Book Version.‘—of vanity,’—Authorized version.]
Nares quotes Beau. & Fl.
Humorous Lieutenant, IV, vi: ‘And though a thing of nothing, thy thing ever.’ (p. 517, ed. Dyce.]”
Nares must be later ed. than 1822.
v1877 ≈ han1, sing1, wh1; = rug
2659-60 hide . . .
after]
Furness (ed. 1877): “
Hanmer: There is a play among children thus called.
Singer: Most probably what is now called ‘whoop’ or ‘hide and seek.’
White: The exclamation is merely one of Hamlet’s signs of feigned madness.
Moberly: Ham. sheathes his sword (‘a Toledo or an English fox’—’point of fox,’ &c., probably from the name of a celebrated maker like Andrea di Ferrara), and, as if he were playing hide and seek, cries ‘now the fox is hid: let all go after him.’”
1877 neil
neil ≈ ktly for hide . . . after without attribution
1878 rlf1
rlf1 ≈ v1785 + magenta underlined
2659 Of nothing] Rolfe (ed. 1878): “Steevens gives several examples of the phrase “a thing nothing;” and Whalley adds Ps. cxliv. 4 (Prayer-book version): ‘Man is like a thing of nought.’ Cf. MND 4.2.14 (1760)]: “A thing of naught,” and see note in our ed. p. 178.”
rlf1: han, rug
2659 hide Fox, etc.] Rolfe (ed. 1878): “’There is a play among children thus called’ (Hanmer). M. says: ‘Hamlet sheaths his sword, and, as if he were playing hide-and-seek, cries, “now the fox is hid; let all go after him.”’ For fox = sword, see H5 [4.4.9 (2394)], p. 179.”
1882 elze2
elze2: standard
2659-60 hide . . . after] Elze (ed. 1882): “Hamlet compares the eager search for the body of Polonius, which he has secreted, to the well known children’s play generally called ‘All hid’ or ‘Hide and seek’.”
1885 macd
macd
2659 Of nothing] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “‘A thing of nothing’ seems to have been a common phrase.”
macd
2660 Exeunt] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “hide Fox . . . . Exeunt] Hamlet darts out, with the others after him, as in a hunt. Possibly there was a game called Hide fox, and all after.”
1888 macl
macl: xref.
2659-60 hide . . . after] Maclachlan (ed. 1888): “I suspect this addition is post-Shakespearean. It has a meaning look without a meaning. Hamlet, who had just called the King a thing of nothing, adds, ‘Bring me to him.’ This, to those who made the addition, seemed to lack of Hamlet’s mettle and his cunning, and hence the meaningless addition to raise a surmise of what was coming.
“Such persons missed the meaning of Shakespeare. For observe the impertinent language of Rosencrantz:—‘My lord, you must tell us where the body is, and go with us to the king.’
“The Prince, not to be commanded by this Sponge, himself gives the order—‘Bring me to him.’ See ante, [4.3.10 (2673)].”
1889 Barnett
Barnett
2659 hide fox] Barnett (1889, p. 54): “evidently alluding to a childish game. Hamlet is acting foolishly on purpose. Fox was a sword. Hamlet sheathes his sword as he speaks.”
1890 irv2
irv2 ≈ han1, cln1 (Ado //)
2659-60 hide . . . after] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “Perhaps another name for hide-and-seek. Hanmer declares definitely that ‘there is a play among children called, Hide, fox, and all after,’ but no one else seems to know anyting about such a game. See Ado. [2.3.42 (874)], note 146.”
1899 ard1
ard1: han; Dekker analogue + magenta underlined
2659-60 hide . . . after] Dowden (ed. 1899): “Hanmer says that there is a play among children so named. Dekker, Satiromastix has: ‘does play at bo-peep with your grace, and cries—All hid, as boys do.’ Whether the reference is to a children’s game or to a fox-hunt, the meaning seems to be: ‘The old fox, Polonius, is hidden; come, let us all follow the sport and hunt him out.”
1900 ev1
ev1
2659-60 hide Fox, and all after.] Herford (ed. 1900): “a cry said to be used in the game of ‘hide and seek.’ The fox is Polonius, and Hamlet joins in the chase.”
1904 ver
ver: ev1 + magenta underlined
2659-60 hide . . . after] Verity (ed. 1904): “‘a cry said to be used in the game of “hide and seek.” The fox is Polonius, and Hamlet joins in the chase’ – Herford. Hamlet, as he speaks, runs off the stage. Perhaps the cry belonged to the old game ‘Fox in the hole,’ or ‘Fox and Hounds”; some say, to ‘Hide and Seek.’”
1907 Werder
Werder
2659-60 hide . . . after] Werder (1907; rpt. 1977, p. 153): “In the eye of the world he is a dangerous character to be placed under legal restraint, imprisoned and kept from doing harm. He is in the power of the King. He sees, however, that the enemy will not aim directly at his life; he is to be got rid of by cunning. ‘Hide fox and all after!’ must now be the game to be followed.”
1929 trav
trav: MND //
2659 Of nothing]
Travers (ed. 1929): “= worth nothing; cp. in
MND [4.2.14 (1760)], the alternative phrase ‘thing of nought’ i. e. morally worthless; cp. p. 112 n. 5
[3.1.122 (1778)].”
1931 crg1
crg1
2659-60 hide . . . after] Craig (ed. 1931): “an old signal cry in the game of hide-and-seek.”
1934 rid
rid ≈ crg1
2659-60 hide . . . after] Ridley (ed. 1934): “the ‘hide-and-seek’ signal.”
1934 cam3
cam3: Ado, LLL //s
2659-60 hide Fox...after] Wilson (ed. 1934): “The cry in some game like ‘hide and seek’; cf. ‘the hid-fox’ Ado [2.3.42 (874)], and ‘All hid all hid, an old infant play’ LLL [4.3.76 (1412)]. The ‘fox’ is Pol., and Ham. runs off the stage as he speaks.”
1937 pen1
pen1 ≈ hud3 + megenta underlined
2659-60 hide . . . after] Harrison (ed. 1937): “a children’s game like hide and seek. With these words Hamlet gives his companions the slip and runs off.”
1938 parc
parc ≈ pen1
2659 hide Fox] Parrott and Craig (ed. 1938): “a game like hide-and-seek. Hamlet seems to have rushed away here.”
1939 kit2
kit2: Whalley (Psalm anal.), Harvey analogue; Cam3
2659 Of nothing] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “Whalley cites the Prayer Book Version of Psalm cxliv, 4: ‘Man is like a thing of naught: his time passeth away like a shadow.’ The phrase had become an idiom to express the utmost contempt, as in Gabriel Harvey, Four Letters, 1952 (ed. Grosart, I, 184): ‘A silly bullbeare, a sorry puffe of winde, a thing of nothing.’ Wilson’s suggestion is possible—that Hamlet is also hinting that the King has not long to live.”
kit2: standard + magenta underlined
2659-60 hide . . . after] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “Omitted in the Quartos. Doubtless the formula of a child’s game similar to hide-and-seek. One person (the fox) hides, and the other players are to find him if they can. As he speaks, Hamlet runs off as if he were the fox (‘Catch me if you can!’), and is followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Cf. Moros, the silly character in Wager’s comedy The Longer Thou Livest, the More Fool Thou Art, ca. 1559 (Aii, 3ro): ‘When we play and hunt the fox, I outrun all the boyes in the schoole.’”
1942 n&h
n&h ≈ parc minus “Hamlet . . . here.”
2659-60 hide . . . after] Neilson & Hill (ed. 1942): “a game like hide-and-seek.”
1947 cln2
cln2
2659-60 hide . . . after] Rylands (ed. 1947): “a cry from such a game as Fox and Hounds.”
1947 yal2
yal2: Lr. //
2659-60 hide . . . after] Cross & Brooke (ed. 1947): “Added in the Folio, probably to motivate Hamlet’s sudden rush from the stage. Compare that of King Lear, Lr . [4.6.201 (2643)].”
1957 pel1
pel1: cln1 (Prayer Book, Psalm analogue)
2569 Of nothing] Farnham (ed. 1957): “Of nothing (cf. Prayer Book, Psalm 144: 4, ’Man is like a thing of naught: his time passeth away like a shadow’).”
pel1 ≈ crg1
2659-60 hide . . . after] Farnham (ed. 1957): “apparently well-known words from some game of hide-and-seek).”
1958 mun
mun
2659-60 Hide...after] Munro (ed. 1958): “Another example of multiple meanings. A fox was a sword. Hide fox and all after was the children’s game of hide-and-seek. The old fox, Polonius had hidden with some consequence, was hidden again, and was still to seek. Hamlet darts off and the others run after him.”
1974 evns1
evns1: Wilson + Psalm analogue (kit cites Whalley for this ref.)
2659 Of nothing] Evans (ed. 1974): “of no account. Cf. ‘Man is like a thing of nought, his time passeth away like a shadow’ (Psalm 144:4 in the Prayer Book version). ‘Hamlet at once insults the King and hints that his days are numbered’ (Dover Wilson).”
evns1 ≈ n&h
2659-60 hide . . . after] Evans (ed. 1974): “Probably a cry in some game resembling hide-and-seek.”
1980 pen2
pen2
2659-60 hide . . . after] Spencer (ed. 1980): “These words in F are not in Q2, and may be an interpolation to introduce a bit of exit business, such as Hamlet’s eluding his captors and running off stage. This has become common theatrical practice, but is not justified by Hamlet’s entry at [4.3.15 (2681)]. The words probably refer to some children’s game of hide-and-seek.’”
1982 ard2
ard2: Pegge, kit, ev, parc; xrefs.
2659-60 him] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “Balance of probability suggest that F’s added words are a stage accretion. ln. The words added in F, Hide, fox, and all after, are plausibility conjectured to be a cry in a children’s game in which the player who is the fox hides and the others hunt him (cf. Sam. Pegge, Alphabet of Kenticisms, hide-and-fox). Then either Hamlet, as the fox, dashes off with the others in pursuit (Kittredge) or Polonius’s body is the fox and Hamlet leads the hue and cry (Herford). This is theatrically effective and it cannot be said to be out of character (cf. [1.5.116 (803)]. Yet it may be ‘an actor’s interpolation to heighten the feigned madness’ (Parrott-Craig). Not only are the words absent from Q2 but they have in the context in subtle incongruity (cf. n. [2.2.581 (1621)]). Madness may properly be incoherent but not therefore inconsistent. Hamlet’s thrustful speeches here and in the next scene show a desire to confront and contend with his adversaries rather than elude them; so that Bring me to him makes an appropriate exit-line, from which the added words detract.”
1984 klein
klein: ard1, Wilson, kit, Wager
2659-60 hide Fox . . . after] Klein (ed. 1984): “Who is the fox here? According to Dowden and Wilson it is Polonius, according to Kittredge (pointing to W. Wager, The Longer thou livest the more fool thou art [1559?, 1564-69?], A2) it is Hamlet – which sounds more plausible. In any case, it is significant that Hamlet does not allow himself to be tamely led out but (as he will do again, with great dignity, in [4.3.48-9 (2713)]) seizes the initiative. In this period of apparent defeat the dramatist spares his hero as far as possible the humiliating corollaries.”
1987 oxf4
oxf4: OED
2659-60 hide fox, and all after] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “Occurring in F only, these words, referring to the boys’ game of ‘fox and hounds’ (OED fox sb. 16d), have often been regarded as an actor’s interpolation. Yet they do give the scene a lively ending that is in keeping with Hamlet’s O, here they come (l. 3) and with the ‘savage comic humour’ that is so characteristic of this scene and of the scene that follows. They may even anticipate the behaviour of the mad Lear when he issues his challenge to the Attendants in 4.6 and then runs off. Moreover, they fit in with the general tendency towards ‘broader’ effects which is so typical of F. The Prince’s seemingly submissive Bring me to him puts his captors off their guard and gives him a good start over them. The sentence is, therefore, accepted in this edition as part of the process of authorial revision which lies behind F.”
1988 bev2
bev2
2659-60 hide . . . after] Bevington (ed. 1988): “(An old signal cry in the game of hide-and-seek, suggesting that Hamlet now runs away from them).”
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2: 2715 xref; KL 4.6.198-9; Hibbard
2659 Bring. . . him] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “F’s additional line is rejected by Jenkins as an actor’s interpolation but defended by Hibbard as an authorial revision in the direction of the ’savage comic humour’ characteristic of this scene and the next. He also suggests it is comparable to the mad Lear’s abrupt exit on the line ’Come, an you get it, / You shall get it by running’ (KL 4.6.198-9). In both Q2 and F, Hamlet seizes the initiative and avoids the indignity of a straightforward arrest (see his similar move at 4.3.51 [2715]).”
2659 2660
