Notes for lines 2951-end ed. Hardin A. Aasand
| 3578 <The interim’s mine, and a mans life’s no more> | 5.2.73 |
|---|
3579 <Then to say one: but I am very sorry good Horatio,>
3580 <That to Laertes I forgot my selfe;> 3580
1770 Gentleman
Gentleman
3579-84 but . . .
passion]
Gentleman (1770, I:29-30): <p. 29> “Another faint apology is made in a scene with Horatio, where the prince seems to be sorry that the
bravery of Laertes’s grief should so far provoke him; but all this scene, except a very few lines, is left out in the representation; and indeed, though meant to account for Hamlet’s coming back, it draws such a strange pciture of his getting at the King’s dispatches, and forging others, to turn the design of his death upon Rosencraus and Guil-</p. 29> <p 30>denstern, that we lament such low chicanery in a character of dignity; one who had no occasion, but much to the contrary, to appear a volunteer in his uncle’s proposition of sending him to England; however, as the transaction of his speedy return should be accounted for, I wish somewhat more like a narrative was preserved in action.” </p. 30>
1791- rann
rann
3572 To quit] Rann (ed. 1791-) : “To requite, be quits with him.”
rann
3578-9 Then to say ,one] Rann (ed. 1791-) : “gone in an instant”
1805 Seymour
Seymour
3578-9 a mans . . .
one]
Seymour (1805, 2: 202) : <p.202>“A man may die, or be killed, as soon and as easily as we can tell one.” </p. 202>
3579-84 Richardson (1808, p. 63): <p. 63> “Neither is his conduct at the funeral of Ophelia to be constructed into any design of insulting Laerts. His behaviour was the effect of violent perturbation; and he says so afterwards, not only to Laertes, but to Horatio: [cites 3579-84]
“To this he alludes in his apology: ‘If Hamlet from himself be ta’en away, And, when he’s not himself, does wrong Laertes, Then Hamlet does it not; Hamlet denies it.’[3686-8]. “</p. 63>
[1839] KNT1
knt1
3577ff] Knight (ed. [1839]) closes his text with some general commentary on scenes from this play. He refers to this moment as one of Hamlet’s moments of decision: “In actions that appear indirectly to advance the execution of the great ‘commandment’ that was laid upon him, he has decision and alacrity enough. His relation to Horatio (we are somewhat anticipating of his successful device against Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, would appear to come from a man who is all will. His intellectual activity revels in the telling of the story. Coleridge has admirably ointed out in ‘The Friend,’ how ‘the circumstances of time and place are all stated with equal compression and rapidity;’ but still, with the relater’s general tendency to generalise. The event has happened, and Hamlet does not think too precisely of its consequences. The issue will be shortly known. [TLN 3577-3579]. This looks like decision, growing out of the narrative of the events in which Hamlet had exhibited his decision. But even in his own account, the beginning of this action was his ‘indiscretion,’ proceeding from sudden and indefinable impulses:—’Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting/That would not let me sleep.’ [TLN 3503ff] Wonderfully, indeed has Shakspere managed to follow the old history—’How Fengon devised to send Hamlet to the king of England, with secret letters to have him put to death, and how Hamlet when his companions slept, read the letters, and instead of them, counterfeited others, willing the king of England to put the two messengers to death,’—without destroying the unity of his own conception of Hamlet.”
1854 del2
del2 : standard
3578-9 Then to say one ] Delius (ed. 1854) : “Mit einem Menschenleben ist est so schnell vorber, wie man Eins zählt.” [ “With a man’s life it is so quickly along, as one counts to one.” ]
1855 Wade
Wade
3579-84 Wade (1855, p. 28): <p. 28> “Thus does Hamlet start away from consideration of the main business of his earthly being!—thus instinctively does he shrink from setting foot upon even the mere threshold of action!” </p. 28>
1860 Walker
Walker
3577-78 Ham. It . . .
one]
Walker (1860, 3:272-3): <p. 272>“Arrange and write, with the folio (p. 259 or 279, col.2), except that the folio has
a mans life’s 10 for
a mans life, and points differently, though without implying any difference in the sense,— </p. 272><p. 273>‘It will be short: The interim’s mine; and a man’s life no more Than to say one.’ (Or possibly, ‘a man’s
life’s no more,’ &c.) Herrick, Hesperides, Clarke, vol. ii. p. 217, cccclxxxix. (Purgatory.)— ‘In th’interim she desires That your tears may cool her fires.’ Is this right, and was
intérim the common pronunciation? If so, we must write in (
JC 2.I.64-5 [685-6])— ‘——all
th’ interim is Like a phantasma,’ &c.
Interim in Hamlet, like
quietus, is printed in italics in the folio.
”</p. 273>
<p. 273><n>10 Lettsom (apud Walker, 1860, 3:272, n. 10): “Walker was misled here by the reprint of the first folio, which has this error; the original has, ‘a mans life’s,’ confirming Walker’s conjecture below. So, too, the subsequent folios, and the earlier editors, most of whom arrange as the folio. Mr. Dyce and Mr. Knight aso read man’s life’s, but the Vulgate, the Var. 1821, and some recent editions, read, I know not why, ‘man’s life.’”</n></p. 273>
1860- mWhite
mWhite
3577-78 Ham. It . . . one] White (ms. notes in Walker, 1860, 3:272, n. 10): “Not in Qq.” [referring, presumbly to 3572ff]
3578 mans life’s] White (ms. notes in Walker, 1860, 3:272, n. 10): “1803.” [Referring presumably to a1803 reprint of the Folio in Lettsom’s note.]
[Ed: White also adds the name “V.Clarke” to refer to the editor of the 1640 edition of Carew cited by Walker at 3582.]
1870 Miles
Miles
3578 The interim’s mine]
Miles (1870, p. 80): <p. 80>“The last scene is the most elliptical of all: it
begins with an ellipsis. You never suspect the errand Hamlet is on, until you happen to hear that little word ‘
The interim is mine!’ It means more mischief than all the monologues! No threats, no imprecations; no more mention of smiling, damned villain; no more self-accusal; but solely and briefly—’
It will be short! the Interim is mine!’ Then, for the first time, we recognize the extent of the change that has been wrought in Hamlet; then, for the first time, we perfectly comprehend his quiet jesting with the clown, his tranquil musings with Horatio, his humorous recital of the events of the night aboard the vessel, when the fighting in his heart would not let him sleep. The man is transformed by a grat resolve:
his mind is made up! The return of the vessel from England, will be the signal for his own execution and therefore the moral problem is solved: the only chance of saving his life from a lawless murderer, is to slay him; it has become an act of self-defense: he can do it with
perfect conscience. He has calculated the return voyage; he has allowed the longst duration to his own existence and the king’s; he has waited to the very last moment for the intervention of a special providence. ‘No or never must the blow be struck!’
“All this and more is revealed by that one word, ‘The interim is mine!’ At the very moment he encounters the clown in the churchyard, he is on his death march to the Palace at Elsinore.’ The only interruption of the calm resolve by which he is now possessed, is the affair with Laertes, to which he turns the conversation in princely care of Horatio’s spotless honor. Is not all this indirectly but unerringly conveyed? And yet how curiously our standard criticism ignores it.”</p. 80>
Miles
3579-82 but . . .
fauours]
Miles (1870, p. 76): <p. 76>“His subsequent regret, is but another grace of his ‘most generous’ nature. [cites ‘but I . . . fauours”]
“He has
then had time for reflection: time for conversation with his invaluable friend; time to realize the heart-rending fact that Ophelia must have believed him the
wilful murderer of her father, and that Laertes and all the world, except his mother, were justified in so regarding him. It was under the spell of conscious innocence and ignorant or forgetful of this constructive guilt that he leaped into the grave. He now comprehends and pardons the indignation of Laertes; but his own conduct was far less influenced by the violence of the son, </p.76> <p.77> than by the base mouthing and ranting of the brother. For he cannot help adding, with a glow of re-animated disdain: [cites 3583-4].”</p.77>
1872 del4
del4 = del2
3578-9 Then to say one ]
1875 Marshall
Marshall
3579-84 Marshall (1875, p. 102): <p. 102>“It only remains to notice the words in which he expresses to Horatio his sorrow for his outburst of passion over the grave of Ophelia. Not that he alludes to Ophelia in any way either directly or indirectly; he carefully avoids doing so, which confirms what I have suggested as regards his reticence, even to Horatio, on the subject of his love. [cites 3579-84] Nothing can be more becoming than the tone of this speech; he is the more sorry for his display of passion, because, now that he is calm, he can understand, from his own feelings with regard to his fathr, what those of Laertes must have been: but it was the ‘bravery’ or ‘ostentation’ of th latter’s grief which enraged him. Hamlet is very probably going to say something more, when they are interrupted by the entrance of Osric.” </p. 102>
1877 v1877
v1877 : Miles
3578 mine]
Miles (
apud Furness, ed. 1877): “You never suspect the erand Ham. is on until you happen to hear that little word, ‘
The interim is mine!’ It means more mischief than all the monologues! No threats, no imprecations, no more mention of smiling damned villain; no more self-accusal; but solely and briefly, ‘
It will be short; the interim is mine!’ Then, for the first time, we recognize the extent of the change that has been wrought in Ham.; then, for the first time, we perfectly comprehend his quiet jesting with the Clown, his tranquil musings with Hor. The man is transformed by a great resolve:
his mind is made up! The return of the vessel from England will be the signal for his own execution, and therefore the moral problem is solved: the only chance of saving his life from a lawless murder is to slay him; it has become an act of self-defence; he can do it with perfect conscience. He has calculated the return voyage; he has allowed the longest duration to his own existence and the King’s. At the very moment he encoutners the Clown in the church-yard he is on his death-march to the palace at Elsinore.”
1881 HUD3
hud2
3577-8 Ham. It . . . mine] Hudson (ed. 1881): “Hamlet justly looks forward to the coming of that news as the crisis of his task: it will give him a practiceable twist on the King: he can then meet both him and the public with justifying proof of his guilt.”
1882 elze2
elze2
3578 interim’s] Elze (ed. 1882): “Compare Dekker, The Honest Whore, Part I, V,2 (Middleton, ed. Dyce, III, 105): ‘How shall the interim hours by us be spent?’”
1883 wh2
Wh2
3579 to say one] White (ed. 1883): “one pass with the rapier, as at fencing.”
1885 macd
macd
3578 The interim’s mine] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “‘True, it will be short, but till then is mine, and will be long enough for me.’ He is resolved.”
macd
3578 and . . . more] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “Now that he is assured of what is right, the Shadow that waits him on the path to it, has no terror for him. He ceases to be anxious as to ‘what dreams may come,’ as to the ‘something after death,’ as to ‘the undiscovered country,’ the moment his conscience is satisfied. [1732-37] It cannot now make a coward of him. It was never in regard to the past that Hamlet dreaded death, but inr egard to the righteousness of the action which was about to occasion his death. Note that he expects death; at least he has long made up his mind to the great risk of it—the death referred to in the soliloquy—which, after all, was not that which did overtake him. There is nothing about suicide here, nor was there there.”
macd
3579 Then to say one] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “‘a man’s life must soon be over anyhow.’”
(0000)]—’And come down With fearful bravery’” </p. 63>
1890 irv2
irv2
3572-85 Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “[These] are omitted inQq., a curious omission, as, according to Ff., it makes Hamlet’s speech break off in the middle of a sentence.”
irv2 : v1877 VN ?
3578 interim’s mine] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “interim is mine]] Ff print the interim’s mine. The correction was introduced by Hanmer.”
[Ed: Did Symons take this observation from
Furness’s variant notes, which show Hanmer’s alteration?]
1929 trav
trav
3578 mans lifes]
Travers (ed. 1929): “taking a man’s life requires no more time.
The grim self-possession that makes itself audible in these two lines seems convincing, as to the speaker’s mind being really made up--however promptly he turns to a more congenial subject ((on which point, though, see n. 11 [3582n])).”
1934 Wilson
Wilson
3572-85 Wilson (1934, 1:97): Wilson suggests that this is one of the many examples of the compositor deliberately omitting Q2 lines: “a passage which breaks off in the middle of a sentence, and can have been omitted by the compositor alone, accidentally or in order to abridge his labours. . . . It is, moreover, probable, I think, that the Q2 compositor was alone responsible for all five omissions [the five omissions in 2.2.244-76; 2.2.352-79; 4.5.161-3; 5.1.39-42; 5.2.68-80].”
1934 cam3
cam3 : standard
3578-9 a mans . . . one] Wilson (ed. 1934):”This, which is passed over in silence by edd., refers I think to the single thrust of a rapier; cf. [Rom. 2.4.23 ‘one, two, and the third in your bosom,’ and below 5.2.278 (3743) ‘One!’”
1936 cam3b
cam3b
3578-9 a mans . . . one] Wilson (2nd ed. 1936, Additional Notes): “Adams (p. 3321) concurs in this interpretation.”
1939 kit2
kit2
3580 Kittredge (ed. 1939): “Hamlet’s own account of his behaviour refutes the theories both of those critics who think he was then acting the madman and of those who think that he was really insane.”
kit2 ≈ cam3b +
3578-79 a . . . one] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “Wilson detects an allusion to a rapier thrust. . . . The meaning depends (as so often in spoken speech) on tone and action. Delivered in one way, the line would be only a pensive reflection: ‘What meaning has ‘shortly,’ after all? For what can be shorter than this life of ours?’ Delivered in another way, the line is a menace to the King’s life.”
1947 cln2
cln2 ≈ standard
3579 to say one] Rylands (ed. 1947, Notes)
1974 evns1
evns1
3578 mans life’s no more] Evans (ed. 1974): “i.e. to kill a man takes no more time.”
evns1 ≈ standard
3578-79 a . . . one]
1980 pen2
pen2 : kit2 ; cam3 (all w/o attribution) +
3578-79 a . . . one] Spencer (ed. 1980): “((one is the swordsman’s claim to have hit is [sic] opponent’s body)).”
1982 ard2
ard2
3572-85 Jenkins (ed. 1982): “The absence of these lines from Q2 is difficult to explain except as an accidental omission.”
3581-2 image . . . his] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “The irony, which Hamlet does not remark on but which we can hardly miss, is that the image which shows Laertes as a revenger like Hamlet must also show Hamlet as revenge’s object.”
3573 Canker]
Jenkins (ed. 1982): “a spreading sore—and thus a corruption inherent in our ‘nature’,
rather than ((as Schmidt)) a grub preying on it.”
ard2 : standard (Wilson What Happens in Hamlet)
3578-9 a mans . . . one]
ard2 : standard +
3583 brauery] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “See [v.1.244-50, 278-9].”
1984 chal
chal : standard
3572 quit]
chal :OED
3573 Canker] Wilkes (ed. 1984): "’an eating, spreading sore or ulcer’."
1985 CAM4
CAM4 ≈ standard
3572 quit]
3573 Canker]
3583 brauery]
cam4
3572 And . . . damn’d] Edwards (ed. 1985): “See Introduction, pp. 56-8. Hamlet sees a prospect of damnation not, as before, in obeying a possibly fraudulent ghost ((2.2.556)) nor in opting out by suicide ((3.1.78)), but in failing to rid the world of the evil represented by Claudius.”
3572 And . . .
damn’d]
Edwards (ed. 1985, Introduction, 56,8): <p. 56>“The sense of heaven guiding him reinforces rather than diminishes his sense of personal responsibility for completing his mission. The discovery of the king’s treachery in the commission to have him murdered in England has fortified Hamlet’s determination. Yet it is with demand for assurance that he puts the matter to Horatio. [cites 3567-74] </p. 56> <p. 58>It is difficult to see how we can take this speech except as the onclusion of a long and deep perplexity. But if it a conclusion, that question mark [3574]—conveying so much more than indignation—makes it an appeal by this loneliest of heroes for support and agreement, which he pointedly does not get from the cautious Horatio, who simply says, ‘[cites 3575-6] Horatio won’t accept the responsibility of answering, and only gives him the exasperating response that he hasn’t much time.
“Once again Hamlet has raised the question of conscience and damnation. Conscience is no longer an obstacle to action, but encourages it. As for damnation Hamlet had felt the threat of it if he contemplated suicide, felt the threat of it if he were to kill at the behest of a devil-ghost; now he feels the thrat of it if he fail to remove from the world a cancer which is spreading. This new image for Claudius, a ‘canker of our nature’, is important. All the vituperation which Hamlet has previously thrown at Claudius seems mere rhetoric by this. Hamlet now sees himself undertaking a surgical operation to remove a cancer from human society. Whether the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune continue or not is immaterial. To neglect, ignore or encourage the evil is to imperil one’s soul.
“When in reply to Hamlet’s unanswerable question Horatio tells him that if he is going to act he had better move quickly, because as soon as Claudius learns the fate of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Hamlet won’t have another hour to live, Hamlet exclaims ‘The interim’s mine.’ But of course it isn’t, because the plot against his life has already been primed and is about to go off. ” </p. 58>
3573-4 come . . . In] Edwards (ed. 1985): “enter into.”
3575-6 Edwards (ed. 1985): “Horatio, whose replies are guarded in this scene, does not answer Hamlet directly, but warns him that if he going to act he hasn’t much time, because Claudius will soon hear of the death of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and is then bound to act swiftly and decisively against Hamlet.”
3578 The interim’s mine] Edwards (ed. 1985): “Deeply ironic, in view of the plot against his life which has ben prepared by Claudius and Laertes, and which is now about to be sprung.
“The line is a syllable short. Editions universally mend it by printing ‘The interim is mine’, but there is no authority for this.”
3578-9 and . . . one] Edwards (ed. 1985): “And in any case one’s whole life is only a short space of time. One’s death is never very far away. It is in this spirit that he turns to regret his outburst to Laertes.”
cam4 : ard2
3581-2 For . . . his] Edwards (ed. 1985): “i.e. I recognize in my situation the essential features of his. ((As a bereaved son, I could have remembered that grief makes one act strangely.)) ‘my cause’ cannot mean his vengeance because it is clear that ((as Jenkins points out)) he simply does not recognize himself as a proposed victim of Laertes’ revenge. Presumably he cannot equate his accidental killing of Polonius with the premeditated murder of his father.”
1987 OXF4
oxf4
3572-85 Hibbard (ed. 1987): “These lines, not found in Q2, are probably an addition made during the preparatio of the text that lies behind F. See Textual Introduction pp. 110-12.”
3572-85 Hibbard (ed. 1987, Introduction, pp. 110-1): <p. 110>“. . . [Jenkins] eventually concludes that ‘’the incomplete sense </p. 110> <p. 111>and sentence ((whereby ‘“is’t not perfect conscience?”[3571] lacks its necessary complement)’ is decisively in its favour. . . . It is undeniable that ‘is’t not perfect conscience’ lacks its necessary complement, but Hamlet has said enough to leave one in no doubt as to what that complement would have been had his speech not been interrupted by the entry of Osric. The question mark following ‘conscience’ was probably supplied by Compositor X [one of two compositors, X and Y, conjectured by John Russell Brown in 1955].” </p. 111>
3582 count his fauours] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “take note of, think about, his favourable characteristics ((OED favour sb. 8)).”
oxf4 : OED (v. 10)
3572 quit]
oxf4 : OED (sb. 1)
3573 Canker]
oxf4 : Dent
3578-9 and . . . one] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “i.e. a man’s life is no longer than the time it takes to say ‘one’. Compare [MND 5.1.298-301], ‘No die, but an ace, for him; for he but one.—Less than an ace, man; for he is dead; he is nothing.’ See also ‘Man ((Life)) is but a figure of one’ ((Dent O50.1)).”
oxf4 ≈ standard
3581-2 For . . . his]
oxf4 : OED (1)
3583 brauery] Hibbard (ed. 1987): bravado, ostentatious defiance.”
oxf4 : OED[4. Rising to a high pitch of violence or intensity]
3584 Towring passion] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “earliest instance of this phrase cited by OED—towering ppl.a. 4)).”
1988 bev2
bev2: standard
3573 Canker]
bev2 : pen2
3573-4 come In]
1988 bev2
bev2:
3578-9 mans . . . one] Bevington (ed. 1988): “one’s whole life occupies such a short time, only as long as it takes to count to one.”
1993 dent
dent ≈ standard
3573 Canker]
dent
3578 The interim’s mine] Andrews (ed. 1993): “I’ll succeed within the brief interval I have to workk with.”
3582 I forgot my selfe] Andrews (ed. 1993): “I lost control of my true nature.”
3584 Towring passion] Andrews (ed. 1993): “Hamlet uses Tow’ring with nice precision here. To avoid having Laertes ‘out-face’ him ((V.i.292)), he engaged his opponent in a match to see whose rage could be more ‘Giant-like.’”
dent ≈ standard +
3581-2 For . . . his] Andrews (ed. 1989): “Like the Latin word causa, cause can mean both ‘cause’ and ‘case.’”
3583 count his fauours] Andrews (ed. 1989): “Modern editons normally ement count to court.”
1992 fol2
fol2≈ standard
1841 In] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “into.”
3581-2 For . . . his]
3582 brauery]
3578 3579 3580
