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Line 3841, etc. - 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 2951-end ed. Hardin A. Aasand

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

3841 Ham. O I die Horatio,	5.2.352

3842 The potent poyson quite ore-crowes my spirit,

3843 I cannot liue to heare the newes from England,

1773 jen

jen

3842 ore-crowes my spirit] Jennens (ed. 1773) : “[ore-crowes] may perhaps be Shakespeare’s word; we have then the image of a victorious cock crowing over his defeated antagonist; and the words potent and spirit seem favourable to this reading. A striking metaphor! But it may perhaps be thought a little too ludicrous, in this place.”

1773 gent

gent

3843-47 I . . . silence] Gentleman (apud Bell, ed. 1773) : “As the play is cut, these five lines should, we think, be omitted;for they are unintelligible to all those who remember the original play, and are quite unnecessary here, and foreign to the presentation, as it now stands.

1778 v1778

v1778

3842 ore-crowes my spirit] Steevens (ed. 1778) : “The first quarto and the first folio read, — o’er-crows my spirit; alluding perhaps to a victorious cock exculting over his conquered antagonist. The same word occurs in Lingua, &c. 1607: ‘Shall I? th’embassadress of gods and men, That pull’d proud Phœbe from her brightsome sphere, And dark’d Apollo’s countenance with a word, Be ouer-crowed, and breathe without revenge?’ Again, in Hall’s Satires, lib. 5. sat. 2: ‘Like the vain bubble of Iberian pride, That ouer-croweth all the world beside.’ This phrase often occurs in the controversial pieces of Gabriel Harvey, 1593, &c. STEEVENS”

1785 v1785

v1785 = v1778

3842 ore-crowes my spirit]

1787 ann

ann = v1785

3842 ore-crowes my spirit]

1790 mal

mal

3842 ore-crowes my spirit] Malone (ed. 1790) :”This word, for which Mr. Pope and the succeeding editors have substituted ouer-grows, is used by Holinshed in his History of Ireland : ‘These noblemen laboured with tooth and nayle to ouer-crowe , and consequently to overthrow, one another.’

“Again, in the epistle prefixed to Nashe’s Apologie of Pierce Pennilesse, 1593: ‘About two yeers since a certayne demi-divine took upon him to set his foote to mine, and ouer-crowe mee with comparative terms.’ MALONE”

mal

3842 ore-crowes my spirit] Malone (ed. 1790, 10: Appendix, p. 686) : <p. 686>”I find the reading which Mr. Pope and the subsequent editors adopted, (o’ergrows,) was taken from a late quarto of no authority, printed in 1637 [Q5]. Malone.” </p. 686>

1793 v1793

v1793 = v1785 ; mal (minus appendix note) +

3842 ore-crowes my spirit] Steevens (ed. 1793) : “The accepted reading is the more quaint, the rejected one, the more elegant of the two; at least Mr. Rowe has given the lament to his dying Amestris in The Ambitious Stepmother : ‘The gloom grows o’er me.’ STEEVEN”

1797 Mason

Mason

3843-5 I . . . voyce] Mason (1797, p. 64) : <p. 64> “This passage should probably be pointed thus: ‘I cannot live to hear the news from England, But I do prophecy,—the election lights On Fortinbras.” </p. 64>

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793 +

3842 ore-crowes my spirit] Steevens (apud Reed, ed. 1803) : “It is also found in Chapman’s translation of the twenty-first Book of Homer’s Odyssey : ‘—and told his foe It was not fair, nor equal, t’ ouercrow The poorest guest—.’ STEEVENS”

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

3842 ore-crowes my spirit]

1819 cald1

cald1 : v1813 + magenta underlined

3842 ore-crowes my spirit] Caldecott (ed. 1819) : “Overpowers, exults over; no doubt an image taken from the lofty carriage of a victorious cock. Mr. Steevens quotes ‘Shall I? th’embassadress of gods and men, That pull’d proud Phœbe from her brightsome sphere, And dark’d Apollo’s countenance with a word, Be ouer-crowed, and breathe without revenge?’ ‘Like the vain bubble of Iberian pride, That ouer-croweth all the world beside.’ Hall’s Sat. V. 2. This phrase, which often occurs in the controversial pieces of Gabriel Harvey, 1593 is also found in Chapman’s Odyssey: ‘—and told his foe It was not fair, nor equal, t’ ouercrow The poorest guest—.’ B. XXI.

“Mr. Malone instances ‘These noblemen laboured with tooth and nayle to ouer-crow , and consequently to overthrow, one another.’ Holingsh. Hist. of Ireland: and the epistle prefixed to Nashe’s Apology of Pierce Pennilesse, 1593: ‘About two yeeres since a certayne demi-divine took upon him to set his foote to mine, and ouer-crowe me with comparative terms.’ See ‘grunt and sweat,’ [3.2.? (0000)] Haml.”

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1813

3842 ore-crowes my spirit]

v1821

3842 ore-crowes] Boswell (ed. 1821, 21:Glossary): “overcome.”

1826 sing1

sing1 : mal (Holinshed //)

3842 ore-crowes my spirit] Singer (ed. 1826) : “To overcrow is to overcome, to subdue. ‘These noblemen laboured with tooth and naile to overcrow, and consequently to overthrow one another.’—Holinshed’s History of Ireland.”

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1 +

3842 ore-crowes my spirit] Caldecott (ed. 1832) : “We have a similar phraseology in Maplet’s Green Forest . 8vo. 1567. fo. 38: ‘Cokkell verifies the old proverbe—’the ill weede ouercroppeth the good corne.’”

cald2 = cald1 +

3843 the news from England] Caldecott (ed. 1832) : “i.e. the fate of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern”

1843 col1

col1: mal

3842 ore-crowes my spirit] Collier (ed. 1843) : “Malone states that only the quarto, 1637, reads o’er-grows for ‘o’er-crows;’ but the fact is, that that reading (whether it be or be not an improvement upon the word in the quarto, 1604, and in the folio, 1623) is found in the undated quarto, and in that of 1611.”

1854 del2

del2

3842 ore-crowes my spirit] Delius (ed. 1854) : “to o’er-crow=überkrähen, wie im Triumphe, offenbar ein vom Hahnenkampf entlehntes Bild und Wort, wurde im weiteren Sinne, wie hier, so auch von Sh.’s Zeitgenossen öfer gebraucht=nicht zu Woprte kommen lassen.” [“to o’er-crow= to crow over, as in triumph, apparently a borrowed image and word from cock-fighting, it would be used often in further sense, as here, so also in Shakespeare’s contemporaries as not to allow the coming to words/speech.” ]

1856 hud1 (1851-6)

hud1 = sing1 without attribution

3842 ore-crowes my spirit]

1856 sing2

sing2 = sing1

3842 ore-crowes my spirit]

1857 elze1

elze1

3842 ore-crowes my spirit] Elze (ed. 1857, 262): <p. 262>"o’er-grows]] So lesen QD, QF, QG; QB und FA: ’o’er-crows, was nach Steevens vom Hahenkampf entlehnt sein soll. ’To o’er-crow’ kommt jedoch wol nur in komischer Rede vor, z.B. Dekker Satiro-Mastix ((bei Hawkins Origin of the English Drama III. 121)): now every one seeks to crow over me &c.; ebenda [just there] 159: Well said, cockril, out-crow him." ["o’er-grows]] So read Q3-6; Q2 and F1 ’o’er-crows, what according to Steevens should be borrowed from cockfighting. ’To o’er-crow’ appears however well often in comical speeches ((e.g. Dekker . . . ))."]

1858 col3

col3 = col1

3842 ore-crowes my spirit]

col3

3842 ore-crowes my spirit] Collier (ed. 1858: Supplemental Notes [Vol. 1]): “Spenser’s ‘Shepherd’s Calendar’ for February is ususally made an authority for the use of ‘overcrow’ there printed, in the later impressions overcraw; but the fact is, that in the first edit. of 1579 crawed but ‘overawed.’ We meet with the verb to ‘overcrow’ used in the same sense as in ‘Hamlet,’ in Fenne’s Hecubaes Mishaps,’ 1590, Sign. Cc3b, where the writer is speaking of the death of Hector:—’But now Achilles overcrowed him whom he fearde before.’”

1864 ktly

ktly

3842 ore-crowes] Keightley (ed. 1864 [1866]: Glossary):”overcomes, triumphs over.”

1864-68 c&mc

c&mc

3842 ore-crowes] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1864-68, rpt. 1874-78): “‘Overcomes,’ ‘subdues.’”

1869 Romdahl

Romdahl ≈ col3

3842 ore-crowes] Romdahl (1869, p. 43): <p. 43> “overwhelms; properly it must have meant, to triumph over, like the cock exulting over his conquered antagonist. Spenser writes: overcraw, but that seems to be only for the sake of rhyme. The later quartos have here: o’ergrows. The word does not occur elsewhere in Sh. ‘But yeeled , with shame and griefe adawed, That of a weede he was overcrawed.’ Spenser.” </p. 43>

1869 tsch

tsch

3842 ore-crowes] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “Das Unpoetische des Audsrucks overcrows liegt darin, dass es mit dem Subjecte poison zwei verschiedene Sinne in Anspruch nimmt, also gar kein einheitliches Bild giebt. Ich bein überzeugt, dass der Dichter weder overcrows noch overgrows, sondern einfach overawes gescrieben hat, was den einzig angemessenen Sinn giebt und leicht zu overcrows verdruckt werden konnte.” [The unpoetical nature of the expression overcrows resides herein: that it occupies with the subject poison two different meanings, also it gives fully no unified picture. I am convinced that the poet wrote neither overcrows nor overgrows, on the contrary, the simple overawes, which gives a very suitable meaning and could have easily been misprinted overcrows.]

1872 del4

del4 = del2 +magenta underlined

3842 ore-crowes my spirit] Delius (ed. 1872) : “Vg. A.2.Sc.2, Anm. 97.—Einige Qs. haben o’er-grows für das o’er-crows der Qs. von 1604 und der Fol.” [ Compare 2.2.?[1387], note 97—Some quartos have o’er-grows for the o’er-crowof the Qq of 1604 and the Folio.]

1872 cln1

cln1

3842 ore-crowes my spirit] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “triumphs over, as a cock over his beaten antagonist. Johnson quotes from Spenser’s View of the Present State of Ireland (Globe ed., p. 660): ‘A base varlett, that being but of late ghrowen out of the dounghill beginneth nowe to overcrowe soe high mountaynes, and make himself greate protectour of all outlawes and rebells that will repayre vnto him.’”

[Ed HLA: There is no tradition of this reading in JOHN1 or JOHN2 or in succeeding editions. Where do these two editors get this note?]

1872 hud2

hud2 ≈ hud1 (minus Holindshed//)

3842 ore-crowes my spirit]

1875 Marshall

Marshall

3841-47 Marshall (1875, pp. 108-09): <p. 108>“Almost the last syllables he can utter are devoted to practical ends: there is no moralising now; anxious as he is to hear the fate of those false friends on whom he had taken so terrible a revenge, he leaves the subject to urge with his dying voice the claim of Fortinbras to the crown that should </p. 108> <p. 109>have been his own. Death overmasters him before he can complete his directions to Horatio, and he expires with the strange and pithy dogma in which his doubting creed is summed up—’The rest is silence.’ Neither hope, nor despair, as to the future, possessed his departing soul: his religion is a resigned uncertainty—better than a fretful doubt, but infinitely below the sweet hope, and humble trust, of a true Christian.” </p. 109>

1877 v1877

v1877 ≈ jen (only “As a victorious cock . . . antagonist”) ; ≈ mal (only Nashe //) ; ≈ cln1 (minus “triumphs over . . . antagonist.”) ; ≈ tsch

3842 ore-crowes my spirit]

v1877

3842 ore-crowes my spirit] Furness (ed. 1877) : “Tschischwitz adopts over-awes in his text, as ‘the only word which affords a suitable sense.’”

1881 hud3

Hud3 : hud2

3842 ore-crowes my spirit] Hudson (ed. 1881): “To overcrow is to overcome, to subdue. The word was borrowed from the cock-pit; the victorious cock crowing in triumph over the vanquished.”

1885 mull

mull ≈ standard

3842 ore-crowes] Mull (ed. 1885): “triumphs over.”

1889 Barnett

Barnett

3842 ore-crowes] Barnett (1889, p. 64): <p. 64> “triumphs over.” </p. 64>

1890 irv2

irv2 : standard

3842 ore-crowes] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “triumphs over (as a cock over his beaten antagonist).”

irv2 ≈ v1877 (Clark & Wright’s Spenser //) +

3842 ore-crowes] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “We still use the expression, though only colloquially, to ‘crow over’ anyone.’”

1891 oxf1

oxf1 : standard

3842 ore-crowes] Craig (ed. 1891: Glossary): “v.t. to overcome.”

1899 ard1

ard1 : standard +

3842 ore-crowes] Dowden (ed. 1899): “triumphs over (as a victorious cock). To several examples cited by Steevens and Malone, add The Spanish Mandevile, 1618, p. 135: ‘Being somewaht haughtie, and suffering no man to overcrow him.’ Qq 4-6 [Q3-5], Pope, and other editors read ore-growes.”

1906 nlsn

nlsn

3842 ore-crowes] Neilson (ed. 1906, Glossary)

1926 Bradby

Bradby

3841-904 Bradby (1926, pp. 22-5) <p. 22> “The absence of a curtain made it difficult, or impossible, especially in Tragedy, to give a play its most effective ending. It could not, for instance, close with the death of the hero. The actors had to be got off the stage in some natural manner, and the corpses, if there were </p. 22><p. 23> any, removed; and all in full sight of the audience. But when the real climax of a play has been reached, any subsequent action tends to weaken its effect. As there had to be a winding up, it was necessary that it should serve some essential purpose of the play, that it should be swift, without being too abrupt, and that it should strike no discordant note. We have a good example in Hamlet of the difficulty and of the way in which it was met.

“When Hamlet dies there are four corpses on the stage, the King, the Queen, Laertes and Hamlet himself: we are still ignorant of the fate of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and we are expecting the return of Fortinbras.” Bradby quotes or paraphrases 3841-904 </p.24> <p. 25>

“It will be noticed how skilfully this closing scene is linked on to the last words of Hamlet, so that, although he is dead, his presence and personality are still felt. It cannot be claimed for it that it does anything to heighten the dramatic intensity of the tragedy, but it avoids all danger of an anti-climax, and the last sounds in the ears of the audience are the strains of the funeral march and the boom of the guns.” </p. 25>

1931 crg1

crg1 ≈ standard

3842 ore-crowes]

1934 cam3

cam3 : standard

3842 ore-crowes] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary)

1939 kit2

kit2 notes and glossary ≈ standard

3842 ore-crowes]

kit2 ≈ standard

3842 spirit] Kittredge (ed. 1939, Glossary): “vital forces.”

1947 cln2

cln2 ≈ standard

3842 ore-crowes]

1951 crg2

crg2=crg1

3842 ore-crowes]

1954 sis

sis

3842 ore-crowes] Sisson (ed. 1954, Glossary):

1957 pel1

pel1 : ard1

3842 ore-crowes]

1970 pel2

pel2=pel1

3842 ore-crowes]

1974 evns1

evns1 ≈ standard

3842 ore-crowes]

evns1 ≈ standard

3842 spirit]

1980 pen2

pen2 ≈ standard

3842 ore-crowes]

1982 ard2

ard2 ≈ standard

3842 ore-crowes]

1984 chal

chal : standard

3842 ore-crowes]

1985 cam4

cam4 ≈ standard

3842 ore-crowes]

1987 oxf4

oxf4 ≈ standard

3842 ore-crowes]

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

3842 ore-crowes]

1993 dent

dent ≈ standard

3842 ore-crowes]

1992 fol2

fol2≈ standard

3842 ore-crowes]

3841 3842 3843