Notes for lines 0-1017 ed. Bernice W. Kliman
| 16 Bar. Well, good night: | 1.1.12 |
|---|
| 16-17 If you doe meete Horatio and | Marcellus, | |
|---|
| 17 The riualls of my watch, bid them make hast. | 1.1.13 |
|---|
16 17 4201656 Blount
Blount
17 riualls] Blount (1656): “Rivals (rivales) they that haunt, or dwell by, have interest or fetch water from, the same River or Brook. But it is most commonly used Metaphorically for those that love and woo the same woman; Corrivals.”
“Rivage (Fr.) the Sea-shore or coast; a Water-bank or Sea-side.”
1723- mtby2
mtby2
17 riualls] Thirlby (1723-): “nb competitor in [Ant. 3.5.8 (1733)].”
1743 han1
han1
17 riualls] Hanmer (ed. 1743): “By rivals of my watch are meant those who were to watch upon the next adjoining ground. Rivals in the original sense of the word were proprietors of neighbouring lands parted only by a brook belonging equally to both.”
1747 warb
warb
17 riualls] Warburton (ed. 1747): “Rivals, for partners.”
.
1753 blair
blair = warb
17 riualls]
1753 Edwards
Edwards ≈ warb without attribution +
17 riualls] Edwards (1750 [3rd ed], p.158) defines “rivals” as “partners,” adding: “But rivals generally would have all.”
1755 Johnson Dict.
Johnson
17 riualls] Johnson (1755), for rivage (Fr.) meaning a bank of a river says ”Not in use” with a reference to H5.
1765 Heath
Heath
17 riualls] Heath (1765, p. 519 ): “That is, those who are in competition with me, who shall discharge their duty with most exactness”
1765 john1
john1 = warb, han1
17 riualls]
1765 john1 TGV
john1 TGV
17 riualls] Johnson (ed. 1765, 1:214 n. 1) on competitor in TGV 2.6.35 (964):“Myself, who am his competitor or rival, being admitted to his counsel.”
1766-70 mwar2
mwar2 ≈ han1 +
17 riualls] Warner (1766-70): “I think this Passage should be read and Pointed thus, If you do meet Horatio, and Marcellus the Rival [[i.e. Partner]] of my Watch, bid them make hast. Marcellus was an Officer so might be Partner with Bernardo in his Watch, but Horatio who is represented thro’ the whole Play, only as a Gentleman, a Scholar and fellow Collegian of Hamlet cannot well be suppos’d to have been another. By Rivals of my Watch, Sr. T[homas] H[anmer] says are meant those who are to Watch on the next ground.”
1771 han3
han3 = han1
17 riualls]
1773 jen
jen: warb; han1, Heath
17 riualls]
gent 1773
1773
17 Horatio] Gentleman (ed. 1773): "The requisites for Horatio are an easy deportment, genteel figure, and smooth level delivery.”
1773 v1773
v1773 = john1 + mWarner
17 riualls] Warner (apud Steevens, ed. 1773): “I should propose to point and alter this passage thus—‘If you do meet Horatio, and Marcellus The rival of my watch—’ Horatio is represented throughout the play as a gentleman of no profession. Marcellus was an officer, and consequently did that through duty, for which Horatio had no motive but curiosity. Besides, there is but one person on each watch. Bernardo comes to relieve Francisco, and Marcellus to supply the place of some other on the adjoining station. The reason why Bernardo as well as the rest expect Horatio, was because he knew him to be informed of what had happened the night before. Warner.”
1773 TGV = john1 TGV
17 riualls]
-1778 mtol2
Tollet = han1 +
17 riualls] Tollet (-1778, ms. notes in Heath, p. 519): “Q. Hanmer’s Explanation, and see Pliny’s Nat. Hist. b.33.c.4.”
1778 v1778
v1778 = warb, han1 + in magenta underlined
17 riualls] Steevens (ed. 1778): “So, in Heywood’s Rape of Lucrece, 1636: ‘Tullia. Aruns, associate him. Aruns. A rival with my brother, &c.’ Again, in The Tragedy of Hoffman, 1637: ‘ And make thee rival, in those governments.’ Again, in [Ant. 3.5.8 (1773)]: ‘—having made use of him in the wars against Pompey, presently deny’d him rivality.’ ”
1778 v1778
v1778 = v1773
17 riualls] Johnson (ed. 1778, 1:163 n. 3) = v1773.
1778 v1778 TGV
v1778 TGV
17 riualls] Steevens (ed. 1778, 1:163 n) on TGV 2.6.35 (964) “Myself in counsel, his competitor”: Competitor is confederate, assistant, partner. So in Antony and Cleopatra: “It is not Caesar’s natural vice, to hate One great competitor.’ and he is speaking of Lepidus, one of the triumvirate. Steevens.”
1783 Ritson
Ritson: warb +
17 riualls]
Ritson (1783, pp. 190-1): <p.190> “By
rivals the speaker certainly means
partners (according to dr. Warburtons explanation), or those whom he expected to watch with him. Marcellus had watched with him before; whether as a centinel, a volunteer, or from mere curiosity, we do not learn: but, whichever it was, it seems evident that his station was on the same spot with Bernardo, and that there is no other centinel by them relieved. Possibly Marcellus was an officer, whose duty it was to visit each watch, and perhaps continue with it some time. Horatio, as it appears, watches out of curiosity. But in [419-20] to Hamlets question,
Hold you the watch tonight? Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo, all answer,
we do, my honour’d lord. The folio indeed, reads
both, which one may with greater propriety, refer to Marcellus and Bernardo. If we did not find the latter gentleman in such good company, we might have taken him to have been like </p.190> <p.191> Francisco, whom he relieves, an honest, but common, soldier. The strange indiscriminate use of Italian and Roman names in this and other plays, makes it obvious that the author was very little conversant in even the rudiments of either language.” </p. 191>
1784 Davies
Davies: warb, Blount, han + in magenta underlined
17 riualls]
Davies (1784, pp. 7-8): <p. 7> Dr. Warburton will have
rivals to mean
partners. Blunt [Blount] derives the word from
rivus, or
rivulus, or from
men fetching water from a neighboring river, or rivulet. Hanmer says,
rivals are those men who watch upon an adjoining ground;
by this interpretation, they, who were to succeed Bernardo, must have indeed gone through very hard service, as they were called from one act of duty to another. But, without a learned explanation, it is plain, by rivals, that Shakespeare means, those men who were appointed next to relieve soldiers on the watch. They </p.7> <p.8> were indeed so far rivals, as they were successors to others, and waiting to occupy their places.” </p.8>
1784 ays1
ays1: warb, han1
17 riualls]
1785 Mason
Mason: han1; Steevens v1778 +
17 riualls] Mason (1785, p. 371): “It will appear beyond all doubt to any attentive reader, that by the rivals of his watch, Bernardo means the partners of it.
“Marcellus says, in this same scene, speaking of Hamlet [sic. he means Horatio], ‘Therefore I have intreated him along With us to watch.’ [35-6] meaning Bernardo and himself.
“And speaking to Horatio afterwards, he says, ‘And just at this dead hour With martial stride he hath gone by our watch:’ [82]
“And at the conclusion of the scene, Horatio says them both, ‘Break we our watch up.’ [167]
“In the next scene, Horatio says to Hamlet, ‘Two nights together had these gentlemen, Marcellus and Bernardo on their watch.’ [387-8] Hamlet also asks them afterwards, ‘Keep [sic. Hold] you the watch to-night?’ [419]
“Hanmer says, that by the rivals of the watch, were meant, those who watched on the adjoining ground; a supposition somewhat ingenious, but without foundation; as for Steevens, it is difficult to know what his sentiments are; as his note comes immediately after that of Hanmer, and purports a confirmation of what he had advanced, at the same time that all the passages he quotes in it, appear to be in favour of the contrary opinion, and to prove that rivals were partners.
“When Eros says in [Ant. 3.5.8 (1733)] that after the conclusion of the war with Pompey, Cesar denied Lepidus rivality, he means by rivality, that partnership in the empire which he had before enjoyed.
“Shakespeare uses the word competitor whenever it occurs in the same sense of a partner or associate.
“So in [LLL 2.1.82 (576)] Boyet says, ‘The King and his competitors in oath,’
“And in [TGV 2.6.35 (964)], Sir Protheus, speaking of Valentine, says, ‘Myself in counsel, his competitor.’ ”
1785 v1785
v1785 = v1778; Ritson
17 riualls]
1787 ann
ann = v1785 (i.e. han1, Steevens on analogue and //); Warner; Ritson from “Horatio, as it appears, watches out of curiosity” to the end
17 riualls]
1790 mal
mal = v1785 +
17 riualls] Malone (ed. 1790): “Rival is constantly used by Shakspeare for a partner or associate. In Bullokar’s English Expositor, 8vo. 1616, it is defined, ‘One that sueth for the same thing with another;’ and hence [Sh.], with his usual licence, always uses it in the sense of one engaged in the same employment or office with another. Competitor, which is explained by Bullokar by the very same words which he has employed in the definition of rival, is in like manner (as Mr Mason has observed,) always used by Sh for associate. See [1:140 n. 7; 2:330 n. 7; 4:90 n. 3; 6:589 n*; 7:455 n. 7]
“Mr. Warner would read and point thus: ‘ If you do meet Horatio, and Marcellus The rival of my watch,—’ because Horatio is a gentleman of no profession, and because, as he conceived, there was but one person on each watch. But there is no need of change. Horatio is certainly not an officer, but Hamlet’s fellow-student at Wittenberg: but as he accompanied Marcellus and Bernardo on the watch from a motive of curiosity, our poet considers him very properly as an associate with them. Horatio himself says to Hamlet in a subsequent scene, ‘—This to me In dreadful secrecy impart they did, And I with them the third night kept the watch.’ Malone.”
1791- rann
rann ≈ steevens, mal
17 riualls] Rann (ed. 1791-): “The partners; who watch on the same station with me.”
1793 v1793
v1793 = v1778; v1785; mal
17 riualls]
Ed. note: v1793 has, correctly, rivality, a bit of proof that v1793 used v1778 rather than v1785. Still, v1793 also has the Ritson, which he could only have gotten from v1785 or from the Ritson original because it’s not in mal
1803 v1803
v1803 = v1793
17 riualls]
1813 v1813
v1813 = v1803
17 riualls]
1819 cald1
cald1: v1778 + in magenta underlined
17 riualls] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “ ‘Dru. Thus to heave An idol up with praise! make him his mate! His rivall in the empire! [Jonson, Sejanus, 1.1.551} 4to. 1605. Mr. Steevens instances Heywood’s Rape of Lucrece, 1636: ‘Tullia. Aruns, associate him! Aruns. A rival with my brother.’
Our author uses rivality in the same sense, in [Ant. 3.5.8 (1733)] Eros; corrival in [1H4 [1.3.207 (531)] Hotsp., and [4.4.31 (2620)] Archb.: and competitor throughout his works.
“Mr. Todd, whose useful labours increase the stock, as well as facilitate and open the avenues to our literature, shews the primary sense of this word from rivus, in Morin’s Dict. Etym. Fr. and Gr. ‘Rivalis designe proprement ceuz qui ont droit d’usage dans use même ruuisseau; et comme cet usage est souvent pour eux un sujet de contestations, on a transporté cette signification de rivalis à ceux qui ont les mêmes prétentions à une chose.’ ”
1821 v1821
v1821 = v1793
17 riualls]
Ed. note: The note that begins with the analogues and the parallel belong to Steevens, but v1821 neglected to place the credit after Steevens’s note; Boswell did not have a credit until after Ritson’s ¶; then v1877 (and probably others) gave the whole note that should have belonged to Steevens and Ritson to Ritson alone.
1826 sing1
sing1: han1 + Latin
17 riualls] Singer (ed. 1826): “Shakspeare uses rivals for associates, partners; and competitor has the same sense thoughout these plays. It is the original sense of rivalis. The etymology was pointed out by Acro Grammaticus in his Scholia on Horace: ‘A rivo dicto rivales qui in agris rivum haberent communem, et propter enim sæpe discrepabant.’ Hanmer applied this explanation:—‘ Rivals, in Latin, being originally applied to proprietors of neighbouring lands parted only by a brook, which belonged equally to both, and so signified partners: ’ this partnership led to contests; and hence the word came to signify persons contending for the same object.”
1832 cald2
cald2 = cald1
17 riualls]
1833 valpy
valpy: standard
17 riualls] Valpy (ed. 1833): “Partners.”
1839 knt1
knt1 ≈ sing1 and others without attribution.
17 riualls] Knight (ed. [1839]): “—partners, companions. Shakspere uses rivality in the sense of partnership, in [Ant. 5.3.8 (1733) and quotes and then paraphrases] ‘—would not let him partake in the glory of the action.’ The derivation of rival takes us into an early state of society. The rivalis was a common occupier of a river,—rivus; and this sort of occupation being a fruitful source of strife, the partners became contenders. Hence the more commonly received eaning of rival.”
1843 knt2
knt2 = knt1
17 riualls]
1844 verp
verp: standard w/ Ant. // from Steevens without attribution
17 riualls]
1848 Strachey
Strachey
17 Strachey (1848, p. 26): “Here among his equals in rank, and his inferiors in mind and knowledge . . . ”
1854 del2
del2
17 riualls] Delius (ed. 1854): “[Q1] hat partners. Beides ist dasselbe. Als “Gefärte des Wachtstehens” wird Marcellus bezeichnet, in sofern or als Officer die Wache zu inspiziren hatte, während Horatio nur freiwillig aus Neugierde daran Theil nimmt.” [Q1 has partners. Both men are the same. Marcellus is designated comrade of the watch, insofar as he, as an officer, had to superintend the watch, while Horatio is voluntarily taking part out of curiosity.]
1856 hud1
hud1 ≈ sing1 without attribution and signed “H.”
17 riualls]
1856 sing2
sing2 = sing1 minus attribution to han while still using his idea, variations in magenta;
17 riualls] Singer (ed. 1856): “Shakespeare uses rivals for associates, partners; and competitor has the same sense in these plays. It is the original sense of rivalis. The etymology was pointed out by Acro Grammaticus in his Scholia on Horace: ‘A rivo docto rivales qui in agris rivum haberent communem, et propter enim sæpe discrepabant.’ Streams are frequently very variable boundaries, encroaching or receding by time or flood on one side or the other, and this is the cause that the term for neighbours, derived from so jealously watched
1857 fieb
fieb = Ritson
17 Horatio, and Marcellus] Ritson (apud Fiebig, ed. 1857): “The strange and indiscriminate use of Italian and Roman names in this and other plays, makes it obvious that the author ws very little conversant even in the rudiments of either language. R.”
1860 stau
stau ≈ knt1 without attribution
17 riualls] Staunton (ed. 1860): “That is, the associates, partners, &c. In the quarto of 1603, the reading, indeed, is ‘partners.’”
Since he does not meantion as a ref. or collated text sing2 but does mention knt1 it seems to me to make more sense for me to cite knt1 as the source—though knt1 had it from sing1
1861 wh1
wh1 = stau +
17 riualls] White (ed. 1861): “The 4to. of 1603 . . . has ‘the partners of my watch’—a more obvious word, which a reporter would be likely to substitute for the authentic one.”
1862 cham
cham : standard
17 riualls]
1863 Clarke
Clarke
16-17 Clarke (1863, p.71) believes that the three men are all “officers and gentlemen.”
1863 Clarke
Clarke
17 bid them make haste] Clarke (1863, pp. 70-1)
Clarke: Lewes (Anon.)
17 Clarke (1863, p. 71 n. *) says that “This lecture was written some years before a zealous and clever article appeared in Quarterly Review, upon “Hamlet,” in which this prevision of the plan by the poet was noticed.”
1864 glo
glo Glossary: standard
17 riualls] Clark & Wright (ed. 1864 Glossary): “rival. sb. a partner.”
1865 hal
hal = mal 1st paragraph, all but last sentence
17 riualls]
1868 c&mc
c&mc: standard
17 riualls]
c&mc
17 bid them make haste]
Clarke &
Clarke (ed. 1868): “The effect of these few words, coming upon the inquiry, ‘Have you had quiet guard?’ serves admirably to indicate the speaker’s state of mind (Bernardo having before seen the apparition), and to prepare the audience for what is coming.”
1870 rug1
rug1
16-17 Horatio and Marcellus] Moberly (ed. 1870): “Shakspere has substituted these Italian names for those of Horvendile, Fengon, &c., which belong to the old story, retaining, however, that of Hamlet, which is probably a variation of the well-known Anlaf, Olaf, or Olaus. . . . ”
rug1: standard +
17 riualls] Moberly (ed. 1870): “The word originates in Roman law, ‘Si inter rivales, id est, qui per eundem rivum aquam ducunt, sit contentio de aquae usu.’ Hence we see the growth of the usual meaning.”
1872 Wedgwood
Wedgwood ≈ han1 without attribution; sing1 without attribution
17 riualls] Wedgwood (1872): “Rival. Lat. rivalis, explained in different ways from rivus, a brook; by some from the struggle between herdsmen using the same watercourses; by others as signifying those who dwell on opposite sides of a stream.”
1872 cln1
cln1: stau without attribution; han without attribution; Steevens without attribution; Ritson
17 riualls] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “It is remarkable that the quarto of 1603 gives ‘partners,’ which is the meaning of ‘rivals’ here. ‘Rivals’ originally meant those who dwelt by the same ‘rivus’ or stream, having a right to use it for purposes of irrigation. Hence frequent contention, and hence the metaphorical sense of the word, so much more used both in Latin and modern languages. This is the only passage of Shakespeare in which the word is employed in its earlier and rarer sense. He has however ‘rivality,’ meaning ‘partnership,’ in [Ant. 3.5.8 (1773)], ‘Cæsar, having made use of him in the wars ‘gainst Pompey. presently denied him rivality; would not let him partake in the glory of the action.’ Ritson quotes from Heywood’s Rape of Lucrece (sig. E, recto, ed. 1630). ‘Tullia. Aruns, associate him. Aruns. A riuall with my brother in his honours.’ and the Tragedy of Hoffman, ‘And make thee rival in those governments’.”
1872 hud2
hud2 = hud1 minus Ant.//
17 riualls]
Why Furness credited this to Wedgwood when it simply duplicates what is already in Hanmer and Singer, I am not sure. Surely, he knew Hanmer and Singer? The question is, do we have to find Wedgwood?
1877 v1877
v1877 = warb, wh1, Ritson, Warner, cald, Wedgwood, cln1
17 riualls]
1881 hud3
hud3 = hud2
17 riualls]
1883 wh2
wh2: standard
17 riualls]
1885 macd
macd standard
17 riualls] MacDonald (ed. 1883): ”Companions.”
1890 irv2
irv2: standard
17 riualls] Marshall (ed. 1890): “partners.”
1890 irv2
irv2: standard
17 Marshall (ed. 1890) comments on “the nervous anxiety of Bernardo, who is afraid to be left alone.”
1891 dtn1
dtn1: Ant, 1 H4 //s; Trench Study of Words, pp. 315-16; ≈ others who give the probable connection between rivers and rivalry.
17 riualls]
1899 ard1
ard1: standard
17 riualls]
1902 Reed
Reed: Bacon as author of Sh.’s plays
16 good night] Reed (1902, § 777): “Bacon devoted a part of one of the folios in his Promus to the subject of salutations. [. . . ]
“ It is evident that Bacon was making an effort in 1594-96 to introduce salutations of this kind into English speech. It is also evident that several [. . . ] came from France, where they were in common use, and where Bacon had spent three years in early life. The Promus was a private record, unknown and inaccessible to the public for more than two hundred years after it was written; and yet, in the very next year [Rom. 1597]. these foreign salutations began to appear, and continued to appear in great profusion in the Shake-speare plays. ’Good morrow,’ which, it is believed, had been used but once before in England, as a salutation, occurs one hundred and fifteen times in them; ’good-day,’ fifteen times; ’good even’ (soir), twelve times; and ’good morning,’ twice [. . . ].” Ed. note: OED has the 1st ref. of Good night to Chaucer. Good morning has a similar early origin. So these salutations are not a new idea.
1905 rltr
rltr
17 riualls] Chambers (ed. 1905): “comrades”
1929 trav
trav
16 doe]
Travers (ed. 1929) notes that the word, “often expletive then (particularly in verse, may here, though unstressed, be explained by a certain earnestness of tone.”
1934 cam3
cam3
16 Horatio] Wilson (ed. 1934): “Also the name of the murdered son of Hieronimo in Kyd’s Spanish Tragedy (c. 1589) and perhaps borrowed from there.”
1934 cam3
cam3
16 Horatio]
Wilson (ed. 1934. pp. xlviii-xlix): <p. xlviii>“The analysing scholar, for instance, is puzzled by certain ‘difficulties’ connected with the character of Horatio. He is now a foreigner to whom Hamlet is obliged to explain the customs and outstanding personalities of Denmark, and now a Dane, who knows the latest rumours at court, has seen King Hamlet, and can command the respectful hearing of Fortinbras and the rest after Prince Hamlet’s death. The explanation is, of course, that he is not a person in actual life or a character in a novel but a piece of dramatic structure. His function is to be the chief spokesman of the first scene and the confidant of the hero for the rest of the play. As the former he gives the audience necessary information about the political situation in Denmark, as the latter he is the recipient of information even more necessary for the audience to hear. The double rôle involves some inconsistency, but rigid logical or historical consistency is hardly compatible with dramatic economy which requires all facts to be communicated through the mouths of the characters. Yet only a very indifferent playwright will allow an audience to perceive such joins in his flats. And Shake- </p. xlviii> <p. xlix> speare is able to give his puppets an appearance of life so overwhelming that his legerdemain remains unperceived not only by the spectator, but even by most readers. In the case of Horatio, he secures this end by emphasising his humanity at three critical moments in the play: in the first scene, just before the Gonzago play, and in the finale. In short, we feel we know Hamlet’s friend so well that it never occurs to us to ask questions about him.” </p. xlix>
1934 cam3
cam3 ≈ irv2 without attribution
17 bid . . . hast] Wilson (ed. 1934): “Bar. is anxious not to be left alone.”
1939 kit2
kit2: standard
17 riualls] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "partners."
1947 cln2
cln2: standard
17 riualls]
1957 pel1
pel1: standard
17 riualls] Farnham (ed. 1957): “sharers.”
1962 mCraig
mCraig
17 riualls] Craig (1962-3, Box 3, ƒ B5, p. 79) points out that the first several lines, including 4, 12-13, and 16-17, give the audience a sense of uneasiness: “we are soon enlightened as to the cause of the uneasiness we have felt rather than understood in Francisco and Marcellus [sic].”
1970 pel2
pel2 = pel1
17 riualls] Farnham (ed. 1970): “sharers”
1980 pen2
pen2 = cam3 without attribution
17 Spencer (ed. 1980) thinks that Barnardo does not want to be alone with the ghost.
1982 ard2
ard2: Ant. standard; Hoffman standard; Q1 standard
17 riualls] Jenkins (ed. 1982):
1984 Klein
Klein: standard //s + Chettle = ard2; Green; OED
17 riuvalls] Klein (ed. 1984): “as is shown by Q1, this means ’partners’ here. Not listed in the OED, but cf. e.g. Chettle, The Tragedy of Hoffman 2.3.735, Jonson, Sejanus (1603, publ. 1605),1.1.551, and Heywood, The Rape of Lucrece (1608, edition 1630), E2r (Clark/Wright following Ritson). Cf. [Ant. 3.5.7-8 (1733)] ’Caesar [...] denied him rivality’ (Ritson; only there in Sh., in the OED erroneously explained as ’rivalry’), also [1H4 1.3.207 (531)] corrival and [1H4 4.4.31 (2620)] corrivals (Caldecott), which the OED explains, together with Greene, Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (about 1589, publ. 1594) 8.33 in a special rubric sb. (2) as ’a compeer, a partner.’ ”
1992 fol2
fol2: standard
17 The riualls of my watch] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “my fellow sentries“ Ed. note: The editors make Horatio one of the sentries.
1994 Kerrigan
Kerrigan
16 good night] Kerrigan (1994, p. 146): Barnardo’s is the 1st mention in the play of night, of which there is a full analysis in Kerrigan. He cites renaissance ideas about associations of night, black, fearful, sinful, &c. &c. A source is Josua Poole, The English Parnassus: Or, A Help to English Poesie (London: Thomas Johnson, 1657). (God) give you good night is the whole form, and Kerrigan’s thinking is that God in some sense overcomes the powers of night, takes over from the ghost after the family is briefly reunited in 3.4 (121). The way he puts it is that the Ghost leaves, allowing room for God (146).
1994 Cary
Cary
16 Horatio]
Cary (1994, pp. 789-90): <p.789>“Horatio, by virtue of his name, to say nothing of his ‘character’ in all senses of that word, is the only suitable legatee [i.e. inheritor of the kingdom of Denmark and of the play]: an initial H followed by
oratio. What other character could be so sympathetic to Hamlet’s ‘aspirations’?
Hora-tio: what other character is such an abstract and brief chronicle of the time, knows when to mark and when to re-mark?
Horatio: who else eats the mouth that feeds it, consuming the ‘consummation devoutly to be wished,’ devouring the organ of life so that it lives again? But Horatio’s name has a dark side as well: (W)
Hor-atio. Remember that in the original scene of writing Amleth’s father was not Old Hamlet but (
W)
Horwendil. And in ‘O what a rogue and peasant slave am I!’ Hamlet despairs that he “[m]ust like a whore unpack [his]heart with words/ And fall a-cursing like a very drab./ A scullion!” (2.2.581-2 [1626-7]). </p.789> <p.790> “To name is to do. Horatio, that model of moderation, of controlled passion, will dirty himself as well, a function of the commission passed from father to son to friend.” </p.790>
1994 OED
OED
17 riualls] OED corroborates Hanmer’s meaning: “rival, sb.2 and a, L. rival-is, orig, one living on the opposite bank of a stream from another, f. rivus stream.” There is no definition that includes the idea of associates, partners.
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2
17 riualls] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006) discuss the status of Horatio, described here as a rival or partner, and elsewhere as fellow student. Ed. note: See “Horatio, There When Needed” in the About Hamlet section of this site.
ard3q2
17 bid them make hast]Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “The sense of tension and anxiety increases.”
