Notes for lines 0-1017 ed. Bernice W. Kliman
The Tragedie of 0{B1r} <nn4v>
H A M L E T
Prince of Denmarke.
| 1 <Actus Primus. Scœna Prima.> 1.1 | |
|---|
1 175 460 603 681 710 888 1018 1646 1848 2271 2374 2586 2630 2661 2734 2744 2972 3006 3189 3499 1598- Harvey
Harvey: See Steevens v1778, below
1 date Harvey (in Speght’s Workes of . . . Geffrey Chaucer, fo. 394v, apud G. C. Moore Smith, p, 232, in his edition of Gabriel Harvey’s Marginalia) writes the famous marginalium on Hamlet in a dense paragraph on contemporary poets . Harvey annotated the volume, it seems, as he read it, and his comment on Sh. comes after some 26 lines listing the favorite poems of various well-known people, including the Earl of Essex. Smith, note, p. 305, opines that “It would seem likely that this note was written before Essex’s execution in Feb. 1601. The mention of the ‘King of Scotland’ that follows shows that it was certainly written before Elizabeth’s death on 24 March, 1603.” Harvey’s relevant note on Sh.: “The younger sort takes much delight in Shakespeares Venus, & Adonis: but his Lucrece, & his tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke, haue it in them, to please the wiser sort.” Harvey’s marginalia about poets goes on for some 20 further lines. After Finis at the end of the volume, Harvey continues with other poems (Smith, pp. 233-4). Harvey does not seem to hold Sh. in any special esteem. He writes much more about other poets, including Spenser.
1698 Gildon
Gildon
1-174 Gildon (1698, apud Shakspere Allusion-Book 2: 417): “I have been told that he writ the Scene of the Ghost in Hamlet, at his House which bordered on the Charnel-House and Church-Yard.”
1710
Gildon
Gildon ≈ Gildon 1698
1-174 Scene 1 Gildon (1710, p. 404), after speaking of the strength of the ghost portion of the closet scene [2482-2519], continues “as indeed Shakespear is in the former Scene, which as I have been assur’d he wrote in a Charnel House in the midst of the Night.”
1723 pope1
pope1
1 source Pope (ed. 1723): “This Story was not invented by our Author; tho’ from whence he took it, I know not.”
1733 Theobald aka theo1
theo1: Langbaine; pope
1 source Theobald (ed. 1733): “(1) Honest Langbaine (in his account of Dramatic Poets) having told us, that he knew not whether this Story were true or false, not finding in the List given by Doctor Heylin such a King of Denmark as Claudius; Mr. Pope comes and tells us, that this Story was not invented by our Author, tho, from whence he took it, he knows not, Langbaine gives us a sensible Reason for his Ignorance in this Point; what to make of Mr. Pope’s Assertion upon the Grounds he gives us for it, I confess, I know not. But we’ll allow this Gentleman, for once, a Prophet in his Declaration: for the Story is taken from Saxo Grammaticus in his Danish History, I’ll subjoin a short Extract of the material Circumstances, on which the Groundwork of the Plot is built: and how happily the Poet has adapted his incidents, I shall leave to the Observation of every Reader. The historian calls our Poet’s Hero Amlethus; his Father, Horwendillus; his Uncle, Fengo; and his Mother, Gerutha. The Old King in single Combat slew Collerus, King of Norway; Fengo makes away with his Brother Horwendillus, and marries his Widow Gerutha. Amlethus to avoid being suspected by his Uncle of Designs, assumes a For of utter Madness. A fine Woman is planted upon him, to try if he would yield to the Impressions of Love. Fengo contrives, that Amlethus, in order to sound him, should be closeted by his Mother. A Man is conceal’d in the Rushes to overhear their Discourse whom Amlethus discovers and kills. When the Queen is frighted at this Behaviour of his, he tasks her about her criminal Course of Life, and incestuous Conversation with her former Husband’s Murtherer: confesses, his Madness is but counterfeited, to preserve himself and secure his Revenge for his Father; to which he injoyns the Queen’s Silence. Fengo sends Amlethus to Britaine: Two of the King’s Servants attend him, with Letters to the British King, strictly pressing the Death of Amlethus, who, in the Night-time, coming at their Commission, o’er-reades it, forms a new one, and turns the Destruction, design’d towards himself, on the Bearers of the Letters. Amlethus, returning home, by a Wile surprizes and kills his Uncle.”
1743 Hanmer aka han1
han1: theo without attribution
1 source Hanmer (ed. 1743): “This Story is taken from the Danish History written by Saxo Grammaticus.”
1747 Warburton aka warb
warb: han without attribution
1 source Warburton (ed. 1747): “The story taken from Saxo Grammaticus’s Danish History.”
1753 blair
1753: warb without attribution
1 source Blair (ed. 1853): “The story is taken from Saxo Grammaticus’s Danish history.”
1765 john1
john1: warb without attribution
1 source Johnson (ed. 1765): “This Story is taken from the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus.”
1767 Farmer
Farmer
1 date Farmer (1767, pp. 36-8): <p. 36> “The celebrated Mr.
Warton in his Life of Dr.
Bathurst, hath favoured us with some
hearsay particulars concerning Shakespeare from a MS. of
Aubrey’s, which had been in the hands of
Wood; [. . .]. </p.36> <p.37>
Rowe tells us from the information of
Betterton, who was inquisitive into this point, and had very early opportunities of Inquiry from Sir
W. Davenant, that he was no
extraordinary </p. 37> <p. 38>
Actor; and that the top of his performance was the Ghost in his own
Hamlet. Yet this
Chef d’Oeuvre did not please: I will give you an original stroke at it. Dr.
Lodge, who as well as his quandam Colleague
Greene, was forever pestering the town with Pamphlets, published one in the year 1596, called
Wits miserie, and the Worlds madnesse, discovering the Devils incarnat of this Age. One of these Devils is
Hate-vertue, who, says the Doctor, ‘looks as pale as the Visard of the Ghost, which cried so miserably at the Theatre, like an Oister-wife,
Hamlet revenge.” Thus you see Mr.
Holt’s argument in the Appendix of the late Edition, that
Hamlet was written after 1597, or perhaps 1602, will by no means hold good; whatever might be the case of the particular passage on which it is founded.” </p. 38>
1767a Farmer
Farmer
1 source Farmer (1767a, p. 29): “Dr. Grey and Mr. Whalley assure us that for [Hamlet’s plot] Shakespeare must have read Saxo Grammaticus in the Original, for no translation hath been made into any modern Language. But the misfortune is, that he did not take it from Saxo at all; a Novel called the Historie of Hamblet was his original: a fragment of which, in black Letter, I have seen in the hands of a very curious and intelligent Gentleman, to whom the lovers of Shakespeare will some time or other owe great obligations.”
Ed. note: at this point Farmer had not seen the whole text of Hystorie of Hamblet.
1767b Farmer
Farmer: Greene; Pope; Nashe
1 date Farmer (1767b,
85-6): <p. 85> “In the Epistle prefixed to
Greene’s Arcadia, which I have quoted before,
Tom. hath a lash at some ‘
vaine glorious Tragedians,’ and very plainly at
Shakespeare in particular; which will serve for an answer to an observation of Mr.
Pope, that had almost been forgotten: ‘It was thought a praise to
Shakespeare, that he scarce ever blotted a line:—I believe the common opinion of his want of learning proceeded from no better ground. This too might be thought a
praise by some.’‘ But hear
Nashe, who was far from
praising: ‘
I leaue all these to the mercy of their
Mother-tongue, that feed on nought but the crums that fall from the
Translator’s
trencher.—That could scarcely
Latinize their neck verse if they should haue neede, yet
English Seneca read by candlelight yields many good sentences—hee will affoord you whole
Hamlets, I should say,
Handfuls of tragicall speeches.’ </p. 85><p. 86> —I cannot determine exactly when this
Epistle was first published; but, I fancy, it will carry the original
Hamlet somewhat further back than we have hitherto done: and it may be observed, that the oldest copy now extant, is said to be ‘Enlarged to almost as much againe as it was.’
Gabriel Harvey printed at the end of the year 1592, ‘Foure Letters and certaine Sonnetts, especially touching
Robert Greene:’ in one of which his
Arcadia is mentioned. Now
Nashe’s Epistle must have been previous to these, as
Gabriel is quoted in it with applause; and the
Foure Letters were the beginning of a quarrel.
Nashe replied, in ‘Strange news of the intercepting certaine Letters, and a Convoy of Verses, as they were going
privilie to victuall the
Low Countries, 1593.’ Harvey rejoined the same year in ‘
Pierce’s Supererogation, or a new praise of an old Asse.’ And
Nashe again, in ‘Have with you to
Saffron-walden, or
Gabriell Harvey’s Hunt is up; containing a full answer to the eldest Sonne of the halter-maker, 1596.’ [. . .]—He [Nashe]
died before 1606, as appears from an old comedy called ‘The return from
Parnassus.’” </p.86>
Farmer ≈ 1767a with minor variations + Capell
1 source Farmer (1767b, pp. 56-): <p. 56> “Dr.
Grey and Mr.
Whalley assure us, that for [
Hamlet’s plot]
Shakespeare must have read
Saxo Grammaticus in
Latin, for no translation hath been made into any modern Language. But the misfortune is, that he did not take it from
Saxo at all; a Novel called the </p.56> <p. 57>
Hystorie of Hamblet was his original: a fragment of which, in
black Letter, I have been favoured with by a very curious and intelligent Gentleman, to whom the lovers of
Shakespeare will some time or other owe great obligations.
“It hath indeed been said, that ‘if such an history exists, it is almost impossible that any poet unacquainted with the Latin language (supposing his perceptive faculties to have been ever so acute) could have caught the characteristical madness of Hamlet, described by Saxo Grammaticus, * [the Latin quoted in note] so happily as it is delineated by Shakespeare.’
“Very luckily, our Fragment gives us a part of
Hamlet’s Speech to his
Mother, which sufficiently replies to this observation [quoted] </p. 58> <p. 59>
“But to put the matter out of question, my communicative Friend above-mentioned, Mr. Capell, (for why should I not give myself the credit of his name?) hath been fortunate enough to procure from the Collection of the Duke of Newcastle, a complete Copy of the Hystorie of Hamblet, which proves to be a translation from the French of Belleforest; and he tells me that ‘all the chief incidents of the Play, and all the capital Characters are there in embryo, after a rude and barbarous manner: sentiments indeed there are none, that Shakespeare could borrow; nor any expression but one, which is where Hamlet kills Polonius behind the arras; in doing which he is made to cry out, as in the Play, ‘a rat, a rat!’—So much for Saxo Grammaticus.” </p. 59>
Ed. note: Capell’s work, The School of Shakespeare: or, authentic Extracts from divers English Books, that were in Print in that Author’s Time; evidently shewing from whence his several Fables were taken, and some Parcel of his Dialogue: also, further extracts, from the same or like books, which [sic] or contribute to a due Understanding of his writings, or give light to the history of his life, or to the dramatic history of his time would be published years after his 1768 edition.
1773 jen
jen = han1
1 source
1773 v1773
v1773 ≈ john without attribution + in magenta underlined
1 source Steevens (ed. 1773): “1 The original story on which this play is built, may be found in Saxo Grammaticus the Danish historian. From thence Belleforest adopted it in his collection of novels, in seven volumes, which he began in 1564, and continued to publish through succeeding years. From this work, The Hystorie of Hamblet, quarto, bl. l. was translated [. . .] Steevens.”
v1773
1 date Steevens (ed. 1773): “I have hitherto met with no earlier edition of the play than one in the year 1605, tho’ it must have been performed before that time, as I have seen a copy of Speght’s edition of Chaucer, which formerly belonged to Dr. Gabriel Harvey (the antagonist of Nash) who, in his own hand-writing, has set down the play, as a performance with which he was well acquainted, in the year 1598, His words are these: ‘The younger sort take much delight in Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis; but his Lucrece, and his tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke, have it in them to please the wiser sort, 1598.’ Steevens.”
1778 mmal2
mmal2
1 date Malone (-1778): “In the books of the Stationers’ Company this play was entered by James Roberts, July 26, 1602, under the title of “A booke called The Revenge of Hamlett, Prince of Denmarke, as it was lately acted by the Lord Chamberlain his servantes.’
“In Eastward Hoe by G. Chapman, B. Jonson, and T. Marston, 1605, is a fling at the hero of this tragedy. A footman named Hamlet enters, and a tankard-bearer asks him, ‘’Sfoote, Hamlet, are you mad?’ The following particular relative to the date of the piece are borrowed from Dr. Farmer’s Essay on the Learning of Shakespeare, p. 85, 86, second edition. . . .”
Ed. note: See Farmer, 1767.
1778 v1778
v1778:≈ Farmer on Gabriel Harvey and Nashe (minor adjustments)
1 date Farmer (ed. 1767, pp. 85-6, apud v1778): “Greene, in the Epistle prefixed to his Arcadia, hath a lash at some ‘vaine glorious tragedians,’ and very plainly at Shakespeare in particular,—‘I leave all these to the mercy of their mother-tongue, that feed on nought but the crums that fall from the translator’s trencher.—That could scarcely latinize their neck verse if they should have neede, yet English Seneca read by candlelight yields many good sentences—hee will affoord you whole Hamlets, I should say, handfuls of tragicall speeches.’—I cannot determine exactly when this Epistle was first published; but, I fancy, it will carry the original Hamlet somwhat further back than we have hitherto done: and it may be observed, that the oldest copy now extant, is said to be ‘enlarged to almost as much againe as it was.’ Gabriel Harvey printed at the end of the year 1592, ‘Foure Letters and certaine Sonnets, especially touching Robert Greene:’ in one of which his Arcadia is mentioned. Now Nash’s Epistle must have been previous to these, as Gabriel is quoted in it with applause; and the Foure Letters were the beginning of a quarrel. Nash replied, in ‘Strange news of the intercepting certaine Letters, and a Convoy of Verses, as they were going privilie to victuall the Low Countries, 1593.’ Harvey rejoined the same year in ‘Pierce’s Supererogation, or a new praise of an old Asse.’ And Nash again, in ‘Have with you to Saffron-Walden, or Gabriell Harvey’s Hunt is up: containing a full answer to the eldest sonne of the halter-maker, 1696.’—Nash died before 1606, as appears from an old comedy called ‘The Return from Parnassus.’”
1778 v1778
v1778 = v1773; ≈ Farmer on The Hystorie of Hamblet without attribution
1 source Steevens (ed. 1778): “1 The original story on which this play is built, may be found in Saxo Grammaticus the Danish historian. From thence Belleforest adopted it in his collection of novels, in seven volumes, which he began in 1564, and continued to publish through succeeding years. From this work, The Hystorie of Hamblett, quarto, bl. l. was translated.
v1778 = v1773 with minor date variation in magenta, probably from jen without attribution; Malone ms. notes without attribution; Farmer 1767
1 date Steevens (ed. 1778): “I have hitherto met with no earlier edition of the play than one in the year 1604, [*] though it must have been performed before that time, as I have seen a copy of Speght’s edition of Chaucer, which formerly belonged to Dr. Gabriel Harvey (the antagonist of Nash) who, in his own hand-writing, has set down the play, as a performance with which he was well acquainted, in the year 1598, His words are these: ‘The younger sort take much delight in Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis; but his Lucrece, and his tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke, have it in them to please the wiser sort, 1598.’
“In the books of the Stationers’ Company this play was entered by James Roberts, July 26, 1602, under the title of ‘A booke called The Revenge of Hamlett, Prince of Denmarke, as it was lately acted by the Lord Chamberlain his servantes.”
“In Eastward Hoe by G. Chapman, B. Jonson, and T. Marston, 160, is a fling at the hero of this tragedy. A footman named Hamlet enters, and a tankard-bearer asks him—‘’Sfoote, Hamlet, are you mad?’ The following particulars, relative to the date of the piece, are borrowed from Dr. Farmer’s Essay on the Learning of Shakespeare, p. 85, 6, second edition.
“‘Greene, in the Epistle prefixed to his Arcadia, hath a lash at some ‘vaine glorious tragedians,’ and very plainly at Shakespeare in particular,—‘I leave all these to the mercy of their mother-tongue, that feed on nought but the crums that fall from the translator’s trencher.—That could scarcely latinize their neck verse if they should have neede, yet English Seneca read by candlelight yields many good sentences—hee will affoord you whole Hamlets, I should say, handfuls of tragicall speeches.’—I cannot determine exactly when this Epistle was first published; but, I fancy, it will carry the original Hamlet somwhat further back than we have hitherto done: and it may be observed, that the oldest copy now extant, is said to be ‘enlarged to almost as much againe as it was.’ Gabriel Harvey printed at the end of the year 1592, ‘Foure Letters and certaine Sonnets, especially touching Robert Greene:’ in one of which his Arcadia is mentioned. Now Nash’s Epistle must have been previous to these, as Gabriel is quoted in it with applause; and the Foure Letters were the beginning of a quarrel. Nash replied, in ‘Strange news of the intercepting certaine Letters, and a Convoy of Verses, as they were going privilie to victuall the Low Countries, 1593.’ Harvey rejoined the same year in ‘Pierce’s Supererogation, or a new praise of an old Asse.’ And Nash again, in ‘Have with you to Saffron-Walden, or Gabriell Harvey’s Hunt is up: containing a full answer to the eldest sonne of the halter-maker, 1696.’—Nash died before 1606, as appears from an old comedy called ‘The Return from Parnassus.’ Steevens.
*
Ed. note: Previously Steevens had dated Q2 1605 but
Jennens had found and used a 1604 copy.
1784 ays1
ays1: standard
1 source
1784 Davies
Davies
1- 887 Actus Primus Davies (1784, 3:23): “This act of Hamlet is singularly excellent. For richness of matter, dignity of action, and variety of character, it may challenge a preference to the first act of any tragedy, antient or modern.”
1785 v1785
v1785 = v1778
1 source
1790 mal
mal ≈ theo without attribution; Steevens
1 source
mal = Steevens +
1 date Malone (ed. 1790): “Surely no satire was here intended. Eastward Hoe was acted at Shakspeare’s own playhouse, (Blackfriers,) by the children of the revels, in 1605.
“A play on the subject of Hamlet had been exhibited on the stage before the year 1589, of which Thomas Kyd was, I believe, the authour. On that play, and on the bl. letter Hystorie of Hamblet, our poet, I conjecture, constructed the tragedy before us. The earliest edition of the prose-narrative which I have seen, was printed in 1608, but it undoubtedly was a republication.
“Shakspeare’s Hamlet was written, if my conjecture be well founded, in 1596. See An Attempt to ascertain the order of his plays, Vol. I. Malone.“
1791- rann
rann ≈ mal without attribution
1 source, date Rann (ed. 1791-): “The Plot of this Tragedy was taken from a Novel called ‘The History of Hamblet,’ translated from the French of Belleforest: It’s first sketch is said to have been exhibited about the year 1596; but this was much improved, as well as enlarged, before it was printed in the year 1604.”
1793 v1793
v1793 =
1 source, allusions] Steevens (ed. 1793): “* The original story on which this play is built, may be found in Saxo Grammaticus the Danish historian. From thence Belleforest adopted it in his collection of novels, in seven volumes, which he began in 1564, and continued to publish through succeeding years. From this work, The Hystorie of Hamblet, quarto, bl. l. was translated. Steevens.”
v1793 = v1785, including mmal2 without attribution
1 date Steevens (ed. 1793): “I have hitherto met with no earlier edition of the play than one in the year 1604, though it must have been performed before that time, as I have seen a copy of Speght’s edition of Chaucer, which formerly belonged to Dr. Gabriel Harvey, (the antagonist of Nash) who, in his own hand-writing, has set down Hamlet, as a performance with which he was well acquainted, in the year 1598, His words are these: ‘The younger sort take much delight in Shakspeare’s Venus and Adonis; but his Lucrece, and his tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke, have it in them to please the wiser sort, 1598.’
“In the books of the Stationers’ Company, this play was entered by James Roberts, July 26, 1602, under the title of “A booke called The Revenge of Hamlett, Prince of Denmarke, as it was lately acted by the Lord Chamberlain his servantes.’
“In Eastward Hoe by George Chapman, Ben Jonson, and John Marston, 1605, is a fling at the hero of this tragedy. A footman named Hamlet enters, and a tankard-bearer asks him—‘’Sfoote, Hamlet, are you mad?’
“The frequent allusions of contemporary authors to this play sufficiently show its popularity, Thus, in Decker’s Bel-man’s Nightwalkes, 4to. 1612, we have ‘But if any mad Hamlet, hearing this, smell villainie, and rush in by violence to see what the tawny diuels [[gypsies]] are dooing, then they excuse the fact’ &c. Again, in an old collection of Satirical Poems, called The Night-Raven, is this couplet:
‘I will not cry Hamlet, Revenge my greeves,
‘But I will call Hangman, Revenge on thieves.’
Steevens”
“Surely no satire was here intended. Eastward Hoe was acted at Shakspeare’s own playhouse, (Blackfriers,) by the children of the revels, in 1605. Malone.”
“The following particular relative to the date of the piece are borrowed from Dr. Farmer’s Essay on the Learning of Shakespeare, p. 85, 86, second edition [see Farmer 1767b]. —Steevens.”
“A play on the subject of Hamlet had been exhibited on the stage before the year 1589, of which Thomas Kyd was, I believe, the authour. On that play, and on the bl. letter Historie of Hamblet, our poet, I conjecture, constructed the tragedy before us. The earliest edition of the prose-narrative which I have seen, was printed in 1608, but it undoubtedly was a republication.
“Shakspeare’s Hamlet was written, if my conjecture be well founded, in 1596. See An Attempt to ascertain the order of his plays, Vol. I. Malone.“
1803 v1803
v1803 = v1793 including Saxo, SR, Eastward Hoe, mal, Farmer,
1 source, allusions.
1805 Seymour
Seymour
1 Scene 1 Seymour (1805, p. 138): see 3
1813 v1813
v1813 = v1803
1 source
1839 knt1
knt1: standard
1 source Knight (ed. 1839, pp. 96-7)
1843 col1
col1
1 date Collier (ed. 1843), in introduction discusses date, c. 1601.
1848 Strachey
Strachey
After 1 Elsinore] Strachey (1848, p. 23): “The court of Denmark is not at the capital, but at the frontier fortress of Elsinore, watching the prospect of an invasion from Norway . . . .”
1856 hud1
hud1
1 sources Hudson (ed. 1856, pp. 169-72) discusses sources at length in the intro.
1857 dyce1
dyce1: standard
1 date Dyce (ed. 1857, 1: ?) does not say that Q1 is an early draft (as he does later in dyce2)., He runs through the usual sources for dating the play.
1860 stau
stau: col, dyce
1 Q1, history, date, sources Staunton (ed. 1860, 3: 327-8), in his introduction to the play, includes comments on Stationers, Q1, &c. Refers to Collier and Dyce but sides more with the latter. Considers Q1 to be a likely 1st draft by Sh. subsequently revised. Refers in passing to date and sources.
1861 wh1
wh1 contra stau
1 Q1, source, time White (ed. 1861) does not agree with Staunton about Q1 being an early draft. See brackets doc. for some details. The intro. discusses the source in detail. He mentions in the intro the time period of the play (recorded in time in the play doc.)
1865 hal
hal
1 sources Halliwell (ed. 1865, pp. 16-50) has a full version of the prose Tragedy of Hamblet from Collier.
1866 dyce2
dyce2 = dyce1 + in magenta underlined
1 Q1 dyce (ed. 1866, 7:101): on Q1, “ . . . we have Shakespeare’s first conception of the play, though with a text mangled and corrupted throughout, and perhaps formed on the notes of a short-hand writer, who had imperfectly taken it down during representation.”
In a note, he says, “In my former edition I expressed myself less fully on the subject of the quarto of 1603, and consequently have been misunderstood by Professor Gervinus, who writes as follows; ‘We possess a quarto-edition of 1603, which is regarded indeed by Collier, Dyce, and Mommsen, as a faulty and illegal print of the complete piece; but on the other hand, according to the indisputably more just opinion of Knight, Delius, and Staunton, it contains an earlier design of the poet’s, though in a mutilated form,’ &c. Shakespeare Commentaries, vol. ii, p. 108, English trans.” (100n).
dyce2
1 source Dyce (ed. 1866, p. 101): “Mr. Albert Cohn’s curious volume. entitled Shakespeare in Germany in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, &c. contains (both in German and English), p. 237, the ‘Tragedy of Fratricide punished, or Prince Hamlet of Denmark, acted in Germany, about the year 1603, by English Players:’ but which ‘has been preserved to us only by a late and modernized copy of a much older manuscript’.”
1866 cam1
cam1
1-174 Clark & Wright (ed. 1866): “In this play the Acts and Scenes are marked in the Folios only as far as the second Scene of the second Act, and not at all in the Quartos.”
1870 rug1
rug1
1 Setting Moberly (ed. 1870): “The scene is at the celebrated castle of Kronborg, commanding the entrances of the Sound. In its vaults, the mythic Danish champion Holger was thought to be seated at the board, asleep for age after age. till the day of fate awakens him.”
1873 rug2
rug2 = rug1
1 Setting
1877 v1877
v1877: Gildon, Seymour, cam1
1-174
1878 rlf1
rlf1=rug2 +
1 Elsinor Rolfe (ed. 1878): The cut on p. 41 is taken from this castle.”
1890 irv2
irv2: standard
1 Marshall (ed. 1890): on division into acts and scenes, and the arbitrariness of the choices. Act 2’s termination is fine. Disagreement exists about 3, 4, and 5. He thinks 3 should end at the end of 4.4. He admits that makes act 3 very long, but dividing it would mean 6 acts.
1891 dtn1
dtn1
1 Elsinore Deighton (ed. 1891): “the modern Helsingor, a seaport on the north-east coast of Denmark, to the north-west of Copenhagen”
1903 rlf3
rlf3 = rlf1
1 Elsinore Rolfe (ed. 1903): “The scene of the celebrated castle of Kronborg (see cut on p. 25), commanding the entrance of the Sound. In its vaults the mythic Danish champion Holger was thought to be seated at the board, asleep for age after age, till the day of fate awakens him.”
1929 trav
trav
1 Folio SDTravers (ed. 1929) points out that Latin for a SD “is significant of the scholarly [i.e., not the theatrical] quality of [F’s] afterthought.” He says that there
may have been no intervals in the public theater, but if there, probably the stage-manager decided when they should be. He believes that Sh., unlike Ben Jonson, was not trained to think of a five-act structure, each act to lead “up to each other with geometrical economy, or culminate in ‘
tableaux, [. . . ] notions alien to the main spirit of his times and the conditions of their stage [. . . ].”
1930 Granville-Barker
Granville-Barker
1 Granville-Barker (1930, rpt. 1946, 1:8-9) objects to specificity of place in many eds. and in performance; without scenery, no audience would try to imagine a particular place.
1931 crg1
crg1 ≈ yal1 on platform without attribution; ≈ dtn on Helsingor without attribution
1 platform Craig (ed. 1931): “a level space on the battlements of the royal castle at Elsinore, a Danish seaport; now Helsingör.”
1934 Wilson
Wilson MSH
1 Actus Primus. Scœna Prima. Wilson (1934, p. 85) believes that the fact that scene divisions cease after 2.2 shows that the divisions that exist are Scribe C’s and that the few he has are additions to the promptbook. Wilson believes C had intended o provide the divisions but carelessly forgot to continue.
1934 Wilson
Wilson MSH ≈ Steevens without attribution
1 date Wilson (1934, p. 16) refers to the title of the play as entered in the Stationers’ Register: James Roberts July 26, 1602: “A booke called the Revenge of Hamlet Prince Denmarke as yt was latelie Acted by the Lord Chamberleyene his servantes.”
1947 cln2
cln2
1-867 Rylands (ed. 1947): “The other play in which Shakespeare devotes a whole act to exposition or preparation for the action is Othello.”
2007 de Grazia
de Garzia
1 de Grazia (2007, 8) quotes Eastward Ho [see above] to demonstrate that Shakespeare’s contemporaries thought of the outer action of Hamlet rather than his inner being, so admired in later times.
