HW Home	Previous CN	View CN	View TNM	View TNI	Next CN

Line 99 - 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 0-1017 ed. Bernice W. Kliman

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

99 Was as you knowe by Fortinbrasse of Norway,	1.1.82

1773 SJC

Anon [D]: v1773

99 Fortinbrasse] Anon. [D.] (St. James’s Chronicle no. 1981, 23-26 Oct. 1773, p. 3): “It will be without Difficulty acknowledged that the first Step requisite towards the Publication of an ancient Drama, is to settle the Personæ Dramatis with Exactness. How accurately this Task has been performed in respect of Hamlet, I will, in as few Words as possible, explain. I have myself been a laborious Examiner of the old Copies, and therefore am not at a Loss for Collations.

“Fortinbras. The Qu’s spell this Name Fortinbrasse and Fortenbrasse. Pray why did the new Editors [Johnson & Steevens] omit to inform their Readers of this curious and interesting Particular? for perhaps the Mode of Orthography recommended by these Quartos, has at last met with an Advocate. Every superficial Commentator, who is versed in History, must have heard of the Trade which was anciently carried on between the Danes, the Norwegians, and the English, and continued as long as till the Time of Gustavus Vasa, when our Countrymen were still furnished with Brass from the Mines of Dalycarlia, in return for Tin from those of Truro in Cornwall . In Remembrance of this Fact, the ancient Family which first set this Exchange on Foot, were dignified with the Name of Fortinbrass. . . . . D.”

1774 capn

capn

99 Fortinbrasse] Capell (1774, 1.1.122): “This affair of the ‘combat,’ it’s [sic] event, and the terms of it, and also the motive to it, are all taken from that same black-letter novel that is mention’d in the introductory note: but the name of the challenger, (which is diversly spelt in the old copies, as—“Fortinbrasse, Fortenbrasse,” and most frequently “Fortinbras”) seems a name of invention, and a compound of—fort en bras.”

1872 Athenaeum

Latham

99 Fortinbrasse] Latham (Athenaeum, 27 July 1872, apud Furness) shows that this is a corrupt French form, equivalent to Fierumbras or Fierabras, which is a derivative from ferri brachium; by translating brachium, side, we have Ironside, or, in Icelandic, Iarnsîdha, a name actually applied to one of the old Norse Sea-kings.

1875 Marshall

Marshall

99 Fortinbrasse] Marshall (1875, pp. 177-8) questions whether young Fortinbras is a crown prince of Norway; from the various lines concerning him, “it is plain that young Fortinbras owed allegiance to the King of Norway . . . .”

1877 v1877

v1877: Latham +

99 Fortinbrasse] Furness (ed. 1877): “All that the learned critic contends for is that such names are in some small sense historical, i.e. that they have their origin in distorted history, rather than in arbitrary fiction.”

1883 wh2

wh2 : standard + in magenta underlined

99 Fortinbrasse] White (ed. 1883): “fort en bras, Strong-i’-th’-arm now exists as a surname in the North of England.”

1903 rlf3

rlf3 = Latham w/ attribution (via v1877 without attribution) + pronunciation

99 Fortinbrasse] Rolfe (ed. 1903): “The final s should be pronounced in S. As a rule, French and other foreign words are anglicized in the plays. This is sometimes evident from the rhyme; as in [LLL 5.2.334 (2258-9)], where Boyet rhymes with debt.”

1936 TLS

Wilson contra Malleson

99 Fortinbrasse of Norway] Wilson (J. D. “Was King Claudius a Usurper,” 36 [1936]: 35): “ . . . there is no evidence at all that the father of Fortinbras, whom King Hamlet slew in single combat, had ever sat upon the throne of Norway. On the contrary, Shakespeare clearly intends us to think of him, a pugnacious warrior of presumably about King Hamlet’s age, as the younger brother of Old Norway, ‘impotent and bed-rid.’ And that this is so is confirmed by the fact, which Mr. Malleson strangely overlooks, that in falling at the hands of King Hamlet he [quotes 105-6, “Did forfait . . . seaz’d of] In other words, had he been King of Norway, he would have forfeited that kingdom, and Claudius would have been able to steal two precious diadems and put them in his procket! But in that case, what about ‘old Norway’? Fortinbras senior was a Royal Duke maybe, but no King.” Ed. note: Wilson came to accept Malleson’s position on Fortinbras; see CN 77.

1938 parc

parc

99 Fortinbrasse] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938), noting that the name appears in various spellings in the three early texts, including Fortenbrasse elsewhere in Q2, choose Fortinbrasse throughout.

1993 dent

dent

99 Fortinbrasse] Andrews (ed. 1993) likes the Q1, Q2 spelling because, in addition to the F1’s Fortinbras, French strong arm or strong in arms, it also “suggests an additional link with ‘brass’ (brazen mettle), reinforced by [89] and [113].”

2000 SNL

Burton

99-112 Burton (2000, p. ): Horatio’s description of the wager frames the issue of lost inheritance as a motive for action with respect to young Fortinbras, setting the stage for indications that lost inheritance consitutes a similar motive for action with respect to Hamlet and Laertes. See n. 106.

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: List of Players

99 Fortinbrasse] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “See List of Roles, 27n.”