302-3 Coleridge (1819): “Hamlet’s silence & the long speech of the king. & general answer to his mother.”

302-3 Coleridge (ms. notes 1819 in Ayscough, ed. 1807; rpt. Coleridge, 1998, 12.4:843): “Hamlet’s Silence to the long Speech of the King, & general answer to his Mother.”

302-3 Hunter (1845, 2: 217): <p. 217> Hamlet “yields to his mother, while he grants nothing to the request or command of his uncle. The uncle takes this in good part, though it is plain he perceives the distinction made by Hamlet. This is in character with his attempts to ingratiate himself with his cousin (nephew) and his son; and generally, with the plausibility and the willingness to yield anything which it costs nothing to bestow, a feature in the King’s character which the Poet has made sufficiently prominent.” </p. 217>

302-3 Lloyd (1858, p. [2]): “When Hamlet comes before us he stands in the black garb of filial mourning, a shadow upon the splendour of the easily recomforted court. The shameful speed of his mother’s second marriage, marriage held incestuous, with her late husband’s brother, and his antipathy to and mistrust of his uncle have disgusted him with life, with the world, with the sex. It is only afterwards that we learn that political disappointment of the succession to his father might have increased his depression, and that bitterness of his mother’s fault had poisoned the charm of his attachment to Ophelia. But thus minded, what does he at the court where only irritation of his misery can await him; his first act of concession in giving up his return to Wittenberg stamps the characteristic of facility in falling from a resolution, and the same scene commences the contrast in this respect that is extended afterwards, between him and Laertes,—Laertes who carries though his own purpose of departure against his father’s stubborn opposition” [232-40]. Thus the anger of his mind turns inward and preys upon its energies . . . .”

302-3 Anon. (in The Morning Chronicle apud Fechter, 1864, p. 4): “The court is seated—Hamlet, humbly, at the foot of the throne, in which position he kisses his mother’s hand, as he gives the words, ‘I shall, in all my best, obey you madam.’ The novel aspect given to this scene, is literally startling.”

302 shall] Abbott (§315): “Shall. Shall for will. Shall meaning ‘to owe’ is connected with ‘ought,’ ‘must,’ ‘it is destined.’ . . .

“Hence shall was used by the Elizabethan authors with all three persons to denote inevitable futurity without reference to ‘will’ (desire). [quotes Mac. 3.4.56 (1325)]: ‘You shall offend him, and extend his passion.’ i.e. ‘you are sure to offend him’ . . . .” Shall can have “a trace of its old meaning ‘I ought:’ or perhaps there is a mixture of ‘I am bound to’ and ‘I am sure to.’ Hence it is often used in the replies of inferiors to superiors.”

Ed. note: In the latter sense, Hamlet’s use of it here could be properly deferential to his mother, or somewhat sardonic and exaggerated.

See also n. 309.

302 shall]

302 in all my best

302 in all my best] Travers (ed. 1929): “do my best to.”

302-3 Tilley (1950, W 155): “Yours to command in the way of honesty Shakespeare— 1596 [MV 3.4.35 (1762)]. ‘Madame, with all my heart, I shall obey you in all fair commands.”

302-3 Joseph (1953, p. 155): Hamlet’s “hatred of his uncle does not prevent him showing a courtly affection to his mother in public, however much he disapproves of her in his thoughts.”

302-3 Spencer (ed. 1980): “Hamlet pointedly accedes to his mother’s appeal to his affection, not to the King’s ingratiating plea. But the King, with skilful tact, appropriates Hamlet’s compliance as a loving and fair reply.”

302 in . . . best] Spencer (ed. 1980): “in so far as I can.”

302 in all my best] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “to the best of my ability.”

302 in . . . best] Bevington (ed. 1988): “to the best of my ability.”

302-3 Kliman (1991): The fact that folios divide this line into two allows for an end-of-line hesitation that could give this sentence subtextual meaning. Looking at the Hinman facsimile, it seems clear that if an extra line were needed on this page it would have been easy to add one before the SD Manet Hamlet, which now seems squeezed in. Like Ophelia, Hamlet says he will obey.

305 be as our selfe] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “behave as if you were king”