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Line 372 - 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.

372 My father, me thinkes I see my father.	1.2.184

1751- mHoadly

mHoadly

372-4 methinks I see my Father . . . In my Mind’s Eye] Hoadly (ms. notes in, ed. 1751): “Electra in Sophocles (v:1377) speaks exactly precisely the same words--[Greek].”

1768 cap

cap

372 Capell (ed. 1768) signals with his low dash at the end of 371 that for 372 Hamlet changes the direction of his speech; the only choice is an semi-aside, a comment to himself.

1770 Gentleman

Gentleman

372-443 Gentleman (1770, 1: 16): “The scene which introduces Horatio, &c. to communicate the circumstance of the preceding night succeeds naturally; and the broken mode of conversation, in lines and half-lines, is so artfully contrived, is executed is so masterly a maner [sic], that the spectators, tho’ they previously know the subject, are yet agreeably lured on to hear it related, and thoroughly sympathize in the transitions of Hamlet; whose interrogations concerning the awful ambassador of heaven are such, as give us a stronger feeling of the Ghost than even his appearance does . . . .”

1773 gent

gent

372 My father] Gentleman (ed. 1773): “This is a most natural and feeling introduction to the uncommon circumstance Horatio and Marcellus have to relate; it saves them the trouble of an abrupt or painful mention of so delicate and interesting a point.”

1774 Richardson

Richardson:

372 My father] Richardson (1774, rpt. 1812, pp. 87-8): <p. 87> “Having expressed himself strongly [in 370-1], and possessing a delicate sense of propriety, he thinks it necessary to explain the cause. About to preface it with an account of his father, he mentions him: ‘My father—’

“The thought strikes his mind with a sudden and powerful impulse: he pauses: forgets his intention of explaining himself to </p. 87> <p. 88> Horatio: the image of his father possesses him; and, by the most solemn and striking apostrophe that ever poet invented, he impresses it on his audience.” </p.88>

1993 Lupton&Reinhard

Lupton& Reinhard

372 Lupton & Reinhard (1993, p.22): “Elegiac prosopopoeia, the trope (ajkin to personifcation) of making the absent present, also functions in the matrix of projection, narcissism, and melancholy.”