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.

1880 Tanger

Tanger

405 watch] Tanger (1880, p. 123): The Q2 error in tense is “probably owing to the negligence, inattention, or criticism of the compositor.”

1934 Wilson

Wilson MSH

405 watch] Wilson (1934, p. 267): the variant [F1’s watcht] indicates that “the platform before the castle was the usual station for the guard at night. [. . . ]”

1957 pen1b

pen1b

405 platforme] Harrison (ed. 1957): “place where the cannon were mounted.”

1980 pen2

pen2

405 platforme] Spencer (ed. 1980) defines a platform, where the action of scene one occurs [405], as “a level place for mounting guns.” He claims that “it was well known to British voyagers” that Elsinore had such guns on a platform commanding “the narrow entrance to the Baltic Sea between Denmark and (modern) Sweden, exacting tolls from ships passing through.”

1982 ard2

ard2 ≈ pen2 without attribution

405 platforme] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “the terrace of a fort where guns were mounted ”

ard2:

405 watch] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “Some copies of Q2 show the type disturbed and the end of the line not printing properly. But that watch is in fact the reading is established by the visibility of a final point in other copies ” Ed. note: See Press Variants The Three-Text Hamlet, 2003. p. 263.

1985 cam4

cam4

405 watch] watched Edwards (ed. 1985): "were on watch. Q2’s ’watch’ makes the meaning ’normally keep the watch’."

1987 oxf4

oxf4

405 platforme] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "gun emplacement, level place built for mounting cannon."

oxf4

405 watch] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "The reading of F, watcht, seems preferable because it has the support of Q1 and because the past tense fits in naturally with Hamlet’s question. Moreover, the speech comes from Marcellus, the reporter of Q1, who usually gets his own part right."

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: standard

405 platforme] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “battlements or terrace (of a castle)”

ard3q2

405 watch] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “keep the watch. Q2’s present tense implies a habitual pattern (’where we usually watch’); Q1/F’s ’watcht’/’watched’ implies a reference to this specific occasion.”