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Line 472 - 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.”

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Notes for lines 0-1017 ed. Bernice W. Kliman

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

472 Ophe. No more but so.	1.3.10

1874 Corson

Corson: F1, cam1 (text) +

472 Corson (1874, p. 11): “This speech of Ophelia is certainly meant to express her submissiveness to her brother’s opinion and not to question the correctness of it.”

1875 Marshall

Marshall

472 Marshall (1875, p. 132): “Mark here the sweet simplicity of her words. She does not fly into a passion with her brother for the low estimate he takes of her lover’s constancy and of her own worthiness. There is a quiet confidence in her own belief, a gentle rebuke to his worldly scepticism, which Laertes does not perceive, in this truly virginal remonstrance.”

1877 v1877

v1877 = Corson

472

1880 meik

meik

472 so] Meikeljohn (ed. 1880): “= so much. S. often throws a great burden of meaning upon so. For a notable passage, see [MV 3.2.12 (1353)]: ‘So will I never be; so may you miss me’ (where the first so is = forsworn; and the second so = under these circumstances).”

1885 macd

macd

472 MacDonald (ed. 1885) conj. questionmark.

1899 ard1

ard1 = Corson

472

1913 Trench

Trench

472 No more but so] Trench (1913, p. 64): Spoken to so gently by Laertes, Ophelia trusts him: “Must she indeed, she wistfully inquires, expect it thus to fade and pass?”

1939 kit2

kit2: standard

472 Kittredge (ed. 1939): "Only that and nothing more? Not spoken in plaintive accents; for Ophelia does not doubt Hamlet, nor, gentle as she is, has she any lack of spirit. Her question is merely an acknowledgment that she is listening to her brother’s sermon, much as if she had said ’Ah?’ "Indeed?’ or ’Well?’ The actress’s foreknowledge of Ophelia’s doom should not overshadow this scene. Ophelia is full of the joy of living; and she is more than a match for her brother as we shall see presently [508-14].."

1982 ard2

ard2 contra Parrott & Craig

472 No more but so] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “Parrott and Craig follow Corson in rejecting the editorial question-mark, taking Ophelia to accept her brother’s view. But this removes the justification of Laertes’s long hortatory speech and is hardly consistent with 473-507. It is because she does not find it easy to agree with her brother (and her father) that she does ’not know’ what she ’should think’ (570).”

1987 oxf4

oxf4: Dent; //; rowe

472 Hibbard (ed. 1987): "No more than that? The phrase ‘There is no more but so’ was proverbial (Dent M1158.1), and appears in precisely this form at [R3 4.2.82 (2677)]. The question mark, supplied by Rowe, seems necessary because Ophelia goes on to offer more resistance to the idea that Hamlet is merely trifling with her."

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: xref

472 Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “’No more than that.’ Ophelia’s four words are a statement in all three texts but many editors and performers make them a question. The phrase no more, repeated three times in this line, reverberates through the play until Laertes’ ’I can no more’ ([3801]).”