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Line 625 - 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.

625 Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damn’d,	1.4.40

1600 Nicholson

Nicholson: Folger STC 18546.

625-6 Be . . . hell,] Nicholson (1600, sig. E2): “Art thou a God, a Man, or else a Ghost? Com’st thou from heauen, where blisse & solace dwell? Or from the ayrie could-ingendring coast? Or from the darkesome dungeon-hole of hell? Or from the secret chambers of the deepe? Or from the graves where breathless bodie sleepe?”

Ed. note: The poem is “Acolastus his After-Witte,” the speaker is Acolastus, and he addresses the woman he loved. “Art thou her shape for whom my poore hart bleeds?” is in the next stanza. See below, ref. in v1773.

1752 Dodd

Dodd

625-7 Dodd (1752, 1: 222): “Hamlet, we see by the foregoing line [626],doubted whether this was a good or an evil spirit; that is, whether its intents were to serve or harm him: of this too his friends doubted, as we see in the next speech [658 ]; and he himself again discovers the same fears at the latter end of the fine speech . . . [1638].”

1773 jen

jen

625 Jennens (ed. 1773, sig. a[1r): “No Copy so old as this [Q2 1604] seems to have been known by any of the modern Editors or Commentators; they mention none older than 1605.”

Ed. note: Jennens’ is the first indication that Q2 was published in part in 1604. By collating only Q4, Jennens indicates that the 1605 ed. was substantively the same as the 1604 ed.

1773 v1773

v1773

625-6 Be . . . hell,] Steevens (ed. 1773): “So in Acolastus, his After-wit, 1600: ‘Art thou a god, a man, or else a ghost? Com’st thou from heaven, where bliss and solace dwell? Or from the airie cold-engendring coast? Or from the darksome dungeon-hold of hell?’ The first known edition of this play [Ham.] is in 1605.”

Ed. note: Steevens changed the date in subsequent editions to 1604 (after jen).

1778 v1778

v1778 = v1773 with variation in magenta

625-6 Be . . . hell,] Steevens (ed. 1778): “The first known edition of this play is in 1604.Steevens.”

1785 v1785

v1785 = v1778 +

625-6 Be . . . hell,] Steevens (ed. v1785): “The same question occurs also on the MS. known by the title of William and Werwolf, in the Library of king’s College, Cambridge: ‘Whether thou be a god, gost in goddis name that speakest, Or any foul fend fourmed in this wise, And if we schul of the hent harme or gode.’ p. 36. Steevens”

1787 ann

ann = v1785

625-6 Be . . . hell,]

1790 mal

mal = v1785

mal on Luc. This may be in mals1

625 Be thou] Malone (ed. 1790, 10: 142-3) <p.142 mentions lines from Luc.“inserted with very slight variation, in a poem entitled Acalastus his After-witte, by S. Nicholson, 1600; a circumstance which I should hardly have thought worth mentioning, but that in the same poem is also found a line taken from [3H6] and a passage evidently copied from Hamlet; </p.142> <p.143> from whence we may, I think, conclude with certainty, that there was an edition of that tragedy (probably before it was enlarged) of an earlier date than any yet discovered.Malone.” </p. 143>

mal: Steevens

625 Be thou] Steevens (apud ed. 1790, 10: 143): “Surely a passage short as the first of these referred to, might have been carried away from the play-house by an auditor of the weakest memory. Of Hamlet’s address to the ghost, the idea, not the language, is preserved. Either of them, however, might have been caught during representation. Steevens.”

1793 v1793

v1793 = v1785 +

625-6 Be . . . hell,] Steevens (ed. 1793): “Again, in Barnaby Googe’s Fourth Eglog: ‘What soever thou art yt thus dost com, Ghoost, hagge, or fende of hell, I the comaunde by hym that lyves Thy name and case to tell.’ Steevens”

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793

625-6 Be . . . hell,]

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

625-6 Be . . . hell,]

1819 cald1

cald1 = v1813

625-6 Be . . . hell,]

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1813

625-6 Be . . . hell,]

1826 sing1

sing1 ≈ Steevens v1778; just a quotation from Acolastus w/o comment

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1

625-6 Be . . . hell,]

1856 sing2

sing2 = sing1

625-6 Be . . . hell,]

1870 rug1

rug1

625 be thou] Moberly (ed. 1870): “Whether thou art.”

1872 cln1

cln1

625 spirit of health] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “a healed, or saved, spirit.

1873 rug2

rug2 = rug1

625 be thou]

1877 v1877

v1877 = cln1

625-6 Be . . . hell,]

1879 Halliwell-Phillips

Halliwell-Phillips

625-6 Halliwell-Phillips (1879, pp. 61-2): <p. 61>“There is a verse in Nicholson’s Acolastus his After-witte, 1600, which some critics think is imitated from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, i.4—[he quotes Acolastus] but the langauge does not appear to be suffi- </p.61><p.62> ciently close to warrant that supposition, while the idea is found in other and earlier works.” </p. 62>

1889 Barnett

Barnett

625 goblin] Barnett (1889, p. 33): “a wicked spirit. Spencer in [F. Q. 2.10.73] speaks of ‘the wicked gobelines.’ Through Fr. gobelin, from Lat. gobelinus. Cobalt comes from the same root, and was so named by the miners from its troublesomeness.”

1890 irv2

irv2 = cln1 without attribution

625 a spirit of health] Symons (ed. 1890): “i.e. a saved spirit.”

1899 ard1

ard1 = cln1

625

1904 ver

ver

625 goblin] Verity (ed. 1904, Glossary): “a mischievous spirit or elf, like Ariel in [Tmp.] or Puck in [MND], that plays tricks. Low Lat. gobelinus, a diminutive of Low Lat. cobalus, ‘a sprite’ = [Gk], ‘a rogue.’”

1929 trav

trav ≈ cln1 without attribution + marked in magenta

625 health] Travers (ed. 1929): “may mean either healed (= saved), contrasted with ‘damn’d,’ or healing (cp. bringing ‘airs from heaven; [626], and ‘charitable’ [627]), or, better, both . . . .” Travers points out that since Hamlet, from the beginning, expresses doubts about the nature of the ghost his later doubts are not sudden.

1930 Knight

Knight

625 Knight (1930, p.46): “ The Ghost may or may not have been a ’goblin damned’; it certainly was no ’spirit of health’.”

1938 parc

parc

625 spirit of health] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938): “good spirit.”

1939 kit2

kit2

625 health] Kittredge (ed. 1739): “salvation. Cf. Woodes, The Conflict of Conscience (ed. 1581, Hiij, 1f. 2 vo): ‘So doo the Diuels, Yet of their health they alway doe dispaire.’ A spirit of health is, then, a good spirit, as opposed to a demon or goblin damn’d. The antithesis is carried out int he next two lines. Hamlet does not raise the question whether his father’s soul is saved or lost, but whether this apparition is a spirit of good or of evil. If it is the ghost of his father, then he assumes that it has come with good intent.”

1947 cln2

cln2: standard

625 spirit of health] Rylands (ed. 1947): "either beneficent, or a spirit that has been saved."

1957 pel1

pel1: standard

625 of health] Farnham (ed. 1957): “sound, good.”

pel1: standard

625 goblin] Farnham (ed. 1957): “fiend.”

1957 pen1b

pen1b

625 spirit of health, or goblin damn’d] Harrison (ed. 1957): “from the first Hamlet is uncertain whether the Ghost is a benign or an evil spirit. See note on [127] and [1638-9].”

1962 fan

fan

625 spirit of health] Fanego (ed. 1762); “por healthy spirit; esto es, ÆángelØ. En cuanto a la construcción véase [182 brow of woe]

fan

625 spirit of health] Fanego (ed. 1762); “for healthy spirit; that is, ÆangelØ. Another example of the construction is at 182.

1970 pel2

pel2 = pel1

625 of health] Farnham (ed. 1970): “sound, good”

pel2 = pel1

625 goblin] Farnham (ed. 1970): “fiend”

1974 evns

evns ≈ Kittredge

625 health] Kermode (ed. 1974): “wholesome, good.”

1980 pen2

pen2: xref

625-6 Spencer (ed. 1980): “Hamlet has initial doubts about the Ghost, but these are soon displaced by his (and the audience’s) conviction that it is a veritable version of his father. On two later occasions Hamlet suspects that The spirit that I have seen │ May be a devil, which Abuses me to damn me (2.2.596-601 and 3.2.92).”

1980 pen2

pen2 ≈ Kittredge +

625-6 Be . . . hell] Spencer (ed. 1980): “Hamlet has initial doubts about the Ghost, but these are soon displaced by his (and the audience’s) conviction that it is a veritable vision of his father. On two later occasions Hamlet suspects that The spirit that I have seen May be a devil, which Abuses me to damn me [1638-43; 1933].”

pen2

625 Be thou] Spencer (ed. 1980): “whether you are”

pen2 ≈Clarendon, Kittredge

625 a spirit of health] Spencer (ed. 1980): “benevolent spirit (or possibly ‘saved soul’)”

pen2 ≈ Barnett +

625 goblin damn’d] Spencer (ed. 1980): “evil spirit that has suffered damnation.”

1982 ard2

ard2 ≈ kit2 without attribution

625 a spirit of health] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “health, salvation. ‘A Spirit of health,’ however, is not, as often interpreted, a saved soul but a good angel. Hamlet addresses the Ghost not as his father’s spirit but as a spirit in his father’s shape. Cf. [444] and n. The question is not whether his father is saved or damned but whether this is a good spirit, or an evil one. Cf. [JC 4.3.279 (2292)], ‘Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil . . . ?’ ”

ard2 ≈ pen2 without attribution

625 goblin] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “demon.”

1984 chal

chal ≈ Clarendon

625 health] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “spiritual soundness (OED health sb. 4)

chal ≈ Clarendon

625 goblin] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “demon”

1985 cam4

cam4

625 goblin damn’d] Edwards (ed. 1985): "a demon, bringing ’blasts from hell’[626] and ’wicked’ intents."

1985 cam4

cam4: standard

625-7 a spirit of health . . . charitable] edwards (ed. 1985): “an uncorrupted spirit, bringing ‘airs from heaven’ [626] and ‘charitable’ intents [627].

1985 Belsey

Belsey

625-9 Be thou . . . to thee] Belsey (1985, pp. 115-16, quoted by Griffiths, pp. 117-18): <p. 117> “Revenge exists in the margin between justice and crime. An act of injustice on behalf of justice, it deconstructs the antithesis which fixes the meanings of good and evil, right and wrong. Hamlet invokes the conventional polarities in addressing the Ghost, only to abandon them as inadequate or irrelevant: [quotes 625-9] <p. 118> The Ghosts in revenge plays consistently resist unequivocal identifications, are always ’questionable’ in one of the sense of the word. Dead, and yet living, visitant at midnight (the marginal hour) from a prison-house which is neither heaven nor hell, visible to some figures on the stage but not to others [2516] and so neither real nor unreal, they inaugurate a course of action which is both mad and sane, correct and criminal. To uphold the law revengers are compelled to break it. The moral uncertainty persists to the end. [. . . Griffiths’s ellipses] Hamlet dies a revenger, a poisoner, but also a soldier and a prince (5.2.387-95).” </p. 118>

1987 oxf4

oxf4 ≈ kit2 without attribution

625-7 Be thou . . . charitable] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “Hamlet balances two possibilities against each other: (1) that the Ghost is a good spirit (2) that it is an evil spirit.”

oxf4 = kit2 without attribution

625 health] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “salvation”

oxf4 = kit2 without attribution

625 goblin] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “demon”

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

625 Be thou] Bevington (ed. 1988): “i.e., whether you are.”

bev2: standard

625 spirit of health] Bevington (ed. 1988): “good angel.”

1999 Belsey

Belsey

625-9 Be thou . . . to thee] Belsey (1999, rpt. 2001, pp. 158-61, quoted by Griffiths, p. 156): “The play registers Hamlet’s ambivalence in the imagery of the period, the effect of centuries of Christian iconography. What it withholds—both from the hero and from the audience—is the place of origin which would specify the moral identity of the Ghost. At its first appearance to Hamlet, he approaches it in the explicit recognition of this uncertainty: [quotes 625-9]. What is a ’questionable shape’ [628]? a shape, perhaps, which prompts a question, a signifier whose significance is unknown? Does the term ’shape’ imply the possibility of alternatives, of other shapes? Has a shape no shape of its own, no proper shape? Or might this figure change its shape at will, on the basis that there is behind the appearance a substantial, if immaterial identity, whether angel or demon.” [Hamlet in the heat of the moment accepts] “the spectral father’s injunction as unquestionable. But his first anxiety recurs throughout the play as the hero repeatedly reopens the ’question’ of an injunction from the Ghost of a loving father who, apparently, commands an action which might incur his son’s damnation.”

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: standard

625 thou] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “Hamlet’s immediate use of the familiar thou rather than the more formal ’you’ is surprising, especially as his speech otherwise implies an element of conscious distancing or even incredulity. Perhaps thou indicates a dismissive scepticism, whereas ’you’ would indicate his acceptance that the Ghost is indeed his father, as it seems to at [2485-9]. See also [466 CN]” Ed. note: Thou is standard usage for a ghost, whatever the speaker believes it to be.

ard3q2: Milton

625 goblin] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “demon (a stronger meaning than the modern one; see Paradise Lost, 2.688, where Milton refers to Death as ’the Goblin’)”