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Line 628 - 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.

628 Thou com’st in such a questionable shape,	1.4.43

1632- mAnon

mAnon

628 questionable] Anon. (ms. notes in F2fol21): “Questionable is affable [?]. Easy to be Spoken to—so unquestionable is used in a contrary sense in—As you like it. p. 197 [AYL 3.2.374 (1559)].”

1733 theo1

theo1

628 questionable] Theobald (ed. 1733): “By questionable we now constantly understand disputable, doubtful; but our Author uses it in a Sense quite opposite, not disputable, but to be convers’d with, inviting Questions: as in [Mac. 1.3.43 (142)].. Live You, or are You aught that Man may question?”

1744 han1

han1 ≈ theo1 gloss without attribution

628 questionable] Hanmer (ed. 1743): “By questionable is meant, inviting question, provoking question.”

1745 han2

han2 = han1

628 questionable]

1752 Dodd

Dodd ≈ theo1 without attribution

628 questionable] Dodd (1752, 1. 222): “By questionable, now, we generally mean disputable; here it signifies—inviting question.”

1753 blair

blair = han

628 questionable]

1765 john1

john1 = han; theo Mac. // without attribution

628 questionable]

1771 han3

han3 = han1

628 questionable]

1773 v1773

v1773 = john1 + // = Anon, above

628 questionable] Steevens (ed. 1773): “Questionable, I believe means only willing to be questioned. So in [AYL 3.2.374. (1559)]. ‘An unquestionable spirit, which you have not.’ Unquestionable in this last instance certainly means unwilling to be conversed with. ”

1778 v1778

v1778 ≈1773 + magenta underlined

628 questionable] Steevens (ed. 1778): “Questionable, I believe means only propitious to conversation, easy and willing to be conversed with. So in [AYL 3.2.374. (1559)]. ‘An unquestionable spirit, which you have not.’ Unquestionable in this last instance certainly signifies unwilling to be conversed with. ”

v1778: mal = theo1 without attribution

628 questionable] Malone (apud Steevens, ed. 1778): “Questionable, I believe, only means capable of being conversed with. To question, certainly in our author’s time signified to converse. So in his [Luc. 122], 1593: ‘For after supper long he questioned With modest Lucrece—.’ Again, in [Ant. 2.2.81 (772)]: ‘Out of our question wipe him.’ Malone.”

BWK: An interesting thing about Malone’s note is that it is much like Steevens’s yet Steevens uses Malone’s too. A subtle difference, perhaps.

1785 v1785

v1785 = v1778 minus (Malone’s 2 //s) + 4 x-ref to the edition: 2:69; 3:228; 4:320, 8:173.

628 questionable]

1787 ann

ann = v1785 (subst.) minus all xref.

628 questionable]

1790 mal

mal = v1778 +

628 questionable] Malone (ed. 1790) ref. to 8:667 n. 1. mal Lear. “Will not bear question”

1790 mal Lr.

mal

628 questionable] Malone (ed. 1790, 8:667 “Will not bear question” n. 1, Lr. 5.3.33 [2977]): “The important business which is now entrusted to your management, does not admit of debate: you must instantly resolve to do it, or not. Question, here, as in many other places in these plays, signifies discourse, conversation. See Vol. IX, p. 223, n. 9 [i.e. Ham. 628 note]. Malone.”

1790- mWesley in v1785

mWesley: han; john

628 questionable] Wesley (1790-, p. 44): “I think Hanmer and Johnson right. I am told by those who have seen ghosts, (for I never did myself) that they expect to be spoken to first and never forgive any deficiency of etiquette as long as they live.”

1791- rann

rann ≈ v1778

628 questionable] Rann (ed. 1791-): “—so capable of being conversed with.”

1793 v1793

v1793 = mal +

628 questionable] Steevens (ed. 1793) on MV 4.1.73 (1979): “Thou may as well question with the wolf.”

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793

628 questionable]

1805 Seymour

Seymour: han1

628 questionable] Seymour (1805, p. 156): “I believe, here means, as Sir T. Hanmer explains, dubious, exciting question.”

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

628 questionable]

1815 Becket

Becket = han; = john1 Mac. // [i.e. theo’s]; = v1773; = mal +

628 questionable] Becket (1815, 1:24): “I think ‘unquestionable shape’ would be much more forcible, much more in point. The meaning of the whole would then stand thus: ‘I know not what your intents may be: but the figure or shape you bear is well known to me—I will therefore speak to you, which otherwise I mgith not have courage to do.’ This agrees with what he had said before” ‘My Father’s spirit in arms!’ B.”

1819 cald1

cald1 ≈ theo1; Steevens +

628 questionable] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “ ‘So doubtful, that I will at least make inquiry to obtain a solution,’ is a plain and obvious sense: but our author, even in his gravest passages, and in the very crisis of his heroes’ fate, is accustomed to make them play upon words; and as he has (AYL [3.2.374 (1559)] Ros.) used the adjective ‘unquestionable’ in the sense of ‘averse to parley,’ the commentators are agreed, that it must here, where it is connected with ‘speak,’ mean ‘provoking parley:’ following Theobald’s application of the verb. ‘Live you, or are you ought That man may question.’ [Mac. 3.1 [sic: 1.3.43 (142)] Macb. And he [Hamlet] had said before, [444-5] ‘If it assume my noble father’s person, I’ll speak to it.’”

BWK: (where did he find THEO?)

1821 v1821

v1821= v1813

628 questionable]

1826 sing1

sing1 ≈ theo1 without attribution; ≈ cald1

628 questionable] Singer (ed. 1726): “Questionable must not be understood in its present acceptation of doubtful, but as conversable, inviting question or conversation; this was the most prevalent meaning of the word in Shakspeare’s time.”

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1 including Mac. error

628 questionable]

1833 valpy

valpy ≈ sing1 without attribution

628 questionable] Valpy (ed. 1833): “Conversable.”

1839 knt1

knt1 ≈ theo without attribution + in magenta underlined

628 questionable] Knight (ed. 1839): “The general interpretation is doubtful. In the first scene where the Ghost appears, Marcellus says, ‘Question it.’ The questionable shape is a shape capable of being questioned.”

1853 Clarke

Clarke

628 questionable] Clarke (1853): Only one appearance in Sh.

1854 del2

del2: standard

628 questionable] Delius (ed. 1854): “questionable ist Jemand, mit dem sich sprechen (question) lässt. So fordert die Gestalt, in der der Geist erscheint, von selbst dazu auf, ihn anzureden.” [Questionable is anyone with whom one may speak. So the shape in which the ghost appears makes the demand himself that he be spoken to.]

1856 hud1

hud1: standard

628 questionable] Hudson (ed. 1856): “That is, a shape to be questioned or talked with, a shape inviting conversation. Such was the more common meaning of questionable in the Poet’s time. H”

1856 sing2

sing2 = sing1

628 questionable]

1865 hal

hal = cald2 including the Mac. error

628 questionable]

1866 cam1

cam1

628 questionable] Clark & Wright (ed. 1866): “unquestionable Becket conj.”

1868 c&mc

c&mc: standard; AYL // without attribution +

628 questionable] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868): “‘A shape inviting question or inquiry.’ The word ‘questionable’ is here used to express ‘conversable,’ and not, as more usually, ‘doubtful.’”

1870 rug1

rug1

628 questionable] Moberly (ed. 1870): “a shape that forces me to question thee.”

1872 cln1

cln1 ≈ cald2, Mac., AYL // without attribution

628 questionable] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “inviting question, or conversation. Compare Macbeth, 1.3.43 [142]: ‘Live you? or are you aught That man may question?’”

1872 del4

del4 = del2 +

628 questionable] Delius (ed. 1872): “Vgl. A.1.Sc.1. Anm.19.” [See [58] n. 19.]

1872 hud2

hud2 ≈ hud1 (minus 2nd sentence); mal on noun without attribution

628 questionable] Hudson (ed. 1872): “A ‘questionable shape’ is a shape that may be questioned, or conversed with. In like manner the Poet often uses question for conversation.”

1873 rug2

rug2 = rug1

628 questionable]

1877 v1877

v1877: theo1, cald

628 questionable] Furness (ed. 1877) paraphrases: “Theobald: that is, to be conversed with, inviting question, as in [Mac. 1.3. 42 (141)]. Caldecott: ‘So dreadful, that I will at least make inquiry to obtain a solution.’”

1881 hud3

hud3 = hud2

628 questionable]

1883 wh2

wh2 ≈ theo without attribution

628 questionable] White (ed. 1883): “to be questioned.”

1885 macd

macd: standard

628 questionable

macd

628 shape] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “—that of his father, so moving him to question it.”

1885 mull

mull : standard

628 questionable] Mull (ed. 1885): “encourages questioning.”

1890 irv2

irv2 ≈ macd without attribution

628 questionable shape] Symons (ed. 1890): “i.e. shape inviting question.”

1891 oxf1

oxf1: standard

628 questionable] Craig (ed. 1891, Glossary): “adj. inviting converse, Ham. 1.4.43 [628].”

1895 cam2

cam2 = cam1

628 questionable] Wright (ed. 1895): “unquestionable Becket conj.”

1899 ard1

ard1: standard

628 questionable] Dowden (ed. 1899): “inviting question. In [AYL 3.2.394 (1559)], ‘unquestionable,’ averse to conversation, occurs.”

1913 Trench

Trench

628-36 Thou com’st . . . vp againe?] Trench (1913, p. 70): Having immediately thought of the apparition as something dangerous [624], Hamlet then considers that “it looks more like a body than a soul, and is to be addressed as a ’corpse’ come out of the ’ponderous’ tomb rather than as a disembodied spirit.”

1929 trav

trav

628 shape] Travers (ed. 1929), “one may note, still means costume, in the technical language of the stage, and was then applied to the whole make up.”

1934 rid1

rid1

628 questionable] Ridley (ed. 1934, Glossary): “demanding question”

1938 parc

parc

628 questionable] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938): “inviting question.”

1939 kit2

kit2 ≈ macd without attribution

628 questionable shape] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “a shape (that of my father) which prompts me to question thee.”

1942 r&h

r&h: standard

628 questionable] Nelson & Hill (ed. 1942): “inviting talk.”

1947 cln2

cln2: standard

628 questionable] Rylands (ed. 1947): "a form that can be spoken to."

1954 sis

sis ≈ standard

628 questionable] Sisson (ed. 1954, Glossary): “inviting question.”

1962 fan

fan: standard

628 questionable] Fanego (ed. 1962): “propicia a la conversación.”

1974 evns

evns: standard

628 questionable]

1980 pen2

pen2 ≈ kit2 without attribution

628 questionable shape] spencer (ed. 1980): “inviting interrogation by me (since you appear like my father)”

1982 ard2

ard2: standard + in magenta underlined

628 questionable] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “which invites questioning. Cf. 58. Not ‘dubious,’ which the spirit may be but the shape is not. Cf. Mac.[1.3.43 (142)] ‘Are you aught That man may question?’ ”

ard2

628 shape] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “the bodily form which a spirit assumes. Cf. 444.

1984 chal

chal: standard

628 questionable] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “inviting question.”

1985 cam4

cam4

628 questionable shape] Edwards (ed. 1985): "’shape’ means the external dress or guise [see Glossary to Massinger, ed. Edwards and Gibson, vol. v]. Whatever the ghost may be essentially, its external appearance is of a being who can be questioned."

1985 cam4

cam4 ≈ pen2 without attribution

628 questionable shape] Edwards (ed. 1985): “ ‘shape’ means the external dress or guise (see Glossary to Massinger, ed. Edwards and Gibson [v. 5]. Whatever the ghost may be essentially, its external appearance is of a being who can be questioned.”

1987 oxf4

oxf4: standard

628 questionable shape] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “form inviting questions (OED questionable 1a), not used elsewhere in Shakespeare.”

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

628 questionable] Bevington (ed. 1988): “inviting question.”

1989 guil

guil: standard +

628 questionable] Andrews (ed. 1989): “The preceding phrases prepare us to interpret Questionable here as ‘ambiguous’; but Hamlet appears to mean ‘to be questioned’ in a more positive sense. Rather than ‘try the spirit’ as Horatio has done in [62], Hamlet simply assumes that it is his Father’s ghost and proceeds to query it on that basis.”

1992 fol

fol: standard

628 questionable] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “problematic.”

1996 OED skeletal entry

OED

628 questionable] OED questionable (kwstjnb()l), a. [f. QUESTION v. + -ABLE.] 1. a. Of a person: That may be interrogated; of whom questions may be asked. . . . (1590) [includes Ham ref. here.] 2. Of persons or acts: Liable to be called to account or dealt with judicially. Obs. (1639) 3. Of things, facts, etc.: That may be questioned or called in question (rarely const. by); open to question or dispute; doubtful, uncertain. Freq. in phr. it is questionable (whether, if, etc.). (1607)b. Of doubtful or obscure meaning. rare. (1742) c. of qualities, properties, etc.: About the existence or presence of which there may be question. (1796) d. Of doubtful nature, character, or quality; dubious in respect of goodness, respectability, etc. (1806)

2005 ShSt

Zimmerman

628 Zimmerman (2005, p. 106): “When Hamlet first sees the `questionable shape,’ he wants to believe that it signifies an invincible, avenging power that defies the dictates of nature, but he soon becomes aware that the ghost is his dependent, that the ghost’s exhortation creates a symbiotic relationship in which the son as avenger must prove the father’s invincibility. These reciprocal claims are threatening, forbidden, unknowable: if the animated warrior king belongs to the Prince, so also does the corpse within the armor, the ’no/thing’ behind the mask.”

2005 Shakespeare. Journal of the British Shakespeare Association

Holderness

628 questionable shape] Holderness (2005, p. 163 ): “It is a questionable shape’ [628] in that it seems to invite (’would be spoke to’ [57]) and yet eludes question. It is the ’question of these wars’ . . . [124+4], yet the soldiers still find its apparition ’questionable’ [628]. It is an ’illusion" which yet prompts a paradoxical request for it to ’stay’ [TLN 65, 136]. It defines itself, yet evades definition”

With references to Holderness, Graham, and Brian Loughrey, Hamlet. [edition] London: Longman, 1990. 1.1.124 [124+4]; Holderness, Graham. Shakespeare: The Histories. London: MacMIllan, 2000. 61-2; and Barker, Frances. The Culture of Violence: Essays on Tragedy and History. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1993. 83-5.

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: standard; //; Mahood

628 questionable] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “inviting questions; see the opposite in AYL where Rosalind denies that Orlando has ’an unquestionable spirit’ (3.2.365-6). Editors point out that questionable was not used to mean ’uncertain’ or ’baffling’ until the eighteenth century, but it is difficult for a modern audience or reader not to take it in this sense and Mahood identifies questionable as a pun here (Wordplay, 123).”