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Line 720 - 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.

720 That {rootes} <rots> it selfe in ease on Lethe wharffe,	1.5.33

1747 warb

warb

720 Lethe] Warburton (ed. 1747), claims that “Shakespear, apparently thro’ ignorance, makes Roman-Catholicks of these pagan Danes; and here gives a description of purgatory: But yet mixes it with the pagan fable of Lethe’s wharf. Whether [he] did it to insinuate, to the zealous Protestants of his time, that the pagan and popish purgatory stood both upon the same footing of credibility; or whether it was by the same kind of licentious inadvertence that Michael Angelo brought Charon’s bark into his picture of the last judgment, is not easy to decide.”

Ed. note: Warburton’s note is in 708

1773 v1773

v1773: warb + Otway

720 rootes] Steevens (ed. 1773): “The quarto reads—That roots itself. Otway has the same thought: ’—like a coarse and useless dunghill weed Fix’d to one spot, and rot just as I grow.” Steevens.

1778 v1778

v1778: v1773 +

720 rootes] Steevens (ed. 1778): “The superiority of the folio is to me apparent: to be in a crescent state (i.e. to root itself) affords the idea of activity; to rot better suits with the dullness and inaction to which the Ghost refers. Nevertheless, the accusative case (itself) may seem to demand the verb roots.” Steevens.

1790 v1790

v1790 = v1778 +

720 rootes] Malone (ed. 1790): “I have preferred the reading of the original copy, because to root itself is a natural and easy phrase, but to ’to rot itself,’ not English. Indeed in general the readings of the original copies, when not corrupt, ought in my opinion not to be departed from, without very strong reason. That roots itself in ease, means, whose sluggish root is idly extended.”

v1790: Cockain

720 Lethe wharffe] Malone (ed. 1790): “The modern editors read—Lethe’s wharf; but the reading of the old copy is right. So, in Sir Aston Cockain’s poems, 1658, p. 177: ’—fearing these great actions might die, Neglected cast all into Lethe lake. Malone. ”

1870 Abbott

Abbott § 22

720 Lethe] Abbott (§ 22): “The licence of converting one part of speech into another . . . . As still with us, any noun could be prefixed to another with the force of an adjective . . . . This licence, however, was sometimes used where we should prefer the genitive or an adjective. . . . .” See n. 599.

Ed. note: Though Abbott has no ref. to 720 in § 22, v1877 refers to this section here

1870 rug1

rug1

720 Lethe wharffe] Moberly (ed. 1870): “On the bank of Lethe. Thus the name Antwerp means the town on the bank (an t’ Werpen).”

1872 cln1

cln1

720 rootes] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “The folios have ‘rots,’ perhaps rightly. See [Ant. 1.4.47 (481)].”

cln1

720 Lethe wharffe] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “Lethe occurs in [2H4 3.1.143 (2957)]: ‘May this be wash’d in Lethe and forgotten.’”

Ed. note: cln1 has a xref to 599 re the omission of apostrophe in moment leisure

1873 rug2

rug2 = rug1

720 Lethe wharffe]

1877 v1877

v1877: capn, Steevens (quoted in dyce1) on B&F analogue; Ant., knight(on Whiter), wh1 (more on // Ant), stau last clause.

720 rootes]

v1877: Abbott §22, xref. 599, Koch, ii, § 169; Mätzner, iii, 158

720 Lethe] Furness (ed. 1877): “For instances of the conversion of one part of speech into another, especially in the case of rivers, see Abbott, § 22. [[See ‘moment’s leisure (599].]] For the omission of the article before the names of rivers, see Koch, ii, § 169; Mätzner, iii, 158.”

1880 Tanger

Tanger

720 rootes] Tanger (1880, p. 125) F1 variant “probably owing to the negligence, inattention, or criticism of the compositor.” The Q1 reading “confirms, or at least countenances, [the Q2] reading.”

1881 hud3

hud3 : standard ref. to Lethe and Charon

720 Lethe wharffe]

1883 wh2

wh2 ≈ rug2 without attribution + in magenta underlined

720 Lethe wharffe] White (ed. 1883): “the banks of Lethe, the river of oblivion.”

1884 Gould

Gould

720 Gould (1884, p. 62): “‘The fat weed that rootes it selfe in ease [oase, ooze] on Lethe wharffe’ [720].—The reading of the four quartos. It seems to be the lotus plant that alluded to, of which there is a description in the ninth book of the Odyssey showing it to have effects closely resembling those hinted at by the Ghost, and would suggest Lethe as a suitable place for its growth.”

1885 mull

mull = cln1 (minus Ant.)

720 rootes]

1885 macd

macd ≈ wh2 + in magenta underlined

720 Lethe wharffe] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “landing-place on the bank of Lethe, the hell-river of oblivion.”

1888 Mull

Mull

720 Mull (1888, pp. 1-2): <p. 1>, after commenting that the variants suggest corruption, “The right word is no doubt roats; [meaning] rank or unwholesome. Trench (“On some Deficiencies in our English Dictionaries,” p. 16): ‘Roating, an epithet applied to grass and signifying coarse and rank. Pilkington uses it: “The good shepherd will not let his sheep feed on hurtful and roating pastures, but will remove them to good feeding grounds.”’

“In [Cor. 3.2.55 (2130)], roated is found in all the folios; but some editors, not seeing its meaning, have changed it to roted, another word entirely, others to rooted, and so have done gross and ridiculous violence to the sense. Volumnia and others are urging Coriolanus to play the hypocrite to the people—to make ‘his tongue belie his heart,’ as he says; and on his protesting, Volumnia still audaciously presses this course: </p. 1> <p. 2> [quotes 3.2.52 (2151, with roated 2154) ff]. The meaning obviously conveyed here us rank, unwholesome, which well befots what is sougt by Volumnia. Supported, then, by this illustration, and its exact applicability to the reading, ‘That roats itself in ease.’ See [H8 5.1.52 (2831-32)], ‘He’s a rank weed, And (= therefore) we must root him out.’ which illustrates the text above.” </p. 2>

1924 vand

vand

720 Van Dam (1924, p. 137): Nothing can rot itself. Sh means “the large fungus (Polyporus) growing on decaying wood, on the wood of the wharf where Shakespeare imagined Charon’s boat to arrive and to start, There does not exist a more appropriate and more brilliant image of dullness than the vegetating life of a fungus on the decaying wharf of the river of oblivion.”

1929 trav

trav: standard

720 rootes] Travers (ed. 1929): “contrasts with the idea of ‘stirring’ in the next line.”

trav ≈ rug2 +

720 Lethe wharffe] Travers (ed. 1929) quotes a gloss to Spenser’s Shephers Calendar, 1579: “a lake in Hell, which the Poets call the lake of forgetfulness. For Lethe signifieth forgetfulness.”

1934 Wilson

Wilson MSH

720 rootes] Wilson (1934, p. 282) says that Q1 and most eds. accept Q2. He also notes that Greg thought rots might be a Shn revision, but Wilson thinks the parallel use rot in Ant. is decisive. “Obviously the rotting of weeds on the Avon or Bankside had taken Shakespeare’s eye. The reading ‘rootes’ we have already (vol. 1, p. 161) ascribed to the Q1 reporter.”

1938 parc

parc

720 wharffe] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938): “bank.”

1939 kit2

kit2: gloss; Ant. // = cln1 without attribution; + analogues

720 rootes] Kittredge (ed. 1939), arguing for F1 rots: "The very existence of a slimy, water-weed seems to be decay; it thrives in corruption and ’rots itself’ through its lazy, stagnant life. Cf. [ Ant. . . . ]." Otway [1652-85], The Orphan, i, 2, 24-26: ’I would be busy in the world, and learn, Not like a coarse and useless dunghill weed, Fixt to one spot, and rot just as I grow’; Shelley [1792-1822], The Sensitive Plant, iii, 94: ’the weeds which were forms of living death.’ "

kit2: standard gloss; 2H4 // as in cln1, without attribution; + analogue

720 Lethe] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "the river of oblivion, one draught of which makes the departed spirit forget his life in this world. Cf. [2H4. . . ]; Drayton [1563-1631], Queen Isabel to Mortimer: ’Those black weeds on Lethe banks below.’ "

1957 pel1

pel1: standard

720 Lethe] Farnham (ed. 1957): “the river in Hades which brings forgetfulness of past life to a spirit who drinks of it.”

1957 pen1b

pen1b: standard

720 Lethe] Harrison (ed. 1957): “the river of forgetfulness in the underworld.”

1970 pel2

pel2 = pel1

720 Lethe] Farnham (ed. 1970): “the river in Hades which brings forgetfulness of past life to a spirit who drinks of it”

1980 pen2

pen2: F1

720 rootes] Spencer (ed. 1980): “F reads ’rots’, which perhaps gives a more expressive meaning and is supported by [Ant., 1.4.45-7].”

1985 cam4

cam4

720 Lethe] Edwards (ed. 1985): "A river in Hades. The spirits of the dead, waiting to cross, drank its waters and so became oblivious of their previous existence."

1987 oxf4

oxf4

720 rootes] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "This Q2 reading is preferred to F’s rots because it offers a strong antithesis to stir (l. 34), and it fits in perfectly with the other instances of ‘things rank and gross in nature’ which are so frequent in the play."

oxf4: OED

720 Lethe wharffe] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "banks of the Lethe (the river of forgetfulness in the classical underworld). This sense of wharf, found again in [Ant. [2.2.213 (926)], appears to be peculiar to Shakespeare (OED sb.1 2c)."

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

720 Lethe] Bevington (ed. 1988): “the river of forgetfulness in Hades.”

bev2: standard

720 wharffe] Bevington (ed. 1988): “bank.”

1992 fol2

fol2: standard

720 Lethe wharffe] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “bank of the river Lethe (the river of forgetfulness)”

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: oxf4

720 rootes] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “Q2’s reading (supported by Q1) suggests moral inactivity (’not stirring’) whereas F’s ’rots’ which suggests moral decay. Hibbard, unusually, adopts roots, because it ’offers a strong antithesis to stir [721], and it fits perfectly with the other instances of "things rank and gross in nature" which are so frequent in the play.’”

ard3q2: standard; //

720 Lethe wharffe] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “the banks of the river Lethe, a river in the classical underworld from whose name we derive ’lethargic’; drinking its water induced forgetfulness and drowsiness. The wharf suggests a suppressed reference to Charon, who ferried souls across Lethe; the afterlife evoked here combines pagan and Christian elements, as does that evoked in Clarence’s dream in R3 1.4.”