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Line 918 - Commentary Note (CN) More Information

Notes for lines 0-1017 ed. Bernice W. Kliman
For explanation of sigla, such as jen, see the editions bib.
918 Quarrelling, drabbing, you may goe so far.2.1.26
918 922 952
1773- mstv1
mstv1
918 drabbing] Steevens (1773-): “Drabbing, following drabs, or common women.”
1774 capn
capn
918 drabbing] Capell (1774, 1:1:129) distinguishes between incontinency in 922 and drabbing in 918: “By being “open to incontinency” is meant—pursuing a constant course of debauchery; a very different affair from lapsing now and then into “drabbing, ” and therefore “another scandal,” or scandal of another kind.”
1854 del2
del2 see n. 952
918 Quarrelling]
1929 trav
trav
918 drabbing] Travers (ed. 1929): “consorting occasionally with drabs, low women of dissolute lives.”
trav
918 may season] Travers (ed. 1929): “are at liberty to season (= temper) . . . .”
1939 kit2
kit2: standard
918 drabbing] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "licentiousness."
1947 cln2
cln2
918 drabbing] Rylands (ed. 1947): "frequenting women."
1957 pel1
pel1: standard
918 drabbing] Farnham (ed. 1957): “whoring.”
1970 pel2
pel2: standard
918 drabbing] Farnham (ed. 1970): “whoring”
1980 pen2
pel2 = pel1
918 drabbing] Spencer (ed. 1980): “pursuing loose women.”
1982 ard2
ard2: standard
918 drabbing] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “whoring.”
1985 cam4
cam4: standard
918 drabbing] Edwards (ed. 1985): "going round with drabs, or loose women."
1987 oxf4
oxf4: OED
918 drabbing] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "whoring – not elsewhere in Shakespeare; earliest example in OED."
1988 bev2
bev2: standard
918 drabbing] Bevington (ed. 1988): “keeping company with loose women.”
1992 fol2
fol2
918 drabbing] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “dealing with prostitutes”
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2: //; analogue
918 Quarrelling] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “For satirical accounts of the elaborate codes of quarrelling practiced by young men of Shakespeare’s time, see Touchstone’s account of a quarrel ’upon the seventh cause’ (AYL 5.4.45-101) and Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist (1610), 3.3, where young Kastril arrives in London to learn how to quarrel.”

ard3q2
918 drabbing] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “patronizing prostitutes (drabs). Polonius’ assumption that this last accusation in particular will not harm his son’s reputation is in stark contrast to the attitude both he and Laertes have shown towards Ophelia’s honour in 1.3: an example of the ’double standard’ whereby men are granted a sexual licence denied to women.”
2009 Kliman
Kliman: contra ard3Q2; Branagh
918 drabbing] Kliman (2009): Rather than a general double standard, Sh. seems more likely to be underlining the particular double standard of both Polonius and Laertes, thus adding to the negative aspects of their characterization. Reynaldo guides the audience here (919). See Branagh’s Polonius with his drab in yhe 1996 film.
918