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Line 980 - 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.

980 To speake of horrors, he comes before me.	2.1.81

1867 Keightley

Keightley

980 comes] Keightley (1867, p. 289): “The addition of in, besides improving the metre, adds greatly to the force and vivacity of the passage.”

1870 Abbott

Abbott

980 he] Abbott (§ 242): “Insertion of Pronoun. When a proper name is separated by an intervening clause from its verb, then for clearmess (see § 248) the redundant pronoun is often inserted. . . .”

Abbott

980 Abbott (§ 478): “Er final seems to have been sometimes pronounced with a kind of ‘burr,’ which produced the effect of an additional syllable; just as ‘Sirrah’ is another and more vehement form of ‘Sir.’ Perhaps this may explain the following lines, some of which may be explained by 505-10, but not all: . . . [quotes 980] . . . .”

1872 cln1

cln1 : Abbott § 242

980 he]

1877 v1877

v1877: ktly, Abbott § 478 +

980 Furness (ed. 1877): Keightley completed the rhythm of this line by the insertiom of in after ‘comes.’ Abbott § 478, makes the second syllable of ‘horrors’ a foot by itself on the principle that ’er [or or] final seems to have been sometimes pronounced with a kind of ‘burr,’ which produced the effect of an additional syllable.’ A process which neither my tongue nor my imagination can compass. Why not let Ophelia’s strong emotion shudderingly fill up the gap?”

1929 trav

trav

980 he] Travers (ed. 1929): “the grammar of emphatic clearness.” He also says that the pause before and the emphasis on he make up for the syllable “that mechanical scansion would find missing.“

1939 kit2

kit2 contra Furness and by implication contra trav without attribution

979 horrors] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "The line appears to lack a syllable in the middle, but this was supplied by trilling the last r in horrors. ’Why not let Ophelia’s strong emotion shudderingly fill up the gap?’ This confounds sentiment with metre. It might perhaps be maintined that the verse is left incomplete in order, by a kind of discord, to produce the effect of strong emotion; but it has yet to be shown that shudders can count for metrical feet.

1982 ard2

ard2: Bright

980 horrors]] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “The melancholic was thought liable to suffer from terrifying delusions of ’goblins’ and other ’shapes’. See Bright, pp. 103-4. What ’horrors’ are in Hamlet’s mind are necessarily unknown to Ophelia but can be surmised by the audience, who have seen him with the Ghost.”

1993 Lupton&Reinhard

Lupton&Reinhard

979 Lupton & Reinhard (1993, p. 99): See their n. 51. They consider Ophelia’s reported appearance of Hamlet to be one of the Senecan moments in the play.

1996 Bongiorno

Bongiorno

980 he comes before me] Bongiorno (1996, p. 32) In these words, “we have the third person singular pronoun ‘he’ followed by ‘comes.’ In only three other instances prior to Hamlet’s entrance into Ophelia’s room do we have a third person singular pronoun followed by the word ‘comes’ in a situation charged with terror, and each of them is a reference to the dreadful coming of the Ghost. . . . The identity between the King’s ghost and his son established, first, by the grammatical similitude intrinsic to their frightening entrances, and, second, by the congruence of their [pale demeanor and pitiable aspect] tells us that Hamlet comes [to Ophelia]—not because he is pretending to be mad, or because he is the victim of a mental disorder, but because, as in the case of the ghost of his father, he is driven by a need to find someone compassionate, as Ophelia tells us, unknowingly, ‘to speak of horrors.’ Unfortunately, seeing how terrified Ophelia is, Hamlet recognizes immediately that she cannot be trusted to share his secret, as she herself proves by her immediate flight to Polonius to tell all that had just occurred.”