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.”

7. Further information: See the Introduction for explanations of other abbreviations. Click here for more information about browsing the entries and here for more information about the special symbols used in Hamletworks. Click the question mark icon above to remove this help message.

1784 Davies

Davies

1336 What say you] Davies (1784, p. 97): “in the second act . . . one of them, instead of answering a question directly, says to the other, What say you? which is as much as to say, ‘Shall I speak the truth, or tell a lie.’ ”

FNC: See also2219-20.

1882 elze

elze

1336 What say you] Elze (ed. 1882): “In QA these words are given to Guyldensterne, whereas the confession My lord, we were sent for is put in the mouth of Rosencrans. This distribution of the speeches seems indeed to be well adapted to the characters of the speakers, Rosencrans acting generally as the spokesman and Guyldensterne merely as his subordinate companion, not to say his attendant (see § 164). Least of all does Guyldensterne seem to be sufficiently important to be appealed to by Rosencrans for a decisive vote, and Rosencrans, on the other hand, is nowhere at a loss what to say. A similar relation as that which subsists between Rosencrans and Guyldensterne is assigned to Marcellus and Bernardo, and to the two ambassadors Voltimand and Cornelius by the poet. The only time that Guyldensterne ventures on an independent discourse, is in § 132, and then he asks for express permission to speak, and shows himself so little equal to the task, that Rosencrans has to come to his aid and replace him.”

1885 macd

macd

1336 What say you] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “—to Guildenstern.”