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.

1726 theon

theon

2119 Theobald (1726, pp. 89-90): <p.89> “Surely, this is the most uncomfortable Lesson that ever was preached to the poor Ladies: and I can’t help wishing, for our own sakes too, it mayn’t be true. ‘Tis too foul a Blot upon our Reputations, that every Husband that a Woman takes must be worse than her former. The Poet, I am pretty sure, intend- </p.89><p.90> ed no such Scandal upon the Sex. The Second and Fourth folio Editions, and the Quarto of 1637, read the latter Part of this Dialogue thus. ‘Ophel. Still better andworse. Ham. So you mistake Husbands.’ Mr. Pope, who very justly restores the true Reading there, takes no manner of Notice of the Various Reading in the last line but One: Tho’ if I understand the Poet’s Conceit at all, the whole Smartness of the Repartee depends upon it. I think, therefore, the entire Passage to stand thus. ‘Ophel. You are keen, my Lord, you are keen. Haml. I would cost You a Groaning to take off mine Edge. Ophel. Still better and worse. Haml. So you must take your Husbands.’ In short, Hamlet has been all along talking to the young Lady in double Entendre’s, or, rather, in a Strain of Freedom which scarce admits of that nice Distinction. She tells him once before, that he’s naught, and she’ll mark the Play. He still keeps up his Vein of Drollery, and throws in such plain Hints, that she is forced to parry them by an indirect Answer; and remarks, as I conceive, that his Wit is smarter, tho’ his Meaning is more blunt. This, I think, is the Sense of her—Still better and worse,—and then there is some Reason and Acuteness in Hamlet’s Answer, So you must take your Husbands. For he certainlyh alludes to the Words in the Church-Service of Matrimony, where the Husband and Wife promise alternately to take each other for Better, for Worse; for richer, for poorer, &c.” </p.90>

1733 Theo1

theo1 ≈ theon + magenta underlined

2119 Theobald (ed. 1733): “Still worse and worse.] Surely, this is the most uncomfortable Lesson, that ever was preach’d to the poor Ladies: and I can’t help wishing, for our own sakes too, it mayn’t be true. ‘Tis too foul a Blot upon our Reputations, that every Husband that a Woman takes must be worse than her former. The Poet, I am pretty certain, intended no such Scandal upon the Sex. But what a precious Collator of Copies is Mr. Pope!. All the old Quarto’s and Folio’s read:’Ophel. Still better and worse.”

1765- mDavies

mDavies

2119 [Davies] (ms. note in johnson, ed. 1765, opp. 8: 225):“ keener in your wit but more gross in your expression— ”

1773 v1773

v1773

2119 Steevens (ed. 1773}: “i.e. better in regard to the wit of your double entendre, but worse in respect of the grossness of your meaning. STEEVENS.”

1774 capn

capn

2119 CAPELL (1774, 1:1:137): “meaning that he improv’d in his wit, but was more naughty: but her manner of phrasing it being in the words of the marriage service, produces Hamlet’s reply,—”so you mis-take husbands” [3.2.252 (2120)]; i.e. So you take husbands, and take them amiss, make very wrong choice of them.”

1778 v1778

v1778 = v1773

1784 ays1

ays1 = v1773

1785 v1785

v1785 = v1778

1790 mal

mal = v1785

1793 v1793

v1793 = v1785

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

1819 cald1

cald1

2119 Still better and worse] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “More keen and less decorous.”

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1813

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1

1854 del2

del2

2119 Delius (ed. 1854): See n. 2120.

1854 Q[uincy]

Q[uincy]

2119 Q[uincy] (1854, p. 33): “To an equivocal remark of Hamlet’s, in the next scene, Ophelia is made to say, ‘still better, and worse.’ This is altered to ‘still worse and worse.’”

1867 Prowett

Prowett: contra cam1

2119-2120 Prowett (N&Q, 3rd series, XI, May 11, 1867, pp. 383-4): <p.384> “The Cambridge edition is so precious to English literature, that we are all interested in passing on it such criticisms as we may. I complain of its reading in Ham. 2119-20 [quotes lines].

“The quartos read—‘So you mistake your husbands’: the folios—‘So you mistake husbands.’ Surely one of these is right. Ophelia’s words remind Hamlet of the marriage formula: ‘I take thee for better for worse.’ And the play on the word exactly suits his cynical melancholy mood: ‘So you take husbands, and a grievous mistake it is’—he means to say.” </p.384>

1899 ard1

ard1 = cald1

1931 crg1

crg1 = cald1

1934 cam3

cam3 = cald2 +

2119 Wilson (ed. 1934): “There is probably a quibble on ‘bitter.’”

1939 kit2

kit2

2119 better and worse] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “keener as to wit, but worse as to meaning. Ophelia does not resent Hamlet’s indecency, since she thinks him mad.”

1942 n&h

n&h

2119 better and worse] Neilson & Hill (ed. 1942): “i.e., more pointed and less chaste.”

1958 fol1

fol1

2119 better and worse] Wright & LaMar (ed. 1958): “more witty and more offensive.”

1974 evns1

evns1 ≈ N&H

2119 better, and worse] Evans (ed. 1974): “i.e. more pointed and less decent.”

1980 pen2

pen2

2119 Still better] Spencer (ed. 1980): “your words are getting both more witty and more disgraceful.”

1982 ard2

ard2: TN //; Tilley

2119 better and worse] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “more keen, and more objectionable. The better the worse is what Diogenes reputedly said of dancers. Cf. TN [1.5.76-7 (368-9)], ‘the better fool’; Tilley B333.”

1984 chal

chal

2119 better and worse] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “i.e. keener, and more unseemly.”

1985 cam4

cam4

2119 Edwards (ed. 1985): “Ophelia refers to Hamlet’s continual ‘bettering’ of her meaning, i.e. ‘Always a “better” meaning with a more offensive slant’.”

1987 oxf4

oxf4 ≈ fol1; ≈ ard2 (Tilley)

2119 better and worse] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “ wittier, and more offensively obscene—another proverbial saying (Tilley B333).”

1988 bev2

bev2

2119 Still better and worse] Bevington (ed. 1988): “more keen, always bettering what other people say with witty wordplay, but at the same time more offensive.”

1992 fol2

fol2 = fol1

1993 dent

dent ≈ fol2

2119 Andrews (ed. 1993): "Yet wittier and naughtier.”

1997 evns2

evns2 = evns1

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: ≈ fol1; Theobald

2119 better and worse] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “wittier and more offensive; as Theobald puts it, ’his Wit is smarter, tho’ his Meaning is more blunt’ (Restored, 90).”