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Line 2143 - 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 2023-2950 ed. Frank N. Clary

For explanation of sigla, such as jen, see the editions bib.

2143 Ham. Why let the strooken Deere goe weepe,	3.2.271

1773 gent1

gent1

2143-6 Why let . . . away] Gentleman (ed. 1773): “We think Hamlet’s expression, upon the full conviction of his uncle, much too light and inadequate.”

1793 v1793

v1793: AYL //

2143 strooken] Steevens (ed. 1793): “See Vol. VI. p. 40. n. 6. AYL [2.1.46-7 (654-5)]. STEEVENS."

1803 v1803

v1803 =v1793

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

1817 Hazlitt

Hazlitt

2143-6 Hazlitt (1817, p. 128-9): <p.128> “If we are eagerly interested in any pursuit, whether of an end, or of a mean by which some end may be accomplished, our success is ever attended with joy, even when the end we are pursuing is in itself a foundation of sorrow. It fre- </p.128><p.129> quently happens too, if anger or resentment have taken possession of the soul, and have excited a desire of vengeance; and if there is yet some uncertainty concerning the reality or grossness of the injury we have received, that, till reflection operates, we are better pleased to have our suspicions confirmed, and our resentment gratified, than to be convicted of an error, and so be delivered from a painful passion. Hamlet, pleased with the success of his project, though its issue justified his resentment, discovers gaiety, the natural expression and sign of joy. [cites 3.2.271-4 (2143-6)].” </p.129>

1819 cald1

cald1 = v1813

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1813

1826 sing1

sing1 = v1821

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1

1843 Macdonell

Macdonell

2143-50 Macdonell (1843, p. 37): “If, in any part of the drama, a suspicion could with plausibility be entertained, with regard to the young Prince’s intellect, it is, perhaps, in this scene, where the ebullition of feeling in Hamlet’s mind is certainly of an extravagant nature; his scheme which we sometimes see in his disposition, he says to Horatio— [quotes “Would . . . players?”].

“The recital also of two disjointed verses of doggerel poetry, is of the same character; this waywardness of thought, however, is purely transient, having its origin from a temporary excitement, produced by the success of his plan; Hamlet was now convinced of the real purpose for which the ghost of his father had left the mansions of the dead, and Horatio participating in his feelings, should remove all idea, that the poet intended, under this hallucination of the moment, to represent the Prince as labouring under the state of actual insanity.”

1854 del2

del2

2143-6 Why . . . away] Delius (ed. 1854): “Verse, die Hamlet theils citirt, theils modificirt, um sie der Anspielung, die er damit auf dem König beabsichtiget, anzunähern.” [Verses that Hamlet in part quotes, in part modifies to bring them nearer to his intended allusion to the king.]

1856b sing2

sing2 = sing1

1857 dyce1

dyce1

2143 Why . . . weepe] Dyce (ed. 1857): “A quotation probably.”

1861 wh1

wh1 ≈ dyce1

2143 Why . . . weepe] White (ed. 1861): “This stave is probably quoted from some ballad now lost.”

1866a dyce2

dyce2 ≈ dyce1

2143 Why . . . weepe] Dyce (ed. 1866): “In all probability a quotation from some ballad.”

1868 c&mc

c&mc: xref.

2143 let . . . weepe] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868, rpt. 1878): “An allusion to the tears that deer were supposed to shed when killed by hunters. See Note 8, Act 2, AYL [654-55].”

1870 Miles

Miles

2143-6 Miles (1870, p. 49): “After the signal triumph of this scheme [to catch the conscience of the king], after this conclusive confirmation of the ghostly tale, Hamlet abandons himself to the capricious impulse of the moment, as a strong swimmer abandons himself to a current, only to breast it with recovered power. Whatever is uppermost in his mind . . . . Half remembered fragments of verse, whether applicable or not; tumultuous raillery, in which Horatio is swept along, like a leaf in a whirlwind; swift serious questions; sharp yearnings for music; are all blended together, with unparalleled power and truth.”

1870 rug1

rug1

2143 the strooken Deere] Moberly (ed. 1870): “That is, the arrow has struck the king in the vitals; and it is our turn to be happy now.”

1872 del4

del4 ≈ del2

1872 cln1

cln1 ≈ sing

2143 Why . . . weepe] Clark and Wright (ed. 1872): “Compare ayl [2.1.46-7 (654-5)], &c.”

1873 rug2

rug2=rug1 +

2143 the strooken Deere] Moberley (ed. 1873): “Accordingly Hamlet bursts into the wildest spirits at the success of his stratagem.”

1875 Marshall

Marshall

2143-6 Why . . . away] Marshall (1875, p. 44): “Any license may be allowed to the actor; exulting in the success of his scheme, Hamlet gives way to an excitement almost hysterical. His satirical humour shows itself in the midst of this exultation, in fact he uses it here, as in many other instances, partly as a veil to conceal the depth of his feeling.”

1877 v1877

v1877 = dyce2 for Why . . . away (2143-2146)

v1877 = v1793 for weepe (2143)

1877 dyce3

dyce3 = dyce2

1878 rlf1

rlf1 ≈ dyce + magenta underlined

2143 Rolfe (ed. 1878):“See JC p. 146 or Abbott 344. The stanza is probably a quotation from some ballad (D.).”

1882 elze2

elze2: Plutarch, Marston, Spenser, Greene analogues

2143 strooken] Elze (ed. 1882): “Compare North’s Plutarch (1595) p. 765: striken. Marston, The Malcontent, 4.5 (Works, ed. Halliwell, II, 271): wonder-stricken. Faerie Queene, I, 2, 24: the striken hind; ib., II, I, 12: The stricken Deare doth chalenge by the bleeding wound. Greene, Dorastus and Fawnia (Shakespeare’s Library, ed. Hazlitt, I, iv, 65): Porrus was stricken into a dump at these newes.”

1885 macd

macd

2143 Ham.] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “singing—that he may hide his agitation, restrain himself, and be regarded as careless-mad, until all are safely gone.”

1889 Barnett

Barnett ≈ cln1; ≈ rug1

2143 strooken Deere] Barnett (1889, p. 49): “Compare the weeping deer of Jaques in AYL [2.1.46-7 (654-5)]; the king is the stricken deer.”

1891 dtn

dtn

2143-4 Why . . .play] Deighton (ed. 1891): “i.e. some must suffer while others meet with no harm; and so almost an equivalent to the next line.”

1899 ard1

ard1 = dyce2

2143-6 Why . . . away] Dowden (ed. 1899): “Dyce: ‘In all probability a quotation from some ballad.”

1903 rlf3

rlf3 ≈ rlf1 minus dyce attribution, Abbott, JC //

1929 trav

trav: xrefs.

2143 Travers (ed. 1929): “Hamlet finds humorous vent for tumultuously grim exultation in singing snatches of ballads (cp. [2.2.393 (1441)] ff), perhaps, in the case of [2.2.267-9 (1314-6)], improvised (cp. [5.1.213-6 (3400-3)]) or adapted, at least, to the present circumstances.”

trav

2143 strooken] Travers (ed. 1929): “was often used of game wounded; and “stricken deer” in particular was a current phrase.”

1931 crg1

crg1 ≈ cln1 (incl. AYL //) without attribution

2143-6 Why . . . away] Craig (ed. 1931): “probably from an old ballad, with allusion to the popular belief that a wounded deer retires to weep and die. ayl [2.1.46-7 (654-5)].”

1934 cam3

cam3: standard

2143-6 Why...world away] Wilson (ed. 1934): “Prob. a stanza from some ballad, now lost.”

1939 kit2

kit2: xref.

2143-4 strooken . . . vngauled] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “Hamlet repeats the idea already expressed in [3.2.243 (2110)].”

1947 cln2

cln2

2143-6 Rylands (ed. 1947): “As the procession hastens out in confusion Hamlet leaps on to the players’ stage and himself utters an epilogue.”

1947 yal2

yal2 ≈ crg1

2143 Deere goe weepe] Cross & Brooke (ed. 1947): “It was a popular belief that the deer, when badly wounded, retires from the herd and goes apart to weep and die. See AYL [2.1.46-54 (654-62)].”

1953 Joseph

Joseph

2143-6 Why let . . . away] Joseph (1953, p. 90): “The verse is in the metre of Leander’s Complaint of his Restless Estate, in Petowe’s Hero and Leander’s Further Fortunes (1598):

The stricken deer stands not in awe

of black brim ireful death,

For he finds herbs that can withdraw

the shaft to save his breath [Sig. D].

Hamlet’s lines contain “in all probability a gibe at the wounded conscience of the King, who cannot cure himself by running away.” Joseph cites other allusions, in renaissance literature, to the stricken deer who cures himself.

1958 mun

mun: Sh. Music

2143-6 Munro (ed. 1958): “On the musical setting for these lines, see Sh. Music, 12.”

1974 evns1

evns1

2143 strooken] Evans (ed. 1974): “struck, i.e. wounded.”

1980 pen2

pen2: xref.

2143-5 Spencer (ed. 1980): “This and lines 290-93 [2153-56] are probably fragments of an old, lost ballad. Hamlet is contrasting those who are wounded in some way (the strucken deer) with those who are in a more fortunate position (The hart ungalled): that is, the King and himself.”

pen2 ≈ yal2

2143 the strooken Deere] Spencer (ed. 1980): “It was believed that a deer would shed tears when wounded to death (see AYL [2.1.46-54 (654-62)]).”

1982 ard2

ard2: contra dyce; Tilley, Arcadia analogues; AYL //; Uhlig; Peacham analogues

2143-4 Why . . . play] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “This repeats the sentiment of [2.1.46-54 (654-62)]. LN. It is often conjectured that in the verse about the strucken deer Hamlet is quoting a popular ballad (cf. [2.2.403-4 (1451-2)]); but the ballad had not been traced and the pointed relevance of these lines to the dramatic situation makes it perhaps more probable that they were modelled on a ballad than cited from one. (Cf. 275-8n. Deer were proverbially ‘stricken’ (Tilley D189) and it was a common belief that they wept when in distress (as they do, e.g., in Arcadia, ed. Feuillerat, p. 61; Polyolbion, XIII. 160-1) . Cf. AYL [2.1.46-7 (654-5)] ff.; and on ‘sobbing deer’ as a subject of moral disquisition, C. Uhlig in Renaiss. Drama, 1970, pp. 79-109. In one of Peacham’s emblems a wounded deer running about with the arrow in its side represents a man of guilty conscience, whose characteristic is to ‘seek his ease by shifting of his ground’ while neglecting the means which ‘might heal the sin’ rankling within (Minerva Britanna, 1612, p. 4).

ard2: Abbott

2143 strooken] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “A common, if irregular, form of the past pple. See Abbott 344.”

1987 oxf4

oxf4 ≈ ard2 (Tilley; AYL //) without attribution

2143 Why . . . weep] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “Compare ‘As the stricken deer withdraws himself to die’ (Tilley D189). Of the examples cited by Tilley, only this and the description of the wounded stag in AYL [2.1.46-54 (654-62)] refer to the deer’s weeping.”

1993 dent

dent: xrefs.

2143-44 Andrews (ed. 1993): “The Deer and Hart imagery recalls [2.2.583-5 (1624-6)]. See the note to [1.5.134 (826)].”

1997 evns2

evns2 = evns1

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: 2110 xref ; Dent, Rosenberg, Hapgood

2143-6 Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “These lines seem to be a stanza from an otherwise unknown ballad. The contrast between the stricken (wounded) deer and the ungalled (uninjured) hart continues the metaphor of the galled jade introduced by Hamlet at 236 [2110] and presumably reflects on the contrast between the guilty King and the innocent Prince. Dent cites ’As the stricken deer withdraws himself to die’ as proverbial (D189), so perhaps Hamlet is speculating optimistically on the consequences of the King’s departure. Actors of Hamlet are usually excited and exultant, sometimes manic and even hysterical, at this point, recalling his behaviour after the encounter with the Ghost in 1.5 (See Rosenberg; Hapgood).”