Notes for lines 2023-2950 ed. Frank N. Clary
| 2255-6 They foole me to the top of my bent, | I will come by & by, 2255 | |
|---|
1765 john1
john1: see 1051
2255 Johnson (ed. 1765): “They compel me to play the fool, till I can endure to do it no longer.”
john1: see [2.2.30 (1051)]
2255 bent] Johnson (ed. 1765): “The expression is derived from archery; the bow has its bent when it is drawn as far as it can be.”
BWK notes: “A note may be found in Ado [3.241 (1051)] (where the note will appear) and [4.3.45 (2706)].
1774 capn
capn
2258 Capell (1774, 1:1:138): to Hor.] “It will be seen by the regulation of the exits at the bottom of this page, what is the editor’s opinion concerning who the word ‘friends’ is address’d to, and, consequently, what the tone of pronouncing it should be.”
Explains expanded SD (2258)
1784 ays1
ays1=john1
2255 They . . . bent] Ayscouth (ed. 1784): “i. e. They compel me to play the fool, till I can endure it no longer.”
1790 mal
mal=v1785 +
2255 bent] Malone (ed. 1790): “See n. [2.2.30 (1051)] Malone.”
1791- rann
rann: ≈ john1 without attribution
2255 They . . . bent]: Rann (ed. 1791-): “They make me play the fool as far as I can bear.”
1793 v1793
v1793=v1785 +
2255 They . . . bent] Douce (apud ed. 1793): “Perhaps a term in archery; i.e. as far as the bow will admit being bent without breaking. Douce.”
Douce ≈ john1.
1805 Seymour
Seymour: Strutt
2255 They . . . bent] Strutt (apud Seymour 1805, p. 180): “They act the fool with me to the top of my inclination. Strutt.”
1815 Becket
Becket ≈ Seymour (Strutt) without attribution
2255 bent] Becket (1815, 1: 55): “‘Fool me to the top of my bent,’ must mean, humor, or fall in with all my inclinations.”
1818-19 mclr2
mclr2
2258-2270 Coleridge (ms. notes 1819 in
Ayscough, ed
. 1807; rpt.
Coleridge, 1998, 12.4:853-4): <p. 853>“The Utmost Hamlet arrives to, is a disposition, a mood, to do </p. 853><p. 854>
something.
What is still left undecided—while every word, he utters, tends to betray his disguise.”</p. 854>
Trascribed by HLA, who notes: “Jackson asserts that Coleridge intends his note to refer to lines beginning at TLN 2258 ‘By and by is easily said .’”
1819 cald1
cald1 ≈ john + magenta underlined
2255 bent] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “To the height; as far as they see me incline to go: an allusion to the utmost flexure of a bow.”
1826 sing1
sing1: xref.
2255 bent] Singer (ed. 1826): “See note on [2.2.30 (1051)].”
1854 del2
del2
2255 Delius (ed. 1854): “d. h. sie machen mich zum Narren, so viel ich will. Bent ist der Hang, die Neigung, der man sich hingiebt.” [i.e., they make a fool of me as much as I allow. Bent is the propensity, inclination, to which one is devoted.]
del2
2258 By and by is easily said] Delius (ed. 1854): “Er verdreht wieder den Sinn, den Polonius mit seinen Worten verbindet, indem er to say ganz wörtlich fasst: by and by ist kurz, also leicht gesagt.” [Again he changes the meaning of Polonius’ words by taking to say literally: by and by is a short phrase, therefore easily said.]
1857 fieb
fieb ≈ john
2255 top . . . bent] Fiebig (ed. 1857): “I.e. to the utmost stretch; or as Johnson explains this phrase, ‘they compel me to play the fool, till I can endure it no longer; perhaps by a term of archery, meaning, as far as the bow will admit of being bent without breaking.”
1865 Wellesley
Wellesley: Wilkins; xref.
2255 top of my bent]
Wellesley (1865, pp. 33-4): <p.33> “The
top of the bent was a phrase of the same kind [as “top of the question,”
1387], borrowed from those bows which were not bent by </p.33><p.34> hand but by
a rack. ‘These bows, being somewhat like the long bows in use amongst us, were bent only by a man’s immediate strength, without the help of any bender or
rack, but are used to others.’ (Wilkins’s ‘Mathematical Magick.’) Hamlet employs this metaphor [cites line].” </p.34>
1866b cam1
cam1
2255-2258 They foole . . . . said] Clark and Wright (ed. 1866): “In this passage we have followed the distribution of the Folios. In the Quartos it stands thus: ‘They foole me to the top of my bent, I will come by and by, Leaue me friends. I will, say so. By and by is easily said, ‘Tis now &.’
“In the Q6 the words ‘I will come . . . said’ are marked in inverted ommas to indicate that they were omitted by the actors. Pope following the arrangement of the Quartos, reading ‘I will say so’ with Q6.”
1869 tsch
tsch
2255 top of my bent] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “bis mir der Strang reisst, vom Bogenspannen. Die Worte they fool me etc. spricht H. in ähnlicher Weise für sich wie oben: those tedious old fools. Der Dichter zeigt damit, dass H. durchaus die Situation übersieht und dass er im Vollbesitz seiner Geisteskraft mit sorgfältiger Ueberlegung handelt.” [until my bow string breaks - from archery. The words they fool me etc. Hamlet says to himself as he does the phrase above: those tedious old fools. The poet is showing by this that Hamlet is supervising the situation and that in full possession of his mental capacities he is acting with careful consideration.]
1870 rug1
rug1
2255 to the top of my bent] Moberly (ed. 1870): “They are to indulge my extravagancies as much as I please.”
1872 hud2
hud2 ≈ cln1 + magenta underlined
2255 They . . . bent] Hudson (ed. 1872): “They humour me to the full height of my inclination. Polonius has been using the method, common in the treatment of crazy people, of assenting to all that Hamlet says. This is what Hamlet refers to.”
1872 del4
del4=del2 for 2255
1872 cln1
cln1: Cym. //
2255 top of my bent] Clark and Wright (ed. 1872): “to the height of my inclination. for ‘bent’ compare Cym. [1.1.13 (19)]: ‘Although they wear their faces to the bent Of the king’s looks.’”
1877 v1877
v1877=john; Wellesley (xrefs.)
2255 bent]
Furness (ed. 1877): “
Johnson: ‘Bent’ is used by Sh. for the utmost degree of any passion or mental quality. The expression is derived from archery; the bow has its
bent when it is drawn as far as it can be. [See
Wellesley, [2.2.340 (1387)]; also [2.2.30 (1051)].”
1882 elze
elze
2258 Leaue me friends] Elze (ed. 1882): “In Q2 these words follow after I will come by and by; om Q1.”
1885 macd
macd: xrefs.
2255 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “Hamlet’s cleveress in simulating madness is dwelt upon in the old story. See ‘Hystorie of Hamblet, prince of Denmarke.’” See [1.5.171-2 (867-8)], [3.2.90 (1946)], and [3.4.187-8 (2563-4)].”
1890 irv2
irv2: standard
2255 bent] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “tension, as of a bent bow.”
1897 Rushton
Rushton
2255 the top of my bent] Rushton (1897, p. 91): “I think Hamlet here alludes to the bow. ‘These tedious old fools’ had tried his patience to the utmost on more than one occasion, and quite as much as the bow is tried when it is drawn to the top of its bend; a further strain would cause the bow to break and Hamlet to lose his temper.”
1899 ard1
ard1 ≈ Elze
2258 Leaue me friends] Dowden (ed. 1899): “follows by and by [3.2.386 (2257)] in Q.”
1904 ver
ver: OED
2255 bent] Verity (ed. 1904): “The “extent to which a bow may be bent or a spring wound ¨π, degree of tension; hence degree of endurance, capacity for taking in or receiving; limit of capacity [as here], etc. Now only in the Shakespearian phrase: To the top of one’s bent, or the like’—New E. Dict. [OED]”
1905 rltr
rltr ≈ cln1
2255 bent] Chambers (ed. 1905): “inclination.”
1924 vand
vand
2255-2258 VanDam (1924, p. 77): <p.77> “Seemingly the words are said to Horatio, Rosencrans, and Guyldensterne. Neither in Q2 nor in F1 is the exit of any of these persons mentioned, but Q1 comes to our aid. Rosencrans and Guyldensterne leave the stage after [3.2.373 (2243)], after ‘God Blesse you sir,’ with which Hamlet takes leaves of Guyldensterne. Until now these parting words have always been misunderstood, and have been looked upon as words of welcome addressed by Hamlet to Polonius, but this view is at variance with Q2, with F1 and with Q1, hence with all the authoritative texts, for according to all these Polonius does not enter before Hamlet has said ‘God, blesse you.’ So, when ‘Leaue me friends’ should be said, Rosencrans and Guyldensterne, have already left the stage, and it is next to impossible that Hamlet should say ‘friends’ to Polonius and Horatio who, over and above, needed no pressing to take their leave. The difference in the placing in Q2 and in F1 points to the probability that the words were written
in margine of the manuscript. When there are words
in margine of the manuscript the printer is very likely to make mistakes at to the place they have to take among the other lines. this we see in the many cases in which there is a difference of one or two lines between the place of the stage direction in Q2 and in F1.” </p.77>
1931 crg1
crg1: standard
2255 top of my bent] Craig (ed. 1931): “limit of endurance, i.e., extent to which a bow may be bent.”
1934 cam3
cam3: john
2255 They foole . . . bent] Wilson (ed. 1934): “’They compel me to play the fool, till I can endure to do it no longer’ (Dr Johnson). Ham.’s nerves are giving out.”
1937 pen1
pen1 ≈ crg1
2255 top of my bent] Harrison (ed. 1937): “extreme limit – stretched to breaking point.”
1939 kit2
kit2
2255 Kittredge (ed. 1939): “Spoken aside, in self-congratulation on his success in playing the madman: ‘They indulge my folly—humour me in my supposed madness—as completely as I can wish.’”
kit2: standard
2255 bent] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “An idiom from archery.”
1942 n&h
n&h: standard
2255 They . . . bent] Neilson & Hill (ed. 1942): “they let me play the fool to the limit.”
1974 evns1
evns1 ≈ n&h
2255 They . . . bent] Evans (ed. 1974): “they make me play the fool to the limit of my ability.”
1980 pen2
pen2 ≈ crg1
2255 to the top of my bent] Spencer (ed. 1980): “till I can put up with it no longer (like a bow bent to the full).”
1982 ard2
ard2: xref.
2255 the top of my bent] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “the height of my capacity, the utmost limit I can go to. Cf. [2.2.30 (1051)].”
1984 chal
chal: xref.
2255-6 top of my bent] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “[2.2.30 (1051)].”
1985 cam4
cam4: Lr. //; xref.
2255 They . . . bent] Edwards (ed. 1985): “They tax to the uttermost capacity to play the madman. Hamlet feels the strain of keeping up his ‘madness’ with Polonius at this particular juncture, as Edgar did in keeping up the role of mad Tom in Lr. [4.1.52 (2225)], ‘I cannot daub it further.’ For ‘bent’, see note to [2.2.30 (1051)].”
1988 bev2
bev2
2255-6 foole me] Bevington (ed. 1988): “make me play the fool.”
1993 dent
dent: xrefs.; Mac. //
2255 foole . . . bent] Andrews (ed. 1993): “Toy with me. See the notes to [3.1.138, 146 (1793, 1801)]. To the limit of my ability to bear it patiently. Bent recalls [2.2.30 (1051)]. Like a fully taut crossbow, Hamlet is at the ‘Sticking Place’; he is ready to ’bend up / Each corporal Agent to [the] terrible Feat’ he feels compelled toward (Mac. [1.7.60, 79-80 (541, 563-4)]). Top echoes line [3.2.368 (2238)].”
2255 2256
