HW Home	Previous CN	View CN	View TNM	View TNI	Next CN

Line 2277 - 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.”

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.

Notes for lines 2023-2950 ed. Frank N. Clary

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

2277 Hazerd so {neer’s} <dangerous> as doth hourely grow	3.3.6

1843 col1

col1

2277-8 neer’s . . . browes] Collier (ed. 1843): “dangerous . . . lunacies] “So the folio: the quartos, 1604, &c. have near us for ‘dangerous,’ and brows for ‘lunacies;’ but perhaps we ought to read lunes, which suits the verse: ‘near us’ may be right, as the king was about to send Hamlet to a distant kingdom. This part of the scene is wanting in the quarto, 1603.”

1857 fieb

fieb

2277 Hazerd . . . neer’s] Fiebig (ed. 1857): “Thus the quartos, conveniently to the expression he uses in the second line, to range. The folio reads—‘Hazard so dangerous.’”

1858 col3

col3 = col1 + magenta underlined

2277-8 neer’s . . . browes] Collier (ed. 1843): dangerous . . . lunacies] “So the folio: the quartos, 1604, &c. have near us for ‘dangerous,’ and brows for ‘lunacies;’ but perhaps we ought to read lunes, for ‘lunacies,’ which suits the verse, and is a favourite with Shakespeare: ‘near us’ may be right, as the king was about to send Hamlet to a distant kingdom. This part of the scene is wanting in the quarto, 1603.”

1869 tsch

tsch: Eszo

2277 Hazerd . . . neer’s] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “Die Lesart der F. wird von Eszo mit recht verworfen, weil sie einen unerträglichen Pleonasmus giebt, da Hazard (arab. zchar, zar, Würfel) für sich schon im Sinne von Gefahr zu nehmen ist, wie aus dem Folgenden ersichtlich.” [Eszo has been quite correct in rejecting the wording of the Folio because it creates an unacceptable pleonasm, since Hazard (Arabic achar, zar, dice) is already implied in the sense of danger, as evident in what follows.]

1889 Barnett

Barnett

2277 Hazerd] Barnett (1889, p. 50): “risk. Through the Span. azar from A.E. al zar. the die.”

1934 Wilson

Wilson: xref.

2277-8 Wilson (1934, rpt. 1963, 1:169-170): <1:169> “Here the similarity with the variants . . . is at first sight so striking that we are strongly tempted to assign the double change to the same cause. And yet, when we examine the readings more narrowly, it must be admitted that, though there is nothing wrong with ‘Lunacies’ as regards sense or metre, ‘dangerous’ does not really better ‘neer’s,’ as ‘tristfull’ might seem to better ‘heated” [3.4.50 (2433)]. On the contrary, ‘hazard so dangerous’ is, as I have noted above,”1 tautological, and altogether weaker than ‘hazard so neer’s,’ which conveys at once royal dignity and a sense of personal menace. In other words, the substitution is just the kind of inattentive alteration that we expect from Scribe C; I do not doubt that he is responsible for it, and </1:169><1:170> this being so, I have no difficulty in ascribing to the prompter the emendation ‘Lunacies,’ the meaning required being obvious from the context.” </1:170>

[<1:169> “1Vide, p. 9.: </1:169>]

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2 ≈ col3

2277 near us] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “F’s ’dangerous’ can hardly be a misreading; with ’lunacies’ in 2278 it provides a stronger reading.”