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Line 2374 - 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.

2374 Enter {Gertrard} <Queene> and Polonius.	..

1736 Stubbs

Stubbs

2374 Stubbs (1736, p. 33-4): “We are now come to a Scene which I have always much admired. I cannot think it possible, that such an incident could have been managed better, nor more conformably to Reason and Nature. The Prince, conscious of his own good Intentions, and the Justness of the Cause he undertakes to plead, speaks with that Force and </p.33><p.34> Assurance which Virtue always gives; and yet manages his Expressions so as not to treat his Mother in a disrespectful manner. What can be expressed with more Beauty and more Dignity, than the Difference between his Uncle and Father! The Contrast and the Description of them both, is exquisitely fine: And his inforcing the Heinousness of his Mother’s Crime with so much Vehemence, and her guilty half Confessions of her Wickedness, and at last her thorough Remorse, are all Strokes from the Hand of a great Master in the Imitation of Nature.”

1967 SQ

Smith: 2587 xref

2374 Smith (1967, p. 13): “All three of the original texts of Hamlet have the Queen remain on-stage at the end of the present day III.iv[TLN 2374], and two of the three -- the First Quarto and the Folio -- say nothing about her entering at the beginning of IV.i [TLN 2587]. . . I agree with those scholars who believe that she does not enter at the beginning of IV.i, and therefore did not depart at the end of III.iv; on the contrary, she remains continuously in her closet and the King joins her there; and to the other arguments in favor of this theory should be added Shakespeare’s demonstrated reluctance to let a character return to the stage after having immediately departed.”

1973 SQ

Barry

2374 Barry (1973, p. 126): “Hamlet, is, of course, an unusually long play which requires a structure of some complexity to give variety to the experience it provokes. One important element of this structure, I have suggested, is the ’deceptive cadence’ in which Shakespeare summons up our excitement then dashes it down in the false resolution of III.iv. The effect offers both the refreshment of the variety of the approach introduced and through this felt response a connection with the meaningful experience of beginnings and resolutions, accomplishments and failures in our lives.”

Barry

2404 Barry (1973, p. 124): “The sword thrust on this resounding line [3.4.23(TLN 2404, III.iv.24)] (drumming the repeated t, d, and at sounds) discharges the energy like a lightening flash. The thunder rumbles briefly as the true nature of the deed is discovered, and the terrified Gertrude is stunned to silence. All is accomplished in only thirty-three lines, and the scene, with almost two hundred more lines to run, is prepared now for an impassioned but no longer hysterical confrontation between mother and son, both of whom, at this point, have a serious stain of guilt.”

1974 ShQ

2374 Barry (1974, p. 126): “One important element of this structure, I have suggested, is the "deceptive cadence" in which Shakespeare summons up our excitement then dashes it down in the false resolution of III.iv. The effect offers both the refreshment of the variety of the approach introduced and through this felt response a connection with the meaningful experience of beginnings and resolutions, accomplishments and failures in our lives.”

1974 evns1

evns1

2374 Evans (ed. 1974): “Location: The Queen’s closet in the castle.”

1980 pen2

pen2 ≈ evns1

2374 Spencer (ed. 1980): “This scene takes place in Gertrude’s closet.”

1982 ard2

ard2: xrefs.

2374 Jenkins (ed. 1982): “In her closet: see [2201-2, 2302]. It is hard to know why producers nowadays put this scene—so incongruously—in the Queen’s bedroom.”

1984 SQ

Golden: 2350-70 xref

2374 Golden (1984, p. 153): “Indeed in III.iii.73-95 [TLN 2350-70, III.iii.73-96], when Hamlet has a chance to confront his enemy directly and heroically, he finds a reason not to carry out his father’s injunction for vengeance which is totally alien to the world-view of these heroes. And later, when Hamlet has his interview with his mother and hears the voice of Polonius [TLN 2374, III.iv], he acts without establishing the conditions of an heroic confrontation. He thus finds that he has killed the silly but harmless old counselor rather than his real enemy. This is quite different from the conscious search for direct confrontation that marks the careers of the heroes we have mentioned previously [Achilles, Hektor, Othello].”

1984 chal

chal

2374 Wilkes (ed. 1984): “Location: the Queen’s closet. In this scene and the next, the speech prefix ‘Queen’ is replaced by ‘Gertrude’, perhaps indicating that the queen is now in a more private role.”

1997 evns2

evns2 = evns1