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Line 2402 - 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.

2402 {Helpe how} <Helpe, helpe, hoa>.	3.4.22

1882 elze2

elze2

2402 Helpe how] Elze [ed. 1882]: “What may have been Shakespeare’s spelling?”

1903 p&c

p&c

2402 Helpe] Porter & clarke (ed. 1903): “To make Polonius reveal the fact that some one is spying by calling aloud here is an admirably dramatic addition to the scene as given in the ‘Hystorie’ (for quotation of which see Sources, p. 157).”

1980 pen2

pen2: xref.

2402 Helpe how] Spencer (ed. 1980): “That Hamlet behaves in a way that genuinely frightens his mother is suggested by the absurd lines which the reporter of Q1 based on his memory of the action: ‘I first bespake him faire, But then he throwes and tosses me about, As one forgetting that I was his mother’ (to the King at [4.1.7 (2593)]).”

1984 klein

klein: contra Wilson

2402 Klein (ed. 1984): “Wilson (MSH, p.251) classes Q2 under "Omissions probable" and explains: The extra ’helpe’s [. . .] assist both the run of the verse and the excitement of the situation" (p.254). In reality the ‘excitement’ suffers in F1. Arguing along ‘realistic’ lines one would say that the longer the shouts, the less probable it is that no one hears them and rushes in; and, more importantly, the more Polonius utters, the more improbable is Hamlet’s mistake before he stabs through the arras. It is a rash and bloody deed, everything must happen like lightning, before anyone properly realizes and registers it.”