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Line 2409 - 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.

2409 Ham. A bloody deede, almost as bad, good mother	3.4.28

1752 ANON

ANON

2409-10 A bloody . . . brother] Anonymous (1752, p.39-40): <p.39> “We are not expressly informed whether the Queen was conscious of, or concerned in, the Death of her Husband: But Probability must pass for Truth, as no Certainty can be obtain’d. The Ghost, in the Account he gives, says, that his Brother was the Person who actually deprived him of his Life. ‘Upon my secure Hour, thy Uncle stole, With Juice of cursed Hebenon in a Phial. </p.39><p.40>

“It seems pretty plain that the Murtherer had obtained the Good-will of the Queen before he perpetrated the Act.[—thy Uncle, That incestuous, that adulterate Beast,]

“Had she not been Guilty of Murther as wll as Incest, what Occasion had the Ghost to desire his Son to offer her no Violence? [But howsoever, thou pursue this Act,]

“To corroborate other Circumstances, Hamlet in this Scene, directly accuses fer with the cruel Action.’—As bad, good Mother, As kill a King.—’

“Nor does she in the least attempt to prove her Innocence, but confounded with Guilt, desires her Son to be silent on that Head.” </p.40>

1753-4 Lennox

Lennox

2409-81 Lennox (1753, p. 268): <p.268> “When the Spies are removed the Discourse of the two Princes [Amleth/Hamlet] is much the same; they reproach their Mothers with their incestuous Marriage, sharply reprove them for their Crimes, declare their Madness to be feigned, and enjoin them to Secrecy.” </p.268>

1875 Marshall

Marshall

2409-11 Marshall (1875, p. 49): “This, as more than one commentator has observed, is most probably a tentative reproach uttered by Hamlet as an experiment on his mother’s conscience; the Queen’s answer—[quotes 2411] must, I think, be held to be entirely free from any taint of hypocrisy, and should be uttered with simple earnestness.”

1890 irv2

irv2 ≈ Marshall + magenta underlined

2409-11 Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “This passage, indefinite as it is, affords the most definite ground that we get in the play for argument as to the queen’s guilt or innocence in connection with the murder of her first husband. Marshall, Study of Hamlet, p. 49, remarks that Hamlet’s words are ‘most probably a tentative reproach uttered by Hamlet as an experiment on his mother’s conscience; the Queen’s answer— ‘As kill a king:—’ must, I think, be held to be entirely free from any taint of hypocrisy, and should be uttered with simple earnestness.’ It may be observed, however, that the matter is entirely left open by Shakespeare, and no doubt deliberately, as in Q1 the queen declares her innocence in the most unmistakable terms: ‘But as I haue a soule, I sweare by heauen, I neuer knew of this most horride murder’ In the Hystorie of Hamblet (ch. iii. Furness, vol. ii. p. 100) the Queen is equally distinct in her disavowal. May not Shakespeare have left the point in doubt for the sake of adding a vague impressivenesss to the character, otherwise uninteresting, of the Queen?’”

1984 klein

klein: xref.

2409-10 Klein (ed. 1984): “A direct attack. The Ghost left Hamlet in the dark concerning Gertrude’s possible knowledge of, and complicity in, the murder. Indications that she had no inkling of it are the order to spare her [1.5.85-8 (770-773)]and her lack of any alarm during the dumb-show and the play-within-the-play in 3.2. Her reaction here confirms this, and the Ghost’s intervention will make it finally certain. In Q1 Gertrude says later on emphatically: But as I haue a soule, I sweare by heauen,/]I neuer knew of this most horride murder (G3r) [Q1CLN 1582-3].”

1992 Adelman

Adelman

2409-10 Adelman (1992, p. 15, quoted by Griffiths, 2005, p. 76): “We may want to hear [Gertrude’s] shock at Hamlet’s accusation of murder as evidence of her innocence; but the text permits us alternatively to hear it as shock either at being found out or at Hamlet’s rudeness.”