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

Line 2517 - 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.

2517 Ham. Why looke you there, looke how it steales away, {I4}	3.4.134

1752 ANON

anon: xref.

2517 looke how it steales away] Anonymous (1752, p. 44): “The Ghost is described ‘Arm’d at all Points exactly, Cap-a-pie.’ [1.2.200 (391)] and for what Reason is steals away, I am entirely ignorant. Surely Shakespeare wrote, ‘—look how it stalks away.’ He uses the same Word twice before in this Play, describing the Gait of the Apparition. ‘Look how it stalks away.’ “Thus twice before, and just at this dead Hour, With martial Stalk he has gone by our Watch.’”

1752 Dodd

Dodd

2517 steales] Dodd (1752, p. 249): “Some are for reading stalks, and in some later editions I find that word: he uses this word before, speaking of the ghost: however, steals, is very justifiable.”

1847 verp

verp: col1 (see 2442, 2482)

2517-8 looke how . . . liued] Verplanck (ed. 1847): “Here Hamlet exclaims—’Look how it steels away! My father, in his habit as he lived!’

“Malone, Stevens [sic], and Mason, argue the question, whether in this scene the Ghost, as in former scenes, ought to wear armour, or to be dressed in ‘his own familiar habit;’ and they conclude, either that Shakespeare had ‘forgotten himself,’ or had meant ‘to vary the dress of the Ghost at this his last appearance.’ The quarto of 1603, shows how the poet’s intention was carried into effect; for there we meet with the stage-direction, ‘Enter the Ghost in his night-gown.’—Collier.”

1854 Q[uincy]

Q[uincy]

2517 steales] Q[uincy] (1854, p. 34): “When the Ghost is leaving the chamber of the queen, Hamlet is made to exclaim, ‘Why look you there! Look how it steals away; My father in his habit as he lived! Look, where go goes, even now, out at the Portal!’

“The expression ‘Look how it steals away,’ accords little with the general demeanor of the ghost, or the peculiar circumstances under which it was then referred to. The apparition was not disappearing in some remote corner of the chamber, but advancing to the door of the apartment, as the natural mode of exit. It is not difficult to believe that Shakespeare wrote the line as it stands in this corrected folio: ‘Why look you there, Look how it stalks away.’

“It may be remarked that the movement of the ghost is described by this word in an earlier part of the play: ‘With martial stalk, hath he gone by our watch’ [1.1.66 (82)].”

1877 v1877

v1877:≈ Misc. Obs., Quincy

2517 steales] Furness (ed. 1877): “Miscellaneious Obs. on Hamlet (p. 44): Surely Sh. wrote stalks. He uses the same word twice before in this play, describing the gait of the apparition. [Thus also Quincy (MS).]”

1882 elze:

elze: contra v1877

2517 it steales away] Elze (ed. 1882): “According to Furness ad loc. it has been suggested that Shakespeare ‘surely’ wrote stalks. Surely not! The apparition of the ghost in ‘his habit as he lived’ is contrasted with consummate art to the ghost ‘armed from head to foot’; on the platform the ghost certainly stalks away, in the queen’s closet it steals away.”

1891 dtn

dtn

2517 steales away] Deighton (ed. 1891): “gradually vanishes.”

2001 Greenblatt

Greenblatt

2517 steales] Greenblatt (2001, pp. 225-6), <p. 225>, citing Furness, ed. 1877 (1:299), says that the nineteenth-century editors, uneasy with the word steals, </p. 225><p. 226> were in their way sensitively registering the inglorious fading of remembrance.” </p. 226>

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: 30 xref

2517 it] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “See 1.1.20 [30].”

ard3q2: Var

2517 steals] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “unnecessarily emended to ’stalks’ by some nineteenth-century editors (see Var), but the Ghost’s departure from this scene (and from the play) is surprisingly informal.”