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.

1854 del2

del2

2544 Assune] Delius (ed. 1854): “to assume bezeichnet eine rein äusserliche Annahme, mit der eine eigentliche Besitznahme noch nicht verbunden ist.” [to assume indicates a purely external acceptance, with which real taking possession is not yet connected.]

1872 del4

del4 = del2

1891 dtn

dtn

2544 Assune . . . not] Deighton (ed. 1891): “act as though you were virtuous, even if you have not the feeling.”

1903 rlf3

rlf3 ≈ macd

2544 Assune a vertue] rolfe (ed.1903): “Not suggesting hypocrisy, as it might be understood if not interpreted by the context.”

rlf3 = rlf1 minus omission note; cln1 for That monster . . . put on (2544+1-2544+4)

1930 Granville-Barker

Granville-Barker

2544 Assune a vertue] Granville-Barker (1930, rpt. 1946, 1: 230): Hamlet “has no faith, he finds, in her repentance. . . . Having stripped one mask from her he bids her wear another; the pretense may become reality in time.”

1934 Wilson

Wilson: theo, cap, contra john

2544-7 Wilson (1934, rpt. 1963, 1:29; 2:320): <1:29> “here the impelling motive of the cut was apparently as much difficulty of handwriting in the original as difficulty of meaning, since the lines in Q2 contain two bad cruxes, one of them caused perhaps by the omission of a word. Thus it runs: [quotes passage with Q2-only lines in italics]. Here the metre has not escaped quite so successfully as in the other instance. The words ‘refraine to night’ have been left in mid-air and are tacked on the end of 2544 in F1. Nevertheless, once again we cannot help being struck with the delicacy and skill of the operation. It was no careless reader, or thoughtless hand, which went out of its way to spare those middle portions; it would have been so easy just to run a pen through the whole thing. We may deplore or condemn the F1 cuts; we cannot say they were made without careful consideration. Shakespeare himself could hardly have pruned his own verse more tenderly.” </1:29>

<2:320> “it seems fairly obvious that, aided perhaps by a supposed contrast with ‘angel,’ to say nothing of the e:d confusion, the compositor has misread ‘eule’ as ‘dule.’ Certainly ‘who all sense doth eat of habits evil’ (i.e. of evil habits) gives an intelligible reading. Theobald indeed printed it so, without of course perceiving the ‘deule-eule’ connection, and Capell approved; but Dr Johnson diverted criticism from the right path by insisting upon opposition between ‘angel’ and ‘devil,’ whereas the real contrast is surely between ‘monster’ and ‘angel,’ and between ‘actions fair and good’ and ‘habits evil.’” See n. [1.4.36 (621+20)].

1935 ev2

ev2

2544-2544+5 Assune . . . put on] Boas (ed. 1935): “Good habits can be as easily acquired as evil.”

1939 kit2

kit2

2544 Assune . . . not] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “This has become a proverb in a sense different from that which it bears in the context. Assume means, not ‘counterfeit’ or ‘pretend,’ but ‘Take to yourself in practice’: ‘Force yourself to act virtuously, even if you are not virtuously inclined.’”

1980 pen2

pen2

2544 Assune] Spencer (ed. 1980): “acquire.”

1982 ard2

ard2

2544 Assune] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “put on the garb of (but not—as now usually quoted—simulate, pretend to); adopt, i.e. actually begin to practise.”

1984 chal

chal: xref.

2544 Assune] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “Assume: put on, like clothing (cf. ‘livery’, [3.4.165 (2544+4)].”

1987 oxf4

oxf4

2544 Assune . . . vertue] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “(1) put on (2) pretend to. Virtue is regarded as a garment which may, in time, exert an influence on its wearer’s behaviour.”

1993 dent

dent: xrefs.

2544 Assune] Andrews (ed. 1993): “Act as if you have, as one assumes (puts on) a garment. Compare [1.2.243 (444)], [2.2.558 (1638)].”

2000 Srigley

Srigley

2544 Assume a vertue] Srigley (2000, p. 22): “Bacon suggested various remedies for the inevitable bias given to the mind by the various predominant passions. One was to cultivate a habit which was the opposite of the particular predominant passion, a remedy which Hamlet recommends to his mother.”

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: 257, 267 xrefs; Jenkins

2544 Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “Jenkins says assume means ’put on the garb of, adopt’ and not ’simulate’; even so the Queen may find it rather surprising advice coming from the man who had earlier told her ’I know not "seems"’ (1.2.76 [257]). His choice of a clothing metaphor also seems to reverse his earlier rejection of ’the trappings and the suits of woe’ (1.2.86[267]).”

2007 ShSt

Stegner: 767-78, 2540 xref

2544 Stegner (2007, p. 120): “Yet despite the incompleteness of Gertrude’s repentance, Hamlet accepts her exclamation of contrition, ’thou has cleft my heart in twain’ (3.4.158), and the fact that he never again mentions Gertrude’s incestuous relationship with Claudius---even at her death--suggests his confidence that she has ’[a]ssume[d] a virtue’ and avoided further sexual relations (3.4.162). (59) Hamlet’s faith in the success of Gertrude’s repentance therefore reinforces his role as an avenger because it redresses Claudius’s usurpation of the royal marriage by fulfilling the Ghost’s command to ’[1]et not the royal bed of Denmark be / A couch for luxury and damned incest’ (1.5.82-83).”