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Line 2580 - 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.

2580 Mother {good night indeed,} <goodnight. Indeede> this Counsayler	3.4.213

1736 Stubbs

Stubbs

2580-5 this Counsayler . . . Exit] Stubbs (1736, p. 35): “Hamlet’s killing Polonius was in Conformity to the Plan Shakespeare built his Play upon; and the Prince behaves himself on that Occasion, as one who seems to have his Thoughts bent on Things of more Importance. I wish the Poet had omitted Hamlet’s last Reflections on the Occasion, viz. This Counsellor, &c. It has too much Levity in it; and his tugging him away into another Room, is unbecoming the Gravity of the rest of the Scene, and is a Circumstance too much calculated to raise a laugh, which it always does. We must observe, that Polonius is far from a good Character, and that his Death is absolutely necessary towards the Denouement of the whole Piece. And our Hero had not put him to Death, had not he thought it to have been the Usurper hid behind the Arras; so that upon the Whole, this is no Blemish to his Character.”

1930 Granville-Barker

Granville-Barker

2580, 2584 Mother good night indeed . . . Good night mother] Granville-Barker (1930, rpt. 1946, 1: 237-8): <p. 237> “And when at last he does leave her it is to the accustomed mockery of [quotes the goodnights, 2580, 2584]—a very refrain it has become.

“Throughout the play, from the first quiet, ironic ’Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother . . . [258] what changes of grief and bitterness, love and anger has not Shakespeare set his Hamlet to ring on the one word! Nor are these the last hereabouts. He insinuates a yet bitter farewell to her into the cryptic parting with Claudius: </p. 237> <p. 238> ’Farewell, dear mother. Thy loving father, Hamlet. My mother. Father and mother is man and wife, man and wife is one flesh, and so, my mother’[2713-16]— which is as much to say that, at last, he surrenders his share in her to his enemy, to the man who has degraded her in flesh and soul to what she is.” </p. 238>

1934 Wilson

Wilson

2580-1 Wilson (1934, rpt. 1963, 2:209): <2:209> “The stops in Q2 restore for us the original orchestration of Hamlet. It remains to glance at one or two passages where they also restore us the original meaning, which has become overlaid or distorted in the F1 rendering; and we may begin with what may seem at first sight a trivial difference, though it well illustrates the comparative subtlety of the quarto. At [3.4.213-4 (2580-1)] the modern text, following F1 as usual, gives us these lines: ‘Mother, good night. Indeed this counsellor Is now most still, most secret and most grave.’ In Q2, on the other hand, the lines run: ‘Mother good night indeed, this Counsayler Is now most still, most secret, and most grave.’ It is Hamlet’s final leave-taking after many previous ‘good nights,’ and the significant ‘Mother good night indeed’ recalls the first ‘good night with its injunction—‘Good night, but go not to my uncle’s bed’—and all that Hamlet had since said upon that subject.” </2:209>

1934 cam3

cam3: xref.

2580 good night indeed,] Wilson (ed. 1934): “F1 ‘good night. Indeed’ The F1 period brushes away the delicate point; the ‘indeed’ echoes [3.4.159 (2543)].”

1982 ard2

ard2: xrefs.

2580 indeed] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “positively, in earnest. He now really means what he has already said three times—[3.4.159 (2543), 3.4.170 (2546), 3.4.177 (2553)]. The F punctuation, with the mass of eds. who follow it, misses the point.”

1983 ShSu

Levenson

2580-3 Levenson (1983, p. 23): “Resonances of Hamlet and Waiting for Godot sound clearly in the multitude of puns -- both serious and frivolous -- which are integral to the basic meaning of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Even death submits to wordplay, sometimes with an ontological twist. . . ’. . . This counsellor/Is now most still, most secret, and most grave,/Who was in life a foolish prating knave./Come, sir, to draw toward an end with you’ (Hamlet 3.4.215-18[TLN 2580-3, III.iv.213-5])”

1983 ShSu

Levenson

2580 Levenson (1983, p. 23): “Even death submits to wordplay, sometimes with an ontological twist. . . ’. . . This counsellor/Is now most still, most secret, and most grave,/Who was in life a foolish prating knave./Come, sir, to draw toward an end with you’ (Hamlet 3.4.215-18).”

1993 dent

dent

2580 good . . . indeed] Andrews (ed. 1993): “Hamlet means that he is now ready to say goodnight in earnest.”

dent: xrefs.; MM //

2580 Counsayler] Andrews (ed. 1993): “The Quarto spelling, Counsayler, may entail another allusion to Polonius’ role as ‘Fishmonger’ [2.2.174 (1211)]. Compare MM [1.2.106-107 (195-6)], where Pompey the Clown tells Mistress Overdone, a bawd, to have no fear about the future of her brothel since ‘Good Counsellors lack no Clients’. There ‘Coun-sellers’ are those who arrange for the sale of cunnus (see the note to [1.2.60 (240+2)]).”