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.

1860 stau

stau: //s; xrefs.

2585 Staunton (ed. 1860): [Hamlet tugging in Polonius ] “The earliest quarto has, ‘Exit Hamlet with the dead body;’ the folio, ‘Exit Hamlet tugging in Polonius.’ It is remarkable that, while nearly every department of our early literature has been ransacked to supply illustrations of Shakespeare’s language and ideas, so little has been done towards their elucidation from the history of his own stage. When Hamlet, at the termination of the present scene, says, ‘I’ll lug the guts into the neighbour room,’ the commentators very properly reply to the objections of those who, unacquainted with old language, complain of the grossness of expression, that the word guts was not by any means so offensive to delicacy formerly as it is considered now. It was commonly used, in fact, where we should employ entrails, and in this place really signifies no more than lack-brain or shallow-pate. But a little consideration of the exigencies of the theatre in Shakespeare’s time, which not only obliged an actor to play two or more parts in the same drama, but to perform such servile offices as are now done by attendants of the stage, would have enabled them to show that the line in question is a mere interpretation to afford the player an excuse for removing the body. We append a few examples where the same expedient is adopted for the same purpose. Among them the notable instance of Sir John Falstaff carrying off the body of Harry Percy on his back, an exploit as clumsy and unseemly as Hamlet’s ‘tugging’ out Polonius, and, like that, perpetuated on the modern stage only from sheer ignorance of the circumstances which originated such a practice: Rom. [3.1.196-7 (1641-3)]; R2: [5.5.117, 118 (2789, 2790)]; 1H4 5.4.156 (3121)]; 1H6 [1.4.110 (584)]; Ibid. [2.5.120, 121 (1191, 1192)]; Ibid. [4.7.91, 92 (2325, 2326)]; 2H6 [4.1.145 (2316)]; Ibid. [4.10.83, 84 (2988, 2989)]; Ibid. [5.2.61-5 (3283-87)]; 3H6 [2.5.113 (1251)]; Ibid. [2.5 121, 122 (1259,1260)]; Ibid. [2.5.128 (2168, 2169)]; R3 R3 [1.4.280, 281 (1115, 1116)]; Lr. [4.6.284-6 (2741-43)]; Tro. [4.4.124, 125 (2518, 2519)]; JC [3.2.260 (1798)]; Ibid. JC [5.5.78, 79 (2727, 2728)]; Ant. [4.9.30-2 (2733, 2734)]; Ibid. [4.14.138 (2993)]. These instances from Shakespeare alone, and they could easily be multiplied, will suffice to bring into view one of the inconveniences to which the elder dramatists were subject through the paucity of actors; and, at the same time, by exhibiting the mode in which they endeavoured to obviate the difficulty, may afford a key to many passages and incidents that before appeareed anomalous.”

1861 wh1

wh1

2585 White (ed. 1861): “Exeunt severally, Hamlet dragging in Polonius] The folio has, ‘tugging in;’ the 4to. of 1603, ‘Exit Hamlet with the dead body.’ A like direction is always found in a like situation in our old dramas. For there being no change of Scene, it was necessary that the ‘unpleasant bodies’ should be removed, in order that the play might go on with decorum.”

1869 tsch

tsch

2585 Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “Offenbar verliess nur H. das Zimmer mit der Leiche des P., so dass die Königin allein zurückbleibt, und die Scene nicht verändert wird. Die Handlung geht auch ununterbrochen weiter.” [Evidently only Hamlet left the room with Polonius’ corpse so that the queen remains alone and the scene is not changed. The action also goes forward without interruption.]

1870 Miles

Miles

2585 Miles (1870, pp. 59-60): <p.59> “We do not know by what or whose authority the Act is made to end here; certainly not by Shakespeare’s. The text of the quarto runs straight on from beginning to end, without numbering a single Act or Scene. The folio numbers them </p.59><p.60> only so far as the second Scene of the second Act. Instead of ‘Exeunt severally,’ as the stage direction now stands, it is ‘exit,’ in the Quarto, and ‘Exit Hamlet, lugging in Polonius,’ in the Folio. In both, the Queen remains on the stage; the King enters, and the action proceeds uninterruptedly. The present arrangement not only ruins the Fourth Act, but confuses and enfeebles the whole play.” </p.60>

1879 Halliwell-Phillipps

Halliwell-Phillipps

2585 Halliwell-Phillipps (1879, p. 70): <p.70> “We may rely upon it that it was to [the poverty of the ancient stage] that Hamlet is made to terminate the third act by the removal of the body of Polonius, a proceeding which was adopted through the necessity of clearing the stage for the fourth act in a natural manner before the use of drop or other curtains between acts. ‘Exit Hamlet with the dead body,’ ed. 1603. ‘Exit Hamlet tugging in Polonius,’ ed. 1623. It would not be in good taste to revive a repulsive action compulsatively adopted by the old players and now no longer necessary.” </p.70>

1885 macd

macd: xref.

2585 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “—and weeping. See n. [4.1.27 (2614)].”

1889 Barnett

Barnett

2585 tugging] Barnett (1889, p. 53): “lug] to pull by the hair is the lit. meaning. From Swed. lugga, to pull by the hair. Lock, in lock of hair, is also Swed., and probably from the same root. Lug in Scotch is the ear. Henry VIII, said Cromwell had got ‘the right sow by the lug.’”

1891 dtn

dtn

2583 to draw . . . you] Deighton (ed. 1891): “that I may have done with you; that I may put the finishing touch to this business.”

1947 yal2

yal2

2585 Cross & Brooke (ed. 1947): “From this point to the end of Act 4, the act and scene divisions differ from those traditionally employed; cf. note to [3.4.217 (2586)] s.d. The traditional numbering is indicated within square brackets in the running heads.”

1958 mun

mun: Granville-Barker

2585 Munro (ed. 1958): “According to Granville-Barker the exit and entrance arrangements here and at the beginning of 4.1 are that Hamlet exits on the inner stage and the Queen goes out in the opposite direction, to re-enter on the outer stage with the King and two courtiers; or she emerges from the inner stage and meets the others on the outer; or the King and courtiers enter to her on the inner stage, this last being least probable. For other possibilities see GB 3:120,121.”

1982 ard2

ard2: contra Greg; xref.

2585 Exit] Jenkins (ed. 1982): lugging in Polonius] “The F direction, which Greg thought ‘one could swear . . . was Shakespeare’s’ (SFF, p. 319), appears in fact to be an editorial addition deriving, via a misprint, from the dialogue (lug, [[3.4.212 (2579)].”

1985 cam4

cam4: Rowe, cam3, Adams

2585 Edwards (ed. 1985): “The 1676 quarto, and Rowe, begin a new act at this point and everyone agrees with Johnson that the division is ‘not very happy’. There should be no division of any kind, and I follow Dover Wilson in seeing the action as continuous. Gertrude remains on stage, and Claudius enters to her. Q2 gives a re-entry for the queen. The Folio makes clear the continuity of the action. F also cuts out the awkward entry of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and their immediate dismissal by the queen. I preserve the traditional act and scene numbering to avoid confusion in references, although a number of editors, including J.Q. Adams, have manfully gone against the tide and continued Act 3. 4.1.9 (2595)].”

1987 oxf4

oxf4 ≈ ard2

2585 tugging] Hibbard (ed. 1987): lugging] “Jenkins’ emendation of F’s tugging seems obviously right. Hamlet does what he said he would.”

1993 dent

dent: xrefs.

2585 Andrews (ed. 1993): “This scene takes place immediately after the just-concluded Closet Scene. The Quarto stage directions and dialogue suggest that Gertrard has gone to tell the King what has just happened in her chamber, and may now be escorting Claudius and his two confidants back into her closet. See l[4.1.9 (2595)], where she probably points to ‘the Arras’, and line 28 [], where Claudius (thinking about what he has said in [4.1.12-13 (2599-2600)] says ‘come away’ and probably escorts the Queen to a less threatening locale. The Folio text implies a different staging of the scene. It follows ‘Exit Hamlet tugging in Polonius’ with ’Enter King’ and makes no mention of Rosencraus and Guildenstern. Having cut Hamlet’s reference to them in [3.4.202-210 (2577+1-2577+9)], it also deletes [4.1.4 (2490+1)]. For another instance of alternate Quarto-Folio staging patterns, see the note to [3.1.54 (1707)].”

1997 evns2

evns2 = evns1

1999 Dessen & Thomson

Dessen & Thomson

2585 Dessen & Thomson(1999): “The F1 and Q1 (CLN 1601) SD is a rare example of an exit in Ham. describing an action. See also the F1 Exeunt at the end of the play [5.2.403 (3905-6)].”

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: 2579 xref; Jenkins

2585 Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “[stage direction] Just ’Exit’ in Q2, perhaps implying that the Queen remains onstage. Jenkins argues that F’s ’tugging’ is a misprint for ’lugging’, the verb Hamlet uses at 210 [2579]; in implies ’into’ the inner stage or tiring-house, i.e. offstage.”