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

2743+36 thought] Delius (ed. 1854): “thought bezieht sich auf some craven scruple = die feige Bedenklichkeit, die zu grüblerisch den möglichen Ausgang der Sache bedenkt. In solcher Bedenklichkeit steckt, wenn man sie in vier Theile zerlegt, nur ein Theil Weisheit und drei Theile Feigling. Genau construirt müsste für coward, dem wisdom entsprechend, cowardice stehen.” [thought refers to some craven scruple and is the cowardly caution that is melancholically aware of the possible result of the matter. In such caution, if it is divided into four parts, lies one part wisdom and three parts coward. Precisely constructed and to correspond to wisdom, cowardice should replace coward.]

1889 Barnett

Barnett

2743+36 quarterd] Barnett (1889, p. 55): “being analyzed in four parts.”

1891 dtn

dtn

2743+36-2743+37 A thought . . . coward] Deighton (ed. 1891): “a mode of thinking which, if quartered, will be found to be made up of one part of wisdom to three parts of cowardice.”

1907 Werder

Werder

2743+36-2743+37 A thought . . . coward] Werder (1907; rpt. 1977, p. 158): <p.158> “What would Hamlet like? He would like to unite what in his situation is so difficult and does not admit of union,—reason and passion! The instinct of his reason rises against the spirit of his revenge, and that instinct respects this spirit and therefore revolts because of respect. This is the inner truth, the poetic secret of this soliloquy; this struggle is the tragic element in it, hence its interest and significance.

“Hamlet is weary under this burden. Now, when he is shipped off to England, the charge of murder resting on him through his own fault, comparing his lot with that of Fortinbras, who is so free in all his movements, now comes the fear—now at this moment of pause which separates him at such a distance from his foe and from the carrying out of his revenge through his own fault – now comes to him more than ever the fearful apprehension that, notwithstanding all his pains, all his patient endurance, his task has at last become impossible.” </p.158>

1993 dent

dent

2743+36 quarterd] Andrews (ed. 1993): “Both (a) broken into fourths (as with the shield on a coat of arms), (b) cornered like a prey, and (c) dismembered, as with a convict who has been hanged, drawn and quartered.”