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.

1868 c&mc

c&mc

2897 Repast them with my blood] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868, rpt. 1878): “The fact that his bird presses its red-tipped beak against its breast when feeding its young from the capacious pouch wherein it stores up nutriment, gave rise to the fabulous idea that the pelican nourishes its little ones with its own blood.”

1872 cln1

cln1

2897 Repast] Clark and Wright (ed. 1872): “feed. This verb is not used elsewhere by our author.”

macd

2897 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “Laertes is a ranter—false everywhere.

“Plainly he is introduced as the foil from which Hamlet ‘shall stick fiery off.’ In this speech he shows his moral condition directly the opposite of Hamlet’s: he has no principle but revenge. His conduct ought to be quite satisfactory to Hamlet’s critics; there is action enough in it of the very kind they would have of Hamlet; and doubtless it would be satisfactory to them but for the treachery that follows. The one, dearly loving a father who deserves immeasurably better of him than Polonius of Laertes, will not for the sake of revenge disregard either conscience, justice, or grace; the other will not delay even to inquire into the facts of his father’s fate, but will act at once on hearsay, rushing to a blind satisfaction that cannot even be called retaliation, caring for neither right nor wrong, cursing conscience, and the will of God, and daring damnation. He slights assurance as to the hand by which his father fell, dismisses all reflection that might interfere with a stupid revenge. To make up one’s mind at once, and act without ground, is weakness, not strength: this Laertes does—and is therefore just the man to be the villainous, not the innocent, tool of villainy. He who has sufficing ground and refuses to act is weak; but the ground that will satisfy the populace, of which the commonplace critic is the fair type, will not satisfy either the man of conscience or of wisdom. The mass of world-be-praised action owes its existence to the pressure of circumstance, not to the will and conscience of the man. Hamlet waits for light, even with his heart accusing him; Laertes rushes into the dark, dagger in hand, like a mad Malay: so he kill, he cares not whom. Such a man is easily tempted to the vilest treachery, for the light that is in him is darkness; he is not a true man; he is false to himself. This is what comes of his father’s maxim: ‘To thine own self be true; And it must follow, as the night the day(!) thou canst not then be false to any man.’ Like the aphorism ‘Honesty is the best policy,’ it revels the difference between a fact and a truth. Both sayings are corrects as facts, but as guides of conduct devilishly false, leading to dishonesty and treachery. To be true to the divine self in us, is indeed to be true to all; but it is only by being true to all, against the ever present and urging false self, that at length, we shall see the divine self rise above the chaotic waters of our selfishness, and know it so as to be true to it.

“Of Laertes we must note also that it is not all for love of his father that he is ready to cast allegiance to hell, and kill the king: he has the voice of the people to succeed him.”

1878 rlf1

rlf1

2897 Repast] Rolfe (ed. 1878): “The verb is used by S. nowhere else.”

1889 Barnett

Barnett

2897 Repast] Barnett (1889, p. 56): “feed again and again. Lat. repastum.”

1891 dtn

dtn: Milton analogue

2897 Repast] Deighton (ed. 1891): “feed, nourish. Milton, Areopagitica, p. 18, ed. Hales, uses the word figuratively, ‘repasting of our minds.’”

1903 rlf3

rlf3 = rlf1

1905 rltr

rltr ≈ cln1 minus “This verb . . . author.”

1931 crg1

crg1 = rltr

1934 rid1

rid1 = crg1

1980 pen2

pen2 ≈ cln1

2897 Repast] Spencer (ed. 1980): “feed.”

1988 bev2

bev2 = rid1

1993 dent

dent: John analogue

2897 Repast] Andrews (ed. 1993): “Feed. Shakespeare’s wording in this passage reminds us that the Pelican’s sacrifice is an emblem of the Pastor (shepherd) who opened his arms wide on the Cross and laid down ’his life for his friends’ (John 15:13).”

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2

2897 Repast] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “feed.”