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Line 2904-05 - 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.

2904 <A noise within. Let her come in.> 2904	4.5.153

2905 Enter Ophelia	..

2904 {Laer. Let her come in.}	4.5.153

1723- mtby2

mtby2

2904 Laer.] Thirlby (1723-): “Rabble outside.”

mtby2

2904 Thirlby (1723-): “Ita Q[2] v. ad v. 6 in the margin without doubt these words belong to the rabble at the door. sed nb. come.”

1736 Stubbs

Stubbs: theo1 (Warburton)

2905 Enter Ophelia] Stubbs (1736, p. 36-7): “The Scenes of Ophelia’s Madness are to me very shocking, in so noble a Piece as this. I am not against her having been represented mad; but surely, it might have been done with less Levity and more Decency. Mistakes are less tolerable from such a Genius as Shakespeare’s, and especially in the very Pieces which give us such strong Proofs of his exalted Capacity. Mr. Warburton’s note (in Mr. Theobalds) on Laertes’s Rebellion, is very judicious, (as indeed are all those of that Gentleman) only I cannot think Laertes (for Reasons I have given) a good Character.”

1818-19 mclr2

mclr2

2905 Coleridge (ms. notes 1819 in Ayscough, ed. 1807; rpt. Coleridge, 1998, 12.4:857): <p. 857>“Shakespeare evidently wishes as much as possible to spare the character of Laertes, to break the extreme turpitude of his consent to become an Agent and Accomplice of the King’s treacherous—and to this end works the re-introduction of Ophelia—”</p. 857>

1843 col1

col1

2905 Enter Ophelia] Collier (ed. 1843): “‘Enter Ophelia, fantastically dressed with straws and flowers’ say modern editors; but not so the old copies, where we read merely ‘Enter Ophelia,’ excepting in the quarto, 1603, which has, ‘Enter Ophelia, as before.’ In fact, it is only her ’re-entrance,’ as she has been on the stage before in this scene.”

1854 del2

del2

2905 Delius (ed. 1854): “Q. A hat hier die Bühnenweisung: Enter Ophelia, as before, d. h. mit der Laute und gelöstem Haar. (Vgl. Anm. 9.) Die Herausgeber fügen hier meistens hinzu: fantastically dressed with straws and flowers, wovon die alten Ausgaben, Qs. und Fol., nichts haben. Wahrscheinlich vertheilt sie nicht wirklich Blumen an die Anwesenden, sondern bildet sich in ihrem Wahnsinn nur ein, dass sie solche vertheile.” [Quarto A has here the stage direction: Enter Ophelia, as before, i. e., with the lute and loosened hair. (See Note 9.) Editors generally add here: fantastically dressed with straws and flowers, of which the old editions, Quartos and Folio, have nothing. Probably she does not really distribute flowers to those present, but imagines in her insanity that she is distributing them.]

1856 hud1 (1851-6)

hud1

2905 Hudson (ed. 1851-6): “Modern editions commonly add here, ‘fantastically dressed with Straws and Flowers.’ There is no authority, and not much occasion, for any such stage-direction. H.”

1869 tsch

tsch: del, elze, pope, theo, warb

2905 Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “Wenn O.’s Wahnsinn nicht sofort an ihrer äusseren Erscheinung also durch phantastischen Blumenschmuck kenntlich wäre, könnte Laertes nicht im Augenblick ihres Auftretens dies schmerzlichen Aeusserungen thun. Delius, welcher vermuthet, dass O. nicht wirklich Blumen an die Anwesenden vertheile, sondern sich dies nur im Wahnsinn einbilde, übersieht, dass die Köhigin am Schluss des Actes sämmtliche Blumen aufzählt, mit denen die Unglückliche geschmückt gewesen sei. S. Elze p. 231. Ich glaube daher, dass die von Pope, Theobald, Warburton angenommene Bühnenweisung: Enter Ophelia fantastically dressed with straws and flowers nicht schlechthin zu verwerfen ist, glaube jedoch, dass sie in obiger Weise zu vereinfachen sei.” [If Ophelia’s insanity were not immediately recognizable in her outward appearance by her fantastic adornment with flowers, Laertes would not be able to make his pained remarks at the moment she appears. Delius, who thinks that Ophelia does not really distribute flowers to those present, but only in her insanity thinks she does, overlooks the place where the queen tells over all the flowers with which the unhappy girl is decked out. See Elze p. 231. I believe therefore that the stage direction accepted by Pope, Theobald, and Warburton: Enter Ophelia fantastically dressed with straws and flowers should not be discarded, but think that it can be simplified as above.]

1872 del4

del4 = del2

1872 cln1

cln1

2905 Clark and Wright (ed. 1872): “Re-enter Ophelia] The quarto of 1603 gives the stage direction ‘Enter Ofelia as before,’ i.e. dressed as it had described, line 21.”

1877 v1877

v1877 ≈ col1 + contra rowe

2905 Furness (ed. 1877): “Re-enter] Collier: Ophelia has been on the stage before in this scene, this is therefore only her ‘re-entrance.’ [It is noteworthy that Rowe is the only authority for the fantastic straws and lowers with which Oph. on the modern stage is decked. From Q, it is to be inferred that she merely has ‘her haire downe.’ Ed.]”

1882 elze2

elze2: contra del2

2905 Elze (ed. 1882): “Rowe’s oft-repeated stage-direction (Enter Ophelia, fantastically drest with Straws and Flowers) is right only in so far, as Ophelia comes in with a bunch of flowers which she distributes to those present. The suggestion of Delius, that possibly these flowers existed only in Ophelia’s imagination and that consequently no real flowers were distributed by her, seems to be refuted by Q1, where Ophelia says: I a bin gathering of floures. On the other hand, Ophelia should not be decked fantastically with straws and flowers as it is generally done on the modern stage. A comparison with the appearance of Lear in Lr. [4.6.80 (2527)] does not hold good, as we are told by the Queen (§ 199, Q1 and Q2) that Ophelia’s garlands were only made, when she came to the willow overhanging the brook. See note on §199 [4.7.168 (3160)] (Garlands did she make).”

1929 trav

trav: rowe; Lr. //; xrefs.

2905 Enter Ophelia] Travers (ed. 1929): “‘fantastically’ decked with straws and flowers, according to Rowe, who may have merely recorded what was then already the practice of the stage, or argued for himself from what follows, from [4.7.169-170 (3161-62), and perhaps from the fact that Lear, in his madness, is met (4.4.2-6 [2354-57]) singing also, and ‘crown’d with . . . /all the idle weeds that grow/In our sustaining corn.’ The only indication we possess, earlier than Rowe’s, is that of Q1, which gives merely ‘as before;’ n. [4.5.21 (2766)]. Presently it will make Ophelia explain that she has been ‘gathering flowers;’ but cp. n. [4.5.175 (2927)].”

1934 cam3

cam3: del, poel; xref.

2905 Enter Ophelia (?)] Wilson (ed. 1934): S.D.]“Q2, F1 ‘Enter Ophelia.’ Q1 ‘Enter Ofelia as before.’ Rowe ‘Enter Ophelia, fantastically drest with Straws and Flowers.’ Delius and Poel (Sh. in the Theatre, p. 172) suggest that the flowers spoken of in [4.5.175-184 (2927-35)]] are imaginary.”

1936 cam3b

cam3b: trav

2907 O heate, etc.] Wilson (ed. 1936): “Obviously all this is to be taken as uttered under the first shock of finding her mad. . . . No “buzzer,” it seems, had even told Laertes of Oph.’s condition’ (Travers). A good instance of Sh.’s dramatic legerdemain: no questions arise in the theatre.”

1939 kit2

kit2: rowe, cam3

2905 Enter Ophelia] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “Rowe adds ‘fantastically drest wiht Strawes and Floweres’: Wilson reads ‘with flowers in her hand.’”

1980 pen2

pen2

2905 Spencer (ed. 1980): “Presumably Ophelia behaves in such a way as reveals immediately to Laertes that she is mad. It is not clear whether she still carries her lute or whether she now has a bunch of flowers instead. Perhaps it is intended that she has gone to collect the flowers for her father’s grave [4.5.175ff. (2927ff.)]. Q1 has ‘Enter Oƒelia as before’, but this may refer only to her madness. In her first speech in Q1 she says ‘I a bin gathering of floures’.”

1987 oxf4

oxf4

2905 Enter Ophelia] Hibbard (ed. 1987): Enter Ophelia, with flowers in her hand, singing ] “None of the primary texts contains this direction, but Ophelia must bring flowers with her, so that she can distribute them later; and she should be singing in order to prompt Laertes’ initial question.”

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: Jenkins, Spencer

2905 Let. . . in] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “These words are repeated from 16. As the text of Q2 stands, we must assume that Laertes sees someone struggling to prevent Ophelia from entering. Jenkins adds the command or request to the end of the King’s speech, while Oxf follows Spencer in attributing it to ’ Voices (within) ’.”