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Line 3174, etc. - 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.”

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Notes for lines 2951-end ed. Hardin A. Aasand

For explanation of sigla, such as jen, see the editions bib.

3174 Puld the poore wretch from her melodious {lay} <buy,>	4.7.82

3175 To muddy death. 3175

3174 wretch] Hudson (ed. 1881): see n. 1204.

1743 mF3

mF3

3174 melodious lay] Anon. (ms. notes in F3, 1734) : “by]] perhaps an allusion to the Nurses song, by, Baby, by. The edition 1723 has altered to melodious Lay. Fr. Lay, Song, roundelar. Cotgrave.”

1790 mal

mal

3175 To muddy death] Malone (ed. 1790): “In the first scene of the next act we find Ophelia buried with such rites as betoken she foredid her own life. Shakspeare, Mr. Mason has observed, ‘seems to have forgotten himself in the speech before us, for there is not a single circumstance in this relation of her death, that induces us to think she had drowned herself intentionally.’ But it should be remembered, that the account here given, is that of a friend; and that the queen could not possibly know / what passed in the mind of Ophelia, when she placed herself in so perilous a situation. After the facts had been weighed and considered, the priest in the next act pronounces, that her death was doubtful. MALONE”

1793 v1793

v1793 = mal

3175 To muddy death]

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793

3175 To muddy death]

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

3175 To muddy death]

1819 cald1

cald1

3175 To muddy death] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Mudded is a term, which, when speaking of this species of death, he repeats in (Tmp. 3.3. [0000]) Alon. and (Tmp. 5.1. [0000]) Alon.”

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1813

3175 To muddy death]

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1

3175 To muddy death]

1853 Col

Col

3174 Puld the poore wretch from her melodious lay] Collier (1853, p. 429): <p. 429> “A very absurd misprint found its way into the folio, 1623, where the Queen describes the death of Ophelia: the quartos properly read,—’Pull’d the poor wretch from her melodious lay;’ which in the folio, 1623, stands,—’Pull’d the poor wretch from her melodious buy;’ and in the folio, 1632,—’Pull’d the poor wretch from her melodious by.’ Perhaps ‘lay,’ substituted in the margin of the folio, 1632, was obtained from the quartos: but it is not impossible, if the emendation were not guessed at, that it was introduced from accurate recitation of the passage on the stage: nobody could imagine buy or by right.” </p.429>

1853 Colb

Colb ≈ Col

3174 Puld the poore wretch from her melodious lay] Collier (1853 [2nd ed.], p. 429): <p. 429> “A nonsensical misprint found its way into the folio, 1623, where the Queen describes the death of Ophelia: the quartos properly read,—’Pull’d the poor wretch from her melodious lay;’ which in the folio, 1623, stands,—’Pull’d the poor wretch from her melodious buy;’ and in the folio, 1632,—’Pull’d the poor wretch from her melodious by.’ Perhaps ‘lay,’ substituted in the margin of the folio, 1632, was obtained from the quartos: but it is not impossible, if the emendation were not guessed at, that it was introduced from accurate recitation of the passage on the stage : nobody could imagine buy or by right.” </p.429>

1854 del2

del2

3174 lay] Delius (ed. 1854): “So die Qs., und so verbesserte der alte Corrector den Druckfehler seiner Folio by.” [So the Qq, and so the old Corrector improves the misprint of his Folio by.”]

1857 elze1

elze1

3174 poore wretch] Elze (ed. 1857): "StR liest ’wench’ mit der Var. ’wretch’. —Der Tod der Ophelia wird hier als völlig unverschuldet geschildert, während sie in §. 212 mit ’unvollständigen Feierlichkeiten’ bestattet wird, und der Priester ((von seinem Standpunkt aus schon mild genug)) ihren Tod für zweifelhaft erklärt." ["StR reads ’wench’ with the variant ’wretch.’ The death of Ophelia was portrayed here as fully faultless, while she was buried in ¶212 with an incomplete ceremony and the Priest (from his perspective from an already gentle enough)) explains her death as dubious."]

1872 cln1

cln1

3174 poore wretch] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “the poor wretch is said of Hamlet, [2.2.167 (1204)].”

1872 hud2

hud2

3174 poore wretch] Hudson (ed. 1872): “Here, again, wretch is used as a strong expression of tenderness. See page 554, note 17 [1204]. This passage is deservedly celebrated, and aptly illustrates the Poet’s power of making the description of a thing better than the thing itself, by giving us his eyes to see it with.”

1877 v1877

v1877 ≈ cln1

3174 poore wretch] Clark & Wright (apud Furness, ed. 1877): “So Ham. is called, 2.2.167 [1204].”

v1877 : cald1-2

3175 muddy

v1877 : mal (minus Mason) ; Seymour (see n. 3158) ; T.C. [Thomas Campbell?] ; hud1-2 (see n. 3158) ; = cln1 (see n. 3158)

3175 death] T.C. [Thomas Campbell?] (apud Furness, ed. 1877): “Perhaps this description by the queen is poetical rather than dramatic; but its exquisite beauty prevails, and Oph., dying and dead, is still the same Oph. that first won our love. Perhaps the very forgetfulness of her throughout the remainder of the play, leaves the soul at full liberty to dream of the departed. She has passed awary from the earth like a beautiful air,—a delightful dream. Thee would have been no place for her in the agitation and tempest of the final catastrophe. We are satisfied that she is in her grave. And in place of beholding her involved in the shocking troubles of the closing scene, we remember that her heart lies at rest, and the remembrance is like the returning voice of melancholy music.”

1881 hud3

hud3 ≈ hud2 (condensed)

3174 wretch] Hudson (ed. 1881): “Wretch, again, as a strong term of endearment. See page 197, note 23.[1204]”

1884 Gould

Gould:

3174 lay] Gould (1884, p. 40) : <p. 40> “The folio has ‘buy,’ which I regard as a misprint for ‘buoy’; and is opposite to ‘muddy death.’” </p. 40>

1885 macd

macd : gould

3174 lay] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “buy]] Could the word be for buoy—’her clothes spread wide,’ on which she floated singing—therefore her melodious buoy or float?”

1925 Kellner

Kellner

3174 lay] Kellner (1925, p. 37): <p. 37> “Editors agree in accepting this reading of Qq, taking lay to mean ‘song’. But this is far from satisfactory. F has buy, i.e. buoy=floating. The same mistake occurs in [Lr. 37.60 (0000)]: ‘The sea, with such a storm, as his bare hand|In hell-black night endured, would have laid up,|And quench’d the stelled fires.’ This is the impossible reading of several Qq; F has rightly buoy’d.”

1929 trav

trav:

3175 Travers (ed. 1929): This narrative of Ophelia’s end has sometimes been criticized as if it were evidence at law (e.g. Why did not whoever was present make some effort at least to save her?). Others have thought its length and ‘fantastic’ elaborateness significant of the speaker’s lack of real feeling. But is it not, pretty obviously, the poet’s ‘sweets to the sweet," to use the Oueen’s phrase in V,i, 242 [3435]? When ingenuously taken as such, its exquisitely pathetic beauty, not wholly of this world, will probably prevail over any considerations of actual likelihood or a priori canons of literary taste.”

1980 pen2

pen2 ≈ standard

3174 lay] Spencer (ed. 1980): “song.”

1984 chal

chal : standard

3174 lay]

1985 cam4

cam4 ≈ v1877 w/o attribution

3174 wretch]

1992 fol2

fol2≈ standard

3174 lay]

1993 dent

dent ≈

3174 lay] Andrews (ed. 1993): “Here the liquids ((‘l’-sounds)) in the Queen’s description evoke the element in which Ophelia sang her last ‘Lay’ ((song)).”