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.

1826 sing1

sing1

3334-5 Of . . . Fortenbrasse] Singer (ed. 1826): “Look you, here’s a skull hath been here this dozen year , let me see, ay, ever since our last King Hamlet slew Fortenbrasse in combat: young Hamlet’s father, he that’s mad]] Quarto of 1603. It will be seen that the poet places this event thirty years ago in the present copy. See the next note by Sir William Blackstone [see n. 3338 ].”

1856 sing2

sing2 = sing1

3334-5 Of . . . Fortenbrasse]

1872 cln1

cln1

3334-5 Of . . . Fortenbrasse] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “Compare [Rom. 1.3.16 (371-72)]: ‘Even or odd, of all days in the year, Come Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen.’”

1877 v1877

v1877 :≈ cln1 (minus Rom. quotation)

3334-5 Of . . . Fortenbrasse] Clark & Wright (apud Furness, ed. 1877): “Compare [Rom. 1.3.16 (371-72)].”

1885 macd

macd

3338 it . . . day] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “Then Fortinbras could have been but a few months younger than Hamlet, and may have been older. Hamlet then, in the Quarto passage, could not by tende mean young.”

1934 Wilson

Wilson

3334 Of the dayes] Wilson (1934, 2:248) characterizes the Q2 omission as “certainly omitted.”

1939 kit2

kit2

3334-5 Of . . . Fortenbrasse] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “See [1.1.80-95 (96-112)]; [1.2.17-25 (195-203)].”

1982 ard2

ard2 ≈ v1877 w/o attribution + [Rom. 1.3.26] //

3334-5 Of . . . Fortenbrasse]

1985 cam4

cam4 ≈ standard (Rom. //)

3334-5 Of . . . Fortenbrasse]

cam4 ≈ kit2 w/o attribution

3335 ouercame Fortenbrasse]

1987 oxf4

oxf4 : Rom //+

3334-5 Of . . . Fortenbrasse] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “The resemblance may be significant; for whether the words spring from the poet’s recalling his earlier tragedy or not, they lead into one of the most remarkable moments in the entire play, a powerful union of common experience and high art. The common experience is there in the common phrases: ‘Of all the days i’th’year’, ‘It was the very day’, and ‘man and boy, thirty years’. It is thus that we all remember things that happened in the past. But what do these expressions authenticate. The first takes us back to the beginning of the Hamlet saga and to the opening scene. Also the mention of old Fortinbras reminds us of the existence of young Fortinbras with whom the play will end. The second suggests that the paths of the Grave-digger and the Prince have been converging ever since Hamlet was born, even, perhaps, that the next grave to be dug will be Hamlet’s. And what of ‘man and boy, thirty years’? Like the other two expressions, it authenticates matter of the first importance: the detailed knowledge of dead bodies, including Yorick’s, which the Clown now displays, and thus provides the opening for a superb flash-back to Hamlet’s boyhood. The poet’s concern is not with arithmetic and Hamlet’s age, but with much larger matters.”