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Line 3404 - 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.

3404 But soft, but soft {awhile,} <aside;> here comes the King, {Enter K. Q. }	5.1.217

1854 del2

del2

3404 SD] Delius (ed. 1854) : “Die Bühnenweisung ist modern und bedingt einen stattlicheren Leichenzug, als sich vielleicht mit den maimed rites, den verstümmelten Feierlichkeiten, über die Hamlet sich wundert, verträgt. Von den alten Ausgaben hat Q.A. die genueste Bühenweisung: Enter King and Queen, Laertes and other lords, with a Priest after the Coffin. Der Priester ist in den Qs. zu einem Doctor geworden, obwohl er auch dort mit Churlish priest angeredet wird.” [The stage direction is modern and implies a stately procession, except perhaps it is compatible with the maimed rites [See n. 3408], the mutilated funeral rites, over which Hamlet wonders. From the old editor, Q.A[Q1] has an exact stage direction: Enter King and Queen, Laertes and other lords, with a Priest after the Coffin. The priest becomes in the quartos a Doctor , although he will be addressed there with Churlish priest .[See n. 3431]]

1872 del4

del4 ≈ del2

3404 SD] Delius (ed. 1872) : “Die Bühnenweisung ist modern und bedingt einen stattlicheren Leichenzug, als sich vielleicht mit den maimed rites, den verstümmelten Feierlichkeiten, über die Hamlet sich wundert, verträgt. Von den alten Ausgaben hat Q.A. die genueste Bühenweisung: Enter King and Queen, Laertes and other lords, with a Priest after the Coffin. Der Priester ist in den Qs. zu einem Doctor geworden, obwohl er auch dort mit Churlish priest angeredet wird.” [The stage direction is modern and implies a stately procession, except perhaps it is compatible with the maimed rites [See n. 3408], the mutilated funeral rites, over which Hamlet wonders. From the old editor, Q.A[Q1] has an exact stage direction: Enter King and Queen, Laertes and other lords, with a Priest after the Coffin. The priest becomes in the quartos a Doctor , although he will be addressed there with Churlish priest .[See n. 3431]]

1882 elze2

elze2

3404 awhile] Elze (ed. 1882): “Stand by a while]] which reading may be taken to speak in favour of [F1] no less than in favour of [Q2]. A while is repeated five lines lower down.”

1916 Sh. Eng.

Simpson

3404 SD] Simpson (apud Sh. Eng, 1916: 2:271): <p. 271>“A fine effect intended by Shakespeare is similarly marred in the setting of Ophelia’s funeral (Ham. 5.1.239 (3404-08]). The [Q2] has the significant direction: [citesQ2]. Where in the modern rearrangement of editors and actors are the ‘maimed rites’ of which Hamlet expressly speaks?— [cites F1]. The stern and solitary figure of Shakspeare’s text, cutting short the last rites with ‘the bringing home of bell and burial’, deepens the pathos of Ophelia’s fate. The ‘Priests, &c’—’&c.’ means a crucifix, incense, and a choir of mutes—are clumsy intruders whom mere ignorance has foisted into the text.” </p. 271>

1934 Wilson

Wilson

3404 awhile] Wilson (1934, 2:265) awhile POPE; aside v1821, GLO, CAM1

Wilson

3404 awhile] Wilson (1934, 2:267): <p. 267> “The F1 ‘aside’ at 5.1.240, again, though accepted by nearly all editors is, I have already suggested [see n. 3153] , almost certainly a deliberate alteration by Scribe P.1” </p. 267>

1934 cam3

cam3 : ≈ Sh. Eng.

3404 SD] Wilson (ed. 1934): “The latter [F1 SD] was expanded by Capell and Malone to [cites SD] which all mod. edd. read, though it suggests candles, incense and the full Catholic ceremony, and thus flies in the face of Ham.’s talk of ‘maiméd rites’ [3408] immediately after (v. Sh. Eng. ii. 271). Moreover, instead of ‘Priests &c.’ Q2 gives us a single Protestant minister (v. note l. 220 [3415]). The Courtiers are mentioned by Ham. (l. 212 [3407]), and the ‘open coffin,’ required by l. 244 [3444], was the common if not the ususal practice of the time, the corpse being covered with a ‘sable cloth’ (cf. Knight of the Burning Pestle, 4.4.62 and above 4.5.164 ‘They bore him barefaced on the bier’).”

1939 kit2

kit2

3404 soft, soft] Kittredge (ed. 1936): “enough! hugh! cf. [1.1.126 (126)].”

1947 cln2

cln2

3404 here comes the King] Rylands (ed. 1947, Notes): “Q2 reads simply ‘Enter K.Q. Laertes and the corse.’ Modern editions and productions with their priests and processions and mourners and candles are misleading. Hamlet remarks on the ‘maimed rites’ which show that the dead took his or her life. The priest says that had not royal command overswayed the order of the Church she would have been buried in unsanctified ground. Although Ophelia is allowed her virgin garlands and the passing-bell, her burial is only less ‘obscure’ than that of her father, interred ‘in hugger-mugger.’ Q2 also heads the Priest’s speeches ‘Doct.’, i.e. a Doctor of Divinity in a black gown.”

1982 ard2

ard2

3404 SD] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “Q2’s attenuated direction is added in the right margin. It is left for Q1 to supply the necessary Priest. The corse of Q2, no doubt deriving from the text ((3409)), became a coffin in F and Q1 and hence evidently on the stage. In view of [3443] one cannot be certain this was Shakespeare’s intention. But see note there. Cf. Greg, SFF[The Shakesepare First Folio], p. 323.”

1984 chal

chal : //

3404 soft] Wilkes (ed. 1984): cites 1.1.136 //

1985 cam4

cam4 ≈

3404 But . . . awhile] Edwards (ed. 1985): “Q2 has ‘but soft awhile’. Hamlet has obvious reasons for moving aside and choosing his own time to confront the king. ‘soft!’ urges caution; see note to 3.1.88.”

cam4: Dover Wilson (WHH)

3404 SD] Edwards (ed. 1985): “Q2 gives us ‘the corse’ rather than a coffin, and neither text provides the priest. The latter is ‘Doct.’ in Q2 speech headings. Dover Wilson argues that Shakespeare had in mind a Protestant ‘Doctor of Divinity’ ((What Happens in ‘Hamlet’, p. 69)).”

1987 oxf4

oxf4

3404 awhile] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “aside]] stand aside. This F reading is preferred to Q2’s awhile because the centre of the stage must be left clear for the procession.”

oxf4

3404 SD] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “Neither the direction in Q2 nor that in F is adequate, since both omit the Priest or, as he is called in his speech prefixes in Q2, Doct., standing, presumably, for ‘Doctor of Divinity’. Q1 is far more satisfactory because it provides all the essential information, with a single exception: it does not make clear whether the Priest is of the Roman Catholic or of the Protestant persuasion. Not that it matters much which church Shakespeare had in mind, since he clearly intended the funeral to be shockingly bare of ceremony. Hamlet notices at once that the rites are maimèd; and Laertes is outraged by the truncated nature of the proceedings.”