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Line 3435 - Commentary Note (CN) More Information

Notes for lines 2951-end ed. Hardin A. Aasand
For explanation of sigla, such as jen, see the editions bib.
3435 Quee. Sweets to the sweet, farewell, 34355.1.243
1817 Hazlitt
Hazlitt
3435-38 Quee. Sweets . . . graue] Hazlitt (1817, p. 111): <p. 111> “Nothing can be more affecting or beautiful than the Queen’s apostrophe to Ophelia on throwing flowers into the grave. [cites 3435-38]
“Shakespear was thoroughly a master of the mixed motives of human character, and he here shews us the Queen, who was so criminal in some respects, not without sensibility and affection in other relations of life.—Ophelia is a character almost too exquisitely touching to be dwelt upon. Oh rose of May, oh flower too soon faded! Her love, her madness, her death, are described with the truest </p. 111> <p. 112>touches of tenderness and pathos. It is a character which nobody but Shakespear could have drawn in the way that he has done, and to the conceptionof which there is not even the smallest approach, except in some of the old romantic ballads.” </p. 112>
1845 gents
Mitford
3435 Mitford (1845, pp. 129-30): <p. 129>“See Theod. Prodromi Rhod. et Dosiclis Amor, p. 322, ed. Gaulmin. ‘H gr t kritton ¥xion t÷n kreittwn .’ </p. 129> <p. 130>
“Jameson’s Popular Ballads, vol. I. p. 30, ‘Willie’s ta’en a rose out o’ his hat, Laid it in Annie’s lap, The bonniest to the bonniest fa’s, Hae wear it for my sake.’
“[Rom. 5.3.12 (2864)] ‘Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew.’
“Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntingdon, p. 56, ‘Look how my flower holds flowers in her hands, And flings those sweets upon my sleeping son.’” </p. 130>
1854 del2
del2
3435 Sweets] Delius (ed. 1854) : “sweets, eigentlich Wohlgerüche, sind hier die duftenden Blumen, welche die Königin ‘der Süssen,’ d.h. der Ophelia, auf das Grab streut.” [sweets, particularly scents or fragrants, are here the fragrant flowers, which the queen strews on the grave ‘of the sweet’, that is, Ophelia.]
1869 tsch
tsch
3435 Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “Dass nur duftende Blumen bei Bestattungen verwendet wurden, ist zu [[4.5.37]] bemerkt worden; auch bei Vermählungen übte man den Brauch des Blumenstreuens.” [That only the fragrant flowers would be used at the burial has been observed at [[4.5.37]]; even at a marriage, one practices the custom of strewing flowers.]]
1872 del4
del4 = del2
3435 Sweets]
1882 elze2
elze2
3435 farewell] Elze (ed. 1882): “Farewell Ophelia]] For the addition of the name Ophelia, which completes the line, I must answer. See notes on § 59 [918], 62 [972], 172 [2745] and 195 [can not find corresponding note here]. Compare Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare-Gesellschaft, XVI, 229.”
1885 macd
macd
3435 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “I am not sure the queen is not apostrophizing the flowers she is throwing into or upon the coffin: ‘sweets, be my farewell to the sweet.’”
1974 evns1
evns1
3435 Sweets] Evans (ed. 1974): “flowers.”
1992 fol2
fol2≈ standard
3435
1993 dent
dent
3435 Andrews (ed. 1993): “sweet flowers to the sweet soul.”
3435