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Line 3454 - 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.

3454 Laer. The deuill take thy soule.	5.1.259

1875 Marshall

Marshall

3454-59 Marshall (1875, pp 98-9): <p. 98> “Maddened as Hamlet is by the sight of Laertes’ grief, he still retains sufficient command of himself to remonstrate with him. Immediately on his leaping into the grave, Laertes seizes him by the throat, exclaiming—’The devil take thy soul!’ Hamlet forbears, at first, to repel violence with violence. There is dignity as well as self-command in his answer—</p. 98> <p. 99>[cites 3455-59].

“He does not forget that Laertes is, after all, her brother; he does not at first struggle with him; he begs him to take his hand off him; for though he is not prone to violence, he has ‘something dangerous’ in him now. It would seem that Laertes, forgetting all but his hatred of Hamlet, would then and there have taken his revenge. The latter is driven to defend himself, and some of the courtiers are obliged to part the two. Hamlet’s blood is now up, and he flings away all concealment; [cites 3464-68] ” </p. 99>

1885 macd

macd

3454 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “[SD] —springing out of the grave and flying at Hamlet.”

1980 pen2

pen2 ≈ macd without attribution

3454 Spencer (ed. 1980): “Perhaps with this Laertes leaps out of the grave and flies at Hamlet. Before it, Q1 has the direction ‘Hamlet leapes in after Leartes’, but this turns Hamlet into the physical aggressor, ‘though the text (lines 256 and 259 [3456, 3459) indicates otherwise.”

1982 ard2

ard2: standard +

3454 grappling with him Jenkins (ed. 1982): “Q1 has the direction ‘Hamlet leapes in after Leartes’. This and the Elegy on Burbage ((‘Oft have I seen him leap into the grave’)) are evidence of what was done in performance. But Granville-Barker ((Prefaces, iii.162-3 II.) argues that the action requires Laertes, the aggressor, to come out of the grave rather than Hamlet to leap in. Moreover, attendants must be able to part them. Neither the text nor the pattern of the action assists those who would find here a symbolic burial and resurrection.”