Line 3457 - 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.”
7. Further information: See the Introduction for explanations of other abbreviations.
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Notes for lines 2951-end ed. Hardin A. Aasand
| 3457 {For} <Sir> though I am not spleenatiue <and> rash, | 5.1.261 |
|---|
1656 Blount
Blount
3457 spleenatiue] Blount (1656; rpt. 1969, splenetick): “Splenetick (spleneticus) sick in the Splene, or troubled with the Splene, that hath a great Splene; also cholerick or angry.”
1676 Cole
Cole : Blount
3457 spleenatiue] Cole (1676, rpt. 1971, Splenetick): “troubled in the Splene, the milt under the left short-ribs, purging the Liver of superfluous Melancholy bloud.”
1755 Johnson
Johnson
3457 spleenatiue] Johnson (1755, splenitive): “adj. [from spleen] Hot; fiery; passionate. Not in use. [cites Hamlet].”
1774 capn
capn
3457 spleenatiue] Capell (1774, 1:1:Glossary): Spleen [Jn 2.1.68, 448; 4.3.97; 5.7.50 (362, 762, 2099, 2660). 1H6 [4.6.13 (2184)]. 1H4 5.2.19(2801) Haste, Haste in Excess: also,—a hasty Humour. ‘in a Spleen; MND [1.1.146 (156)] is a particular Phrase, expressing—the quickest Motion imaginable. spleeny H8 splenitick likewise; but in it’s proper Sense, i.e. hasty, passionate. “
1822 Nares
Nares: Johnson; capn without attribution +
3457 spleenatiue] Nares (1822; 1906): “Spleen]]. s. Violent haste. As spleen, or anger, produces hasty movements, so Shakespeare has used it for hasty action of any kind. This is given as the 5th sense in Johnson, but is no longer in use. [cites MND 1.1.146 (156); Jn. 2.1.148(762) & 5.7.50 (2660)] These instances show sufficiently that Shakespeare intended the word to bear this sense; but we do not find it so used by other writers. In the following example it seems to mean any sudden movement of the mind: ‘And live sequestered to yourself and me, Not wandring after every toy comes cross you, Nor struck with every spleen. [B & F Woman Pleas’d, i.2.]
1843 col1
col1:
3457 For . . . not] Collier (ed. 1843) : “The folio reads, ‘Sir, though I am not.’ No doubt the compositor mistook the f for a long s, and hence the error.”
1853 coln
coln
3457 spleenatiue rash]
Collier (1853 [2nd ed.], p. 445): <p. 445> [Referring to his forgery:] “Instead of ‘splenetive and rash,’ the correction is ‘
splenetic and rash;’ but as ‘Sir’ at the beginning of the line is not altered to
For, we may be disposed to conclude that ‘Sir’ is right.”
1864 ktly
ktly
3457 spleenatiue] Keightley (ed. 1864 [1866]: Glossary):”spleen]] hurry, or tumultuous speed.”
1869 Romdahl
Romdahl
3457 spleenatiue]
Romdahl (1869, p. 42): <p. 42>“
Splenetive for splenetic is not elsewhere found in Sh.” </p. 42>
1870 Miles
Miles
3457-8 Miles (1870, p. 77): <p.77>“Just as Hamlet’s exact mental condition was determined by the line of light, ‘That I
essentially am not in madness But mad in craft:—’ so in this scene, the essence of his character is revealed by another flash of discriminating genius: [cites 3457-8].”</p.77>
1872 cln1
cln1
3457 spleenatiue] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “Shakespeare uses ‘spleeny,’ [H8 3.2.99 (1956)]; and ‘spleenful, [Tit. 2.3.191 (940)], in the same sense. The spleen was supposed to be the seat of anger. Compare [1H4 5.2.19 (2801)]: ‘A hare-brained Hotspur, govern’d by a spleen.’”
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>
v1877 : Walker (vol. 2: 290)
3457 For]
Furness (ed. 1877): “See
Walker (
Crit. ii, 290) on the confounding of
Sir for
for, in the Folio.”
v1877 ≈ cln1 (minus 1H4 quotation)
3457 spleenatiue]
1877 neil
neil ≈ cln1 w/o attribution?
3457 spleenatiue] Neil (ed. 1877, Notes): “fretful, peevish, fiery, passionate. The spleen was anciently regarded as the seat of anger. See [MND 1.1.146 (156); 1H4 5.2.19 (2801); Shr. 3.2.10 (1398)].”
1877 Gervinus
Gervinus
3457-8 For . . .
dangerous]
Gervinus (1877, p. 561): <p. 561>“In violent passion with Laertes, Hamlet says of himself that he is not ‘splenetive and rash,’ yet he has in him somethig dangerous, which the wisdom of his enemy may fear. This ‘something dangerous’ is his sensitive excitability, which originates in a heated imagination, and which supplies this passive nature with a goad for defence and a weapon for assault, but only at a moment of extreme necessity. For this very imagination is the source also of Hamlet’s faintheartedness, and of his anxious uneasinesa and weakness; it is a psychological circle, only too often verified by human nature. For this one source there springs among whole nations, as Montesquieu has observed—among the old Iberians and Indians for instance—the same mixture of mildness combined with exaggerated energy under provocation; the sensitiveness of their organisation, which causes them to fear death, causes them to fear a thousand things still more than death; the same susceptibility leads them to flee from danger, and to scorn it when compelled to face it. Thus is it with Hamlet. His busy imagination suggests to him a condition with its fearful and remotest results; he seems himself surrounded by dangers and snares, and seeks to obviate them with elaborate preparation.” </p. 561>
1882 elze2
elze2
3457 spleenatiue] Elze (ed. 1882): “It is mere guess-work to say, how the poet may have spelt this word; spleenatiue looks like the mispronunciation of illiterate persons.”
1883 wh2
wh2: standard
3457 spleenatiue] White (ed. 1883): “filled with spleen; of old the supposed cause of anger.”
1889 Barnett
Barnett: standard
3457 spleenatiue]
Barnett (1889, p. 61): <p. 61> “
given to anger.” </p. 61>
1899 ard1
ard1 ≈ cln1 (only 1H4 //)
3457 spleenatiue]
1905 rltr
rltr
3457 spleenatiue] Chambers (ed. 1905): “passionate.”
1906 nlsn
nlsn: standard
3457 spleenatiue] Neilson (ed. 1906, Glossary)
3457 rash] Neilson (ed. 1906, Glossary)
1914 Stewart
Stewart
3456-9 Stewart (1914, p. 222): <p. 222>“Hamlet does not even offer combat when the enraged Laertes grasps him by the throat; he says rather: ‘I prithee, take thy fingers from my throat, For, though I am not splenetive and rash, Yet have I in me something dangerous,Which let thy wiseness fear. Away thy hand.’
“The ‘something’ is desperation, not anger. There is here something of the benign attitude of Romeo toward Paris when he was himself on the point of suicide, ‘Good, gentle youth, tempt not a desperate man.’ All this is very natural and consistent. Hamlet is stung to desperation, and he regards Laertes’ high-sounding sorrow as a mere travesty in the light of his own deeper pain; but yet he has no personal feeling against him.
“It is a theory which persists from one generation to another that Hamlet has continued to love Ophelia and that he is affected by his present love for her at the grave. In this case we could wish not only that Shakespeare had referred to such a state of affairs during all the interim, but that be would give some hint of it here.”</p. 222>
1925 Kellner
Kellner
3457 For]
Kellner (1925, p. 66): <p. 66>“
Sir]] Thus F. Read, with Qq,
For.”</p. 66>
[HA:This is predicated on Kellner’s belief that “i” is mistaken for “o”]
1931 crg1
crg1 ≈ standard
3457 spleenatiue]
1934 Wilson
Wilson
3457 spleenatiue rash] Wilson (1934, 2:248) characterizes the Q2 omission of this F1 variant as “certainly omitted.” </p. 248>
1934a cam3
cam3 : standard
3457 spleenatiue] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary)
3457 rash] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary)
1939 kit2
kit2
3455-59 Kittredge (ed. 1939): “Hamlet’s calmness is not self-possession, but violent self-restraint in the attempt to be calm.”
3457 spleenatiue] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “Synonymous: ‘excitable and quick-tempered.’ Cf. [Rom. 3.1.162-63 (1601)]: ‘Could not take truce with the unruly spleen Of Tybalt deaf to peace.’ The spleen was regarded as the seat of any sudden fit of wrath, laughter, or excitement.”
kit2 ≈ standard
3457 rash] Kittredge (ed. 1939, Glossary):
3457 spleenatiue] Kittredge (ed. 1939, Glossary):
1938 parc
parc ≈ standard
3457 spleenatiue]
1947 cln2
cln2 ≈ standard
3457 spleenatiue]
1951 alex
alex ≈ standard
3457 spleenatiue] Alexander (ed. 1951, Glossary, spleen)
3457 rash] Alexander (ed. 1951, Glossary)
1951 crg2
crg2=crg1
3457 spleenatiue]
3457 spleenatiue] Craig (ed. 1954, Glossary, spleen)
1954 sis
sis ≈ standard
3457 spleenatiue] Sisson (ed. 1954, Glossary, spleented, spleeny, splenitive):
1957 pel1
pel1 : standard
3457 spleenatiue]
1970 pel2
pel2=pel1
3457 spleenatiue]
1974 evns1
evns1 ≈ standard
3457 spleenatiue]
1980 pen2
pen2 ≈ standard
3457 spleenatiue]
1982 ard2
ard2 ≈ standard +
3457 spleenatiue] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “[JC 4.3.47 (2020)].”
1984 chal
chal : OED
3457 spleenatiue] Wilkes (ed. 1984): "’of a hot or hasty temper’ OED.’"
1985 cam4
cam4 ≈ standard
3457 spleenatiue]
1987 oxf4
oxf4 ≈ standard
3457 spleenatiue]
1992 fol2
fol2≈ standard
3457 spleenatiue]
1993 dent
dent ≈ contra standard
3457 spleenatiue] Andrews (ed. 1989): “Hamlet uses the adjective splenitive to refer to the kind of passion that was thought to derive from the spleen, the seat of the impulsive emotions. The Folio adds an and before Rash to yield a metrically regular line, and modern editors normally follow suit. It may be, however, that Shakespeare deliberately inserted a short line here in keeping with the short-tempered rashness Hamlet describes.”
1998 OED
OED
3457 spleenatiue] OED. splenative, a. Obs. 2. Spleenful; of a hot or hasty temper. 1593 NASHE Christ’s T. To Rdr., Into some spleanatiue vaines of wantonnesse..haue I foolishlie relapsed. 1602 SHAKS. Ham. V. i. 284 Though I am not Spleenatiue, and rash, Yet haue I something in me dangerous. [etc.]
3457