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Line 3512, etc. - 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. 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.

Notes for lines 2951-end ed. Hardin A. Aasand

For explanation of sigla, such as jen, see the editions bib.

3512 Ham. Vp from my Cabin,	5.2.12

3513 My sea-gowne scarft about me in the darke

1611 Cotgrave

Cotgrave

3513 sea-gowne] Cotgrave (1611, rpt. 1968, esclavine): “Esclavine: f. as. Esclamme; or a sea-gowne; or a coarse, high-collared, and short-sleeved gowne, reaching down to the mid-leg, and used most by sea-men, and saylors.”

1743 mF3

mF3

3513 scarft] Anon. (ms. notes in F3, 1734) : “Scarft tied with a scarf or shash. Fr. escarpe.”

1754 blair

blair

3513 scarft] Blair (ed. 1753, Glossary): “pieced or joined close together; a term used by the shipbuilders.”

1760 John2

John2

3513 scarft] Johnson (2nd ed. 1760, scarf): “s. [escharfe, French] Any thing that hangs loose upon the shoulders or dress. Shakespeare. Swift.”

mSTV1 Mss. notes by STEEVENS in v1773 (Folger Library)

mSTV1

3513 scarft] Steevens (ms. notes, ed. 1773): “thrown loosely on, like a scarf.”

1774 capn

capn

3513 scarft] Capell (1774:1:1:Glossary ) : scarft & skarfed or scarfed [MV a.s.? (0000)] ty’d about with a Scarf: also,— deck’d as with Scarfs, in full Trim. to scarf up (M. 40, 31.) bind up, bind with a Scarf. “

1791- rann

rann

3513 scarft] Rann (ed. 1791-) : “wrapped loosely.”

rann

3514 them] Rann (ed. 1791-) : “Ros. and Guil. “

1821 v1821

v1821: standard

3513 sea-gowne] Malone (apud Boswell, ed. 1821) : “This appears to have been the usual dress of seamen in Shakspeare’s time. So in the Puritan: ‘The excuse stuck upon my tongue like ship-itch upon a mariner’s gown .’ So also in Henslowe’s MSS. “Lent upon a sea-gowne of captain Swanes xvs.’ MALONE”

1822 Nares

Nares : standard (John?)

3513 scarft] Nares (1822; 1906): “To Scarf]] To wear loose uon the person, like a scarf. [cites Ham.]To cover up, as with a bandage: ‘Come, seeling night, Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day. [Mac. 3.1.?(0000)] See Johnson.”

1826 sing1

sing1 = v1821 ; Cotgrave

3513 sea-gowne] Singer (ed. 1826) : “Esclavine (says Cotgrave), a sea-gowne, a coarse high collar’d and shortsleeved gowne, reaching to the mid-leg, and used mostly by seamen and sailors.”

1832 cald2

Cald2 : v1821

3513 sea-gowne] Caldecott (ed. 1832): “‘Like sea pitch upoon a mariner’s gown.’ The Puritan.”

1854 del2

del2 : standard

3512 Vp from my cabin] Delius (ed. 1854) : “Hamlet knüpt diesen Satz a das vorhergehende rashly [3505] wieder an. Alles Dazwischenkommende war nur Parenthese, zu der in die nähere Erwägung der Vortheile solcher Vorschnelligkeit veranlasste.” [“Hamlet connects this line to the previous rashly again. All intervening lines were parenthetical, to which the closer consideration of advantage occasioned for him such rashness.”

del2 : standard

3513 sea-gowne] Delius (ed. 1854) : “Eien besonderes, bequemes Kostüm, das man auf Seereisen trug, kommt unter dem Namen sea-gown auch bei Sh.’s Zeitgenossen vor.” [“A special, appropriate costume which one wore on sea journeys appears under the name sea-gown in Shakespeare’s contemporaries.” ]

del2 : standard

3514 them] Delius (ed. 1854) : “d.h. Rosencrantz und Guildenstern, oder vielmehr ihr Vorhaben, wie aus had my desire sich deutlich ergiebt.” [“that is, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, or rather their intention, as had my desire clearly yields.”]

1856 sing2

sing2 = sing1

3513 sea-gowne]

1857 elze1

elze1: Nares

3513 scarft] Elze (ed. 1857, 250): <p. 250>"’To scarf’ erklärt Nares: to wear loose upon the person, like a scarf; to cover up, as with a bandage. Macb. III,1."

1858 col3

col3

3513 Collier (ed. 1858: Supplemental Notes [Vol. 1]) : “When Antonio, in Marston’s ‘Antonio and Mellida,’ Part I., enters disguised as a sailor, the stage-direction is, ‘Enter Antonio in his sea-gown.’”

1860 mHAL1

mHAL1: points to these lines on page 90[3512ff] of his Devonshire text of Q1/Q2 to show analogue between Q1’s [CLN 1809-17] and 3512ff. He has CLN 1809-17 on p.77.i of his text, which he marks “quite orig[ina]l”

1864-68 c&mc

c&mc ≈ standard

3513 scarft] Clarke (ed. 1864, Glossary): “Loosely wrapped.”

c&mc ≈ standard

3513 sea-gowne] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1864-68, rpt. 1874-78): “Cotgrave has: ’Esclavine: a sea-gowne; a coarse, high-collar’d and short-sleeved gowne, reaching to the mid-leg, and used mostly by seamen and sailors.’”

c&mc ≈ standard

3513-14 in . . . them] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1864-68, rpt. 1874-78): “The transposed construction here, the condensed brevity of the diction, the use of the pronoun ‘them’ in reference to the bearers of the packet (whom the reader as well as the hearer knows to be Rosencrantz and Guildenstern), all serve to indicate the breathless condition of the speaker when enacting that which he is now describing.”

1865 hal

hal : v1821 ; sing2

3513 sea-gowne] Halliwell (ed. 1865) : “Malone has told us that the sea-gown appears to have been the ususal dress of seamen in Shakspeare’s time; but not a word of what it was like. ‘Esclavine (says Cotgrave), a sea-gowne, a coarse high collar’d and shortsleeved gowne, reaching to the mid-leg, and used mostly by seamen and sailors.’—Singer.”

[Ed:While HAL credits Singer with this, it’s a bad paraphrase by HALLIWELL]

1869 tsch

tsch ≈ Johnson’s Dictionary ?[a loose translation?]

3513 sea-gowne] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “a mariner’s short-sleeved gown. Sam. Johns.”

1872 del4

del4 = del2

The only change in 1872’s rendition of all of 1854’s notes is the spelling of 1854’s Kostüm is now spelled Costüm for 3513

1872 cln1

cln1 : standard (HAL? SING2?)

3513 sea-gowne] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “Cotgrave says: ‘Esclavine . . . a sea-gown; or a course, high-collared, and short-sleeued gowne, reaching down eo the mid-leg, and vsed most by sea-men, and Saylors.’”

cln1

3513 scarft] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “Thrown on like a scarf, i.e. without putting the arms through the sleeves. Compare [Ado 2.1.197 (597-8)]: ‘About your neck, like an usurer’s chain? or under your arm, like a lieutenant’s scarf?’”

cln1 : Abbott

3514 find out them] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “‘Find out’ is here used as if it were a compound verb. Compare [Rom. 4.2.41 (2467) and [JC 1.3.134 (575)]: ‘Casius. Cinna, where haste you so? Cinna. To find out you.’ The objective personal pronoun is frequently placed after, and not before, the preposition which belongs to the verb. See Abbott §240. Modern usage only admits this order where the pronoun is emphatic.”

1872 hud2

hud2

3513 scarft about me] Hudson (ed. 1872): “Thrown, or gathered, loosely about me.”

1873 rug2

rug2

3511 Moberly (ed. 1873): “Horatio for once expresses a slight impatience, which cuts short Hamlet’s generalization.”

1874 Tyler

Tyler

3512-51 Vp . . . ordinant] Tyler(1874, p. 24): <p. 24> “Except at the time predestined for action, an invisible restraint keeps back Hamlet’s hand. When this restraint is removed there is no lack of decision. He can then suddenly leave his cabin the dark, with his ‘sea-gown scarf’d about him;’ can seize the ‘grand commission’ of Rosencrantz and Guyildenstern, and can at once devise and substitute a new commission, ordering the sudden death of the bearers, ‘not shriving time allowed.’ But there had been previously in his heart ‘a kind of fighting which would not let him sleep;’ and to the enterprise ‘was heaven ordinant’∗ [3521].”

<n>∗“The Quarto (1604) has ‘ordinant,’ the Folio ‘ordinate.’”</p. 24>

1877 v1877

v1877 : ≈ sing2 (minus MAL note)

3513 sea-gowne]

v1877 ≈ cln1 (minus Ado quotation)

3513 scarft] Clark & Wright (apud Furness, ed. 1877): “Thrown on like a scarf, i.e. without putting the arms through the sleeves. Compare [Ado 2.1.197 (597-8)].”

v1877 : ≈ cln1 (minus J.C. quotation)

3514 find out them] Clark & Wright (apud Furness, ed. 1877): “This is here used as if it were a compound verb. Comp. [Rom. 4.2.41 (2467)]; [JC 1.3.134 (575)]. The objective personal pronoun is frequently placed after, and not before, the preposition which belongs to the verb. Modern usage only admits this order when the pronoun is emphatic. See Abbott, §240.

3514 find out them] Furness (ed. 1877): “Also 2.2.150 [0000].”

1877 Gervinus

Gervinus

3512ff Gervinus (1877, pp. 578-9): <p. 578>“He [Hamlet] is brought to England by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. They carry with them a Urias-letter for his death, but they know it not. The open, upright Hamlet opens this letter, writes with feigned hand (an art he had practised in his youth) their names instead of his own, and thus these, the friends of the youth to whom, acccording to his mother’s evidence, he adhered more than to any other, fell into the same pit which was dug for Hamlet, but not by them. They ‘go to’t?’ asks his Horatio in reproachful surprise. But he lightly disregards this emotion of conscience; to dig a mine and pre-</p. 578> <p 579>pare a trip suit his nature better than the direct open deed; his ever ingenious head had alone to act here; to plant a countermine is to hima s easy as a clever idea; he rejoices inconsiderably and maliciously in these arts, praises himself for the quickness of his thought and the rapidity of its accomplishment, and sophistically sees God’s help in the prosperous success—he who would not see the many distinct intimations which pointed out to him his duty of revenge! thus then at last he himself reaches the same point of malice and cunning as his uncle, whose misdeeds he was called upon to revenge.” </p. 579>

1877 neil

neil

3513 sea-gowne scarft] Neil (ed. 1877, Notes): “a coarse, short-sleeved overcoat, commonly worn by sailors; flung on like a scarf (Norman-French escarfe) loosely, without putting the arms into the sleeves.”

1881 hud3

Hud3 = hud2

3513 scarft about me] Hudson (ed. 1881): “Thrown, or gathered, loosely about me.”

1883 wh2

wh2

3513 sea-gowne] White (ed. 1883): “a short, short-sleeved gown worn on shipboard.”

1885 macd

macd

3514 Gropt . . . them] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “Emphasize I and them, as the rhythm requires, and the phrase becomes picturesque.”

1889 Barnett

Barnett

3513 scarft] Barnett (1889, p. 62): <p. 62>“thrown round the neck like a scarf.” </p. 62>

Barnett

1890 irv2

irv2

3512ff`Marshall (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890, p. 21) : <p. 21>“[Hamlet] loses no time, according to the account he gives Horatio, in securing himself against the treachery of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and providing, most cleverly, for their substitution in his place as victims of the king’s treachery. When the pirates take posession of the ship, instead of philosophizing in the background, Hamlet is in the very front of the action, and so is taken prisoner. When Horatio tells him that the king must soon learn from england the trick that has been played him, Hamlet’s answer is, ‘The interval is mine.’ In fact, from being a man of mere words, he has now become a man of action. No doubt Shakespeare was indebted more or less to the old history of Hamlet, whether in the form of ap lay or in that of a story, for the incidents in the latter part of his own tragedy; but still we are justified in supposing that he adopted those incidents deliberately; for the design of the play shows far too much thought and care to admit of the theory that the character of Hamlet was not presented to his mind as a consistent whole, consistent in its very inconsistencies. It is true that Hamlet allows an interval, as it were, to take place in the fencing bout with Laertes; and that he treats Claudius, both in the hypocritical letter he sends him after being set on shore by the pirates, and throughout what may be called the prologue to the fencing scene, with an almost exaggerated courtesy. His innate aversion to open violence, which, as shown by his conduct to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, has been overcome so far that he does not mind shedding human blood by proxy, might have caused him still to delay his vengeance against his father’s murderer, had not the treachery practised towards himself driven him into sudden action.

“As to the objections which are so freely advanced against the slaughter-house aspect of the stage at the end of the play, I cannot but think that they are somewhat superficial; for surely the many deaths which are the result, partly of the crime of Claudius and Gertrude, and partly of Hamlet’s own irresolution, point sternly and appropriately the moral of the tragedy. Had Hamlet proceeded directly to the task imposed on him by his father’s spirit, many of th elived forfeited would have been spared, and he himself might have succeeded to the throne of Denmark; but is is the very essence of crimes, such as are portrayed in this play, that their consequences are far-reaching, and involve the lives of the innocent, as well as those of the guilty.” </p. 21>

irv2 ≈ v1877 w/o attribution

3513 sea-gowne] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890)

1899 ard1

ard1 ≈ v1877 (Singer def.) w/o attribution

3513 sea-gowne]

1906 nlsn

nlsn: standard

3513 scarft] Neilson (ed. 1906, Glossary)

1931 crg1

crg1 ≈ standard (cites Singer’s citation of Cotgrave; probably from ard1 w/o attribution)

3513 sea-gowne]

1934 cam3

cam3 : OED ; Cotgrave

3513 sea-gowne] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary)

1951 crg2

crg2=crg1

3513 sea-gowne]

crg2=crg1

1954 sis

sis

3512 Cabin] Sisson (ed. 1954, Glossary): “Den.”

1980 pen2

pen2 ≈ standard

3513 sea-gowne]

pen2

3513 scarft] Spencer (ed. 1980): “wrapped around me like a sash. He had not dressed properly, but merely put his gown around him without using the sleeves.”

pen2

3514 them] Spencer (ed. 1980): “(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern).”

1982 ard2

ard2 : Cotgrave : OED +

3513 sea-gowne] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “Dampier used his as a ‘covering in the night’ ((Voyages, II.1., p. 91; cited OED sea sb. 18j.)).”

ard2 ≈ standard

3513 scarft]

ard2 ≈ standard

3514 them]

1985 cam4

cam4 ≈ standard +

3513 sea-gowne] Edwards (ed. 1985): “a duffle-coat.”

1987 oxf4

oxf4 : Cotgrave ; OED

3513 sea-gowne] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “. . . a sea-gown was, according to Dampier, writing in 1699, a sailor’s ‘covering in the night’ ((OED sea sb. 18j)).”

oxf4 : oed

3513 scarft] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “loosely wrapped ((OED v. 1 2)).”

oxf4 : Abbott

3514 find out] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “For this treatment of find out as a single word see Abbott 240.”

oxf4

3514 them] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “i.e. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.”

oxf4 ≈ standard

3513 Larded]

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

3514 sea-gowne]

bev2: standard

3513 scarft]

1993 dent

dent : standard

3514 scarft]

1999 Dessen & Thomson

Dessen & Thomson

3513 sea-gowne] Dessen & Thomson(1999) find several SDs calling for seagowns, to help represent action taking place at sea.

2008 OED

OED ≈ standard

3513 scarft]OED v 2. To wrap (a garment) about or around a person in the manner of a scarf. Also transf. rare.