Notes for lines 2951-end ed. Hardin A. Aasand
| 3572 <To quit him with this arme? And is’t not to be damn’d> | 5.2.68 |
|---|
3573 <To let this Canker of our nature come>
3574 <In further euill.>
1580 Barrett
Barrett
3573 Canker] Barrett (1580, canker, #56): “a worme that creepeth upon herbes, and commonly eateth coleworts. Eruca, cæ, f. gen. pen. prod. Col. [kampa] . . . “
1668 Skinner
Skinner
3573 Canker] Skinner (1668, canker): “canker]] It. Canchero, Fr. G. Chance, vulgò quodvis Ulcus exedens seu ‘eqi_menon, præsertim si phlegmone obsessum sit, propriè autem & primitivè, ut ipse sonus docet, Cance. Videtur etiam vulgò interdum Gangrænam significare, & tum, ni fallor, Gangræna ortum ducit.”
mTBY2 1723-33? ms. notes in POPE1
mTBY2
3572 this arme]Thirlby (ms. notes in Pope, ed. 1723 [1723-33?]): “R[owe] his arm f. errore lrvp[?] aliter fsqlhis own [his arm probably an error in the received reading otherwise his own] but w[ha]t can be the authority of R[owe]. This verse is not in Q[2] nor D[Q3].”
3573-74 come In] Thirlby (ms. notes in Pope, ed. 1723 [1723-33?]): “ fsql. com[m]it pro come in. [perhaps commit for come in]. But then w[ha]t will become of the meter. n.b. PS They come in no misfortune like other folks.”
1760 Johnd2
Johnd2
3573 Canker] Johnson (2nd ed. 1760) : “s [cancer, Lat.].”
1765 JOHN1
JOHN1
3572 To quit] Johnson (ed. 1765) : “To requite him; to pay him his due.”
1765- mDavies
mDavies:
3572-4] And . . . euill] Davies (ms. notes in Johnson, ed. 1765): “——It is surely a damnable crime to suffer this vile Man to go on then from crime to crime—
He then discusses the passage, beginning by harking back to Hamlet’s comment in the prayer scene, “This would be scan’d—” (actually, “That would be scann’d” TLN 2352) BWK:
“The Advocates for unlimited obedience will on no account whatever permit resistance to Authority—Oh yes in cases of lawful succession, where that is interrupted by Treason & Usurpation, the Traiter & Usurper may be taken off by a superior force—or by cunning & stratagem
“But a monster of wickedness such as Caligula or a Nero must not be destroyed either by open force or private conspiracy because they are lawful Princes—Though ye mischiefs arising from ye suffering a Nero to reign are infinitely greater than any calamities occasioned by breaking the order of succession. “
(This is mJOHNc.7 anon. annotator)This Another of the annotator’s thoughts that straddles aTory position rather uncomfortably (or so it seems to me) comments on Hamlet’s self-justification to Horatio about quitting Claudius: The annotator paraphrases TLN 3572-4:
—And is it not to be damned
To let this canker of our nature come
In farther evil?— (opp. 8. 295)
1773 v1773
v1773 = JOHN1
3572 To quit]
1778 v1778
v1778 = v1773
3572 To quit]
1784 Davies
Davies : mDavies (modified)
3572-4]
And . . . euill]
Davies (1784, 3:138-9) : <p. 138> “
Is’t not to be damn’d, To let this canker of our nature come To farther evil?]] That is: ‘Would it not be an unpardonable crime, to suffer this villain, the destroyer of the human species, to proceed in his wickedness, and go on, unpunished, from crime to crime?’ </p. 138>
<p. 139> “The advocates for passive and unlimited obedience will on no account permit resistance to authority.—’What?’ you will say, ‘on no acccount whatever?’—”O yes! in the case of lawful succession, where that is interrupted by violence or treachery, as in the case of Hamlet: there, indeed, the usurper may be destroyed, by superior power or wily stratagem.’—So then, it seems, from this mode of arguing, that the interest of one man and his family is of more importance to society than that of millions!” </p. 139>
1784 ays1
ays1 = v1778 w/o attribution
3572 To quit]
1785 v1785
v1785 = v1778
3572 To quit]
1787 ann
ann = v1785
3572 To quit]
1790 MAL
MAL = v1785
3572 To quit]
1791- Rann
RANN
3572 To quit] Rann (ed. 1791-) : “To requite, be quits with him.”
3573-4 come In further euill] Rann (ed. 1791-) : “proceed from crime to crime with impunity”
1793 v1793
v1793 = MAL
3572 To quit]
1803 v1803
v1803 = v1793
3572 To quit]
v1803 = v1793 + magenta underlined
1805 Seymour
Seymour
3573 this Canker of our nature come]
Seymour (1805, 2:202) : <p. 202> “Hotspur calls K. Henry the Fourth, ‘This canker, Bolingbroke.’ [
1H4 1.3.176 (500)].” </p. 202>
1819 CALD1
cald1
3572 To quit] Caldecott (ed. 1819) : “Requite. See MM 5.1.? (0000). Duke”
3573-4 come In further euill] Caldecott (ed. 1819) “Grow to a greater head, and work further injury.”
1821 v1821
v1821 = v1813
3572 To quit]
v1821
3572 To quit] Boswell (ed. 1821, 21:Glossary): “requite.”
1832 CALD2
CALD2 = CALD1
3572 To quit]
CALD2 = CALD1 + magenta underlined
3573-4 come In further euill]
Caldecott (ed. 1832) :
“It was the phraseology of the day and the author. See ‘tying rare qualities in a stranger’ or unknown person. [Oth. 1.1.? (0000) Rod].”
1833 valpy
valpy ≈ standard
3572 To quit] Valpy (ed. 1833): “Requite.” i.e. make account of, value.”
[1839] KNT1
knt1
3577ff] Knight (ed. [1839]) closes his text with some general commentary on scenes from this play. He refers to this moment as one of Hamlet’s moments of decision: “In actions that appear indirectly to advance the execution of the great ‘commandment’ that was laid upon him, he has decision and alacrity enough. His relation to Horatio (we are somewhat anticipating of his successful device against Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, would appear to come from a man who is all will. His intellectual activity revels in the telling of the story. Coleridge has admirably ointed out in ‘The Friend,’ how ‘the circumstances of time and place are all stated with equal compression and rapidity;’ but still, with the relater’s general tendency to generalise. The event has happened, and Hamlet does not think too precisely of its consequences. The issue will be shortly known. [TLN 3577-3579]. This looks like decision, growing out of the narrative of the events in which Hamlet had exhibited his decision. But even in his own account, the beginning of this action was his ‘indiscretion,’ proceeding from sudden and indefinable impulses:—’Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting/That would not let me sleep.’ [TLN 3503ff] Wonderfully, indeed has Shakspere managed to follow the old history—’How Fengon devised to send Hamlet to the king of England, with secret letters to have him put to death, and how Hamlet when his companions slept, read the letters, and instead of them, counterfeited others, willing the king of England to put the two messengers to death,’—without destroying the unity of his own conception of Hamlet.”
1843 COL1
COL1 ≈ v1821 without attribution
3572 To quit]
COL1≈SING1 without attribution
3582 count his fauours] Collier (ed. 1843) : “Rowe reads court for ‘count,’ with considerable plausibility; however,’count’ may be the word in the sense of count upon.”
1844 verp
verp = COL1 w/o attribution ; ≈ SING1
3582 count his fauours]
Verplanck (ed. 1844): “[cites COL1 w/o attribution]
or as Singer interprets, ‘make account of his good-will.’”
1844 DYCEN1
DYCEN1 : COL1
3582 count his fauours]
Dyce (1844, p. 219) : <p. 219>“ ‘Rowe reads
court for ‘count,’ with considerable plausibility; however, ‘count’ may be the word in the sense of
count upon.’
Collier
“So also Messrs. Malone and Knight.
“I have no doubt that Rowe gave what Shakespeare wrote. Steevens’s defence of ‘count’ (in reply to M. Mason) is a beautiful specimen of trifling.” </p. 219>
1854 DEL2
DEL2 : standard
3572 To quit] Delius (ed. 1854) : “to quit, eigentlich quitt machen,=vergelten.”[“to make even in particular, to repay, requite.”]
3578-9 Then to say one ] Delius (ed. 1854) : “Mit einem Menschenleben ist est so schnell vorber, wie man Eins zählt.” [ “With a man’s life it is so quickly along, as one counts to one.” ]
3582 The Portraiture of his] Delius (ed. 1854) : “Wie Hamlet einen Vater zu rächen hat, so auch Horatio.” [ “As Hamlet has to avenge a father, so also Horatio [sic]”
[Ed: It’s clear DELIUS means Laertes for Horatio here in this note 3582.]
3582 count his fauours] Delius (ed. 1854) : court ist eine Emendation Rowe’s für die alte Lesart count, was bedeuten würde: ich will seine Gunst schätzen. Da aber in den alten Drucken r und n sehr häufig verwechselt werrden, hat das deutlichere court grosse Wahrscheinlichkeit für sich: ich will mich um seine Gunst bemühen. To court ist ungefähr, was eben vorher (vgl. Anm. 25.) to make loue hiess. [“court is Rowe’s emendation for the old reading of count , which would mean: I will appreciate his favor. But then in the old print the r and n become very frequently confused, the common court has great probability for it: I desire to endeavor for his favor. To court is approximate, which names even before (see note 25 and the idea of R&G “making love to their employment”) to make love .”]
1855 Wade
Wade
3579-84 Wade (1855, p. 28): <p. 28> “Thus does Hamlet start away from consideration of the main business of his earthly being!—thus instinctively does he shrink from setting foot upon even the mere threshold of action!” </p. 28>
1856 HUD1 (1851-6)
HUD1 = SING1 without attribution
3582 count his fauours]
1856b SING2
SING2
3582 count his fauours] Singer (ed. 1856) : “The folio has, “I’ll count his favours.’ Rowe corrected it.”
[Ed: SINGER has opted for Rowe’s emendation in 1856, quite to the contrary of his Ff reading in 1826. This note reflects his changed attitude towards the folio. see his 1826 note above in which he criticizes Rowe’s emendation.]
1857 DYCE1
DYCE1 : COL2; mCOL1
3572 To quit] Dyce (ed. 1857) : “Mr. Collier’s Ms. Corrector reads ‘To quit him with his own?’ see Mr. Collier’s one-volume Shakespeare .”
3582 count his fauours] Dyce (ed. 1857) : “I’ll court his favours]] Rowe’s correction.—The folio has ‘Ile count his fauours ,’ &c.—From ‘To quite him with this arm’ in the preceding speech but one to ‘Peace! who comes here/’ inclusive, is not in the quartos.”
1857 ELZE1
ELZE1= JOHN1
3572 To quit]
elze1 : ROWE ; THEO
3582 court]
Elze (ed. 1857, 252): <p. 252>"
court]]So hat Rowe richtig emendirt und Theobald u.A. sind ihm gefolgt, während die Drucke lesen: I’ll count his favours." ["So ROWE properly emended it and Theobald and others followed him, while the printed text reads: ’I’ll count his favours.’"]
1858 COL3
COL3 : standard
3572 To quit] Collier (ed. 1858) : “i.e. To quite or requite him. From this line until the entrance of Osrick is only in the folio impressions.”
3572 To quit] Collier (2nd ed. 1858: 6: Glossary): “to requite, to repay.”
COL3
3582 court] Collier (ed. 1858) : “Rowe reads ‘court,’ for count of the 4tos. and folios, and most likely he was right, though in our former edition we were too unwilling to abandon the old copies here.” I’m not sure what Collier means here, since COL2 does in fact follow ROWE through the medium of mCOL1 to read court .
1859 STAU
STAU: standard
3582 count his fauours] Staunton (ed. 1859) : “I’ll court his fauours]] A correction due to Rowe; the folio, in which alne the speech is found, reading, “Ile count his favours,”
1860 Walker
Walker
3577-78 Ham. It . . .
one]
Walker (1860, 3:272-3): <p. 272>“Arrange and write, with the folio (p. 259 or 279, col.2), except that the folio has
a mans life’s 10 for
a mans life, and points differently, though without implying any difference in the sense,— </p. 272><p. 273>‘It will be short: The interim’s mine; and a man’s life no more Than to say one.’ (Or possibly, ‘a man’s
life’s no more,’ &c.) Herrick, Hesperides, Clarke, vol. ii. p. 217, cccclxxxix. (Purgatory.)— ‘In th’interim she desires That your tears may cool her fires.’ Is this right, and was
intérim the common pronunciation? If so, we must write in (
JC 2.I.64-5 [685-6])— ‘——all
th’ interim is Like a phantasma,’ &c.
Interim in Hamlet, like
quietus, is printed in italics in the folio.
”</p. 273>
<p. 273><n>10 Lettsom (apud Walker, 1860, 3:272, n. 10): “Walker was misled here by the reprint of the first folio, which has this error; the original has, ‘a mans life’s,’ confirming Walker’s conjecture below. So, too, the subsequent folios, and the earlier editors, most of whom arrange as the folio. Mr. Dyce and Mr. Knight aso read man’s life’s, but the Vulgate, the Var. 1821, and some recent editions, read, I know not why, ‘man’s life.’”</n></p. 273>
3582 Ile count his fauours] Walker (1860, 3:273): “Carew, Clarke, p. 113,— ‘While Delphic priests, enlighten’d by their theme, In amorous numbers count thy golden beam.’ Of course, court.
3582 Ile count his fauours]
Lettsom (
apud Walker, 1860, 3:273): <p. 273>“The erratum in Carew is found in ed. 1640.”</p. 273>
[Ed: This note by Lettsom is a parenthetical annotation of Walker’s previous note on Carew.]
1860- mWHITE
mWHITE
3577-78 Ham. It . . . one] White (ms. notes in Walker, 1860, 3:272, n. 10): “Not in Qq.” [referring, presumbly to 3572ff]
3578 mans life’s] White (ms. notes in Walker, 1860, 3:272, n. 10): “1803.” [Referring presumably to a1803 reprint of the Folio in Lettsom’s note.]
[Ed: White also adds the name “V.Clarke” to refer to the editor of the 1640 edition of Carew cited by Walker at 3582.]
1864b KTLY
KTLY : standard
3573 Canker] Keightley (ed. 1864 [1866]: Glossary): “the canker-rose, dog-rose, or hip.”
3582 fauours] Keightley (ed. 1864 [1866]: Glossary): “countenance.”
1864-68 C&MC
C&MC ≈ standard
3572 To quit] Clarke (ed. 1864, Glossary)
3582 count] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1864-68, rpt. 1874-78): “Rowe and others altered ‘count’ to ‘court;’ but it appears to us that ‘I’ll count his favours’ is a following up of the previous sentence, and means, ‘I’ll reckon up the favourable points of his cause.’ Hamlet has been enumerating all the grounds of his own injuries received from his uncle, and will count those which Laertes has undergone as those which favourably plead for him—his father killed, his sister deranged and destroyed, himself insulted.”
3583-84 Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1864-68, rpt. 1874-78): “The manly regret for his late violence to Lartes, the generous allowance he makes for the young man’s resentment against himself, together with this recurrence to the excusing cause of his own indignation, expressed in confidence to his bosom-friend Horatio, form beautifully characteristic touches of Hamlet’s disposition; and at the same time tend strongly to confute the (to our mind) unsound theory that he is really insane. Through all the agitated account of the counter-plot on board ship there is visible a collected mind, with a rational and vindicated course of procedure; while this summing-up of the confidence reposed in his friend by self-rebuke, and by mentioning his ‘towering passion’ as a thing of the past, bespeak a temper capable of cool reflection and staid introspection. It is observable that Hamlet never once here alludes to the lost Ophelia, even though he is pouring out his thoughts to hi s faithful and cherished friend. The fact is, as it appears to us, that Hamlet said the truth in its sad and full extent, when he told her, ‘I did love you once.’ See Note 26, Act iii [1770]. He loved her passionately, intensely, with all the warmth and earnestness of his intense nature, but this was while he believed her guileless, artless, incapable of caprice or inconstancy. When he finds her, as he thinks (unknowing that it is from her father’s and brother’s instigation), capable of rejecting him without apparent cause, his love for her is crushed and buried within his own heart; and he allows it to lie there extinct, speaking of it as dead and gone, acquiescing, moreover, in the necessity forced upon him by fate of including it among those ‘trivial fond records’ which he had vowed to ‘wipe away from the table of’ his ‘memory,’ when binding himself to his vowed duty of avengement.”
1866a DYCE2
DYCE2 ≈ DYCE1
3572 To quit]
DYCE2 : WALKER
3577 It will short] Walker (apud Dyce,ed. 1866) : “Arrange and write, with the folio, ‘It will be short: The interim’s mine; and a man’s life’s no more Than to say one.’ Walker’s Crit. Exam.&c. vol. iii. p. 272”
DYCE2 ≈ DYCE1
3582 count his fauours]
1867 Ktly
Ktly
3582 count his fauours]
Keightley (1867, p. 297) : <p. 297> “It is best to reed, with Rowe, ‘I’ll
court his favour.’” </p. 297>
1869 STRATMANN
STRATMANN
3582 count his fauours] Stratmann(ed. 1869): “Instead of ‘count’, Rowe, Theobald, and Dyce print ‘court’.”
1869 tsch
tsch
3581 I see] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “Man übersehe nicht, dass der Dichter das Verhalten des Laertes gewissermassen als die Kehrseite zu dem des Prinzen betrachtet wissen will.” [“One doesn’t overlook that the poet wants to use Laertes’s conduct, so to speak, as a counter to that of the Prince.”]
1870 Miles
Miles
3578 The interim’s mine]
Miles (1870, p. 80): <p. 80>“The last scene is the most elliptical of all: it
begins with an ellipsis. You never suspect the errand Hamlet is on, until you happen to hear that little word ‘
The interim is mine!’ It means more mischief than all the monologues! No threats, no imprecations; no more mention of smiling, damned villain; no more self-accusal; but solely and briefly—’
It will be short! the Interim is mine!’ Then, for the first time, we recognize the extent of the change that has been wrought in Hamlet; then, for the first time, we perfectly comprehend his quiet jesting with the clown, his tranquil musings with Horatio, his humorous recital of the events of the night aboard the vessel, when the fighting in his heart would not let him sleep. The man is transformed by a grat resolve:
his mind is made up! The return of the vessel from England, will be the signal for his own execution and therefore the moral problem is solved: the only chance of saving his life from a lawless murderer, is to slay him; it has become an act of self-defense: he can do it with
perfect conscience. He has calculated the return voyage; he has allowed the longst duration to his own existence and the king’s; he has waited to the very last moment for the intervention of a special providence. ‘No or never must the blow be struck!’
“All this and more is revealed by that one word, ‘The interim is mine!’ At the very moment he encounters the clown in the churchyard, he is on his death march to the Palace at Elsinore.’ The only interruption of the calm resolve by which he is now possessed, is the affair with Laertes, to which he turns the conversation in princely care of Horatio’s spotless honor. Is not all this indirectly but unerringly conveyed? And yet how curiously our standard criticism ignores it.”</p. 80>
3579-82 but . . .
fauours]
Miles (1870, p. 76): <p. 76>“His subsequent regret, is but another grace of his ‘most generous’ nature. [cites ‘but I . . . fauours”]
“He has
then had time for reflection: time for conversation with his invaluable friend; time to realize the heart-rending fact that Ophelia must have believed him the
wilful murderer of her father, and that Laertes and all the world, except his mother, were justified in so regarding him. It was under the spell of conscious innocence and ignorant or forgetful of this constructive guilt that he leaped into the grave. He now comprehends and pardons the indignation of Laertes; but his own conduct was far less influenced by the violence of the son, </p.76> <p.77> than by the base mouthing and ranting of the brother. For he cannot help adding, with a glow of re-animated disdain: [cites 3583-4].”</p.77>
Miles
3585 Miles (1870, pp. 80-1): <p. 80>“Horatio starts at the coming footstep, as if he had been listening to treason: ‘Peace! who comes here?’ As the vexed stream of Hamlet’s life approaches the abyss, the foam and </p. 80> <p. 81>anguish of the rapids subside; and just over the level brink of calm and light that edges the fall, hovers the ‘water-fly,’ Osric. Hamlet is patient with him—almost as patient as with the sexton—although constitutionally merciless to a fool; whether a fool circuitous like Polonius, a fool rampant like Laertes, or a fool positive like Osric. It is the last of his intellectual engagements, this singular duel between a dunce on the threshold of existence, and the stately gentleman but three steps from the grave. All forms and degrees of intellect have been dwarfed beside this most sovereign reason: the final contrast is between godlike apprehension and sheer fatuity. The King’s ‘Give them the foils, young Osric,’ inclines us to think that Osric was even more knave than fool. The creature appointed to
shuffle those unequal foils could hardly have failed to detect the
one unbated point. But he is too slight for dissection.” </p. 81>
1872 DEL4
DEL4 = DEL2
3572 To quit]
3578-9 Then to say one ]
3582 The Portraiture of his]
3582 count his fauours]
1872 cln1
cln1
3574 In] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “into. So [R3 1.2.261 (0000)]: ‘But first I’ll turn yon fellow in his grave.’”
cln1 : standard
3582 count] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “court]] Rowe’s emendation for ‘count,’ the reading of the folios.”
cln1
3583 brauery] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “ostentatious display. Compare [JC 5.1.10 (0000)]: ‘They could be content To visit other places; and come down With fearful bravery, thinking by this face To fasten in our thoguhts that they have courage.’”
1872 hud2
hud2
3573 canker] Hudson (ed. 1872): “‘Is it not a damnable sin to let this cancer of humanity proceed further in mischief and villainy?’ Canker, in one of its senses, means an eating, malignant sore, like a cancer; which word is from the same original
hud2
3582 The Portraiture of his] Hudson (ed. 1872): “Hamlet and Laertes have lost each his father, and both have perhaps lost equally in Ophelia; so that their cause of sorrow is much the same.”
hud2 ≈ HUD1
3582 To count his fauours] Hudson (ed. 1872) : “Hamlet means, ‘I’ll solicit good will; ‘the general meaning of favours in the poet’s time.”
1873 mob
mob
3573-74 come In further euill] Moberly (ed. 1873): “Commit farther crimes.”
3583 brauery] Moberly (ed. 1873): “His braving me so in grief.”
1875 Marshall
Marshall
3579-84 Marshall (1875, p. 102): <p. 102>“It only remains to notice the words in which he expresses to Horatio his sorrow for his outburst of passion over the grave of Ophelia. Not that he alludes to Ophelia in any way either directly or indirectly; he carefully avoids doing so, which confirms what I have suggested as regards his reticence, even to Horatio, on the subject of his love. [cites 3579-84] Nothing can be more becoming than the tone of this speech; he is the more sorry for his display of passion, because, now that he is calm, he can understand, from his own feelings with regard to his fathr, what those of Laertes must have been: but it was the ‘bravery’ or ‘ostentation’ of th latter’s grief which enraged him. Hamlet is very probably going to say something more, when they are interrupted by the entrance of Osric.” </p. 102>
1877 COL4
COL4 : COL3 ; mCOL1
3572 To quit] Collier (ed. 1877) : “i.e. To quite or requite him: ‘his own’ is from the Corr. fol. 1632, instead of his arm.”
COL4 : COL3
3582 court] Collier (ed. 1877) : “Rowe reads ‘court,’ for count, with considerable plausibility; however, ‘count’ may be the true word, in the sense of count upon.”
1877 v1877
v1877 : JOHN1
3572 To quit]
v1877 : ABBOTT
3574 In]
Furness (ed. 1877): “For other instances of
in equivalent to
into, see [2.2.122 (0000)]; [5.1.266 (0000)]; [
Mac 1.3.126 (0000)]; and
Abbott, §159.”
v1877 : STRACHEY
3575-76 It . . .
there]
Strachey (
apud Furness, ed. 1877): “Note the usual cautiousness of Hor., who contrives to suggest to Ham. the very strongest of all motives for instantly putting the King to death, under an indirect and very innocently sounding remark.”
v1877 : MILES
3578 mine]
Miles (
apud Furness, ed. 1877): “You never suspect the erand Ham. is on until you happen to hear that little word, ‘
The interim is mine!’ It means more mischief than all the monologues! No threats, no imprecations, no more mention of smiling damned villain; no more self-accusal; but solely and briefly, ‘
It will be short; the interim is mine!’ Then, for the first time, we recognize the extent of the change that has been wrought in Ham.; then, for the first time, we perfectly comprehend his quiet jesting with the Clown, his tranquil musings with Hor. The man is transformed by a great resolve:
his mind is made up! The return of the vessel from England will be the signal for his own execution, and therefore the moral problem is solved: the only chance of saving his life from a lawless murder is to slay him; it has become an act of self-defence; he can do it with perfect conscience. He has calculated the return voyage; he has allowed the longest duration to his own existence and the King’s. At the very moment he encoutners the Clown in the church-yard he is on his death-march to the palace at Elsinore.”
v1877 : ≈ v1778 (STEEVENS subst) ; ≈ CALD2; CLARKE
3582 count his fauours]
Furness (ed. 1877): “
Steevens, Caldecott, and
Clarke justify
count in the sense of
make account of, reckon up, value.”
v1877 : DYCE (Glossary)
3583 brauery]
Dyce (
apud Furness, ed. 1877): “Bravado.”
1881 HUD3
hud3
3572 quit] Hudson (ed. 1881): “Here, as in many other places, to quit is to requite.”
hud3 ≈ hud2
3573 canker] Hudson (ed. 1881): “‘Is it not a damnable sin to let this cancer of humanity proceed further in mischief and villainy?’ Canker, in one of its senses, means an eating, malignant sore, like a cancer. See vol. vii. page 87, note 42.”
hud3
3577-8 Ham. It . . . mine] Hudson (ed. 1881): “Hamlet justly looks forward to the coming of that news as the crisis of his task: it will give him a practiceable twist on the King: he can then meet both him and the public with justifying proof of his guilt.”
hud3 = hud2
3582 The Portraiture of his]
hud3
3582 Ile count his fauours] Hudson (ed. 1881): “This is not in the quartos, and the folio has count instead of court. Corrected by Rowe.”
hud3 = hud2
3582 Ile count his fauours]
1882 Elze
Elze
3578 interim’s] Elze (ed. 1882): “Compare Dekker, The Honest Whore, Part I, V,2 (Middleton, ed. Dyce, III, 105): ‘How shall the interim hours by us be spent?’”
1883 WH2
wh2
3579 to say one] White (ed. 1883): “one pass with the rapier, as at fencing.”
1885 macd
macd
3572 To . . . arme] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “I would here refer my student to the soliloquy—with its sea of troubles, and the taking of arms against it. [ 1710ff n.4]”
3572-4 And . . . euill] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “‘is it not a thing to be damned—to let &c.?’ or, ‘would it not be to be damned, (to be in a state of damnation, or, to bring damnation on oneself) to let this human cancer, the king, go on to further evil?’”
3575-6 Hor. It . . . there] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “‘—so you have not much time.’”
3578 The interim’s mine] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “‘True, it will be short, but till then is mine, and will be long enough for me.’ He is resolved.”
3578 and . . . more] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “Now that he is assured of what is right, the Shadow that waits him on the path to it, has no terror for him. He ceases to be anxious as to ‘what dreams may come,’ as to the ‘something after death,’ as to ‘the undiscovered country,’ the moment his conscience is satisfied. [1732-37] It cannot now make a coward of him. It was never in regard to the past that Hamlet dreaded death, but inr egard to the righteousness of the action which was about to occasion his death. Note that he expects death; at least he has long made up his mind to the great risk of it—the death referred to in the soliloquy—which, after all, was not that which did overtake him. There is nothing about suicide here, nor was there there.”
3579 Then to say one] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “‘a man’s life must soon be over anyhow.’”
3582 The Portraiture of his] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “The approach of death causes him to think of and regret even the small wrongs he has done; he laments his late behaviour to Laertes, and makes excuse for him: the similarity of their condition, each having lost a father by violence, ought, he says, to have taught him gentleness with him. The 1st Quarto is worth comparing here:—[cites CLN 2084-7]”
3582 Ile count his fauours] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “‘I will not forget,’ or, ‘I will call to mind, what merits he has,’ or ‘what favours he has shown me.’ But I suspect the word ‘count’ ought to be court.—He does court his favour when next they meet—in lovely fashion. He has no suspicion of his enmity.”
3583 brauery] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “the great show; bravado.”
3584 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “with which fell in well the forms of his pretended madness. But that the passion was real, this reaction of repentance shows. It was not the first time his pretence had given him liberty to ease his heart with wild words. Jealous of the boastfulness of Laertes’ affection, he began at once—in keeping with his assumed character of madman, but not the less in harmony with his feelings—to outrave him.”
1885 mull
mull
3572 quit] Mull (ed. 1885): “to despatch him.”
3581 my Cause] Mull (ed. 1885): “my father’s death.”
mull ≈ standard
3583 brauery]
1889 Barnett
Barnett
3583 brauery] Barnett (1889, p. 63): <p. 63>“
showy display. Cf. [
JC 5.1.10 (0000)]—’And come down With fearful
bravery’” </p. 63>
1890 IRV
Irv
3572-85 Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “[These] are omitted inQq., a curious omission, as, according to Ff., it makes Hamlet’s speech break off in the middle of a sentence.”
irv : standard
3574 In] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “into.”
Irv : v1877 VN ?
3578 interim’s mine] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “interim is mine]] Ff print the interim’s mine. The correction was introduced by Hanmer.”
[Ed: Did Symons take this observation from
Furness’s variant notes, which show Hanmer’s alteration?]
irv
3582 count] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “court ]]This emendation is Rowe’s—court for count. It is so very probable that I have not hesitated to introduce it into the text; but at the same time I do not deny that the original may after all be the right reading, and count mean make account of.”
irv : standard
3583 brauery] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “ostentatious display.”
1899 ARD1
ard1 ≈ cln1 w/o attribution
3574 In]
ard1 : standard
3583 brauery]
1906 NLSN
NLSN: standard
3572 quit] Neilson (ed. 1906, Glossary)
NLSN ≈ KTLY w/o attribution
3573 canker] Neilson (ed. 1906, Glossary)
NLSN : standard
3582 fauours] Neilson (ed. 1906, Glossary)
3583 brauery] Neilson (ed. 1906, Glossary)
1925 Kellner
Kellner
3572-4 And . . .
euill]
Kellner (1925, p. 42): <p. 42>“I am inclined to read,
to(o), to(o) damn’d.”
1931 craig
craig ≈ standard
3572 quit]
3573 Canker] Craig (ed. 1951): “ulcer, or possibly the worm which destroys buds and leaves.”
3583 brauery]
1934 Wilson
Wilson
3572-85 Wilson (1934, 1:97): Wilson suggests that this is one of the many examples of the compositor deliberately omitting Q2 lines: “a passage which breaks off in the middle of a sentence, and can have been omitted by the compositor alone, accidentally or in order to abridge his labours. . . . It is, moreover, probable, I think, that the Q2 compositor was alone responsible for all five omissions [the five omissions in 2.2.244-76; 2.2.352-79; 4.5.161-3; 5.1.39-42; 5.2.68-80].”
1934a CAM3
cam3
3572 quit] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary): “lit. repay, give as good as one gets; ‘quit in answer’ [see n. 3729] = exchange simultaneous hits with an opponent in fencing”
cam3 : standard
3573 Canker] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary)
3573-74 Wilson (ed. 1934): “i.e. To let this cancerous ulcer of humanity continue its foul existence.. For ‘in’=into, cf. 5.1.272 [3474].”
3582 fauours] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary): “(a) beauty, (b) face, aspect.”
3583 brauery] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary)
3578-9 a mans . . . one] Wilson (ed. 1934):”This, which is passed over in silence by edd., refers I think to the single thrust of a rapier; cf. [Rom. 2.4.23 ‘one, two, and the third in your bosom,’ and below 5.2.278 (3743) ‘One!’”
1934 rid1
rid1 : standard
3583 brauery] Ridley (ed. 1934, Glossary):
1936 cam3b
cam3b
3578-9 a mans . . . one] Wilson (2nd ed. 1936, Additional Notes): “Adams (p. 3321) concurs in this interpretation.”
[Ed: This is a reference to J.Q. Adams’ 1929 edition.]
3581-2 For . . . his] Wilson (2nd ed. 1936, Additional Notes): “Cf. Span. Trag. III. xiii.84-5: ‘Whiles wretched I in thy mishaps may see The liuely portrait of my dying selfe.’”
1939 KIT2
kit2 standard
3572 quit]
3572 quit] Kittredge (ed. 1939, Glossary):
3573 Canker]
3573 Canker] Kittredge (ed. 1939, Glossary):
kit2
3574 In] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “into.”
3575-76 Kittredge (ed. 1939): “Horatio, tacitly accepting Hamlet’s argument, suggests that immediate action is necessary and will be merely self-defence.”
3580 Kittredge (ed. 1936): “Hamlet’s own account of his behaviour refutes the theories both of those critics who think he was then acting the madman and of those who think that he was really insane.”
3581-82 For . . . his] Kittredge (ed. 1936): “A clear indication that Laertes the revenger was meant to be the foil to Hamlet the revenger.”
3583 brauery] Kittredge (ed. 1936): “ostentation.”
kit2 ≈ CAM3b +
3578-79 a . . . one] Kittredge (ed. 1936): “Wilson detects an allusion to a rapier thrust. . . . The meaning depends (as so often in spoken speech) on tone and action. Delivered in one way, the line would be only a pensive reflection: ‘What meaning has ‘shortly,’ after all? For what can be shorter than this life of ours?’ Delivered in another way, the line is a menace to the King’s life.”
1938 parc
parc ≈ standard
3583 brauery]
1947 cln2
cln2 ≈ standard
3579 to say one] Rylands (ed. 1947, Notes)
cln2 = v1877 w/o attribution
3583 brauery]
1951 ALEX
Alex ≈ standard
3573 Canker] Alexander (ed. 1951, Glossary)
3572 quit] Alexander (ed. 1951, Glossary)
1951 crg2
crg2 = crg1
3572 quit] Craig (ed. 1954, Glossary)
3573 Canker]
3583 brauery]
1954 sis
Sis ≈ standard
3573 Canker] Sisson (ed. 1954, Glossary):
3572 quit] Sisson (ed. 1954, Glossary):
1957 pel1
pel1 : standard
3573 Canker]
3583 brauery]
1970 pel2
pel2=pel1
3573 Canker]
3583 brauery]
1974 EVNS1
evns1
3573 come] Evans (ed. 1974): “grow into.”
3578 mans life’s no more] Evans (ed. 1974): “i.e. to kill a man takes no more time.”
3581 image] Evans (ed. 1974): “likeness.”
evns1 ≈ standard
3573 Canker]
3578-79 a . . . one]
3583 brauery]
1980 pen2
pen2 ≈ standard
3572 quit]
3573 Canker]
3582 fauours]
3583 brauery]
pen2
3572 be damn’d] Spencer (ed. 1980): “act sinfully.”
3573 nature] Spencer (ed. 1980):“(human nature).”
3573-4 come In] Spencer (ed. 1980): “grow into.”
1980 pen2
pen2 : Kit1 ; cam3 (all w/o attribution) +
3578-79 a . . . one] Spencer (ed. 1980): “((one is the swordsman’s claim to have hit is [sic] opponent’s body)).”
1982 ARD2
ard2
3572-85 Jenkins (ed. 1982): “The absence of these lines from Q2 is difficult to explain except as an accidental omission.”
3581-2 image . . . his] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “The irony, which Hamlet does not remark on but which we can hardly miss, is that the image which shows Laertes as a revenger like Hamlet must also show Hamlet as revenge’s object.”
3573 Canker]
Jenkins (ed. 1982): “a spreading sore—and thus a corruption inherent in our ‘nature’,
rather than ((as Schmidt)) a grub preying on it.”
ard2 : standard (Wilson What Happens in Hamlet)
3578-9 a mans . . . one]
ard2 : standard +
3583 brauery] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “See [v.1.244-50, 278-9].”
1984 chal
chal : standard
3572 quit]
1938 parc
parc ≈ standard
3583 brauery]
chal :OED
3573 Canker] Wilkes (ed. 1984): "’an eating, spreading sore or ulcer’."
1985 CAM4
CAM4 ≈ standard
3572 quit]
3573 Canker]
3583 brauery]
CAM4
3572 And . . . damn’d] Edwards (ed. 1985): “See Introduction, pp. 56-8. Hamlet sees a prospect of damnation not, as before, in obeying a possibly fraudulent ghost ((2.2.556)) nor in opting out by suicide ((3.1.78)), but in failing to rid the world of the evil represented by Claudius.”
3572 And . . .
damn’d]
Edwards (ed. 1985, Introduction, 56,8): <p. 56>“The sense of heaven guiding him reinforces rather than diminishes his sense of personal responsibility for completing his mission. The discovery of the king’s treachery in the commission to have him murdered in England has fortified Hamlet’s determination. Yet it is with demand for assurance that he puts the matter to Horatio. [cites 3567-74] </p. 56> <p. 58>It is difficult to see how we can take this speech except as the onclusion of a long and deep perplexity. But if it a conclusion, that question mark [3574]—conveying so much more than indignation—makes it an appeal by this loneliest of heroes for support and agreement, which he pointedly does not get from the cautious Horatio, who simply says, ‘[cites 3575-6] Horatio won’t accept the responsibility of answering, and only gives him the exasperating response that he hasn’t much time.
“Once again Hamlet has raised the question of conscience and damnation. Conscience is no longer an obstacle to action, but encourages it. As for damnation Hamlet had felt the threat of it if he contemplated suicide, felt the threat of it if he were to kill at the behest of a devil-ghost; now he feels the thrat of it if he fail to remove from the world a cancer which is spreading. This new image for Claudius, a ‘canker of our nature’, is important. All the vituperation which Hamlet has previously thrown at Claudius seems mere rhetoric by this. Hamlet now sees himself undertaking a surgical operation to remove a cancer from human society. Whether the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune continue or not is immaterial. To neglect, ignore or encourage the evil is to imperil one’s soul.
“When in reply to Hamlet’s unanswerable question Horatio tells him that if he is going to act he had better move quickly, because as soon as Claudius learns the fate of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Hamlet won’t have another hour to live, Hamlet exclaims ‘The interim’s mine.’ But of course it isn’t, because the plot against his life has already been primed and is about to go off. ” </p. 58>
3573-4 come . . . In] Edwards (ed. 1985): “enter into.”
3575-6 Edwards (ed. 1985): “Horatio, whose replies are guarded in this scene, does not answer Hamlet directly, but warns him that if he going to act he hasn’t much time, because Claudius will soon hear of the death of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and is then bound to act swiftly and decisively against Hamlet.”
3578 The interim’s mine] Edwards (ed. 1985): “Deeply ironic, in view of the plot against his life which has ben prepared by Claudius and Laertes, and which is now about to be sprung.
“The line is a syllable short. Editions universally mend it by printing ‘The interim is mine’, but there is no authority for this.”
3578-9 and . . . one] Edwards (ed. 1985): “And in any case one’s whole life is only a short space of time. One’s death is never very far away. It is in this spirit that he turns to regret his outburst to Laertes.”
CAM4 : ard2
3581-2 For . . . his] Edwards (ed. 1985): “i.e. I recognize in my situation the essential features of his. ((As a bereaved son, I could have remembered that grief makes one act strangely.)) ‘my cause’ cannot mean his vengeance because it is clear that ((as Jenkins points out)) he simply does not recognize himself as a proposed victim of Laertes’ revenge. Presumably he cannot equate his accidental killing of Polonius with the premeditated murder of his father.”
1987 OXF4
oxf4
3572-85 Hibbard (ed. 1987): “These lines, not found in Q2, are probably an addition made during the preparatio of the text that lies behind F. See Textual Introduction pp. 110-12.”
3572-85 Hibbard (ed. 1987, Introduction, pp. 110-1): <p. 110>“. . . [Jenkins] eventually concludes that ‘’the incomplete sense </p. 110> <p. 111>and sentence ((whereby ‘“is’t not perfect conscience?”[3571] lacks its necessary complement)’ is decisively in its favour. . . . It is undeniable that ‘is’t not perfect conscience’ lacks its necessary complement, but Hamlet has said enough to leave one in no doubt as to what that complement would have been had his speech not been interrupted by the entry of Osric. The question mark following ‘conscience’ was probably supplied by Compositor X [one of two compositors, X and Y, conjectured by John Russell Brown in 1955].” </p. 111>
3582 count his fauours] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “take note of, think about, his favourable characteristics ((OED favour sb. 8)).”
oxf4 : OED (v. 10)
3572 quit]
oxf4 : OED (sb. 1)
3573 Canker]
oxf4 : Dent
3578-9 and . . . one] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “i.e. a man’s life is no longer than the time it takes to say ‘one’. Compare [MND 5.1.298-301], ‘No die, but an ace, for him; for he but one.—Less than an ace, man; for he is dead; he is nothing.’ See also ‘Man ((Life)) is but a figure of one’ ((Dent O50.1)).”
oxf4 ≈ standard
3581-2 For . . . his]
1938 parc
parc ≈ standard
3583 brauery]
oxf4 : OED (1)
3583 brauery] Hibbard (ed. 1987): bravado, ostentatious defiance.”
oxf4 : OED
3584 Towring passion] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “earliest instance of this phrase cited by OED—towering ppl.a. 4)).”
1988 bev2
bev2: standard
3573 Canker]
bev2 : pen2
3573-4 come In]
1992 fol2
fol2≈ standard
3574 In] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “into.”
3581-2 For . . . his]
3582 brauery]
1993 dent
dent ≈ standard
3573 Canker]
dent
3578 The interim’s mine] Andrews (ed. 1993): “I’ll succeed within the brief interval I have to work with.”
3582 I forgot my selfe] Andrews (ed. 1989): “I lost control of my true nature.”
3584 Towring passion] Andrews (ed. 1989): “Hamlet uses Tow’ring with nice precision here. To avoid having Laertes ‘out-face’ him ((V.i.292)), he engaged his opponent in a match to see whose rage could be more ‘Giant-like.’”
dent ≈ standard +
3581-2 For . . . his] Andrews (ed. 1993): “Like the Latin word causa, cause can mean both ‘cause’ and ‘case.’”
3583 count his fauours] Andrews (ed. 1993): “Modern editons normally ement count to court.”
3572 3573 3574
