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.

1875 Marshall

Marshall

3771-73 Marshall (ed. 1875, p. 107): <p. 107>“Laertes would really seem to deserve the playful reproach of Hamlet—[cites 3771-73] for he scruples, now it is in his hand, to use the treacherous weapon. It may be, if he had not committed himself so deeply with Claudius, in whose presence he felt an ignoble shame at the idea of seeming to flinch from his deadly purpose, Laertes’ better feelings might even now have prevailed. But it is too late: he rouses himself to action, attacks his antagonist with the utmost vigour, meeting with a more obstinate and skilful defence than he had anticipated. At last he breaks down Hamlet’s guard and wounds him; both had already become somewhat heated in the struggle, and the slight pain which Hamlet would feel, though he does not notice it, would serve to aggravate his excitement: their play becomes wild, and in the scuffle Hamlet changes foils with Laertes† and wounds him in turn. So completely absorbed is he in this trial of skill that he seems to have forgotten for the moment everything else, and does not even feel the wound, or see the blood to which Horatio draws attention. But he is soon brought back to a horrible consciousness of his tragic surroundings, no less thanof his own fate. His mother falls on the ground in agony: Hamlet’s first anxiety is for her; he does not even answer Horatio’s inquiry as to himself. The Titanic hypocrisy of Claudius does not even now fail him; he cannot resist the temptation to life, however useless it may be: ‘King. She swounds to see them bleed.” Perhaps he thought Gertrude’s love would even now be stronger than aught else, and that she would with her dying breath seek to conceal his infamy. But he is mistaken: [cites 3788-90] It is fit that the first denunciation of his treachery, which was his death-warrant, should come from her who was at once the cause, and the victim, of his heaviest crime.” </p. 107>

1882 elze2

elze2

3770-1 Ham. Come for the third Laertes, you doe but dally] Elze (ed. 1882): “The reading of [Q1] seems of too different a nature to be cited in support of [F1].”

1934 Wilson

Wilson

3771 doe but dally] Wilson (1934, 2:261): you but GLO, CAM1, Ard1