How now, Ophelia! what's the matter? Oph. Oh, my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted! 70. Good my lord!] Dyce. Good my Lord. QqFf, Coll. White. Good my Lord- Rowe+. But, my good lord, Cap. conj. (Notes, i, 19). 71. in] e'en Han. Warb. 74. [Exit Reynaldo.] Exit Rey. Qq (after lord). Exit Ff (after lord). SCENE II.] Pope+, Jen. 75 [Enter Ophelia.] Sing. ii. Be fore Farewell! QqFf. Enter Ophelia, hastily. Cap. 74. How...matter] One line, Ff. 75. O, my lord,] Alas, Ff, Rowe+, Knt, Coll. Sing. Dyce, Sta. White, Ktly, Del. Huds. Alas, my lord. Cald. in keeping with the loquacity of Polonius, we are justified, nevertheless, in expecting a reply from the departing servant. I have therefore given the words 'God be wi' you' (which, by the contraction of with into wi',' express a certain condescension) to Polonius, and fare you well' to Reynaldo. 70. Good my lord] DYCE: Reynaldo has previously said Very good, my lord,' and he afterwards says, 'Well, my lord,' but the present speech is not therefore to be pointed Good, my lord.' Compare II, ii, 521. 71. in yourself] JOHNSON: Perhaps this means, in your own person, not by spies. CAPELL (i, 129): 'In yourself' is put for-observe of yourself, or with your own eyes; for he had been lesson'd before to pick up his 'inclination' from others. C. (in Var. 1821): The temptations you feel, suspect in him. CALDECOTT: It seems no more than of or by yourself,' and as if the word 'in' had been altogether omitted. He was at first to discover Laertes's inclination by enquiry from others; but now to find them out by personal observation. TsCHISCHWITZ: I find it hard to persuade myself that 'in' is anything more than a misprint, which arose from the last syllable of the preceding word. A change of 'in' into then could be easily made except for the uniformity of the old copies. CLARENDON: Possibly it means, Conform your own conduct to his inclinations. 73. music] CLARKE: Let him go on, to what tune he pleases; let him conduct himself in any style and at any rate he chooses. HUDSON: Eye him sharply, but do it slyly, and let him fiddle his secrets all out. VISCHER (Sh. Jahrbuch, ii, p. 149): Here we have the key to the whole scene. His son may gamble, drink, swear, quarrel, drab, enter houses of sale, videlicet, brothels, only let him ply his music: true cavalier-breeding! 74. matter] MOBERLY: There is a wonderfully fine contrast between the prolix slyness of Polonius's attempt to find out what had better be unknown, and the scene of distracting and passionate misery which shows how Hamlet's soul has been shattered by an unsought-for revelation. 75. affrighted] ECKHARDT (Vorlesungen über Hamlet. Aarau, 1853, p. 96): 1 Pol. With what, i' the name of God? 76 Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced; 80 76. ithe] Cap. i'th Qq, Jen. in the i the...God?] Om. Q'76. Steev. Var. Cald. Knt, Sing. Ktly. closet cloffet Qq. chamber Ff, 78. Lord] Prince Q'76. fould fouled Qq. loofe Q'76, 80. down-gyved] downe gyued Q downe gyred QQ5. downe gined F.. downe-gyved F. down-gyred Theob. Warb. Johns. Cap. El. down-kibed Petri (Archiv f. n. Sprachen, 1849, vol. vi, p. 93). The supposition that Hamlet went to Ophelia directly after the interview with the 77. closet] CLARENDON: A private apartment. Hence the King's private secre- 79. foul'd] Cambridge EditORS: Theobald reads loose on the authority, as he says, 'of the elder Qq.' It is not the reading of any of the first six, but of those of 1676, 1683, 1695, and 1703. Had Capell been aware of this, he would scarcely have designated Theobald's mistake as a 'downright falsehood.' Theobald at the time of writing his Sh. Restored knew of no Quarto earlier than that of 1637 (Sh. Rest. p. 70), and it is just possible that some copy of this edition (Q) from which that of 1676 was printed may have had the reading 'loose.' [The Cam. Edd. refer to a note on III, iv, 59, where they give two different readings in two different copies of Q: 'a heaven-kissing' in Ingleby's copy, and a heaue, a kissing,' in Capell's copy. This variation in copies of the same date has long been known to exist in the older Qq, but, I confess, I was not prepared to find much variation in later Qq of the same date. In no less than twenty-four instances, however, I have found that my copy of Q'76 differs from that of the Cam. Edd., as recorded in their notes. ED.] 1 Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other; 81 Oph. He took me by the wrist, and held me hard; Then goes he to the length of all his arm, And with his other hand thus o'er his brow, He falls to such perusal of my face As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so; At last, a little shaking of mine arm, 82. piteous] pittious Qq. pitious F.F pitteous FF3. 84. horrors, he] horrors : he Ff,Rowe, Jen. horrors; thus he Pope+. horrors there, he Anon.* 85, 86. My lord...it.] One line, Ff, Rowe. 90 80. Ungarter'd] NARES: It was the regular amorous etiquette, in the reign of Elizabeth, for a man professing himself deeply in love to assume a certain negligence in dress. His garters, in particular, were not to be tied up. See As You Like It, III, ii, 398. 80. down-gyved] THEOBALD interprets his reading, down-gyred, as 'rolled down to the ancle,' and derives gyred from γυρῶ, to bend, to round. HEATH gives the true definition of down-gyved': fallen down to the ancle, after the fashion of gyves, or fetters. 82. purport] WALKER (iii, 264): Pronounce 'purpórt,' not 'piteous.' 84. KEIGHTLEY completed the rhythm of this line by the insertion of in after 'comes.' Аввотт, § 478, makes the second syllable of horrors' a foot by itself on the principle that 'er [or or] final seems to have been sometimes pronounced with a kind of "burr," which produced the effect of an additional syllable.' A process which neither my tongue nor my imagination can compass. Why not let Ophelia's strong emotion shudderingly fill up the gap? 90. perusal] CLARENDON: Examination. See Rom. & Jul. V, iii, 74; Rich. II: III, iii, 53; Tro. & Cres. IV. v, 232. [Also, Ham. IV, vii, 137.] 91, 95. As] See I, ii, 217. 91. stay'd] ABBOTT, 2507: As ed is pronounced after i and u, so it might be after y in 'stayed, but the effect would be painful. The pause after 'it' must supply the extra syllable. 92. shaking] TSCHISCHWITZ: A verbal substantive; is made is understood. And thrice his head thus waving up and down, 95 And end his being; that done, he lets me go; He seem'd to find his way without his eyes ; And to the last bended their light on me. Pol. Come, go with me; I will go seek the king. This is the very ecstasy of love; And leads the will to desperate undertakings, Whose violent property fordoes itself As oft as any passion under heaven That does afflict our natures. I am sorry, 100 105 99. help] helpe FF2. helps QQQ Cap. Jen. Mal. Steev. Cald. i, Cam. helpes Q. 101. Come] Om. Ff, Cald. Knt. 106. sorry,-] Cap. forrie, QqFf. sorry; Rowe+. sorry. Glo. +, Mob. the breast. Pettorata, [DYCE (Gloss.) also 95. bulk] BosWELL: This is not, I think, all the body, but in Florio, is explained, a shock against the breast or bulk.' cites this definition of Pettorata from Florio, but neither the word nor definition is in my copy of Florio, 1598. MALONE cites R. of Lucrece, 467, 'her heart Beating her bulk, and Rich. III: I, iv, 40, 'my panting bulk,' but defines 'bulk' by 'all the body.' ED.) SINGER: 'The Bulke or breast of a man.'-Baret's Alvearie. DYCE (Gloss.): The Bulke of the bodie. Tronc, buste.'-Cotgrave. CLARENDON also cites Cotgrave: Buste, the whole bulke or bodie of a man, from his face to his middle.' [MINSHEU gives: Pechuguéra, the whole bulke of the breast.' ED.] 100. MILES (Review of Hamlet, p. 28): We are not permitted to see Hamlet in this ecstasy of love, but what a picture! How he must have loved her, that love should bring him to such a pass! his knees knocking each other!-knees that had firmly followed a beckoning ghost! There is more than the love of forty thousand brothers in that hard grasp of the wrist, -in that long gaze at arm's length, in the force that might, but will not, draw her nearer! And never a word from this king of words! His first great silence, the second is death! 102. ecstasy] Alienation of mind, madness. See III, i, 160; III, iv, 74;138, 139; Macb. III, ii, 22; IV, iii, 170. 103. fordoes] STEEVENS: To destroy. NARES: For has here its negative power. CLARENDON: Like the German ver, it is also sometimes intensive, as in 'forgive,' 'forwearied,' 'forspent.' [It is so used in the past participle of this very verb in Mid. N. D. V, i, 381, 'with weary task fordone.'-ED.] 107 What, have you given him any hard words of late? Oph. No, my good lord, but, as you did command, I did repel his letters, and denied His access to me. That hath made him mad. I am sorry that with better heed and judgement I had not quoted him. I fear'd he did but trifle And meant to wreck thee; but beshrew my jealousy! By heaven, it is as proper to our age To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions 115 As it is common for the younger sort To lack discretion. Come, go we to the king; 110. access] CLARENDON: Accented on the second syllable in Mach. I, v, 42. 111. heed] THEOBALD preferred speed of the Ff, in the sense either of success, fortune (frequent in Sh.), or of celerity. 112. quoted] M. MASON: Invariably used by Sh. in the sense of to observe. MALONE: 'Quoter, To quote, or marke in the margent, to note by the way.'-Cotgrave. DYCE (Gloss.): To note, to mark, formerly pronounced, and often written, cote. See Rom. & Jul. I, iv, 31. 113. wreck] COLLIER (ed. 2): This is one of the places where the old spelling of wreck,' wrack (observed by some modern editors, as if we ought to return to the loose and uncertain orthography of our ancestors), produces confusion. It is not quite clear whether Pol. means wrack, in the sense of cast away, or rack, in the sense of tortured; we have taken it in the former, as the most probable. UPTON (p. 209): Read: 'rack thee,' i. e. vex and grieve thee. 113. beshrew] DYCE (Gloss): To curse,-but a mild form of imprecation, = 'a mischief on.' 114. proper] CLARENDON: Appropriate. Compare 2 Hen. IV: I, iii, 32. 115. cast] JOHNSON: This is not the remark of a weak man. The vice of age is too much suspicion. Men long accustomed to the wiles of life cast commonly beyond themselves, let their cunning go farther than reason can attend it. This is always the fault of a little mind, made artful by long commerce with the world. MOBERLY: To forecast more than we ought for our own interests. CLARENDON: To contrive,' 'design,' 'plan.' Compare Spenser's Fairy Queen, i, 5, 12: 'Of all attonce he cast avengd to be.' Cotgrave translates Fr. minuter, 'to deuise, cast, or lay the first project of a designe.' |