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Line 783 - 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.”

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Notes for lines 0-1017 ed. Bernice W. Kliman

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

783 Yea, from the table of my memory	1.5.98

1565 Gesner

Gesner

583-4 table . . . wipe away] Gesner (1565, p. 101) has illustrations of memorandum books, apparently made of hard, erasable materials. The Latin description(as near as I can make it out) seems to suggest using water or olive oil and cotton to remove writing; the illustration shows one type in a box and another in a book with leaves, with an attached stylus. The leaves are not sewn together but clipped in two places to fold out as facing pages. Smeaton (ed. 1904) in his glossary has a representation of the latter.

1729-30 mtheo2

mtheo2

783 table . . . memory] Theobald (14 Mar. 1730, fol. 57v; Nichol’s Illus. 2: 560) recalls the same “form of expression” in AEscylus: Eumen. ver. 275 [quotes] and Prometh. ver. 788 [quotes].”

letter to WW:In ed. 1733 (omitted in ed. 1740), he again quotes from the Greek verses and amplifies: “Æscylus, I remember, twice uses this very Metaphor; considering the Mind or Memory, as a Tablet, or Writing-book, on which we are to engrave Things worthy of Remembrance,” quoting again but without mentioning the verse ref: Eumen. v. 275 and Prometh. v. 788. What does this indicate? In writing, he expects WW to look it up, perhaps, but does not expect his readers to be that interested? No note in THEO2.

1733 theo1

theo1 ≈ theol, metaphor (not in theon)

783 table . . . memory] Theobald (ed. 1733): “AEscylus, I remember, twice uses this very Metaphor; considering the Mind or Memory, as a Tablet, or Writing-book, on which we are to engrave Things worthy of Remembrance. ‘[quotes Greek ].’ Prometh. ‘[quotes Greek].’ Eumenid.”

1746 Upton

Upton: theo1 +

783 table . . . memory] Upton (1746, p. 219): “Prov. [3. 3]. ‘Write them upon the table of thine heart.’ So Aeschylus in suppl. 187. [quotes Greek]. ‘I advise thee to keep my words written on the tables of thy memory.’”

1773 v1773

v1773 Appendix

783 table . . . memory] Farmer (in Steevens, ed. 1773, 10: [Qq5r]): “This is a ridicule of the practice of the time.

“Hall says, in his character of the Hypocrite, ‘He will ever sit where he may be seene best, and in the midst of the sermon pulles out his Tables in haste, as if he feared to loose that note,’ &c.”

1773- mstv1

mstv1 = Farmer + ?

783 table . . . memory]

1778 v1778

v1778 = v1773 + (see n. 792)

783 table . . . memory]

1780 mals1

mals1

783 table . . . memory] Malone (1780, 1:352): “This expression is used by Sir Philip Sydney in his Defence of Poesie. Malone. . . . See also [2H4 a.s.l. (2068-69)]: ‘And therefore will he wipe his tables clean, And keep no tell tale to his memory.’ York is here speaking of the king. Table-books in the time of our author appear to have been used by all ranks of people. Malone.”

See also TLN 292; I am not sure where the best place is to put these. Malone sandwiches his note around Steevens’, beginning and ending with his own. The 1st is the Sidney ref, and the second begins with the 2H4 ref.

mals1: Upton +

783 table . . . memory] Steevens (apud Malone, 1780, 1:352) “After Farmer’s note, add]] No ridicule on the practice of the time could with propriety be introduced on this occasion. Hamlet avails himself of the same caution observed by the doctor in the fifth act of Macbeth: “I will set down what comes from her, to satisfy my remembrance more strongly.’ Steevens.”

This mac. ref. is presumably what Upton has in 1748.

mals1

783 table of my memory] malone (1780, 1:678 n.1) connects this passage from 783-8 to Son. 122.1-2, “Thy gifts, thy tables, are within my brain, Full character’d with lasting memory.”

1785 v1785

v1785 = mals1

783 table . . . memory]

1787 ANN

ANN = v1785

783 table . . . memory]

1790 mal

mal = v1785 (no Farmer).

783 table . . . memory]

1793 v1793

v1793 = mal, Farmer

783 table . . . memory]

1793- mSteevens

mSteevens as in v1803

783 the table . . . memory] Steevens (1793-): “This phrase will remind the reader of Chæria’s exclamation in the Eunuck of Terence: [quotes Greek] [O, I may create a beautiful one! I destroy all women thence from my mind.]. Steevens.”

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793 +

783 table . . . memory] Steevens (ed. 1803): “This phrase will remind the reader of Chæria’s exclamation in the Eunuch of Terence: —[quotes Greek].”

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

783 table . . . memory]

1819 cald1

cald1: v1813 + in magenta underlined

783 table . . . memory] Caldecott (ed. 1820): “Tables were books, which it was fashionable to carry for the purpose of minuting any thing that occurred. Mr. Steevens instances the Induction to the Malcontent, 1604 [see n. 292]. ‘I tell you I am one that hath seen this play often, and give them intelligence for their action: I have most of the jests of it here in my table-book.’ In Antonio’s Revenge, Balurdo draws out his writing tables and writes, ‘Retort and obtuse, good words, very good words.’ [Sir Andrew Aguecheek says something similar.]

“And Dr. Farmer, ‘He will ever sit where he may be seene best, and in the midst of the sermon pulles out his tables in haste, as if he feared to loose that note.’ Hall’s Character of the Hypocrite.’ And see [2H4 4.1] Archb.”

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1793 + a Malone note:

783 table . . . memory] Malone (ed. 1821): “So, in Golding’s Translation of Abraham’s Sacrifice, by Beza: ‘Let not this trew and noble storie part Out of the mind and tables of your heart.’ Malone.”

1826 sing1

sing1: v1813 on 2H4 +

783 table . . . memory] Singer (ed. 1826): “Tables or books, or registers for memorie of things, were then used by all ranks, and contained prepared leaves from which what was written with a silver style could easily be effaced.”

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1, Malone from v1821 on Abraham’s sacrifice

1832- mLewes or mEliot

mLewes or mEliot

783 table] “Aschy. Prometheus v.771”

1853- mEliot

mEliot1: Upton? without attribution

783 table] Eliot (1853 -) : “[Greek]”

1853- mEliot

mEliot2: Upton?

783 Eliot (Middlemarch journals, p. 176): “ {Greek] = “tablet of memory” —Hamlet.”

Ed. note: The editors’ note, p. 249 n. 2: “The Greek phrase is from Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound, l. 789. Cf. Hamlet, [783-5].

1856 hud1

hud1 = sing1 without attribution

783 table . . . memory]

1856 sing2

sing2 = sing1

783 table . . . memory]

1861 wh1

wh1 has a CN about tables in 792

783 table . . . memory]

1865 hal

hal

783 table of my memory] Halliwell (ed. 1865): “This was not an unusual imagery. and perhaps originated from Proverbs, iii.3,—‘write them upon the table of thine heart.’ ‘I figured on the table of my hart The goodliest shape that this worlds eye admires.’ Poems added to Sydney’s Astrophel and Stella, ed. 1591.

“‘They so deeply graved the same in the table of their mindes, that to this day it could never be raced out, like to a remembrance set in a marble stone, which continueth time out of minde.’—Deloney’s Pleasant History of the Gentle Craft, 1598.

“‘I have wiped away from the table of my remembrance all formes and effigies, that first, middle, and last, at all times, and above all thinges, I might prescribe fresh in my memorie your faithfull favours, so liberally and so freelye expended uppon mee.’—Melton’s Sixe-Fold Politician, 1609.”

1868 c&mc

c&mc ≈ sing2 without attribution

783 table] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868): “In figurative reference to the tablets or table-books used for keeping memorandums in which were temporarily inscribed, and could be readily effaced. See [2H4 4. (2068-69), n. 39].” Cp. their note for 792, where they think Hamlet refers to actual tables.

1872 cln1

cln1: standard gloss + // in magenta underlined

783 table] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “tablet. Compare [AWW 1.1.106 (97-99)]: ‘To sit and draw His arched brows, his hawking eye, his curls, In our heart’s table.’”

1872 hud2

hud2 = hud1

783 table

1877 v1877

v1877 = cln1

783 table]

1885 macd

macd: standard + in magenta underlined

783-9 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “The whole speech is that of a student, accustomed to books, to take notes, and to fix things in his memory. ‘Table,’ tablet.”

1899 ard1

ard1: standard gloss; // in TGV 2.7.3; analogue:

783 table] Dowden (ed. 1899): Massinger The Emperor of the East: “Writ in the table of my memory.”

1902 Reed

Reed: claims Bacon is Shakespeare, supported by Promus notebooks begun Dec. 1594.

783 table . . . memory] Reed (1902, § 119) quotes Bacon Redargutio Philosophiarum undated: “Tables of the mind differ from common tables; . . . you will scarcely wipe out the former records unless you shall have inscribed the new.”

1904 dent

Smeaton

783-4 table . . . wipe away] Smeaton (ed. 1904, Glossary, p. lxix) illustration from Gesner of the type of memorandum book with leaves.

1929 trav

trav

783 Yea] Travers (ed. 1929): “emphatic.”

1938 parc

parc

783 table] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938): “tablet.”

1939 kit2

kit2: standard

783 table] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "tablet. Small ivory tablets were used for memoranda. Cf. [792]."

1947 cln2

cln2: standard

783 table] Rylands (ed. 1947): "tablet."

1957 pel1

pel1: standard

783 table] Farnham (ed. 1957): “writing tablet, record book.”

1957 pen1b

pen1b: standard + xref

783 table] Harrison (ed. 1957): “note book. Intellectual young gentleman carried ’tables’ with them to take down good sayings, sermons, speeches and anecdotes. See note on [1886-7].”

1960 Knights

Knights

783-5 all] Knights (1960, p. 48) notes the repetitions of all: Hamlet’s preoccupation solely with evil is the cause of his paralysis.

1970 pel2

pel2 = pel1

783 table] Farnham (ed. 1970): “writing tablet, record book”

1980 pen2

pen2

783 the . . . memory] Spencer (ed. 1980): “my memory, which is now like a memorandum tablet on which experience writes. The table was generally made of thin leaves of ivory or slate, from which one could wipe away previous records or notes. The customary contents of such notebooks are listed in lines 99-101.”

1982 ard2

ard2: standard

783 table] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “tablet; a flat surface bearing, or designed to bear, an inscription, effigy, etc. Cf. 792 CN. Theobald shows that the metaphor is as old as Aeschylus. Cf. Signey, Apology, ’Let Aeneas be worn in the tablet of your memory’, and the injunction of Proverbs (3: 3; 7: 3) for a ’son’ to write ’commandments’ ’upon the tables of thine heart’. The allusion is not, as often supposed, specifically to the ’tables’ carried by gentlemen for noting down memoranda. Yet it evidently brought such writing-tablets into Shakespeare’s mind (cf. saws, copied [785-6]) and suggested the business of 792. Cf. the conceit of Son. 122.”

1985 cam4

cam4

783 table] Edwards (ed. 1985): "tablet, slate."

1987 oxf4

oxf4

783 table] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "tablet on which things could be inscribe and from which they could, if necessary, be erased."

1988 bev2

bev2: standard

782 globe] Bevington (ed. 1988): “(1) head (2) world.”

1992 fol2

fol2: Stallybrass et al. 2004

783 table] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992, note added after 2004): “While a table could be a table-book or slate, it has been suggested by Peter Stallybrass and Roger Chartier that the reference here is to one of the erasable pages that were popular in the Renaissance, e.g., bound together with printed almanacs. (Hamlet wants to wipe his memory clean as one would wipe such a page with a moistened finger or cloth. Later [792-4] Hamlet seems to write in such an almanac with the stylus bound with the book.)”

Ed. note: See Peter Stallybrass, Roger Chartier, Heather Wolfe, and John Franklin Mowery, "Hamlet’s Tables and the Technologies of Writing in Renaissance England," SQ 55.4 (2004): 379-419.

2006 ard3q2

ard3q2: xref; //

783 table] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “Hamlet envisages his memory as a wax writing tablet on which items can be inscribed or erased (see [792] and Son. 122).”

2008 Crystal

Crystal

783-91 Crystal (2008, pp. 109-110): <p. 109> “It is when we are lulled into a sense of auditory security by hearing one rhythm, and then are brought up short with another, that we realize soemthing powerful is going on [quotes F1 783-91]. </p. 109> <p. 110> The predictable rhythm of the first six lines sets up an auditory expectation that the seventh [Vnmixt with baser matter; yes, yes, by Heauen, 789] is going to be the same; but it is not. The rhythm stops short. half way through. The new rhythm in the second half of the line is a warning shot that something is about to happen. The explosion happens in the next line [Oh most pernicious woman! 790], two beats shorter than anything before it. And then the rhythmical guns start to pound.” </p. 110>