DRAMATIS PERSONÆ1 CLAUDIUS, King of Denmark. HAMLET, Son to the late, and nephew to the present, King. FORTINBRAS, Prince of Norway. POLONIUS, Lord Chamberlain. HORATIO, friend to Hamlet. LAERTES, son to Polonius. 2 GERTRUDE, Queen of Denmark, and mother to Hamlet. Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Sailors, Messengers, and other Attendants. Ghost of Hamlet's Father. SCENE: Elsinore. DRAMATIS PERSONA] First given by Rowe. ROSENCRANTZ] Theob. ROSENERAUS. Rowe. ROSENCRAUS. Pope, Jen. ROSINCROSSE. Han. Elsinore] Mal. Elsinoor. Rowe +. Elsinour. Cap. Elsineur. Steev. Denmark. Glo+. THE TRAGEDY OF HAMLET PRINCE OF DENMARK ACT I SCENE I. Elsinore. A platform before the castle. FRANCISCO at his post. Enter to him BERNARDO. Ber. Who's there? ACT 1] Actus Primus. Ff. A platform..............] Mal. An open Francisco...] Dyce. Francisco upon... Cap. Enter Barnardo and Francisco, two Centinels. QqFf (Bernardo Q) Rowe+. Francisco on guard. Sta. I-5. Who's......He] Two lines, the first ending unfold Cap. Steev. Var. Cald. Knt, Coll. White, El. 1. Who's] Whose Qq. Scene I] GILDON (Remarks, &c., 1709, p. 404): This scene, I have been assured, Sh. wrote in a Charnal House, in the midst of the Night. SEYMOUR (p. 138): This whole scene appears unnecessary to the design and conduct of the play, and might with advantage be omitted. The hand of Sh. is visible in it occasionally, but it is part of that undigested plan which is manifest throughout the play. [Seymour finds the same fault in Macbeth and Lear. ED.] CAMBRIDGE EDITORS: In this play the Acts and Scenes are marked in the Ff only as far as II, ii, and not at all in the Qq. 1. Who's there] COLERIDGE (p. 148): That Shakespeare meant to put an effect in the actor's power in these very first words is evident from the impatience expressed by the startled Francisco in the line that follows. A brave man is never so peremptory as when he fears that he is afraid. TSCHISCHWITZ finds a 'psychological motive' in thus representing Bernardo as so forgetful of all military use and wont as to challenge Francisco who is on guard. Evidently Bernardo is afraid to meet the Ghost all alone, and it is because he feels so unmanned that his last words to Francisco are to bid Horatio and Marcellus make haste. [For other instances of irregu larities in metre, which may be explained by the custom of placing ejaculations, appellations, &c. out of the regular verse, see ABBOTT, § 512. ED.] 3 Fran. Nay, answer me; stand, and unfold yourself. Ber. Long live the king! Fran. You come most carefully upon your hour. Ber. 'Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed, Francisco. 2 ΤΟ 7. struck] ftrooke Qq. ftrook F,, Cap. twelve] twelfe Q2 Q3 7, 8, 23. 'Tis] Tis F. 2. me] JENNENS: This is the emphatic word. [HANMER printed it in italics. ED.] Francisco, as the sentinel on guard, has the right of insisting on the watch-word, which is given in Bernardo's answer. 3. king] MALONE supposed this sentence to have been the watch-word, but PYE (p. 308) believes that it corresponds to the former usage in France, where, to the common challenge Qui vive? the answer was Vive le Roi, like the modern answer, 'A friend.' And DELIUS points out that shortly afterwards to the same challenge Hor. and Mar. give a different response. 6. upon your hour] CLARENDON: An unusual phrase, meaning 'just as your hour is about to strike.' Compare Rich. III: III, ii, 5; IV, ii, 115; Meas. for Meas. IV, 1, 17. As Fran. speaks the clock is heard striking midnight. [See ABBOTT, 191; Macb. III, i, 16; V, iii, 7.] 7. now] DYCE: Is not the sense the same whether we read new or 'now'? 8. much] ABBOTT, 51: Much, more, is frequently used as an ordinary adjective like the Scotch mickle, and the Early English muchel. 9. heart] HUNTER (ii, 212): As no particular reason appears for the melancholy of this insignificant personage, it is probable that the poet meant by this little artifice to prepare the minds of the spectators for a tragical story. Such a remark at the opening of a play disposed their minds, unconsciously perhaps to themselves, to the solemnity of thought and feeling which suited the awful scenes soon to be unfolded. STRACHEY (p. 24): The key-note of the tragedy is struck in the simple preludings of this common sentry's midnight guard, to sound afterwards in ever-spreading vibrations through the complicated though harmonious strains of Hamlet's own watch through a darker and colder night than the senses can feel. 10. Not a mouse stirring] COLERIDGE (p. 148): The attention to minute sounds,―naturally associated with the recollection of minute objects, and the more familiar and trifling, the more impressive from the unusualness of their producing any impression at all,-gives a philosophic pertinency to this image; but it has likewise its dramatic use and purpose. For its commonness in ordinary conversation tends to produce the sense of reality, and at once hides the poet, and yet approxi Ber. Well, good night. If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste. Fran. I think I hear them.-Stand, ho! Who is there? Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS. Hor. Friends to this ground. Fran. Give you good night. 11-13. As in Qq. Prose, Ff, Rowe. Who is]. who's Ff, Rowe, Pope. II And liegemen to the Dane. 15 O, fareweil, honest soldier: +, Mob. QqFf (after line 13), et cet. mates the reader or spectator to that state in which the highest poetry will appear, and in its component parts, though not in the whole composition, really is the language of nature. If I should not speak it, I feel I should be thinking it;—the voice only is the poet's,—the words are my own. 13. rivals] WARBURTON: That is, partners [which is the word used here in Q-WHITE.] RITSON: Thus, in Heywood's Rape of Lucrece, 1636: • Tullia. Aruns, associate him. Aruns. A rival with my brother in his honours.' And in The Tragedy of Hoffman, 1631 [II, iii, p. 29. Reprint 1852], ‘And make thee rival in those governments.' See also rivality in Ant. & Cleop. III, v, 8. WARNER (Var. 1821): Read Horatio, and Marcellus The rival of' &c. because Hor. is a gentleman of no profession, and there is but one person in each watch. CAL DECOTT: See corrival, 1 Hen. IV: I, iii, 207, and IV, iv, 31. WEDGWOOD: Lat. rivalis, explained in different ways from rivus, a brook; by some from the struggles between herdsmen using the same watercourses; by others as signifying those who dwell on opposite sides of the stream. CLARENDON: This is the only passage of Sh. in which the word is employed in its earlier and rarer sense [as given by Warburton]. 14. COLERIDGE (p. 148): Observe the gradual transition from the silence and the still recent habit of listening in Francisco's 'I think I hear them,'-to the more cheerful call out, which a good actor would observe, in the Stand ho! Who is there?' 4 16. Give] CALDECOTT: That is, May He, who has the power of giving, so dispense; or, I give you good night, like the Latin dare salutem. CLARENDON: The more probable ellipsis is God give you.' We do not find the complete phrase 'I give you good night,' but we have many examples of God give you good even. as Rom. & Jul. I, ii, 56, and Love's Lab. Lost, IV, ii, 84. The omission of 'I before such words as 'pray' is not a parallel case. [Compare the owl ... Which gives the stern'st good-night,' Macb. II, ii, 3.—ED] Ber. Welcome, Horatio; welcome, good Marcellus. 20 18, 19. Say,...there?] Cap. One line, QqFf. 21. Mar.] Hora. Qq, Cap. Steev. Rann, Var. Cald. Coll. Sing. Hud. What, has] What, ha's QQ. What ha's QQ5' to-night?] to night? Qq. to night. Ff (to Night F). F.F. 19. A piece] WARBURTON: He says this as he gives his hand [to this effect Warburton inserted a stage-direction]. HEATH and STEEVENS : It is merely a humorous, cant expression. TSCHISCHWITZ: The philosophic Horatio conceives the personality of man, in its outward manifestation merely, as only a piece of himself. MOLTKE: It is not without significance that Sh. makes Horatio return a different answer to this question than did Bernardo. The latter by his reply of 'He' implies that he is present body and soul (for he and Marcellus have no longer any doubt; they have already seen the apparition with their own eyes); whereas Horatio by his answer implies that owing to his incredulity he is not wholly present, that he is not there with his body and soul, but that he had undertaken to share the watch with the corporeal part only of his entire individuality. MOBERLY: As we say, 'scmething like him.' 20. COLERIDGE (p. 149): The actor should be careful to distinguish the expectation and gladness of Bernardo's Welcome, Horatio!' from the mere courtesy of his 'Welcome, good Marcellus!" 21. Whether this should be spoken by Mar. or Hor. has occasioned discussion. CAPELL (i, 122) asks, 'Can it be imagined that the same person, who, but a line or two after, calls the apparition "this dreaded sight," should, in this line, call it "this thing"? The levity of the expression, and the question itself, are suited to the unbelieving but eager Hor.' COLLIER gives it to Hor., because Hor. had come purposely to inquire about the Ghost. TSCHISCHWITZ: Mar. is a firm believer in the Ghost, and the allusion to it as a 'thing' betokening contempt and doubt can come only from the skeptic, Hor. HUDSON: There is a temperate skepticism well befitting a scholar in this speech of Horatio's. On the other hand, ELZE advocates Mar. Horatio, being the invited guest, remains in the background, attentive and expectant, while Marcellus is more forward in his zeal to convince Horatio of the truth of his story.' WHITE: Horatio does not yet believe that the Ghost appeared at all. 21. again] COLERIDGE (p. 149): Even the word 'again' has its credibilizing |