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'
Gary Taylor, "General Introduction,"in WilliamShakespeare: The TextualCompanion(Ox-
ford:ClarendonPress, forthcoming), p. 14 (in proof).
2 Textualand LiteraryCriticism(Cambridge:CambridgeUniv. Press, 1959), in part,
reprinted,
as "Textual Criticismand the LiteraryCritic," in FredsonBowers,Essays in Bibliography,Text,
and Editing(Charlottesville:Univ. Press of Virginia,1975), p. 304.
3 Bibliography,Text,and Editing,p. 373; cf. pp. 524 ff.
Entera Lord.
LORD My lord,hisMajestycommended himto youbyyoungOsric,whobrings
back to him thatyou attendhim in the hall. He sends to know if yourpleasure
hold to play withLaertes,or thatyou will take longertime.
HAMLET I am constantto my purposes;theyfollow the King's pleasure. If his
speaks,mineis ready;noworwhensoever,
fitness I be so ableas now.
provided
LORD The KingandQueenandall are comingdown.
HAMLET In happytime.
to Laertesbefore
LORD The Queendesiresyouto use somegentleentertainment
youfallto play.
me.
HAMLET She well instructs [ExitLord.]
(V.ii.194-206[Q2])
KING .
Whatwouldstthouhave, Laertes?
LAERTES My dread lord [F: Dread my Lord],
Yourleaveandfavorto return
to France,
Fromwhencethough I cameto Denmark
willingly
8 Wells and
Taylor and Hibbardprintthe Q2-onlylines of Polonius in theirtextsbecause the
firstquarto has this "equivalent" to these lines: "He hath,my lord, wrungfromme a forced
graunt"(sig. B3v). But theylaterprintIV.iv in its truncatedF form,even thoughthe firstquarto
(in whichthe scene is even shorter)has a phrasefoundonly in the longerQ2 versionof IV.iv:
"Fortenbrassenephewto old Norway" (sig. G4v). See W. W. Greg,The ShakespeareFirstFolio
(Oxford:ClarendonPress, 1955), p. 317, n. 38.
9 Harold Jenkins,ed., Hamlet,The New ArdenShakespeare(London: Methuen,1982), p. 358.
Those editorswho are intentupon explainingthe differences betweenF and Q2 in termsof the
originsof the two textsand who want to representthe F textas a cut-downand linguistically
simplified passage thatdoes nothingto advance
theatricalversionfailto explainhow sucha difficult
theplot shouldhave foundits way intoF and intoF alone. Hibbardbases his theoryon theabsence
fromF of some but not all the generalizingreflectionson humannaturefoundin the Q2 roles of
Hamlet and Claudius (pp. 106-10).
LAERTES .
It warmsthe verysicknessin my heart
That I shall [Q2: omitshall] live and tell him {Hamlet}to his teeth,
"Thus didst [F: diddest]thou."
KING If it be so, Laertes-
As how shouldit be so? How otherwise?-
Will you be rul'd by me?
LAERTES <Ay, my lord,>
So you will [F: If so you'l] not o'erruleme to a peace.
KING
To thineown peace. If he be now returned,
As checking[Q2: the King] at his voyage, and thathe means
No moreto undertakeit, I will workhim
To an exploit,now ripe in mydevice,
Underthe whichhe shall not choose but fall;
And forhis deathno wind of blame shall breathe,
But even his mothershall unchargethe practice
And call it accident.
<LAERTES My lord, I will be rul'd,
The ratherif you could devise it so
That I mightbe the organ.
KING It falls right.
You have been talk'd of since yourtravelmuch,
And thatin Hamlet's hearing,fora quality
Wherein,theysay, you shine. Your sum of parts
Did not togetherpluck such envyfromhim
As did thatone, and that,in myregard,
Of the unworthiest siege.
LAERTES
Whatpartis that,my lord?
KING
A veryribandin the cap of youth,
Yet needfultoo, foryouthno less becomes
The lightand careless liverythatit wears
Than settledage his sables and his weeds,
Importinghealthand graveness.> Two [F: Some
Claudius then goes on to praise the gentleman, whom Laertes identifiesas La-
mord and also praises.
KING
He made confessionof you,
And gave you such a masterlyreport
For artand exercisein yourdefense,
And foryourrapiermostespecial [F: especiallye],
That he criedout, 'twouldbe a sightindeed,
If one could matchyou. <The scrimersof theirnation,
He swore,had neithermotion,guard,nor eye,
If you oppos'd them.> Sir, thisreportof his
Did Hamletso envenomwithhis envy
That he could nothingdo but wish and beg
Your suddencomingo'er, to play withyou [F: him].
Now out of this-
LAERTES What [F: Why] out of this,my lord?
KING
Laertes,was yourfatherdear to you?
Or are you like the paintingof a sorrow,
A face withouta heart?
LAERTES Why ask you this?
KING
Not thatI thinkyou did not love yourfather,
But thatI know love is begunby time,
And thatI see, in passages of proof,
Time qualifiesthe sparkand fireof it.
<There lives withinthe veryflameof love
A kindof wick or snuffthatwill abate it,
And nothingis at a like goodness still,
For goodness,growingto a plurisy,
Dies in his own too much. That we would do,
We shoulddo whenwe would; forthis "would" changes
And hathabatementsand delays as many
As thereare tongues,are hands,are accidents,
And thenthis "should" is like a spendthrift's [Q2: spend thirfts]
sigh,
That hurtsby easing. But, to the quick o' th' ulcer:>
Hamletcomes back. Whatwould you undertake
To show yourselfyourfather'sson in deed [F: indeed;Q2: indeedeyour
fatherssonne]
More thanin words?
LAERTES To cut his throati' th' church.
KING
No place, indeed, shouldmurdersanctuarize;
Revenge should have no bounds. ...
II
Q2: Bothheereandhencepursuemelastingstrife,
If onceI be a widdow,euerI be a wife.
F: Bothheere,andhence,pursueme lastingstrife,
If oncea Widdow,euerI be Wife.
(III.ii.220-21)
III
HAMLET
I mustto England;youknowthat?
QUEEN Alack,
I had forgot.'Tis so concludedon.
HAMLET
<There's lettersseal'd, and my two schoolfellows,
WhomI willtrust
as I willaddersfang'd,
Theybearthemandate;theymustsweepmyway,
Andmarshalmeto knavery. Let it work.
For 'tis the sportto have the enginer
Hoist withhis own petar,and 't [Q2: an't] shall go hard
But I will delve one yardbelow theirmines,
And blow themat the moon. 0, 'tis mostsweet,
When in one line two craftsdirectlymeet.>
This man shall set me packing.
I'll lug the gutsintothe neighborroom.
(III.iv.207-19)
EdwardsarguesthatShakespearehimselfdeletedthispassage forseveralrea-
sons: among them,"Hamlet has been given no means of learningthat[Ro-
sencrantzand Guildenstern]are to go withhim" and "the audience has still
to be told. .. thatClaudiusis usingthevoyageto Englandto liquidateHamlet"
(p. 15), since Claudius does not reveal this intentionuntilthreescenes later
(IV.iii.62-72). Yet theverysame objectionsapplyto Hamlet'sand thequeen's
referencesto his impendingjourneyto England,whichare not omittedfrom
F and so, accordingto Edwards's theory,were not cut by Shakespeare.Al-
thoughClaudius firstbroaches the idea of sending Hamlet to England at
III.i. 172 ff.,thekingagrees,at Polonius's request,to postponea decisionuntil
afterGertrudeinterviewsHamlet (III.iv). Upset by "The Mousetrap" play,
Claudius announceshis decisionto Rosencrantzand Guildenstern alone at the
beginning of III.iii, when is
Gertrude as
represented awaiting Hamlet in her
closet and Hamletas comingto her. Since F preservesHamlet's referenceto
thejourneyto England-somethinghe can no moreknow, accordingto Ed-
wards's criteria,thanhe can thatRosencrantzand Guildenstern are to accom-
panyhimor thatthekingis planninghis death-F is as vulnerableto Edwards's
objectionas is Q2.
But Edwards has otherreservationsabout the Q2 "engineer" speech-re-
servations thathe assumesShakespeareshared.Edwardsassumesthatthespeech
Now,whether it be
Bestialoblivion,or somecravenscruple
Of thinkingtoopreciselyon th' event-
A thoughtwhich,quarter'd,hathbutone partwisdom
And ever threepartscoward-I do not know
Whyyet I live to say "This thing'sto do,"
SithI havecauseandwillandstrength
andmeans
To do't.
(IV.iv.39-46)
IV
Readersof themoderncombinedQ2/Ftextmay,likeEdwards,findHamlet's
Q2 "engineer" speech problematic,since, in the combinedtext,Hamlethas
neverbeforethisspeechbeenrepresented as so suspiciousofClaudius's motives
or of Rosencrantzand Guildenstern.A readerof Q2, on theotherhand,might
perhapsbe less surprisedby the "engineer" speech and mightwell perceive
in Hamlet's facilityfor anticipatingClaudius's devices the continuationof a
patternalreadyestablishedin Q2. The firstepisode in thispatternmay occur
as early as II.ii of Q2, in whichClaudius and Gertrudeset Hamlet's school-
fellowsuponhimto gleanthecause ofhis anticdisposition.Q2 givesitsreaders
no indicationof how Hamletcan possiblyhave developed the suspicionthat
Rosencrantzand Guildenstern have been summonedto courtby the king and
as
queen (just Q2 will laterfail to provideany accountof whyHamletsuspects
Claudius of "knavery"in sendingtheprinceto England). Yet Q2 nevertheless
represents Hamletas identifying his schoolfellowsas Claudius's informersbe-
foretheyhave an opportunity to expose themselves.This firstencounterbe-
tweenHamlet and his formerschoolfellowsbegins as followsin Q2 (printed
in Bevingtonas II.ii.222-36, 271-93):
Guyl. My honor'dLord.
Ros. My mostdeereLord.
Ham. My extentgood friends,how doost thouGuyldersterne?
A Rosencraus,
goodladshowdoe youboth?
childrenof the earth.
Ros. As the indifferent
Guyl. Happy,in thatwe arenoteuerhappyon Fortunes lap. We arenotthe
verybutton.
Ham. Northesolesof hershooe.
Ros. NeithermyLord.
Ham. Thenyouliue aboutherwast,or in themiddleof herfauors.
Guyl. Faithherpriuates
we.
oh mosttrue,she is a strumpet,
Ham. In thesecretpartsof Fortune, What
newes?
Ros. NonemyLord,buttheworldsgrownehonest.
Ham. Thenis Doomesdayneere,butyournewesis nottrue;Butinthebeaten
wayof friendship,
whatmakeyouat Elsonoure?
Does it not,thinkthee,standmenowupon-
He thathathkill'dmykingandwhor'dmymother,
Popp'din between
th'election
andmyhopes,
Thrown outhisangleformyproperlife,
Andwithsuchcoz'nage-is't notperfect
conscience
[Q2: Entera Courtier.{Osric}]
<To quithimwiththisarm?Andis't notto be damn'd
come
To letthiscankerof ournature
evil?
In further
HORATIO
knownto himfromEngland
It mustbe shortly
Whatis theissueof thebusinessthere.
HAMLET
It willbe short.The interim
is [F: interim's]
mine,
Anda man'slife'sno morethanto say "One.">
(V.ii.63-74)
In F, Hamletfinally justifieshis revengein termsof itsnecessityto his salvation
("And is't not to be damn'd. . . ?"), ratherthan,as in Q2, in termsof the
obligationsof the purelysecular conceptof honor.Howeverunintelligible to
a modernaudiencethe conceptof a sacred act of violence may be, Edwards,
who muchprefersF's alternativeto Q's, has argued,citingTyndale,thatthe
conceptwas availableto a Renaissanceaudience.AlthoughEdwardsstopsshort
of elevatingHamlet's revengeto the realmof the sacred, he suggeststhat,in
F at least,Hamletis a profoundly religiousplayin whichtheprinceis tormented
by the problematic status of revengeas possiblysacred,possiblydamnable.15
In V.ii of F, Hamletresolvesthisdebate by concludingthathis salvationde-
pends upon revenge.
This conclusionof Hamlet's maybe relatedto his representation of thevoy-
age from which he has just returned. In F, Hamlet departed for England in
silence, seeminglyvulnerableto Claudius's plot, a plot thatHamlet,so faras
we can tell, failedentirelyto anticipate.The F Hamletthenrepresents himself
as completelysurprisedby the events thathave so quickly returnedhim to
Denmark:he writesto advise Claudiusof his "suddenand morestrangereturn"
(IV.vii.46-47 [F]). This reading,unique to F, may throwconsiderablymore
emphasison Hamlet's referencein V.ii (commonto Q2 and F) to "a divinity
thatshapesourends,/Rough-hewthemhow we will" (11.10-11), whoseagency
Hamletrepresents as havingpreservedhim.If, in F, Hamletcreditshis survival
to a special providence,he may go on, laterin F's V.ii, to conclude thathe
has been preservedin orderto execute sacred vengeanceupon Claudius, into
whose kingdomhe has been so strangelyreturned.Now he thinksthathe has
recoveredthe advantageover Claudius thathe seemed to have lost whenthe
king senthim off-"The interimis mine."
In Q2, on the otherhand, Hamlet writesto Claudius only of his "sudden
return,"which need not seem "strange" because Hamlet leftDenmarksus-
picious of Claudius's "knavery" and determinedto undermineit in however
"bloody" a mannerwas necessary.Thus, whileHamletmayreferin Q2 to the
"divinitythatshapes our ends" as providinghimwiththespecificoccasion on
whichto discoverand reverseClaudius's plot,theemphasisin Q2 maynotfall
nearlyso heavilyupon providenceas an agent in Hamlet's deliverance.Nor
would it seem appropriate fortheQ2 Hamletto declare"The interimis mine,"
because he is notrepresented as ever concedingthathe has lost the advantage
'1 Philip Edwards, "Tragic Balance in Hamlet," ShakespeareSurvey,36 (1983), 43-52.
17 Urkowitz,Revision,p. 149.