Page 293 - Hamlet: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

i86 NOTES 2.2.

499-501. Break.. .fends. For this image of a
great wheel rolling down a hill cf. 3. 3. 17—22. The
style is different, but the two passages come from the
same corner of Sh.'s brain.
504-505. he's for a jig.. .sleeps i.e. the only thing
in a play he can appreciate is the Clown's jig (which
commonly took place at the end) or some bawdy jest -
he sleeps out the rest. Kempe, who left Sh.'s company
in 1599, was famous for his jigs, which were prob.
discontinued after his departure, v. G. 'jig.*
506.* But who, ah woe! £>2 'But who, a woe,' F l
'But who, O who,' MSH. p. 73.
mobled v. G. This far-fetched and, with its homely
association, rather ridiculous word, together with Ham.'s
shying at it and Pol.'s praise, was prob. introduced to
excite critical attention to what follows, e.g. to equally
far-fetched expressions like 'threat'ning the flames With
bisson rheum' and 'made milch the burning eyes of
heaven,' which I suggest were intended to parody the
style of Dido and Aeneas. Cf. note 1. 451.
5J2. o'er-teemtd loins Perhaps suggested through
misunderstanding of Aen. ii. 503 'quinquaginta illi
thalami, spes ampla nepotum.'
521. made milch v. note 1. 506 and cf. Drayton,
Polyolbion, xiii. 171 'exhalingthe milch dew'(Steevens).
523. whe'r (Capell) Q2, F i 'where' Malone and
mod. edd. read the expanded form 'whether.' MSH.
p. 232.
528-30. the abstracts.. .you live Developed in
3.2. 20-24 on 'the purpose of"playing.' Here, as there,
it is the play rather than the players Sh. has chiefly in
mind. This repeated emphasis on the 'topicality' df
drama is significant in view of the prevailing belief in
Sh.'s 'impersonality.' For 'abstracts' (F 1) v. MSH.
p. 239.
533. bodkin (Q2) F i 'bodykins.' A recognised
variant, v. N.E.D.