Page 329 - Hamlet: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

222 N O T E S 4.4.

63. Whereon.. .try the cause i.e. The plot did not
even afford room for the contending forces to give battle.
64-5. not tomb enough etc. Perhaps suggested by the
factthatVerefor sometime occupied an old churchyard
outside Ostend, v. note 1. 18, and Harrison, Journal,
pp. 191-92.
4.5.
The interval of time between 4.4. and 4. 5. has been
variously estimated at 'a week' and 'two months.' It is
most improbable that Sh. made any estimate himself.
6. Spurns enviously at straws i.e.' Conceives hatred of
the most trivial and innocent things' (Clar.). v. G.
'enviously.'
16. Let her come in Q2 assigns this to 'Hora.';
MSH.p. 189.
l
17-20. To my sick soul., .spilt? Q2 marks the
lines with inverted commas to signify 'sentences'; cf.
note 1. 3. 36-42. The aside accounts for the Queen's
reluctance to see Oph. and gives us the only glimpse of
her real state of mind after Ham.'s departure to England.
v. G. 'toy,' 'jealousy,' 'spill'; 'artless jealousy' may be
rendered 'uncontrollable suspicion.'
20. S.D. Q2 'Enter Ophelia,' F i 'Enter Ophelia
distracted,' Q 1 'Enter Ofelia playing on a Lute, and her
haire downe singing.' Cf. note 3.4. 102 S.D.
23-6. How should I etc. This first stanza was not
likely to ease the Queen's 'sick soul.' None of OpL's
ballad-snatches, except that at 1.186, are known else-
where.
25-6. cockle hat...shoon The garb of a pilgrim
assumed by the conventional lover sworn to worship at
the shrine of his 'saint'; cf. Rom. 1. 5. 95-112.
36. Larded all with (Qz) F i 'Larded with'—
which all edd. follow. But Sh. gives Oph. stumbling
verse in this stanza to exhibit the wandering of her mind;
cf. next note.