Page 330 - Hamlet: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare

4-5 N O T E S 223

37 did not go (£)2, F i , Qi) Pope omitted'not'
and most edd. follow, which 'seems rash.. .lest Sh. may
have meant a distracted allusion to the "obscure burial"
(1. 211) of Pol.' (Dowden). The unmetrical 'not'
would direct the attention of the audience to her
wandering.
40-1. Well.. .a baker's daughter i.e. Well, thank
you; I am.transformed,butnotintoan owllikethe baker's
daughter. The allusion is to a folk-tale, ace. to Douce
current in Gloucestershire, in which Jesus asks for bread
at a shop, and is given short weight by the baker's
daughter, for which she is changed into an owl. For
a recent treatment of the story in verse, v. The Fleeting
by Walter de la Mare.
(
God dild you Fi) Q2 'good dild you.'
42. God be at your table! Prob. a form of salutation
by a guest before partaking of hospitality; but connected,
as Verity notes, in OpL's distraught mind with the
inhospitality of the baker's daughter to God.
43. Conceit upon her father The K. refers to the
general drift of Oph.'s remarks. Cf. 11. 74-5 below.
46-65. To-morrow is Saint Valentines day etc. 'This
song alludes to the custom of the first girl seen by a man
on the morning of this day being considered his Valentine,
or true-love' (Halliwell). Its immodesty is attributed by
most commentators to the influence of madness.
50. clo'es Q2 'close,' i 'clothes.'
F
63. (He answers) F i omits. Cf. notel. 167 below.
68. they would lay (Q2) FI'they should lay.'
71-2. Good night (Fi) Q2 'God night.' Cf. notes
11. 40-1 above and 2. 2. 182.
74-6. 0, this.. .Gertrude Q2 prints this as prose;
F i regularises but omits 'and now behold.' MSH.
p. 218.
74-5. it springs.. .death i.e. from Ham.'s violence.
The K. never loses an opportunity with the Queen of
stressing the danger of her son being at large.