Textual Introduction
This text is geared towards students, particularly those reading Hamlet for the first time in a core college class. Unlike other such texts, however, I do not make a modern translation of the scene. There is a place for such texts, especially when trying to establish the surface meaning of the play. Shakespeare’s diction and syntax can be difficult for modern readers. In a good English class, students develop the ability to critically examine information and draw conclusions, which they can then take with them to future endeavors. The basis of critical interpretations, however, are the words of the work itself. Therefore, a balance must be struck between the Q2 and F1 versions of Hamlet (Which are widely considered authoritative) and that which an uneducated reader can readily comprehend.
I chose to use the text of Q2 with glosses and notes from the Norton, the Riverside, and the Arden. These texts for two reasons. One, Q2 and F1 versions of this scene are essentially the same, and widely considered authoritative. Q1 is very different both in its position in the play and the content of Q1’s to be or not to be speech (Newell 39, Frampton 103-4). Most people reading Hamlet for the first time are probably reading texts that use Q2 or the Folio as it’s authoritative text, and I wanted my text to align with these other sources. Two, these three editions are well respected editions of Shakespeare’s work, with many well-trained scholars spending a lot of time and money to create them. I am not a well-trained scholar; I do not have a lot of time, and I certainly don’t have any money. They both use Q2 as the basis of their versions of Hamlet 3.1, so they will align with my own.
I tried my best to review this pivotal and controversial scene from the perspective of a student. I did this by reading through the scene as it appears in Q2 without any notes or glosses and marking the passages which I did not readily understand. Having studied this play twice, both at the high school and college levels, I cannot fully inhabit the position of a student who has never studied this play. Unlike the scholars which have put together the Norton and Riverside, however, I am not a Shakespeare or textual scholar, so I could use my lack of knowledge to decide where notes and glosses were most needed, while turning to them for meaning on these points. For glosses that neither provided, I turned to the Oxford English Dictionary, which provided me with meaning for words at the time of Hamlet’s first creation. Those in quotations are directly from the cited entry, those without are my own paraphrases from these entries. The definition I chose for each word had to fit three criteria: it had to be a possible meaning of the word at the time Shakespeare wrote Hamlet; it had to be short enough that it would not derail the reader form the work itself; it had to make sense in the context the word it is defining. This last criterion is certainly the most subjective and the most liable to my pre-existing opinions.
Questions about what “really” happens pervades the debate surrounding this scene and the play as a whole. Debates about Hamlet’s madness, his relationship with Ophelia, and the extent of his knowledge of being watched are points of great scholarly and theatrical contention. There are no answers to this within the work itself nor within my text. Though their interpretations are by no means definitive, performances must make decisions about these issues. They can, therefore, reveal the parts of the scene which carry the most influence on interpretation. Thus, I have also reviewed recorded performances of this scene to decide where to make performance comments. I have viewed several performances of this scene, which I have referred to in the comments by the name of the director. For the full citation, look at the work cited.
Though I have tried to encourage multiple possible interpretations when making this text, I have no doubt introduced so textual notes that support some interpretations more than others. There are words and phrases for which the Norton and Riverside each have notes, bite those notes are not the same. In those cases, I made decisions about which to include. These choices no doubt arose in part from my pre-existing interpretations of the work, but I did not do so with a specific interpretation in mind. Specifically, I think that Hamlet’s “to be” speech is contemplation of suicide versus continued life with the burden the ghost has given him. I do not think that Hamlet knew he was being watched, but is pretending to be mad because he knows Ophelia will report his behavior back to her father. My intention, however, is not to create a text that supports only these interpretations.