A Synoptic Hamlet: a Critical-Synoptic Edition of the Second Quarto and First Folio Texts of HamletA Synoptic Hamlet is an alternative response to the editorial problems of this multiple-text play. Like most critical editions, it presents the early texts in a manner helpful to the general reader by modernizing spelling and punctuation, and emending non-sensical readings. However, it does not hide the text’s diversity by exclusively selecting readings from either the Second Quarto or the First Folio in order to reconstruct a single-reading version corresponding to the authentic Hamlet. Rather, it makes their significant variants immediately available in the line itself (offering alternative editorial interpretations of identical or similar readings at certain points). Thus the reader can have a direct appreciation of the divergence and similarity between these early texts from which the Hamlet of today is known. |
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | 11 |
ACCOUNTS OF THE TEXTS AND THEIR TRANSMISSION | 19 |
THE PRESENT EDITION | 53 |
Conventions and abbreviations used | 74 |
The Names of the Actors | 364 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 383 |
Common terms and phrases
Abbott absence actors adjective Andrews authorial revision Barnardo betimes Caldecott Capell Clark & Wright Clown comma compositor conj Corson critical edition Denmark Dowden earliest quot edited F1 edited Q2 editors Edwards emendation Enter Exeunt Exit F1 Hamlet Fl's original Fl's reading Folio Fortinbras foul papers Furness Gertrard Ghost give glosses Guildenstern hath heaven Hibbard Horatio interpreted Jenkins king Kliman Laertes lord madness Malone Marcellus meaning modern mother Norman Blake noun Ophelia Osric Ostric Parrot & Craig passage pentameter phrase play players plural Polonius Polonius's present edition printed pron punctuation Q2 and F1 Q2 Hamlet Q2 shows Q2's original reading Q2's reading Q2's variant Queen reference Reynoldo roman type Rosencraus Rosincrance scene Schmidt Second Quarto sense Shakespeare speak speech spelling stage direction Steevens suggests syllabic synoptic Taylor textual thee Theobald thou ur-Hamlet verb Werstine Wilson word