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    36 views20 pages

    The Riverside Shakespeare - Shakespeares Text

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    dick white

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    Shakespeare’s Text G. Blakemore Evans Mose readers of Shakespeare know that Mache, reproach by Lay Macbeth for sceming cowardice sree, “I date do alae may become aman; / Who dares do moreia sone" (vic 46-4); tha Richard UL, Fighcnel by a heaening dreamy nits defensively, Richard loves Richard, that, Lam [” (Vji183), that Romeo in despa ater renting word of Jalie’s tupposel death eres out, “Is i een so? Then | defy you sara!” (V2); tha he villa bastard Edun eavinces himself cat "Edsnind the bate Shall op Teiinate” Edgar (Lii-20-2), and hac a Falta lay dying, abou o be teanapored straight to Arthur's lo, a ball of rein fields” Henry V TEai-16-17), What most readers are not aware of however, it hat none of these falas ins appears the orginal, basi texte in exactly the form here Gincnded words dtignol to sestoce eri to an ‘otherwise coreipepatage’” And thse are ta five fou of hunrais of pusage in Shakespear plays that Fequire some sore of ediocalintervetion, “The di ferem kinds and several sources of txtal corruption and what such corupion may inply for the general duthorty of particular text, together with an Cxanination ofthe vatousbibllographicaltecniges ad approaches thar have been devised to recover what may be elle he “true text™—these, che dss, its tes, andthe proposed remcli, are among the incipl subjects of the fllowing say Betore we ar, howere, soa conserain of the varios peoblens involve in establishing Shakespeare's " The original, unemended readings for these passages may be conslted inthe Teatusl Note fllowing etch play, The passave from King Lear i discuted Tater in this sey (Gage 38) text it wil be usefal o give a brief statement of what is meant when we speak ofthe Shakespeare canon, that is the body of wating (plays an poets) which by general consensas is now accepted 36 constituting Shakespeare's "works. So far asthe plays are concernal, che bounds of the canon are, with three exeeption, laid down by th contents ofthe first collect edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works, polisd by William Jaggard in 1623 and now universally referred o ashe First Folio (F1), This collection contains thirty-six plays and forms the central core ofthe eanon. Tghvecn ofthese plays had been published earlier in separse quarto (Q) eons of diferent degrees of authority, ranging in date from 1594 (Tinus Andronicus) 10 1622 (Othello). "The te- raining cightcen plays were here pried for che frst time, and for these plays the First Folio is our sole authority, Siace 162) only two othr plays, and two pussages fom a third, have bern generally aimitel to he canon: Perils, The Toso Noble Kintnen, and Sit Thomas More (ewo passages only)? The firse was areributed to Shakespeare on the title-page ofthe fest Guarto (Ql) in 160; the second to Jonn Fletcher and Shakespeare on the titepage of the only quacto edition in 1654 The two passages fom che manuserpe play Sir Thomas More (Gist printed in 1844) are now Widely acepted as by Shakespeare, Indect, one ofthe passages, a substantial scene of 147 lines, is believed by Ihany to be wetten in Shakespeare's autograph (Plan * Altough & number of critics, since Capell (1760) fst claimed the play for hin, have idntfed Shakespeare's hand In parts (parivulaly the "Courtass scenes) oF the anny ‘ous Eavard 1c. 1390-98) the play has not bet included Inthe prevent edition. See Kenaeth Min, Shakespeare at Collaborator (London, 1960), Shabespeare's Text D inthe manuscript) Te shouldbe observed thatthe inelsion of playin the canon docs not necessary imply that iis wholly the work of Shakespeare ‘The questions of Shakespear's revision of older plays by cher hands o his enlboration with ocho weitere ae sone of enlless disagreement among scholars Diacaision of uch martes wil be found inthe separate critical intoetions and, co some exert, the EN onthe Tere” to each ply. The canon ofthe poems inclades Venus and Adonis The Rape of Lutras, the somecs, “The Phoeois and Ture" and, in the view of some, “A Lovers Complain" Five posms that appear elsewhere in Shakespeare work’ are incladed in ‘The, Pasonte Pieri whether any ofthe unattributed poem in hat colleen ae his i ners. 1, THE MANUSCRIPTS, OR WHAT LIES BEHIND THE. PRINTED TEXTS Shakespeare's texts wil ppear strange rorospesct- day realen, who ae atistomed to accq any book they may eal ae reproducing exactly what che author siote, Although thee fn face ot alway fly jus theie general assumprion is relaively sound ‘Today there i ordinarily direct Ink beeen the autho andthe pls tex, ad he lin of authociy in thor coninsons from author to reader. Bat for EzabethanJacsbean print drama, vith rate excep tions (expecially the ply of Ben Jonson, the line Uroken. This slave Goin of author and prior text gives ree toa basi question. What was {he source of sours, ofthe manserps from which Shakespeare plays were stop by the printer both ‘he separately published plays (he quart) aad those in the First Folio (1625) colleen?" Until abou sixty” years ago no one seca to have given much Serious consideration to ths question, and yer the fncwrer ca tell os 2 great desl shout a nuke of the Probleme that plague Shakespeare's tee author ot sexta have survived forthe main body of the Shakespeare canon! butts nevertheless poosble from ‘what we know of extant contemporary mano. serpe of plays by other water, and with some ad from the see in Sir Tomas Move generally believed cobeinShakespeares hand to sketch with some degree Of accuracy what may be ealled the “Morenes™ of 4 dramatic manacrpe in the Elvabehan Jacobean See the discussion of Shakespeare's involvement in Sir Thomas More In the iniodetion tothe spesaly r= pared texts of thst two passages included ia the present Eaton. ‘These texts ire accompanied by photographic re Broduions of the tree pager aleve fo bein Shake "The aries extant manuscript of one of Shakespeare's ‘aonieal plays isa telencaped version of] and 2 Henry PV Prepared by Sir Edward Dering about 162% and base on the earler quatee. See GW. Willams and G. Evan, ‘2, Wiliam Shatespeare, “Phe History of King Henry he Fourth” Ae Revieed by Sir Edward Denne. Bert (Folger Paesimies 19), period. Afr an author had complet his wocking rae, known then as “Toul papers ther he prepared 4 “fue copy” of it himselh, presumably making lat- minute changes and ajosments as he copie, or he (or his sting company) hired profesional sctibe to sake a clean transrpe of the “ol papers" which, depending upon opportunity or the amor’ Iterary fonicenee he mig or might not read over to cath errors or make improvements. rom what we believe ‘we know of Shakespear's oul paper,” eae! from 2 say of a number of his plays thougt o have heen print from such copy (eg. Ham, C2; Ramo rnd te, Q2, and cin and Clare, Fi)® and the exidence of the scone fom Sir Thomas Mere (see the “Note on the Text” ro tha play), ie clear that his working drats present considerable dificulies for Scribes (a late for compositor) and thatthe resuking {exe could in many sigtieanr deal be inaccurte of onfored, Moreover, there is essentially no evidence ‘hac Shalespeare vas himsl® ae all concersed with preserving an authoritative text of his plays for farure Feaders Although he may possibly have seen his (wo Inajor poems, Verur ond Adonis ant Ener, through the pret personally, wishing the printng-hoase dally to correct forme by formes the thers as they ere Princ off there tno evidence ro suggest that he Incereste hinelf nthe publication ofa single one of his plays. Ihe had we may ak, why did he after the appearance, for example of corrpt pirated teste of Romer an tit (QU, 1997) and Heit (Ql, 1603). permit the sealed good" quarts ofthese to plays {Q2, 1599 and 1604) to be prince from hie oul popes eaeat of acing 0 that “Tair copies” were Provided? Or, ain why dhe do nothing vo se that the pirated texts of Henry V (Ql, 1600) ant The Mery Wrees of Windsor (Ql, 1602) were replaced by the tikcation of sound ditions ring his etme? cleat hve alto ithe question asto why he alowed so many of his plays to remain unpublished, Teis tae that, generally speaking, once 2 damatat had om pleco play” ant sold eto. an acting company. he Ecard to have any. personal rights im ithe play iccoming the propery of the company, which thus controle the tres to which the play” could be put, inciading its publication, Bue even if he impedinene was not (as fome would argo) more apparent than Teal, it seems reasonable, considering Shakespeare's Eminence in his company and hence hie presumed Suthorty, to concade that hi anode toward his plays, once the immediate excitement of creation had Worn off, was more that of a practical man of the theatre, terete in perfonmanie andthe boxofice ‘han ha of man with exp fel itera prtensions like Jonson, ben on preserving his worke in autora tive tens for poster Second Quarto; Fl_— Fist Folio. For deinkions “Fy and other techies bio: ‘Seaphial terms es in this introduction snd in the separate "Note on the Test” prefsed to the Textual Notes for each play, see the “Glossary of Selsted Biographical Tecms" (heroic referred to a8 "Glosary”) following the intro duction See lossary, under Shee andl Forme, THE MOST LA: mentable Romaine ‘Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: |) Asitwas Phide by the Righe Ho- | + Aan tanetoele tet eae ' ee: ‘eel afr tr Seree Printed by Teh Danter, andare “Slisticitetam ten =e ‘fpeofte Guan, ae ; rs The earliest known “good” quarto of 1 Shakespesrern play: tilespage of the Firse Quarto of Titus Andronicus (159%), from the unique copy discovered in Sweden in 1904 and now in the Folger Shakespeare Libracy fier the manuscript of splay became the propesty ofan acting company, several things coud Ga ash happen to Ital in author's ate form (Tul pape"). it might be annotarl by the company tical book -Keper in preparation fo the eraneipton of 2 "fir copy” intended for uses che company's Promprbook IF aenly a “ir Sopy” when t eae tino the book-kerper'® bands, it would undergo a timilar process. In ciher cise, the: book keeper aexetions might include eeguarzing speech reduc, Adding missing stage direstions (bath mater about Shih Shakespeare seems to have been eal, a he fat More ptsage and some of the quarto and Fie Folio tet show), inlleating properties and sound effects need at certain points, ant marking cos the fll rexe (Shakespear's plays, for example, were generally over the average length required) ether to Improve the pace of scones of simpy to reduce the text to actable proportion within what Shakespeare Tootly called the Few hours" tafe” of the age Once traeribal at “fir copy" the “Yul apes sccm to haye ben reainel inthe companys afcives Alfcr the “book of the play” chat the ois promp-book) hal ben peeps it had to be hese by che Master ofthe Revels before ic oul be pubbely Arata step which intel often necessitated changes to meet official demands. Ie could hen be subjected to farther akerations as various matters of dell came to be ironed out in mehearal and performance, Obviously 2 comtiming process. Latet iin a sent fo geo ope say oy the nae manaserie (or even the “oul papers") might undergo Gracie and far-reaching evans, with adiions Pthape by aodher hand. Thus’ several diferent fan Yesom of te tae nll eager Uecried abo) might be sinancoudy existence an henee more or ls available to sete se spy for «printed edison, vestigation, under the leadership of A. W. Pollard, J. Dover Wilton, WW. Greg, Fredson Bowers, and Alice Walker hasbeen able to ising five general extegores of manscrips which fis believed, may be shown ro andere: Shakeapeie's printed texts, ict, thors manuscie, cher his final earefulyprepaad "se copy” or ton wage of his working deft or "fou! popes?” Secon «seal {tanseripr of either the author's “fie copy" or hor “oul papers”. Third, the ofl hente prope Sook Gite bsed on 2 manuscipe fling ander one of the two preceding heats), or crib copy basen fe Foarth, a manuscript, probably prepared for provoca touring by a unauthorized company and repent 2 reconstfusion from memory by one oc sore store ‘wad at ome caer ime aki pare in an sthonseet Production ofthe play Fi, inthe eae ofa aumber of the First Folio ex, a kind of minal copy, party Pinel and parly manuserpr, in which whe po Enployed at ati prior ‘lito (one of mare Gquarees) that hal esh correcta and fn some eases Zopmented by collation witha presumably suoris. tive manaserie. Further commen on these estogries will be mae in the following section, 1, THE EARLY PRINTED TEXTS () The quero editions. Nineteen? of Shakespeare's plays were published individually in quarto format before the appearance of his collected plays in the First Folio (1623). “Among these quarto elitions itis oe ‘essary to dlistinguish cwo main classes: the “good” quurtos and the “bad” quartos. A’ “'gcod"” quarto is one printed from an authoritative manuseripe, most often some form of the author's manuseripe, in Shakespeare's case, most frequently the “foul papers.” There are twelve “good” quartos: Titus Andronicus (1394), Richand I (1397), 1 Flomry IV (1598),* Love's Labor's Lost (1598), Romeo and Juliet (Q2, 1598), 2 Henry IV (1600), The Merchant of Vere (1600), Twenty-one, if tho quarto editions of The Troublesome Reign of John, King of Englnd (1591) td The Taint of ‘Shrew (1394) ace comnidered as “bad” quattos of King John and The Taming of the Strew.. The peesentcscussion Woes aot treat them a8 tach, although the view that Shrew fa tod quarto of The’ Sirew has rexntly met with Widet scceptance An earlier edition, probably also 159, survives in in set, "This elton is discussed inthe “Note on the Tes (oT Hey IV. LS Shakespeare's Test Shakespeare's Test x0 4 Midna Nights rem (3600), Much Ao alot athing (0), Hamlet (Q2, 1608/5, Tre nd Const (100) a Otel 1622) ach of thee (Cacep Ties ond Gide snd Othe and pethope 1 Hey IV) is helcvl to have teen cdl fn Shakespeare Yul pert” an each (repr Otho Fe now peerlly ape a frig the age tex Of the play. To this offil lo of twelve “ood” quarts here be added the quart eition of The Frao Note Kinen (1638), 2 pity generally aceped as colsboraton berwece Shakespeare’ and oka Flachen, and probably pie. hove parts tow assigned to Shapers om hs “fol paps “The cast of “bal” quaron reprecets Wey Aiterene Kin oftextea shorty, or ack of hor According oe or wily accepted theory, what . “Ch eealogous example of Ft pang, 2 conmmodate a cu of some Ines coxttng QU? imay be ndicd in the Textual Never to Tigas) Ain, in Tine 90 of the opening geen, the, Qh feat, “How, nothing ea Some of wong erie Deine” offs 1 good imtance ofthe entre nee pee come a repre aasiond weal ca Sila san aco’ tek fr fle enphasns Fi cen "Nashing will come of nothing: spake agate’ stronger tnd mea err blanca ine (Compare the Qted addon of "Goe to, poe tn lne 238 of this sane rece) At this pig an elton having dcermined that a cxtally cited tee of Ler should on the evidtce Serchd above, be bated nF but amit sbstan umber of ines fund ony in QI-2, sil as to face the problem of necessary cnendaton: Ti romber of Snmanecs, even ih the aid of QI inv fea ings reqs titra emexdation to bring mening to tm exhevisecorup passage Sige cmendation ‘Ema on wo eves: (1) sartive (e-cometons Concern with the vein texte ofa passe ine Ingato sage drssions aod sper) and @) toeebetantive. (he. coretions comer! Wik Dancruation te soclladacirea, that may” Be fatten afer the meaning ofa pastege). Eaples OF rtneustnive cents acer equey Eo ariculriyn passages dependent on te ighly and Sraselly puesta Q1 vents and tay Ne Teal ried By tuming to the ‘Tescal Nove (aces fee example, 120-21 127, Liv 208, Tht alas Sey sh Miia lik 07, Mniae eh tliat, TVi2, 186, IV 17-1, 1% 51, WW 265-66, Valisi-sa, 121-22. Stari mention senraliy speaking + inore complicated ater ani worth llatration here. Tn T5120-21 where Edman says iF, “Femme the" baie / Shall oth Legitimate", U2 rend “Edmand the bae shal tot legiomates Serer mendations have been sopgestal (Shall be the [Popel, Shall to se" [lame)) an few dors have defended the Fi reading (Ssson most resent) of the grounds tht i mht be erred mesa “Chall phe agsas ot “taller nto" bork stained increas, Bot mt Sif0r sce Goes the ret ar, wari’ coneeure hal cera pa ten hs 1 eye oa i ene burden of “base” that informs much of the soliloquy) Te eta enc poy sacl ene St an ade aie ea erage ee eee PI aa ES Bee ‘he's Since’ okey ar fl mae ee tn SS Pe Nae el we epee race ee woe oneal eae meta SIRS er as ae Sepepe at oer cs tae, ee eres oe eee onde ent pone Bees oe mene epuin ott Denteene eat ROP eee oe a conta alton est weet Se Sl xan: in. 6-6 ar of pane sandeahath) Hoes Pree uae ee ee Sen et ay eight tay tad nat ese sent ra bebe eae eel Seth, AM Day comer mre ine ga mr mee iF ecat haoee en ae 1 oS a a ee merit bela er ae Fer ge aie apr weal al le nah ny wis Foy ender pane a iit onto fer Eee ar ee te ae Shea tte ge nl Be cy el ae Saath ea caaie Sutegie aie tos toes eee a Le is ae sega oe Re ie ees of ar pala ee. allowing, of couse, for sher inspiration, which, ‘hese fer tly dagus may be on rorely rare ocasions the. "very opening of the Foksh Sr nature™ To sum up, thee proaches ae {though the immediate or arg comes“) through conabrory bibliographical evidence, when tny i avaliable, Q) through metal coniderons ( ehrongh reonzng ponsble comporitoral ‘Caine of the vaous Hele of hands pected inthe periods and) though the das arm a3 Frosch covelyanneated with We hve now floyd an elitr though the prn- cipal reps heat tae before he an begin pt Seite te moterinal of oldapeting, af King dah ag ha tesa eee ch a ee then all the peels culne. above have’ been Crocienioy app, toch ronsne uncersin and problematical Tee oto ors given the drei at eamplcated nature of te teal station ad the Sore le Hom of peste eles dechion i Golvdy would ever produce Wenseal eel cess of Tear need not be 2 ater fo surprieot alarm, Tes Indl te very presets of the human clement, the snity foe he exercite of indveal rast and Fidel acumen, thar has made the eiting Of Shake- spec sac 2 challage tomo mary wcbol forthe IBewo hunted andy years VI. THE PRESENT EDITION ‘The present text is based on a new collation and stody of the early substantive editions and consultation of all the major edited texts fom Rowe's (1709) onward, Every effort consistent with critical sense has been made to adhere to the declared copy-texe (eee the “Note on the Text” following each of the plays and poems), and unnecessary emendation, that prick ing devil, has been carefully eschewed.” When the copy-text, however, resisted all reasonable acemps to make sense of it, readings from another early printed text or fzom other editions have, of course, been a titted, but in all such eases the emendation has been placed in square brackets to warn the reader that 1 ext at this point i$ open to question. The original reading, and the souree ofthe emended reading, will be found recorded in the Textual Notes, Obvious com: positoral errors, unless the error produces # new word, are corrected without employing square brackets, br the original reading is nevertheless recorded in the Textual Notes, Square brackets have alto been used to alert the reader to all added o altered material in stage directions and to distinguish words or passages that have been inserced into che basie capy-text from some other early edition which there is Featon to believe preserves Shakespearean words oF lines missing for one reason or another from the copy-text. The source of all such additional brackered materials indicate in the Textual Notes, except for certain. supplementary character dentifcatons that ae plain rom the context “Enter Dots. [Fuevenick) with Lonos.", “Enter Glows Old Lady (Cousens) and Lara?” When the speech prefines for a character show more than one form in the copy-text, they have been repularize to a single form thoughout; altered forms are nat enclosed in square brackees, but the copy-texe variations, where they seen of textual oF Uibiographical interest, are recorded in the Textual Notes. When a speach is assigned toa speler diferent fom the one designated in the copy-text, the spoceh-pret is ofcourse treat like any other cnendation. Alkhough the present text it basically a modem. spelling text, an attempr has been made fo preserve a ‘election of Elzabahan speling forms that rece, or may reflect, a datnetive contemporary pronuncia tion, both those that are invariant int the eat prince texts and. those that appear beside. the spellings Familiar today and so soggest possible variane pro- runciations of single words. In the first category, examples may be found in sich forms (including also roper names) as haberdepois (aveirdapos), hit oF Sha (thor sx, weask (eee); Benn (Bina), Bullingbroote (Bolingbroke), Callice (Calais), Dolph (Dauphin), Roan (Roven),” In che second category bankrout-bankrupe, eonster-consteuc, embassador— ambassador, falom-fathom, -incetiont incest Fenowm-renow,vili-vile. Roe words in this second caregory the present text, following the example of Kireredge, adopts on each occurrence the variant form that appeats in the copy-text. Althoogh the forms preserved may in many cases represent serial oF eapositorial choices rather than Shakespeare's own prclecences, such at approach neveceless suguests {he Kind of linguistic cinate in which he wrote and voids the unkstorial and sometimes insensitive fullscalemoderuization (never consistent poses. Ie was believe, in short, chat some- thing valiable was to be gained by allowing, within limits, some ofthe varery and color of the originals to survive che process of modernization The punaion of «'moderiael rex pes secious problems. A feaquent practice isto impose a Single modem standard throughout, bu this leads almost inevitably to # heavy se of semicolons and periods. “The punctuation ia the early texts is com paratively igh, expecially in the earlier quarto, and frente occasional ticles forthe morn reader, bue a editor who fees, as Dr, Johnson di, that pune uation is ettely in his power, and who ignores the pnetoation ofthe copy-text, docs so a the tak of com Tinual damage to the movenenc an frequently co the meaning ofthe lines, either verse or prose. Jodping from the evidence of the insurrection seene in Sir Tamas More (accep in this lion a8 almost certainly in’ Shakespeare's autograph), Shakespeare employed punctoaion so light as to be almost non exineene. “This single example need sor, of cours, mean that he always did 39, but the sapposiion that he favored ight ae runing punecuation receives, comsicerable support from the quarto texs believed 0 have been ser from some form of his autograph. Thos, though the punctuation in the carly texts maybe in good par the werk of someone dhe prnting-house, or of bebe, i i probably nearer to Shakespeare's incencions and nearer

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