The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 29.0326  Thursday, 20 September 2018

 

From:        Pervez Rizvi <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>

Date:         September 20, 2018 at 1:27 PM EDT

Subject:    Re: Young Hamlet and Shorthand

 

I may be biting off more than I want to chew, but I’m going to engage with Gerald’s latest post about Bordeaux

 

Gerald makes things difficult by quoting lines in a mixed-up order. First, he quotes 308, then he goes to 646, then he goes backward to 643, then further back to 310, then forward again to 651, repeating some lines he has already quoted. Neither does it help that the words are given in original spelling. I expect most people here are fluent in original spelling, but Bordeaux spelling is more eccentric than most, so why not help us by modernizing it? The only reason not to do so is if the spelling itself is evidence of shorthand. If that’s the reason then please (a) modernize everything except the words that are evidence of shorthand, and (b) explain why they are evidence of shorthand, because it’s not self-evident.

 

I have done the best I could to put the lines in order of line number, and modernize the text:

 

[Lines 308...]

FERD. Let magic be a means to get me grace of lovely Rosaline,

And I will make thee partner of my wealth.

...

Then all my love is buried up in loss.

VAND. Not so, my Lord, we’ll have another plot.

Where wealth wins not a woman unto love,

There rather is abundance or contempt.

But let that damsel be oppressed with want,

Touch her with need and that will make her shrink

.....

[Lines 643...]

VAND. Nay, stay my gracious Lord.

Even now my promise past shall be performed

And Rosaline, whose rigor wronged your heart,

Shall by my art be enforced to love.

FERD. Ah, Vandermast, thou flower of Germany,

Famous for cunning, favor me so much

To get me grace of lovely Rosaline,

And I will make thee partner of my wealth.

I will - what will I?

VAND. Tut, tut, my Lord. 

Your oaths are lovers’ oaths, too soon forgot. 

I break no promise to one oath you swear.

But sit you down, and while you feed on spleen,

 

After correcting what I have done, could Gerald please answer a genuine question? In what way is this passage evidence of shorthand reporting?

 

Pervez Rizvi 

 

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