A Few Character Names in the Early Versions of Hamlet

In this series:

• A Few Character Names in the Early Versions of Hamlet
• The Character Montano, in Hamlet, and Polonius’ Famous Advice.

A recent discussion regarding the 1^st — aka “the bad”— Quarto of Shakespeare’s Hamlet turned toward the question whether or  not it constituted an earlier legitimate version of the play. The question — or, rather, my answer to the question — plays a meaningful part in my recent book Back When Ophelia Jumped Off a Cliff: the Hamlet of 1589.[1]

The German translation of Hamlet, discovered in the 18^th century, includes several strong indications that the original English manuscript from which it was translated was written around 1589. The evidence also indicates that the text was closer to the English 1^st Quarto than to any other of the extant English versions.

Some of the correspondences are as simple as the name of the character who advises the King and Queen in the play and who is also the father of the character Ophelia. In the German play, his name is Corambus. In the 1^st Quarto it is Corambis. The difference in spelling might be explained by the fact that the translator innocently considered it only a name, thus properly corrected it to end in –us. The author of the play may instead have intended an attack on the motto of the Baron Burghley, Cor Unum Via Una (“Undivided Heart, Undeviating Course” or more literally “Of one heart, one course”). Coram bis implies “two-faced” or a second public face. Especially together with cor ambis which can imply a heart that can go either way (think ambi-dexterous). What is clear is that the character known as “Polonius” in later versions of the play was Corambis/-us in earlier versions of the play, a German translation from one giving strong evidence that the English original was written in 1589 or shortly thereafter.

As I have shown, in the book, nearly all of the differences between the German translation and the extant English texts, can be shown to be the result of abridgement to reduce playing time. As I have pointed out in a short essay regarding the origin of the character name “Ophelia,” it was all but certainly taken from Jacopo Sanizzaro’s highly popular volume of eclogues entitled Arcadia.

Some might argue that there is insufficient evidence to state with any certainty that the name comes from Sannazaro, no matter that the old Italian poet was highly popular among the Court and University writers of Shakespeare’s time. That argument fails once it is considered that one of the interlocutors in her eclogue is named Montano. That, of course, is the name in the first quarto of the character who became Reynaldo in the final texts of Hamlet. That the names of two characters would appear both in a prospective source for a text under evaluation goes beyond coincidence.[2]

While Montano does not appear in the German translation, it is explained by the fact that the role is not essential to the action of the play. It would  be high on the list of excisions in order to reduce run time. His scene was cut. That it does appear in the 1^st Quarto but  not in subsequent versions suggests that it was an earlier genuine version not a bad quarto.

Philip Sidney was not the only English poet influenced by Sanazzaro. Nor were only English poets influenced. Jorge Montmayor imitated the Arcadia very closely in his poem Diana. It must be admitted that Montmayor not only borrowed the name Montano but gave the character a far greater role. Shakespeare was influenced by all three of these poets, English, Italian and (Portuguese writing in) Spanish — arguably more by Montmayor’s La Diana Enamorada.

Given this, the 1^st Quarto — whether transcribed by a member of the audience during a performance (i.e. bad) or pirated from a legitimate manuscript or perhaps even printed with permission — had to come from an earlier version of the play. Whether it is a complete text, a fully correct text, or no, it is a text that preserves for us an earlier version that would later be considerably revised toward what we consider the definitive version.

The clues as to the origin of the 1^st Quarto hardly end with character names. There has already been a two hundred year history of studying the question. It is one of the knottiest matters in Shakespeare scholarship and has been interrogated under the most powerful of metaphorical heat lamps. Still it has not confessed many of its secrets.

Returning to the character Montano, Oxfordians may have a particular interest in another possible connection. Queen Elizabeth and William Cecil greatly valued their German special ambassador-at-large Christopher Mundt. Mundt had been trusted with missions large and small during each Protestant English reign beginning with that of Henry VIII. He constantly reported on various affairs on the European mainland.

Mundt’s correspondence with the English nobility was extensive. Many wrote his surname “Mont”. Many of the letters to and from him were written in Latin, in which he was styled Christophorus Montius.

In one instance, at least, Mundt passed along a quasi-personal letter from the Landgrave of Hesse, in Germany, enquiring whether the Queen would pay to have one of his sons educated in England. Apparently, she had invited his son to be a high-ranking foreign exchange student of sorts. I have yet, however, to find a letter between he and Cecil on any such personal matter as passed between Corambis and Montano.  It is unlikely that such personal matters between Cecil and the agents of the Royal Court, interleaved in official correspondence, would be saved into official records.

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[1] Purdy, Gilbert Wesley. Back When Ophelia Jumped Off a Cliff: the Hamlet of 1589. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09WC94FGW

[2] “Shakespeare’s Character Names: Shylock, Ophelia, etc.” Virtual Grub Street, July 13, 2021. https://gilbertwesleypurdy.blogspot.com/2021/07/shakespeares-character-names-shylock.html

Also at Virtual Grub Street:

• The Death of Sir Edward Vere, son of the 17th Earl of Oxford and Anne Vavasour. May 8, 2022. “Mr. Sedgwick wrote to me for a prayer for Sir Edward Vere.”
• How Shakespeare gave Ben Jonson the Infamous Purge. November 7, 2021. “Of course, De Vere could not openly accuse Jonson of having outed him as Shakespeare.”
• More on Thomas North as Shakespeare and author of Arden of Feversham. June 14, 2021. “This is also the reason why the title pages included the address of the shop that was selling the book.”
• A 1572 Oxford Letter and the Player’s Speech in Hamlet. August 11, 2020. “The player’s speech has been a source of consternation among Shakespeare scholars for above 200 years.  Why was Aeneas’ tale chosen as the subject?”
• Check out the Shakespeare Authorship Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time and about the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
• Check out the Letters Index: Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford for letters related to Edward de Vere and the Shakespeare Authorship Question.