Gra. Here's one comes in his shirt, with light Iago. Who's there? whose noise is this, that Iago. Iago. O me, lieutenant! what villains have done this? Cas. I think that one of them is hereabout, And cannot make away. Ọ, treacherous villains! Iago. What are you there? come in, and give some help. [To LODOVICO and GRATIANO. Rod. O, help me here! O, murderous slave! O, villain! Iago. Kill men i' the dark!-Where be these How silent is this town!-Ho! murder! murder! I cry you mercy; Here's Cassio hurt Iago. Lod. He, sir. Iago. By villains. How is it, brother? Cas. My leg is cut in two. Gra. I am sorry, to find you thus: I have been to seek you. Jago. Lend me a garter: So.-O, for a chair, Bian. Alas, he faints :--0, Cassio! Cassio! Iago. Gentlemen all, I do suspect this trash Iago. Even he, sir; did you know him? Gra. Iago. He, he, 'tis he:-0, that's well said;-the Save you your labour. He that lies slain here, Was my dear friend: What malice was between you? eye [CASSIO and ROD. are borne of. Emil. 'Las, what's the matte; what's the mat Iago. Cassio hath here been set on in the dark, Emil. Alas, good gentleman! alas, good Cassio! Marry, heaven forbid !- Go know of Cassio where he supp'd to-night :1a—- Light, gentlemen; I'll bind it with my shirt. 1 Thus the first quarto. The second quarto and the folio read And your unblest fate hies.' 2 The folio reads for of; the quarto reads forth of, i. e. out of. So in King Richard III. :'I clothe my naked villany With odd ends, stol'n forth of holy writ.' And in Hamlet : Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep.' Again, in Jonson's Volpone : Forth the resolved corners of his eyes.' 3. No passengers? nobody going by? So in the Comedy of Errors: Now in the stirring passage of the day.' A passenger anciently signified a passage-boat or vessel, and could not therefore be used in its modern sense without an equivoque. 4 i. e. a thick cloudy night. 9 Thus the folio. The quarto reads--Stay you, good gentlewoman. It seems probable that Iago addresses Lodovico and Gratiano, who are going away to assist Cassio, and to see him properly taken care of. The subsequent appeal and address of lago to them appears to confirm this supposition. Malone follows the quarte, and defends the reading of it. 10 The quarto, instead of gastness, reads jestures, and instead of stare, in the next line, has stirre. 11 So in Hamlet : For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak, With most miraculous organ.' 12 In the second scene of the preceding act lago informs Roderigo that Cassio was to sup with Bianca; that he would go to him there, and bring him away between twelve and one. Indeed Cassio had himself told Iago that he would sup with Bianca, and Iago had We must suppose, 5 This phrase, to cry on, for cry out on, has already promised to meet him at her house. occurred in Hamlet, Act v. Sc. 2. 6 This speech is not in the first quarto. 7 Thus the folio. The quarto 1622 reads-to bear a part in this. 8 This passage incontestably proves that lago was meant for a Venetian. Jago. O, did he so? I charge you, with me. Bian. I am no strumpet; but of life as honest, Emil. Come, mistress, you must tell us another tale.-- And tell my lord and lady what has happ'd.-- [Exeunt. [Takes off his Sword. thy rose, When I have pluck'd I cannot give it vital growth again, [Kissing her. O, balmy breath, that dost almost persuade Ay, Desdemona. Steevens suggests that as the foriner line is imperfect, 1 To fordo is to undo, to ruin, to destroy. So in Hamlet: Did with desperate hand 2. Othello, full of horror at the cruel action which he Put out the light, and then put out the light.' The present regulation of the passage, by which so much beauty and spirit is added to it, was proposed by Mr. Upton, but it is to be found in Ayre's Life of Pope; it may therefore have originated with Warburton, who thus explains it:-The meaning is, I will put out the light, and then proceed to the execution of my purpose. But the expression of putting out the light, bringing to mind the effects of the extinction of the light of life, he breaks short, and questions himself about the effects of this metaphorical extinction, introduced by a repetition of his first words, as much as to say,-But hold, let me first weigh the reflection which this expression naturally excites. Dr. Farmer treats this as a refinement of Warburton's, observing that to put out the light was a phrase for to kill. Malone stoutly combats on the same side, but his arguments have not convinced me, and I have therefore followed Warburton's arrangement. Mr. Boswell would have done so if he could have used his own discretion. I have felt bound, (says he) to print Have mercy on me! Ay, I do. Then, heaven Oth. Des. And yet I fear you: for you are fatal then, know not, Since guiltiness I know not; but yet I feel, I fear. Des. They are loves I bear to you. Oth. Ay, and for that thou diest. Des. That death's unnatural, that kills for lov ing.- Alas, why gnaw you so your nether lip? Oth. Peace, and be still! Send for the man, and No, by my life and soul; ask him. Sweet soul, take heed, Take heed of perjury; Thou'rt on thy death-bed. Des. Ay, but not yet to die. Oth. Yes, presently: Oth. By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in his the text according to Mr. Malone's opinion; but if Warburton's explanation be an error, it is demptus per vim, I for one am very sorry to part with it. Broken sentences, as Mr. Malone has more than once observed, are very much in our poet's manner, and are surely natural in the perturbed state of Othello's mind. I am unwilling to persuade myself that a regulation of the text which contains so much beauty could be merely the refinement of a critic, and that our great author, in one of his most highly-wrought scenes, instead of it, intended nothing but a cold conceit.' 4 Thus the quarto. The folio reads-put out thy light. Steevens adopted the present reading for the sake of the measure, , and to avoid the useless repetition of the word light. 5 Thus the folio. The first quarto-returne: the second quarto-relumine. 6 This image seems to be derived from Scripture :Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth.' 7 Davenant has borrowed this thought in his Law of Lombardy :- I am not fraught with the devil's spleen; I would not hurt thy soul. Othello seems to have been a favourite with his author; for he has bestowed on him that piety he has refused to Hamlet-Steevens. 8 This thought is likewise found in The Legend of Orpheus and Euridice, by H. L. 1597 :- Unnatural, that kill where you should kiss.' And in King Richard III. : It is a quarrel most unnatural, To be reveng'd on him that loveth thee.' 9 This line is difficult. Thou hast hardened my heart, and makest me kill thee with the rage of a murderer, when I thought to have sacrificed thee to justice But while I say one prayer. Oth. It is too late.4 [He smothers her. Emil. [Within.] My lord, my lord! what ho! my lord! my lord! Oth. What noise is this?-Not dead? not yet quite dead? I, that am cruel, am yet merciful; I would not have thee linger in thy pain.-- Oth. Emil. [Within.] What ho! my lord, my lord! Who's there? Emil. [Within.] O, good my lord, I would speak a word with you. Oth. Yes;-'tis Emilia:-by and by.-She's dead. 'Tis like she comes to speak of Cassio's death: Emil. [Within.] I do beseech you I may speak with you, O, good my lord! Oth. I had forgot thee: O, come in, Emilia :- with the calmness of a priest striking a victim.'-Johnson. There is a second attempt at explanation by Johnson, adopting the reading of one of the quartos 'thou dost stone thy heart,' still less successful than the above. The obvious sense of the passage is-Thou dost harden my heart, and mak'st me now call what I intend to do, and which I before thought murder,--a sacrifice only. The difficulty consists in the inverted phrase 'a murder which I thought--being parenthetical. The passage has been hitherto absurdly pointed. Johnson exclaims-I am glad that I have ended this dreadful scene. It is not to be endured.' 1 The quarto 1622 reads :-That he hath uds death. 2 This thought appears to have been common:-'Know, Cæsar, had I now as many lives As there are stones, or hairs upon my head, I would,' &c. The Devil's Charter, 1607. Again, in Beaumont and Fletcher's King and No King, produced in 1611: but if all My hairs were lives, I would be engaged In such a cause.' 8 The first quarto omits this speech. 4 After this speech of Othello, the elder quarto adds an invocation from Desdemona, consisting only of the sacred name thrice repeated. The statute of the 3d of James I. c. 21, against the profane use of the name of God, &c. was highly necessary, for many of the old plays abound in the most wanton and shocking profa O, who hath done Des. Nobody; I myself; farewell: Commend me to my kind lord; O, farewell. [Dies Oth. Why, how should she be murder'd? Emil. Alas, who knows? Oth. You heard her say herself, it was not I. Emil. She said so; I must needs report the truth. Oth. She's like a liar, gone to burning hell; 'Twas I that kill'd her. Emil. O, the more angel she, And you the blacker devil! Oth. She turn'd to folly," and she was a whore. Emil. Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil. Oth. She was false as water.10 Emil. Thou art rash as fire, to say That she was false; O, she was heavenly true! Oth. Cassio did tup her; ask thy husband else. O, I were damn'd beneath all depth in hell, But that I did proceed upon just grounds To his extremity; Thy husband knew it all. Emil. My husband ? Oth. Thy husband. If heaven would make me such another world nations of a name which never ought to be menta-oed in such an irreverend manner on the stage. 6 5 It is supposed that some theatrical direction has been omitted, and that, when Othello says, Se, *9,"?> After the repetition of wounds, Deale then stabs her. mona might speak again with propriety, and yet v. ry soon expire. Filium unicum adolescentulum Habeo: ah! quid dixi habere me? imo haben, Chreme.' Terent. Hemen 7 Steevens seems to think the use of the epillit Arag hour here unusual. Surely there is nothing more comon. Heary, sad, and grievous are synonymous with all our old writers. 8 On my fayth I thynke the moone be at the full For frantyke fansyes be then most plent-ful." The Play of the Wether, by John HoyerÀ 9 Folly signifies here, as in the sacred writties, whi tonness, unchastity. See Deuteronomy, xxii. 21. Se the Rape of Lucrece : 'Her sad behaviour feeds his vulture fully. 10 i. e. as unstable, as deceitful. In Genesis, I.. Jacob applies a similar term to Reuben :- Thu 34 light as rater. Dr. Cas 11 Pliny informs us that Ptolemy Philadelphus ba # statue of his wife Arsinoe, made of one topaz, but bits in length.-Hist. Nat. b. xxxvii. c. 8. in his Lectures on Mineralogy, says he used topaz ad chrysolite as synonymous terms. Perhaps Shak-p alludes to this story.--Plumpire. OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE. Emil. My husband? My husband? Emil. O, mistress, villany hath made mocks with say, that she was false? My husband Do thy worst: Emil. Oth. As I have to be hurt.4 O, gull! O dolt! Enter MONTANO, GRATIANO, and IAGO. That men must lay their murders on your neck. Emil. Disprove this vilain, if thou beest a man: Iago. I told him what I thought; and told no more Than what he found himself was apt and true. Emil. You told a lie: an odious dan:ned lie; She false with Cassio !-Did you say with Cassio? tongue. speeches are omitted in that copy. The two next 549 'Tis proper I obey him, but not now :- Oth. O! O! O! Oth Whose breath, indeed, these hands have newly stopp'd: I know, this act shows horrible and grim. dead; Thy match was mortal to him, and pure grief That she with Cassio hath the act of shame With that recognizance and pledge of love No, I will speak as liberal'2 as the air; 'I slept the next night well, was free and merry, I found not Cassio's kisses on her lips.' 'On Othello's wedding night, he and Cassio embarked 3 Villany hath taken advantage to play upon the from Venice, where Desdemona was left under the weakness of a violent passion. care of lago. They all met at Cyprus ; and since their arrival there, the scenes include only one night, the night of the celebration of their nuptials. What night Othello's sleeping the next night well? Iago has said, was there to intervene between Cassio's kisses and "Ilay with Cassio lately," which he could not well have done, unless they had been lor.ger at Cyprus than represented in the play; nor could Cassio have kept away for the space of a whole week from Bianca.' Steevens obviates one objection, by supposing that what married to Desdemona, when Cassio went between them, and that a thousand times is only an aggravated Othello mentions might have passed before he was term for many times. The difficulties started by Mr. Tollet he is unable to explain. 11 Othello tells his wife, Act in. Sc. 4:- 7 That is, at the instant when she gave Desdemona's This passage, therefore, has been censured as an overDid an Egyptian to my mother give.' handkerchief to lago for even then Emilia appears to sight in the poet; but perhaps it exhibits only a fresh have suspected it was sought after for no honest pur-proof of his art. The first account of the handkerchief, pose, and therefore asks her husband-What will you do with it? &c. See Act iii. Sc. 2. 8 So in Shakspeare's 144th Sonnet :My female evil Tempteth my better angel from my side? 9 The first and the second folio both read-reprobance. 10 Dr. Johnson thinks that this and other passages in the play seem to suppose a longer space comprised in the action of this play than the scene includes. Mr. Tollet has adduced several instances in support of this opinion, as that in Act iji. Sc 3: as given by Othello, was purposely ostentatious, in order to alarm his wife the more. When he mentions it a second time, the truth was sufficient for his purpose. -Steevens. 12 The folio reads 'I'll be in speaking liberal as the north.' The quarto 1622-liberal as the air. The text is formed out of the two copies. Liberal here means free. So in Jeronimo, i. e. the first part of The Spanish Tragedy, 1605 :- 'Now let your bloods be liberal as the sea.' Villanous whore ! Emil. She give it Cassio! no, alas; I found it, And I did give't my husband. Iago. Filth, thou liest. Emil. By heaven, I do not; I do not, gentlemen; O, murd'rous coxcomb! what should such a fool Do with so good a wife? [IAGO stabs EMILIA, then runs out. Oth. Are there no stones in heaven, But what serve for the thunder ?-Precious villain! Gra. The woman falls; sure, he has kill'd his wife. Emil. Ay, ay; O, lay me by my mistress' side! weapon, Which I have here recover'd from the Moor: Come, guard the door without: let him not pass, But kill him rather; I'll after that same villain, For 'tis a damned slave. Oth. [Exeunt MONTANO and GRATIANO. I am not valiant, neither, But every puny whipster gets my sword:But why should honour outlive honesty? Let it go all. Emil. What did thy song bode, lady? Hark, canst thou hear me? I will play the swan, And die in music : 2-Willow, willow, willow.-Moor, she was chaste; she lov'd thee, cruel Moor; So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true; So speaking as I think, I die,-İ die. [Dies. Oth. I have another weapon in this chamber, It is a sword of Spain, the ice-brook's temper;3 O, here it is:-Uncle, I must come forth. Gra. [Within.] If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear; Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer. Gra. What is the matter? Do back dismay'd? 'tis a lost fear; you go Man but a rush against Othello's breast, And he retires ;--Where should Othello go?- 1 The meaning appears to be :- Has not heaven one supernumary bolt, to hurl directly at the head of this atrocious villain ? 2 So in the Merchant of Venice :he makes a swanlike end, Fading in music.' 8 The particular name of the ice-brook may be determined from several passages in Martial. (See lib. i. ep. 50, lib. iv. ep. 55.) It was undoubtedly the brook or rivulet called Salo (now Xalon) near Bilbilis in Celtiberia. In this the Spaniards plunged all their swords and other weapons while hot from the forge; and to the icy quality of the waters they were supposed to be indebted for their stubborn temper. See also Justin, i. 44. It should be remembered that Spain was famous for producing the best sword blades. Now, how dost thou look now? O, ill-starr'd wench! Pale as thy smock! when we shall meet at compt, O, cursed, cursed slave!--Whip me, ye devils, Enter LODOVICO, MONTANO, CASSIO, carried in Oth. That's he, that was Othello; here I am. If that thou be'st a devil, I cannot kill thee. Lod. O, thou Othello, that was once so good, What shall be said to thee? Oth. Why, any thing: An honourable murderer, if you will; For naught I did in hate, but all in honour. Lod. This wretch hath part confess'd his villany: Did you and he consent in Cassio's death? Oth. Ay. Cas. Dear general, I never gave you cause. From this time forth I never will speak word. Gra. Lod. Sir, you shall understand what hath befall'n, Oth. O, villain! Cas. Most heathenish, and most gross! Lod. Now, here's another discontented paper, Found in his pocket too: and this, it seems, Roderigo meant to have sent this damned villain; But that, belike, Iago, in the interim, Came in and satisfied him. Oth. O, the pernicious caitiff!How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief That was my wife's? Cas. I found it in my chamber. And he himself confess'd, but even now, Oth. 4 Thus in Coriolanus, Act i. Sc. 1 :- Of more strong link asunder, than can ever 5 This and the six preceding lines are omitted in the first quarto. Wench originally signified only a girl or young woman. It is so used in our old version of the Scriptures, and by many of our early writers. 6 To see if, according to the common opinion, his feet be cloven. 7 The same thought occurs in Antony and Cleopatra :-Tis well thou'rt gone, If it be well to live.' 8 In the snare, by the stratagem. 9 The first quarto reads-in the nick.' |