A 505382
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1892
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ARTES
1817
SCIENTIA
VERITAS
LIBRARY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
TUEBOR
SI-QUÆRIS-PENINSULAM·AMⱭNAM
CIRCUMSPICE
BEQUEST OF
MRS. JAMES HUNTLEY CAMPBELL

UNIY
OF
THE GUILD CHAPEL, STRATFORD-ON-AVON.

SHAKESPEARE'S
TRAGEDY OF
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
EDITED, WITH NOTES,
BY
WILLIAM J. ROLFE, LITT. D.,
FORMERLY HEAD MASTER OF THE HIGH SCHOOL, CAMBRIDGE, MASS,
WITH ENGRAVINGS.

ΣΠΟΝΤΕΣ ΔΙΑΔΩΣΟΥ
CATOVIN
NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
FRANKLIN SQUARE.
1892.

ENGLISH
CLASSICS.
EDITED BY WM. J. ROLFE, A.M.
Illustrated. 16mo, Cloth, 56 cents per volume; Paper, 40 cents per volume.
SHAKESPEARE's Works.
The Merchant of Venice.
Othello.
Julius Cæsar.
A Midsummer-Night's Dream.
Macbeth.
Hamlet.
Much Ado about Nothing.
Romeo and Juliet.
As You Like It.
The Tempest.
Twelfth Night.
The Winter's Tale.
King John.
Richard II.
Henry IV.
Part I.
Henry IV. Part II.
Henry V.
Richard III.
Henry VIII.
King Lear.
The Taming of the Shrew.
All's Well that Ends Well.
Coriolanus.
The Comedy of Errors.
Cymbeline.
Antony and Cleopatra.
Measure for Measure.
Merry Wives of Windsor.
Love's Labour 's Lost.
Two Gentlemen of Verona.
Timon of Athens.
Troilus and Cressida.
Henry VI. Part I.
Henry VI. Part II.
Henry VI.
Part III.
Pericles, Prince of Tyre.
The Two Noble Kinsmen.
Venus and Adonis, Lucrece, etc.
Sonnets.
Titus Andronicus.
GOLDSMITH'S SELECT POEMS.
GRAY'S SELECT POEMS.
PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK.
Any of the above works will be sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part
of the United States, on receipt of the price.
Copyright, 1879, by HARPER & Brothers,
į
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION TO OTHELLO...
I. THE HISTORY OF THE PLAY.
II. THE SOURCES OF THE PLOT....
III. CRITICAL COMMENTS ON THE PLAY..
OTHELLO..
Acr I..
" II..
“ III...
46
IV...
V..
NOTES...
PAGE
9
9
13
13
35
37
60
83
109
•
131
•
151

"She lov'd me for the dangers I had pass'd,
And I lov'd her that she did pity them.
This only is the witchcraft I have us'd-
Here comes the lady; let her witness it."
(i. 3. 167-170.)

VENICE
INTRODUCTION
TO
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
I. THE HISTORY OF THE PLAY.
The first edition of Othello was a quarto, published in
1622 with the following title-page:
THE Tragedy of Othello, | The Moore of Venice. | As
it hath beene diuerse times acted at the Globe, and at the
Black-Friers, by his Maiesties Seruants. | Written by VVill-
iam Shakespeare. | LONDON, | Printed by N. O. for Thom-
as Walkley, and are to be sold at his | shop, at the Eagle and
Child, in Brittans Bursse. | 1622.
IO
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
This edition had the following preface:
The Stationer to the Reader.
To set forth a booke without an Epistle, were like to the old
English prouerbe, A blew coat without a badge, & the Author
being dead, I thought good to take that piece of worke vpon mee:
To commend it, I will not, for that which is good, I hope euery
man will commend, without intreaty: and I am the bolder, be-
Thus
cause the Authors name is sufficient to vent his worke.
leauing euery one to the liberty of iudgement: I haue ventered tc
print this Play, and leaue it to the generall censure.
Yours,
Thomas VValkley.
The next year it appeared in the first folio, where it occu-
pies pages 310-339 inclusive, in the division of “Tragedies.”
The folio text varies materially from that of the quarto, and
was evidently printed from a different MS. of the play.
How the publishers of the two editions arranged the ques-
tion of copyright, it is impossible to say.* The copyright of
the quarto remained the property of Walkley until March 1st,
1627-8, when it was assigned unto Richard Hawkins, who
brought out an edition of it in 1630. In May, 1638, Ursula,
widow of Richard Hawkins, assigned the copyright to
Messrs. Mead and Meredith, who in January, 1638-9, dis-
posed of it to William Leak, who issued what he termed
"the fourth edition" of the play in 1655. Other quarto edi-
tions appeared in 1681, 1687, and 1695 (Halliwell).
Othello was formerly placed among the latest of Shakes-
peare's works; Warburton and Malone (except in his last
edition) dating it 1611, Chalmers 1614, and Drake 1612.
After the publication in 1842 of the Shakespearian entries
*Collier says that the publishers of the folio probably purchased
Walkley's interest in Othello, and thus became entitled to include it in
their edition; but the facts given by Halliwell show that it remained
the property of Walkley long after the publication of the folio.
INTRODUCTION.
I I
in the Accounts of the Master of the Revels, according to
which "The Moor of Venis was performed "in the Ban-
ketinge house att Whithall" on "Hallamas Day being the
first of Novembar," 1604, an earlier date was accepted by the
majority of the editors.* In 1868 these entries were proved
to be forgeries,† leaving the question to be decided by internal
evidence. This, however, is generally considered to place
the composition of the play in or near 1604. Delius, Furni-
vall, Fleay, and Stokes agree in this opinion. Stokes‡ proves
that it was written before the year 1606 by the following
minute detail: in i. 1. 4 in the quarto of 1622, we have the
expression "'Sblood," while this oath is omitted in the folio.
This shows that the quarto was printed from a copy made
before the act of Parliament issued in 1606 against the abuse
of the name of God in plays, etc.§
CC
This date is confirmed by certain metrical and æsthetic
tests. The comparative absence of rhyme, the proportion of
double endings" and "weak endings," and the absence of
classical allusions, all combine to group this play with Lear
and Macbeth. Dowden points to the fact that the general
character and spirit of the play lead to the same conclusion
as these metrical tests, marking it as one of the group
of tragedies of passion which includes Macbeth and Lear."
* Verplanck expressed the opinion that the play was substantially re-
written at a later date. White suggested that The Moor of Venice of
1604 was by another playwright, and, being the property of Shakespeare's
company, was afterwards entirely rewritten by him as late as 1611, if not
later.
Certain allusions to contemporaneous history and literature which the
critics have found in the play will be considered in the Notes.
† But they have since been shown to be based on facts.
‡ Chronological Order of Shakespeare's Plays, by the Rev. H. P. Stokes
(London, 1878), p. 116.
$
§ So "Zounds" and "by the mass" in ii. 3 are found in the quarto
but not in the folio. The Camb. editors also remark that this shows
that the MS. from which the former ed. was printed had not recently
been used as an acting copy.
I 2
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
These dramas all end in confusion and sorrow, as those
of a later period-The Tempest, Cymbeline, and The Winter's
Tale-close with reconciliation and peace.*
It must, however, be borne in mind that at the date as-
sumed for the production of Othello Shakespeare was in the
full maturity of his powers. He had already written Hamlet,
and Macbeth and Lear were soon to follow. It seems fitting
that these "four great tragedies" should be associated in
their time of composition as in the pre-eminent rank they
hold among the poet's works. There is no other such group
in the literature of any country or any age.†
It may be added that the earliest known reference to the
play is found in the MS. diary of Hans Jacob Wurmsser von
Vendenhagen, who accompanied Louis Frederick, Duke of
Wurtemberg-Mumpelgard in his diplomatic mission to Eng-
land in 1610 on behalf of the Protestant German princes.
* Dowden adds: "It is not, as in the earlier comedies-The Two
Gentlemen of Verona, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, etc.—a
mere dénouement; the resolution of the discords in these latest plays is
not a mere stage necessity, or a necessity of composition resorted to by
the dramatist to effect an ending of his play, and little interesting his
imagination or his heart; its significance here is ethical and spiritual, it
is a moral necessity."
Compare Furnivall's classification of the plays, given in our ed. of As
You Like It, p. 25.
† As to the position which Othello is to hold among the four, the best
critics do not agree; but there have not been wanting those who assigned
it the foremost place. Macaulay expresses the opinion that it “is per-
haps the greatest work in the world." Wordsworth says: The tragedy
of Othello, Plato's records of the last scenes in the career of Socrates, and
Izaak Walton's Life of George Herbert are the most pathetic of human
compositions;" and again, in one of his Sonnets, referring to books,
he says:
"There find I personal themes, a plenteous store,
Matter wherein right voluble I am,
To which I listen with a ready ear;
Two shall be named, pre-eminently dear,-
The gentle lady married to the Moor,
And heavenly Una with her milk-white lamb."
INTRODUCTION.
In this little volume, preserved in the British Museum, we
read under date of April 30, 1610: "S. E. alla au Globe,
lieu ordinaire ou l'on joue les commedies; y fut representé
l'histoire du More de Venise." There can be little doubt
that this refers to Shakespeare's play.
II. THE SOURCES OF THE PLOT.
The story of Othello appears to have been taken from the
Heccatommithi of Giraldi Cinthio, an Italian novelist, first
published at Monte-Regale, in Sicily, in 1565. Of the tale
and the use that Shakespeare has made of it, Verplanck re-
marks:
"The following is the outline of the original story; suffi-
cient to enable the reader to judge of the extent of the Eng-
lish dramatist's obligations to the Italian novelist; which are
much less than is commonly supposed by those who take
their ideas of the Italian story from some of the critics, and
suppose it to be a novel, filled with dialogue and sentiment,
instead of a meagre tale, not longer than one act of Othello.
There lived at Venice a valiant Moor, held in great esteem
for his military talent and services. Desdemona, a lady of
marvellous beauty, attracted not by female fancy (appetito
donnesco), but by his high virtues, became enamoured of the
Moor, who returned her love; and, in spite of the opposition
of her relations, married her. They lived in great happiness
in Venice until the Moor (he has no other name in the story)
was chosen to the military command of Cyprus, whither his
wife insisted on accompanying him. He took with him a
favourite ensign, a man of great personal beauty, but of the
most depraved heart-a boaster and a coward. His wife is
the friend of Desdemona. The ensign falls passionately in
love with Desdemona, who, wrapped up in love of her hus-
band, pays no regard to him. His love then turns to bitter
hate, and he resolves to charge her with infidelity, and to
fix the Moor's suspicions upon a favourite captain of his.
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
Soon after, that officer strikes and wounds a soldier on
guard, for which the Moor cashiers him. Desdemona en-
deavours to obtain his pardon; and this gives the ensign an
opportunity of insinuating accusations against her, and rous-
ing the Moor's jealousy. These suspicions he confirms by
stealing from her a favourite worked handkerchief, and leav-
ing it on the captain's bed. Then the Moor and his ensign
plot together to kill Desdemona and her supposed lover.
The latter is waylaid and wounded in the dark by the en-
sign. Desdemona is beaten to death by him also 'with a
stocking filled with sand;' and then the Moor and he at-
tempt to conceal their murder by pulling down the ceiling,
and giving out that she was killed by the fall of a beam.
The Moor becomes almost frantic with his loss-turns upon
the ensign, whom he degrades and drives from him. The
ensign revenges himself by disclosing the murder to the
captain, upon whose accusation to the senate the Moor is
arrested, tried, tortured, and then banished, and afterwards.
killed by Desdemona's relations.
"The tale has little beauty of style, power of narration, or
vivid delineation of character. Indeed, none of the person-
ages, except Desdemona, have any name, nor any distinctly
and naturally drawn character; nor has the narrative any of
that charm of expression and sentiment which has made
others of the Italian stories, through 'old Boccaccio's lore
or Dryden's lay,' a portion of the popular literature of every
civilized nation. Its merit consists in the air of reality and
apparent truth of the story; which, I can scarcely doubt,
was in substance drawn from real events preserved in the
traditionary or judicial history of Venice
"Shakespeare owes to it the general plan of his plot, and
the suggestion of the first passion and the character of Des-
demona, which, however, he has softened and elevated as
well as expanded. The peculiarities and minuter incidents.
of the story give to the drama a character of reality such as
INTRODUCTION.
15
pure invention can seldom attain. He has also some obliga-
tion to Cinthio for the artful and dark insinuations by which
Iago first rouses the Moor's suspicions. But all else that is
essentially poetic or dramatic is the poet's own. Cinthio's
savage Moor and cunning ensign have scarcely any thing in
common with the heroic, the gentle, the terrible Othello, or
with Iago's proud, contemptuous intellect, bitter wit, cool
malignity, and 'learned spirit.' Cassio and Emilia owe to
Shakespeare all their individuality: Roderigo, Brabantio,
and the rest, are entirely his creation."
III. CRITICAL COMMENTS ON THE PLAY.
[From Mrs. Jameson's “Characteristics of Women.”*]
The love of Desdemona for Othello appears at first such a
violation of all probabilities that her father at once imputes.
it to magic, "to spells and mixtures powerful o'er the blood."
"She, in spite of nature,
Of years, of country, credit, every thing,
To fall in love with what she fear'd to look on !"
And the devilish malignity of Iago, whose coarse mind can-
not conceive an affection founded purely in sentiment, de-
rives from her love itself a strong argument against her.
<<
Ay, there's the point, as to be bold with you,
Not to affect any proposed matches
Of her own clime, complexion, and degree,
Whereto, we see, in all things nature tends," etc.
Notwithstanding this disparity of age, character, country, com-
plexion, we, who are admitted into the secret, see her love rise
naturally and necessarily out of the leading propensities of
her nature.
At the period of the story a spirit of wild adventure had
seized all Europe. The discovery of both Indies was yet re-
cent; over the shores of the western hemisphere still fable
* American ed. (Boston, 1857), p. 241 fol.
16
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
women.
and mystery hung, with all their dim enchantments, visionary
terrors, and golden promises! perilous expeditions and dis-
tant voyages were every day undertaken from hope of plun-
der, or mere love of enterprise; and from these the adven-
turers returned with tales of "antres vast and desarts wild-
of cannibals that did each other eat-of Anthropophagi, and
men whose heads did grow beneath their shoulders." With
just such stories did Raleigh and Clifford, and their follow-
ers, return from the New World: and thus by their splendid
or fearful exaggerations, which the imperfect knowledge of
those times could not refute, was the passion for the roman-
tic and marvellous nourished at home, particularly among the
A cavalier of those days had no nearer, no surer
way to his mistress's heart than by entertaining her with these
wondrous narratives. What was a general feature of his time,
Shakspeare seized and adapted to his purpose with the most
exquisite felicity of effect. Desdemona, leaving her house-
hold cares in haste, to hang breathless on Othello's tales, was
doubtless a picture from the life; and her inexperience and
her quick imagination lend it an added propriety: then her
compassionate disposition is interested by all the disastrous
chances, hair-breadth 'scapes, and moving accidents by flood
and field, of which he has to tell; and her exceeding gentle-
ness and timidity, and her domestic turn of mind, render her
more easily captivated by the military renown, the valour, and
lofty bearing of the noble Moor-
"And to his honours and his valiant parts
Does she her soul and fortunes consecrate."
The confession and the excuse for her love are well placed in
the mouth of Desdemona, while the history of the rise of that
love, and of his course of wooing, is, with the most grace-
ful propriety, as far as she is concerned, spoken by Othello,
and in her absence. The last two lines summing up the
whole-
INTRODUCTION.
17
"She lov'd me for the dangers I had pass'd,
And I lov'd her that she did pity them "—
comprise whole volumes of sentiment and metaphysics.
Desdemona displays at times a transient energy, arising
from the power of affection, but gentleness gives the pre-
vailing tone to the character-gentleness in its excess
gentleness verging on passiveness-gentleness, which not
only cannot resent, but cannot resist.
“Othello. And then, of so gentle a condition!
Tago. Ay, too gentle.
Othello. Nay, that 's certain."
Here the exceeding softness of Desdemona's temper is
turned against her by Iago, so that it suddenly strikes Othello
in a new point of view, as the inability to resist temptation;
but to us who perceive the character as a whole, this extreme
gentleness of nature is yet delineated with such exceeding re-
finement that the effect never approaches to feebleness. It.
is true that once her extreme timidity leads her in a moment-
of confusion and terror to prevaricate about the fatal hand-
kerchief. This handkerchief, in the original story of Cinthio,
is merely one of those embroidered handkerchiefs which were
as fashionable in Shakspeare's time as in our own; but the
minute description of it as "lavorato alla moresca sottilissi-
mamente," * suggested to the poetical fancy of Shakspeare
one of the most exquisite and characteristic passages in the
whole play. Othello makes poor Desdemona believe that the
handkerchief was a talisman:
"There 's magic in the web of it.
A sibyl, that had number'd in the world
The sun to make two hundred compasses,
In her prophetic fury sew'd the work;
The worms were hallow'd that did breed the silk;
And it was dyed in mummy, which the skilful
Conserv'd of maidens' hearts."
* Which, being interpreted into modern English, means, I believe, noth•
ing more than that the pattern was what we now call arabesque.
B


18
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
Desdemona, whose soft credulity, whose turn for the mar-
vellous, whose susceptible imagination, had first directed ner
thoughts and affections to Othello, is precisely the woman to
be frightened out of her senses by such a tale as this, and be-
trayed by her fears into a momentary tergiversation. It is
most natural in such a being, and shows us that even in the
sweetest natures there can be no completeness and consis-
tency without moral energy. *
When Othello first outrages her in a manner which ap-
pears inexplicable, she seeks and finds excuses for him.
She is so innocent that not only she cannot believe her-
self suspected, but she cannot conceive the existence of
guilt in others.
Something, sure, of state,
Either from Venice, or some unhatch'd practice
Made demonstrable here in Cyprus to him,
Hath puddled his clear spirit.
'T is even so-
Nay, we must think, men are not gods,
Nor of them look for such observances
As fit the bridal."
And when the direct accusation of crime is flung on her in
the vilest terms, it does not anger but stun her, as if it trans-
fixed her whole being; she attempts no reply, no defence;
and reproach or resistance never enters her thought.
*There is an incident in the original tale, Il Moro di Venezia, which
could not well be transferred to the drama, but which is very effective,
and adds, I think, to the circumstantial horrors of the story. Desdemona
does not accidentally drop the handkerchief; it is stolen from her by
Iago's little child, an infant of three years old, whom he trains and bribes
to the theft. The love of Desdemona for this child, her little playfellow
-the pretty description of her taking it in her arms and caressing it,
while it profits by its situation to steal the handkerchief from her bosom,
are well imagined and beautifully told; and the circumstance of Iago em-
ploying his own innocent child as the instrument of his infernal villany
adds a deeper, and, in truth, an unnecessary touch of the fiend to his fiend·
ish character.

INTRODUCTION.
19
"Good friend, go to him-for by this light of heaven
I know not how I lost him: here I kneel :—
If e'er my will did trespass 'gainst his love,
Either in discourse of thought or actual deed;
Or that mine eyes, mine ears, or any sense,
Delighted them in any other form;
Or that I do not yet, and ever did,
And ever will, though he do shake me off
To beggarly divorcement, love him dearly,
Comfort forswear me !
Unkindness may do much,
And his unkindness may defeat my life,
But never taint my love."
And there is one stroke of consummate delicacy, surpris-
ing, when we remember the latitude of expression prevail-
ing in Shakspeare's time, and which he allowed to his other
women generally: she says, on recovering from her stupe-
faction-
แ
“Am I that name, Iago?
Jago. What name, sweet lady?
Desdemona. That which she says my lord did say I was."
So completely did Shakspeare enter into the angelic refine-
ment of the character.
Endued with that temper which is the origin of superstition.
in love as in religion-which, in fact, makes love itself a re-
ligion-she not only does not utter an upbraiding, but noth-
ing that Othello does or says, no outrage, no injustice, can
tear away the charm with which her imagination had invested
him, or impair her faith in his honour; "Would you had never
seen him!" exclaims Emilia.
Desdemona. So would not I!-my love doth so approve him,
That even his stubbornness, his checks and frowns
Have grace and favour in them."
There is another peculiarity, which, in reading the play of
Othello, we rather feel than perceive: through the whole of
the dialogue appropriated to Desdemona there is not one.
general observation. Words are with her the vehicle of sen-
20
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
timent, and never of reflection; so that I cannot find through.
out a sentence of general application. The same remark ap-
plies to Miranda; and to no other female character of any
importance or interest—not even to Ophelia.
The rest of what I wished to say of Desdemona has been
anticipated by an anonymous critic, and so beautifully, so
justly, so eloquently expressed, that I with pleasure erase my
own page, to make room for his.
66
Othello," observes this writer, "is no love story; all that
is below tragedy in the passion of love is taken away at once,
by the awful character of Othello; for such he seems to us to
be designed to be. He appears never as a lover, but at once
as a husband; and the relation of his love made dignified, as
it is a husband's justification of his marriage, is also dignified,
as it is a soldier's relation of his stern and perilous life. His
love itself, as long as it is happy, is perfectly calm and serene
-the protecting tenderness of a husband. It is not till it is
disordered that it appears as a passion: then is shown a
power in contention with itself-a mighty being struck with
death, and bringing up from all the depths of life convulsions
and agonies. It is no exhibition of the power of the passion
of love, but of the passion of life, vitally wounded, and self-
overmastering. If Desdemona had been really guilty, the
greatness would have been destroyed, because his love would
have been unworthy, false. But she is good, and his love is
most perfect, just, and good. That a man should place his
perfect love on a wretched thing is miserably debasing, and
shocking to thought; but that loving perfectly and well, he
should by hellish human circumvention be brought to dis-
trust and dread, and abjure his own perfect love, is most
mournful indeed-it is the infirmity of our good nature wrest-
ling in vain with the strong powers of evil. Moreover, he
would, had Desdemona been false, have been the mere victim
of fate; whereas he is now in a manner his own victim. His
happy love was heroic tenderness; his injured love is terri-
量
​21
INTRODUCTION.
ble passion; and disordered power, engendered within itself
to its own Gestruction, is the height of all tragedy.
"The character of Othello is perhaps the most greatly
drawn, the most heroic of any of Shakspeare's actors; but
it is, perhaps, that one also of which his reader last acquires
the intelligence. The intellectual and warlike energy of his
mind- his tenderness of affection—his loftiness of spirit
-his frank, generous magnanimity-impetuosity like a
thunderbolt-and that dark, fierce flood of boiling passion,
polluting even his imagination-compose a character en-
tirely original, most difficult to delineate, but perfectly de-
lineated."
Emilia in this play is a perfect portrait from common life,
a masterpiece in the Flemish style; and though not neces-
sary as a contrast, it cannot be but that the thorough vulgar-
ity, the loose principles of this plebeian woman, united to a
high degree of spirit, energetic feeling, strong sense, and low
cunning, serve to place in brighter relief the exquisite refine-
ment, the moral grace, the unblemished truth, and the soft
submission of Desdemona.
."*]
[From Verplanck's “ Shakespeare.”
Within a few years, a new view of Othello's character has
been maintained by Schlegel, which has found favour with
several English critics, who have repeated it in various
forms. It is that in Othello the poet has painted not gen-
eral nature, but the half-civilized African prince. Schlegel
recognizes in him "the wild nature of that glowing zone
which generates the most furious beasts of prey, and the
most deadly poisons, tamed only in appearance by the de-
sire of fame, by foreign laws of honour, and by gentler man-
ners. His jealousy," says the German critic, "is not of the
heart, which is compatible with the tenderest feeling and
* The Illustrated Shakespeare, edited by G. C. Verplanck (New York,
1847), vol. iii. p. 61 of Othello.
125
22
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
adoration of the beloved object; it is of that sensual sort
which in torrid climes gives birth to the imprisonment of
wives and other barbarous usages. A drop of this poison
flows in the Moor's veins, and all his blood is inflamed. He
seems, and is, noble, frank, confiding, grateful, a hero, a
worthy general, a faithful servant of the State; but the physi-
cal force of passion puts to flight at once, all his acquired
and accustomed virtues, and gives the savage within him the
rule over the moral man. The tyranny of the blood over the
will betrays itself in his desire of revenge against Cassio.
In his repentant sorrow, a genuine tenderness for his mur-
dered wife bursts forth, with the painful sentiment of annihi-
lated reputation, and he assails himself with the rage which
a despot displays in punishing a runaway slave. He suffers
as a double man; at once in the higher and the lower sphere
into which his being is divided.”
All this is ingenious, original, and eloquent; yet to my
mind widely different from the poet's intention, and the act-
ual character he has so vividly portrayed.
So far as the passions of love and jealousy are the results
of our common nature, their manifestations must be alike in
the Moor and the European; differing only as modified by
the more quickly excited and inflammable temperament of
the children of the sun, or the slower and steadier tempera-
ment of the men of the North. But the critic confounds
with this difference another one-that resulting from the
degraded and enslaved state of woman in the half-civilized
nations of the East. There the jealous revenge of the
master-husband, for real or imagined evil, is but the angry
chastisement of an offending slave, not the terrible sacrifice
of his own happiness involved in the victim's punishment.
When woman is a slave, a property, a thing, all that jealousy
may prompt is done, to use Othello's own distinction, "in
hate" and "not in love." But Othello is portrayed with no
single trait in common with the tyrant of the Eastern or
INTRODUCTION.
African seraglio. His early love is not one of wild passion,
but of esteem for Desdemona's gentle virtue, of gratitude for
her unlooked-for interest in himself and his history, and of
pride in her strong attachment. The poet has laboured to
show that his is the calm and steady affection of “a con-
stant, noble nature;" it is respectful, confiding, "wrapt up in
measureless content,” and manifesting a tender and protect-
ing superiority which has in it something almost parental.
In his jealousy and revenge, he resembles not the Mahome-
tan so much as the proud and sensitive Castilian. He is
characterized by all the higher qualities of European chiv-
alry, and especially by that quick sense of personal reputa-
tion “which feels a stain like a wound,” and makes his own
-life and that of others alike cheap in his eyes compared with
his honour. It is this, together with the other habits and
characteristics of one trained in an adventurous military life,
by which he is individualized. He is made a Moor, not be-
cause that is at all necessary to the story, but because the
poet found it in the tale from which he derived the outline
of his plot; and it was adopted as an incident plastic to his
purpose, and by its peculiarity giving that air of reality to
the story which accidental and unessential circumstances,
such as pure imagination would not have indicated, can
alone confer. It is on this account indeed that the original
tale itself, to my mind, has not the appearance of a product
of fancy, but seems, like many of our traditionary romantic
narratives, founded upon some occurrence in real life.
Othello's Moorish blood is thus (to use a logical phrase)
an accident, distinguishing the individual character, and add-
ing to it the effect of life and reality; but it is not in any
sense essential to its sentiment or passion. The tone of
chivalrous honour and military bearing is much more so,
and yet that serves only to modify and colour the exhibition
of passions common to civilized man. The history and do-
mestic traditions and legal records of Spain and Italy-and
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
even of Germany, England, and America-can exhibit many
an instance, in coarser and unpcetical forms, of jealous re-
venge as fatal as that of the Moor. Even while this edi-
tion is passing through the press, the newspapers relate two
such bloody stories as having recently occurred in private
life within the United States; and the jealous murderer was
in one instance an Englishman, and in the other a French-
man.
Were Othello but the spirited portrait of a half-tamed bar-
barian, we should view him as a bold and happy poetical
conception, and, as such, the poet's work might satisfy our
critical judgment; but it is because it depicts a noble mind,
wrought by deep passion and dark devices to agonies such
as every one might feel, that it awakens our strongest sympa-
thies. We see in this drama a grand and true moral pict-
ure; we read in it a profound ethical lesson; for (to borrow
the just image of the classical Lowth) while the matchless
work is built up to the noblest height of poetry, it rests
upon the deepest foundations of true philosophy.
These notes upon Othello cannot be more appropriately
closed than by the remarkable criticism of Bishop Lowth
(just alluded to) contained in his Lectures on Hebrew
Poetry, which, often before quoted in its original exquisite
Latinity, deserves to be more familiarly known to the Eng-
lish reader:
"He whose genius has unfolded to him the knowledge of
man's nature and the force of his passions; has taught him
the causes by which the soul is moved to strong emotions,
or calmed to rest; has enabled him not only to explain in
words those emotions, but to exhibit them vividly to other
eyes; thus ruling, exciting, distracting, soothing our feelings.
-this man, however little aided by the discipline of learn-
ing, is, in my judgment, a philosopher of the highest rank.
In this manner, in a single dramatic fable of our own Shak-
speare, the passion of jealousy, its causes, progress, incidents,
INTRODUCTION.
and effects, have been more truly, more acutely, more copi-
ously, and more impressively delineated than has been done
by all the disquisitions of all the philosophers who have.
treated on this dark argument."
[From Ulrici's "Shakspeare's Dramatic Art."*]
It is a singular mistake when Schlegel, and with him
most critics, wish us to see in Othello only the Moor, who,
because a Moor, has unavoidably fallen into the blind pas-
sionateness, the jealousy, and the thirst for revenge peculiar
to his race; it is also a singular mistake that they make the
brutal ferocity of the common negro the essence of Othello's
character, and degrade his virtues into mere artificial habits,
mere empty appearances. . .
It is not only untrue that Othello's bloody deeds are sup-
posed to be the bursting forth of his common nature, of his
innate brutal ferocity, but even the accusation of the blind
jealousy and vindictiveness laid to his charge is a thoroughly
false imputation. . . . That jealousy is not actually part of
his nature, not one of the fundamental features of his charac-
ter, that in truth he possesses only as much of it as all men,
is attested not only by Iago's praise of his "free and open
nature ❞—which plainly absolves him from any tendency to
suspicion, the presupposition of jealousy-it is corroborated.
not only by his own testimony (iii. 3), not only by the words.
spoken in face of his voluntary death and attested by it
("Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate," etc.), but is
above all proved by his own conduct. If Shakspeare had
wished to make jealousy the centre of his character, why
does Othello nowhere give utterance to it before he is ex-
cited and spurred on to it by Iago? Not a word of anxiety,
of uneasiness, or of suspicion passes his lips, not a thought
of the possibility of Desdemona's infidelity is in his heart.
*Shakspeare's Dramatic Art, by Dr. Hermann Ulrici; translated from
the third German ed. by L. D. Schmitz (London, 1876), vol. i. p. 404 fol.
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
Even Iago's assertions are by no means trusted at once;
Othello demands proofs, striking, irresistible proofs. It is
only when he thinks that he has the evidence clearly in his
hands that there first springs forth that jealousy which had
hitherto existed but as a germ; being, however, matured by
his hot blood, by his excitable feelings, and the glowing
power of his imagination, it spreads like wild-fire. . . . But
the man who has reasons for being jealous is himself not
actually jealous. The nature of the passion consists rather
in the fact that it invariably seeks for something where noth-
ing is to be found. The passion of pain and anger about
actual infidelity is as justifiable as that excited by any other
moral offence committed by the one we love. Nevertheless
Othello's pain and rage have externally the appearance of
jealousy, partly on account of the vehemence with which he
expresses himself, partly because the proofs are as yet proofs
only for him, in reality no proofs, or because it is his misfort-
une to be inexpressibly belied and deceived. . . .
It is much the same as regards Othello's vindictiveness.
In the first place, it is again Iago who testifies to his being
of a "loving, noble nature." Now a noble loving person
cannot possibly be revengeful; the spirit of revenge, like all
other weaknesses, may indeed be in his nature as a germ, but
it cannot be one of the fundamental features and motives of
his character. . . . In the second place, how forbearing and
conciliatory Othello is to Brabantio! Although the latter
heaps upon him the severest and most unjust abuse, yet
Othello answers him with gentleness and respect. In like
manner he bears the mortification of his recall from Cyprus
with calmness and resignation. In both cases, we rather
perceive a manly pride, a noble dignity such as is usually
coupled with true greatness, which, being conscious of its
own worth, overlooks unjust abuse. . . . The seed of revenge
shoots forth in his breast only after he is completely es-
tranged from himself. Love and honour are the very founda-
INTRODUCTION.
21
tions of his life. In Desdemona he has found his own in-
most self; in believing her lost, he loses himself, her infi-
delity makes him untrue to himself.
•
It is only when he supposes that love is lost to him, when
he supposes himself betrayed by his wife and his friend,
when he is desolate and unable to love any other being, it is
then only that, with the blind despair of a shipwrecked man,
he clutches hold of the last possession he has kept afloat,
his sole remaining property-honour; this, at least, he intends
to save for himself. His honour, as he thinks, demands the
sacrifice of the lives of Desdemona and Cassio. The ideas
of honour in those days, especially in Italy, inevitably re-
quired the death of the faithless wife as well as that of the
adulterer. Othello therefore regards it as his duty to com-
ply with this requirement, and accordingly it is no lie when
he calls himself "an honourable murderer," doing "naught
in hate, but all in honour." . . . Common thirst for revenge
would have thought only of increasing the sufferings of its
victim, of adding to its own satisfaction. But how touching,
on the other hand, is Othello's appeal to Desdemona to pray
and to confess her sins to Heaven, that he may not kill her
soul with her body! Here, at the moment of the most in-
tense excitement, in the desperate mood of a murderer, hist
love still breaks forth, and we again see the indestructible
nobility of his soul.
[From Dowden's "Shakspere."*]
The tragedy of Othello is the tragedy of a free and lordly
creature taken in the toils, and writhing to death... In one of
his sonnets Shakspere has spoken of
"Some fierce thing replete with too much rage,
Whose strength's abundance weakens his own heart."
Such a fierce thing, made weak by his very strength, is Othello.
*Shakspere: a Critical Study of his Mind and Art, by Edward Dow
den (2d ed. London, 1876), p. 230 fol.
28
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
There is a barbaresque grandeur and simplicity about the
movements of his soul. He sees things with a large and gen-
erous eye, not prying into the curious or the occult. He is a
liberal accepter of life, and with a careless magnificence wears
about him the ornament of strange experience: memories of
antres vast, and desarts idle,
Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch heaven,"
memories of "disastrous chances, of moving accidents by
flood and field." There is something of grand innocence in
his loyalty to Venice, by which Mr. Browning was not un-
affected when he conceived his Moorish commander, Luria.
Othello, a stranger, with tawny skin and fierce traditions
in his blood, is fascinated by the grave senate, the nobly or-
dered life (possessing a certain rich colouring of its own),
and the astute intelligence of the City of the Sea....
With this loyalty to Venice, there is also an instinctive.
turning towards the barbaric glory which he has surren-
dered. He is the child of royal ancestry: “I fetch
I fetch my life
and being from men of royal siege." All the more joyous
on this account it is to devote himself to the service of the
State....
The nature of Othello is free and open; he looks on men
with a gaze too large and royal to suspect them of malignity.
and fraud; he is a man "not easily jealous:"
My noble Moor
Is true of mind, and made of no such baseness
As jealous creatures are."
He has, however, a sense of his own inefficiency in dealing
with the complex and subtle conditions of life in his adopted
country. Where all is plain and broad, he relies upon his
own judgment and energy. He is a master of simple, com
manding action. When, upon the night of Desdemona's de-
parture from her father's house, Brabantio and the officers
with torches and weapons meet him, and a tumult seems in-
INTRODUCTION.
29
evitable, Othello subdues it with the untroubled, large valid-
ity of his will:
"Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them."
But for curious inquiry into complex facts he has no faculty;
he loses his bearings; "being wrought upon," he is "per-
plexed in the extreme." Then, too, his hot Mauritanian blood
mounts quickly to the point of boiling.
If he be infected,
the poison hurries through his veins, and he rages in his
agony.
Here upon the one side is material for a future catas-
trophe. And on the other there is Desdemona's timidity.
When she could stand by Othello's side, Desdemona was
able to confront her father, and, in presence of the Duke
and magnificoes, declare that she would not return to the
home she had abandoned. But during Othello's courtship
Desdemona had shrunk from any speech upon this matter
with Brabantio, and by innocent reserves and little dissem-
blings had kept him in ignorance of this great event in her
history.* The Moor had moved her imagination by his
strange nobility, his exotic grandeur. But how if afterwards.
her imagination be excited by some strange terror about her
husband? . . . The handkerchief she has lost becomes ter-
rible to her, when Othello, with Oriental rapture into the
marvellous, describes its virtues :

"there's magic in the web of it.
A sibyl, that had number'd in the world
The sun to course two hundred compasses,
In her prophetic fury sew'd the work ;
The worms were hallow'd that did breed the silk;
And it was dyed in mummy which the skilful
Conserv'd of maidens' hearts."
* A circumstance which Iago afterwards turns to account against the
peace of Othello's mind:
"She did deceive her father marrying you;
And when she seem'd to shake and fear your looks,
She lov'd them most.
“Othello.
And so she did."
30
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
For Desdemona, with her smooth, intelligible girl's life in
Venice, having at its largest its little pathetic romance of
her maid Barbara, with her song of "Willow," here flowed in
romance too stupendous, too torrid and alien, to be other
than dreadful. Shall we wonder that in her disturbance of
mind she trembles to declare to her husband that this tal-
isman could not be found? Underneath the momentary,
superficial falsehood remains the constancy and fidelity of
her heart; through alarm and shock and surprise and
awful alteration of the world her heart never swerves from
loyalty to her husband. If she had deceived Brabantio, as
in his anger he declares, and if in this matter of the hand-
kerchief she had faltered from the truth, Desdemona atones
for these unveracities; not by acquisition of a confident
candour-such courageous dealing was impossible for Des-
demona-but by one more falsehood, the sacred lie which
is murmured by her lips as they grow forever silent :
"Emilia. O, who hath done this deed?
Desdemona. Nobody; I myself; farewell;
Commend me to my kind lord; O, farewell!"
If the same unknowable force which manifests itself
through man manifests itself likewise through the animal
world, we might suppose that there were some special af-
finities between the soul of Othello and the lion of his an-
cestral desert. Assuredly the same malignant power that
lurks in the eye and that fills with venom the fang of the
serpent would seem to have brought into existence Iago.
“It is the strength of the base element that is so dreadful
in the serpent; it is the very omnipotence of the earth. .
It scarcely breathes with its one lung (the other shrivelled
and abortive); it is passive to the sun and shade, and is
cold or hot like a stone; yet 'it can outclimb the monkey,
outswim the fish, outleap the zebra, outwrestle the athlete,
and crush the tiger.' It is a divine hieroglyph of the de-

INTRODUCTION.
moniac power of the earth-of the entire earthly natu
moniac
Such is the serpent Iago.
In the last scene of the play Othello calls on Cassio (for
he cannot himself approach the horror) to interrogate Iago
respecting the motives of his malignant crime:
"Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil
Why he hath thus ensnar'd my soul and body?"
And Iago forecloses all inquiry with the words-they are the
last words that he utters :
"Demand me nothing; what you know you know;
From this time forth I never will speak word."
Shakspere would have us believe that as there is a passion
of goodness with no motive but goodness itself, so there is
also a dreadful capacity in the soul for devotion to evil in-
dependently of motives, or out of all proportion to such mo-
tives as may exist. Iago is the absolute infidel; for he is
devoid of all faith in beauty and in virtue. Timon disbelieves,
but he becomes desperate and abandons life. Iago finds it
right and natural to live in a world in which all men are
knaves or fools, and all women are that which Desdemona
is unable to name.
Together with every thing beautiful, every thing noble,
there inevitably exists a gross element of the earth. It is
upon this gross element alone that Iago battens, and he can
discover it everywhere by denying and dismissing all that
transforms, purifies, and ennobles it. Othello, with his he-
roic simplicity and royalty of soul,
"Will as tenderly be led by the nose
As asses are."
Cassio, who is full of chivalric enthusiasm for his great leader
and the beautiful bride whom he has won, is to lago “a
knave very voluble; no further conscionable than in putting
*Ruskin, The Queen of the Air. The words quoted by Mr. Ruskin
are those of Mr. Richard Owen.

OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
་
he mere form of civil and humane feeling, for the bette
ompassing of his salt and most hidden loose affection.”
Desdemona, exclaims Roderigo, is "full of most blessed con-
dition."
Iago. Blessed fig's end! the wine she drinks is made of grapes: if she
had been blessed she would never have loved the Moor. Blessed pud-
ding! Didst thou not see her paddle with the palm of his hand? Didst
not mark that?"
The Moor has inflamed her imagination with "bragging
and telling her fantastical lies." Love "is merely a lust of
the blood and a permission of the will." Virtue is "a fig!
't is in ourselves that we are thus and thus." "O, I have lost
my reputation !" Cassio cries, "I have lost the immortal part
of myself, and what remains is bestial. My reputation, Iago,
my reputation!"
Tago. As I am an honest man, I thought you had received some
bodily wound."
All this is the earthiness of the serpent; the dull eye which
quickens only to fascinate and to strike; the muddy skin,
discoloured with foul blotches; and the dust, which is the
serpent's meat. This cold, malignant power, passionless and
intellectually sensual-the soul itself having become more
animal than the body can ever be-is incarnated in the per-
son of a man still young. Iago has reached the age of twenty-
eight. And he is a merry knave. While enticing Cassio to
his ruin he entertains the company with clattering song:
"And let me the canakin clink, clink!
And let me the canakin clink!
It is the grin of a death's head, the mirth of a ghoul. . . .
Since Coleridge made the remark, all critics of Othello are
constrained to repeat after him that the passion of the Moor
is not altogether jealousy-it is rather the agony of being
compelled to hate that which he supremely loved :
INTRODUCTION.
"Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul
But I do love thee, and when I love thee not
Chaos is come again."
It is with an agonized sense of justice that he destroys the
creature who is dearest to him in the world, knowing certain-
ly that with hers his own true life must cease. Nay, it is not
with the cessation of Desdemona's breath that the life of
Othello ends; he is unable to survive the loss of faith in her
perfect purity. All that had been glorious becomes remot
and impossible for him if Desdemona be false. We hear the
great childlike sob of Othello's soul:
"O now for ever
Farewell the tranquil mind! farewell content!
Farewell the plumed troop, and the big wars
That make ambition virtue !"
From the first suggestion of suspicion by his ensnarer, Othello
is impatient for assurance, and finds suspense intolerable.
Why? Not surely because he is eager to convict his wife of
infidelity; but rather because he will not allow his passionate
desire to believe her pure to abuse him, and retain him in a
fool's paradise, while a great agony may possibly remain be-
fore him.
Of the tragic story what is the final issue? The central.
point of its spiritual import lies in the contrast between Lago-
and his victim. Iago, with keen intellectual faculties and
manifold culture in Italian vice, lives and thrives after his
fashion in a world from which all virtue and all beauty are
absent. Othello, with his barbaric innocence and regal mag-
nificence of soul, must cease to live the moment he ceases to
retain faith in the purity and goodness which were to him the
bighest and most real things upon earth. Or if he live, life
´must become to him a cruel agony. Shakspere compels us
to acknowledge that self-slaughter is a rapturous energy-
that such prolonged agony is joy in comparison with the
earthy life-in-death of such a soul as that of Iago. The
C
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
noble nature is taken in the toils because it is noble. Ige
suspects his wife of every baseness, but the suspicion has o
other effect than to intensify his malignity. Iago could not
be captured and constrained to heroic suffering and rage.
The shame of every being who bears the name of woman is
credible to Iago, and yet he can grate from his throat the
jarring music:
"And let me the canakin clink, clink!
And let me the canakin clink!"
There is, therefore, Shakspere would have us understand,
something more inimical to humanity than suffering-name-
ly, an incapacity for noble pain. To die as Othello dies is
indeed grievous. But to live as Iago lives, devouring the
dust and stinging-this is more appalling.
Such is the spiritual motive that controls the tragedy. And
the validity of this truth is demonstrable to every sound con-
science. No supernatural authority needs to be summoned
to bear witness to this reality of human life. No pallid flame
of hell, no splendour of dawning heaven, needs show itself be-
yond the verge of earth to illumine this truth. It is a por-
tion of the ascertained fact of human nature, and of this our
mortal existence. We look upon "the tragic loading of the
bed," and we see Iago in presence of the ruin he has wrought.
We are not compelled to seek for any resolution of these ap-
parent discords in any alleged life to come. That may also
be e; we shall accept it, if it be. But looking sternly and
strictly at what is now actual and present to our sight, we
yet rise above despair. Desdemona's adhesion to her hus-
band and to love survived the ultimate trial. Othello dies
"upon a kiss." He perceives his own calamitous error, and
he recognizes Desdemona pure and loyal as she was. Good-
ness is justified of her child. It is evil which suffers defeat
It is Iago whose whole existence has been most blind, pur-
poseless, and miserable a struggle against the virtuous
powers of the world, by which at last he stands convicted
and condemned.
kw 5.

OT
や
​THE
LLC
MOOR
ENICE

DRAMATIS PERSONE
DUKE OF VENICE.
BRABANTIO, a senator.
Other Senators.
GRATIANO, brother to Brabantio.
LODOVICO, kinsman to Brabantio.
OTHELLO, the Moor
CASSIO, his lieutenant."
IAGO, his ancient.
RODERIGO, a Venetian gentleman.
毒​無
​MONTANO, Othello's predecessor in the govern-
ment of Cyprus.
Clown, servant to Othello."
DESDEMONA, daughter to Brabantio and wife
to Othello.
EMILIA, wife to Iago.
BIANCA, mistress to Cassio.
Sailor, Messenger, Herald, Officers, Gentlemen,
Musicians, and Attendants.
SCENE: Venice; a seaport in Cyprus.

ST. MARK'S AND THE DUCAL PALACE, VENICE.
ACT I.
SCENE I. Venice.
A Street.
Enter RODERIGO and IAGO.
Roderigo. Tush! never tell me; I take it much unkindly
That thou, Iago, who hast had my purse
As if the strings were thine, shouldst know of this.
Iago. 'Sblood, but you will not hear me;
If ever I did dream of such a matter,
Abhor me.
Roderigo. Thou told'st me thou didst hold him in thy hate.
Iago. Despise me, if I do not. Three great ones of the
city,


38
OTHELLO, THE MOOR Of venice.
In personal suit to make me his lieutenant,
Off-capp'd to him; and, by the faith of man,
I know my price, I am worth no worse a place :
Put he, as loving his own pride and purposes,
Evades them, with a bombast circumstance
Horribly stuff'd with epithets of war;
And, in conclusion,
Nonsuits my mediators; for, 'Certes,' says he,
iready chose my officer.'
And what was he?
Forsooth, a great arithmetician,
One Michael Cassio, a Florentine,
A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife;
That never set a squadron in the field,
Nor the division of a battle knows
More than a spinster; unless the bookish theoric,
Wherein the toged consuls can propose
As masterly as he mere prattle, without practice,-
Is all his soldiership. But he, sir, had the election;
And I, of whom his eyes had seen the proof
At Rhodes, at Cyprus, and on other grounds
Christian and heathen, must be be-lee'd and calm'd
By debitor and creditor, this counter-caster:
He, in good time, must his lieutenant be,
10
20

30

And I-God bless the mark!--his Moorship's ancient.
Roderigo. By heaven, I rather would have been his hang-
man.
Iago. Why, there 's no remedy; 't is the curse of service,
Preferment goes by letter and affection,
And not by old gradation, where each second
Stood heir to the first. Now, sir, be judge yourself,
Whether I in any just term am affin'd
To love the Moor.
Roderigo.
I would not follow him then.
Iago. O, sir, content you ;
40


ACT I. SCENE I.
39
him :
I follow him to serve my turn upon
We cannot all be masters, nor all masters
Cannot be truly follow'd. You shall mark
Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave,
That, doting on his own obsequious bondage,
Wears out his time, much like his master's ass,
For nought but provender, and when he 's old, cashier'd :
Whip me such honest knaves. Others there are
Who, trimm'd in forms and visages of duty,
Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves,
And, throwing but shows of service on their lords,
50
Do well thrive by them, and when they have lin'd their coats
Do themselves homage: these fellows have some soul;
And such a one do I profess myself. For, sir,
It is as sure as you are Roderigo,
Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago.
In following him, I follow but myself;
Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
But seeming so, for my peculiar end:
For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In compliment extern, 't is not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at; I am not what I am.
Roderigo. What a full fortune does the thick-lips owe,
If he can carry 't thus !
Iago.
Call up her father,
Rouse him; make after him, poison his delight,
Proclaim him in the streets; incense her kinsmen,
And, though he in a fertile climate dwell,
Plague him with flies: though that his joy be joy,
Yet throw such changes of vexation on 't,
As it may lose some colour.
Roderigo. Here is her father's house; I'll call aloud.
Jago. Do, with like timorous accent and dire yell
60

70
40
OTHELLO, THE MOOR of VENICE.
As when, by night and negligence, the fire
Is spied in populous cities.
Roderigo. What, ho, Brabantio! Signior Brabantio, ho!
Iago. Awake! what, ho, Brabantio! thieves! thieves!
thieves!
Look to your house, your daughter, and your bags!
Thieves thieves!
BRABANTIO appears above, at a window.
Brabantio. What is the reason of this terrible summons?
What is the matter there?
Roderigo. Signior, is all your family within?
Iago. Are your doors lock'd?
Brabantio.
80
Why, wherefore ask you this!
Tago.ounds, sir, you 're robb'd; for shame, put on your
gown;
Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul:
Awake the snorting citizens with the bell,
Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you.
Arise, I say.
Brabantio. What, have you lost your wits?
Roderigo. Most reverend signior, do you know my voice?
Brabantio. Not I; what are you?
Roderigo. My name is Roderigo.
Brabantio.
The worser welcome ;
I have charg'd thee not to haunt about my doors.
In honest plainness thou hast heard me say
My daughter is not for thee; and now, in madness,
Being full of supper and distempering draughts,
Upon malicious bravery dost thou come
To start my quiet.
Roderigo. Sir, sir, sir,-
Brabantio.
But thou must needs be sure
My spirit and my place have in them power
To make this bitter to thee.
பெ
Roderigo.
ACT I. SCENE I
Patience, good sir.
41
Brabantio. What tell'st thou me of robbing? this is
Venice;
My house is not a grange.
Roderigo.
Most grave Brabantio,
In simple and pure soul I come to you.
Iago. Zounds, sir, you are one of those that will not serve
God, if the devil bid you.
Brabantio. Thou art a villain.
Iago.
You are a senator.
Brabantio. This thou shalt answer; I know thee, Rod-
erigo.
1 1 1
Roderigo. Sir, I will answer any thing. But, I beseech you,
If 't be your pleasure and most wise consent,
As partly I find it is, that your fair daughter,
At this odd-even and dull watch o' the night,
Transported, with no worse nor better guard
But with a knave of common hire, a gondolier,
To the gross clasps of a lascivious Moor,--
If this be known to you and your allowance,
We then have done you bold and saucy wrongs ;
But if you know not this, my manners tell me
We have your wrong rebuke. Do not believe
That, from the sense of all civility,
I thus would play and trifle with your reverence:
Your daughter, if you have not given her leave,
I say again, hath made a gross revolt;
Tying her duty, beauty, wit, and fortunes
In an extravagant and wheeling stranger
Of here and every where. Straight satisfy yourself;
If she be in her chamber or your house,
Let loose on me the justice of the state
For thus deluding you.
Brabantio.
120
Strike on the tinder, ho!
130
Give me a taper! call up all my people!-
42
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
This accident is not unlike my dream ;
Belief of it oppresses me already.-
Light, I say! light!
Iago.
[Exit above.
Farewell; for I must leave you.
It seems not meet, nor wholesome to my place,
To be produc'd-as, if I stay, I shall-
Against the Moor: for, I do know, the state,
However this may gall him with some check,
Cannot with safety cast him, for he 's embark'd
With such loud reason to the Cyprus wars,
Which even now stand in act, that, for their souls,
Another of his fathom they have none,
To lead their business: in which regard,
Though I do hate him as I do hell-pains,,,
Yet, for necessity of present life,
I must show out a flag and sign of love,

140
Indication
his character
Which is indeed but sign. That you shall surely find him,
Lead to the Sagittary the raised search;
And there will I be with him. So, farewell.
Enter, below, BRABANTIO, and Servants with torches.
Brabantio. It is too true an evil: gone she is ;
And what 's to come of my despised time
Is nought but bitterness.-Now, Roderigo,
Where didst thou see her?-O unhappy girl!
[Exit.
With the Moor, say'st thou?-Who would be a father!-
How didst thou know 't was she?-O, she deceives me
Past thought!-What said she to you ?-Get more tapers!
Raise all my kindred!-Are they married, think you?
Roderigo. Truly, I think they are.
150
Brabantio. O heaven!—How got she out?-O treason of
the blood!-
Fathers, from hence trust not your daughters' minds
By what you see them act.—Is there not charms
By which the property of youth and maidhood
160

ACT I. SCENE II.
43
be abus'd? Have you not read, Roderigo,
me such thing?
Roderigo.
Yes, sir, I have indeed.
Brabantio. Call up my brother.—O, would you had had
her!-
Some one way, some another. Do you know
Where we may apprehend her and the Moor?
Roderigo. I think I can discover him, if you please
To get good guard and go along with me.
Brabantio. Pray you, lead on. At every house I'll call ;
I may command at most.-Get weapons, ho!
And raise some special officers of night.-
On, good Roderigo; I'll deserve your pains.
SCENE II. Another Street.
171
[Exeunt.
Enter OTHELLO, IAGO, and Attendants with torches.
Iago. Though in the trade of war I have slain men,
Yet do I hold it very stuff o' the conscience
To do no contriv'd murther; I lack iniquity LIE!
Sometimes to do me service. Nine or ten times
I had thought to have yerk'd him here under the ribs.
Othello. 'T is better as it is.
Iago.
Nay, but he prated,
And spoke such scurvy and provoking terms
Against your honour
That, with the little godliness I have,
I did full hard forbear him. But, I pray you, sir,
Are you fast married? Be assur'd of this,
That the magnifico is much belov'd,
And hath in his effect a voice potential
As double as the duke's; he will divorce you,
Or put upon you what restraint and grievance
The law, with all his might to enforce it on,
Will give him cable.
Ic
44
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
Othello.
Let him do his spite ;
My services which I have done the signiory.
Shall out-tongue his complaints. "Tis yet to know,-
Which, when I know that boasting is an honour,
I shall promulgate-I fetch my life and being
From men of royal siege, and my demerits
May speak unbonneted to as proud a fortune
As this that I have reach'd; for know, Iago,
But that I love the gentle Desdemona,
I would not my unhoused free condition
Put into circumscription and confine
For the sea's worth. But, look! what lights come yond?
Iago. Those are the raised father and his friends;
You were best go in.
Othello.
Not I; I must be found:
My parts, my title, and my perfect soul.
Shall manifest me rightly. Is it they?
Iago. By Janus, I think no.
Enter CASSIO, and certain Officers with torches.
Othello. The servants of the duke, and my lieutenant.-
The goodness of the night upon you, friends!
What is the news?
Cassio.
And he requires your haste-post-haste appearance,
Even on the instant.
The duke does greet you, general,
What is the matter, think you?
30
Othello.
Cassio. Something from Cyprus, as I may divine..
It is a business of some heat; the galleys
Have sent a dozen sequent messengers
This very night at one another's heels,
And many of the consuls, rais'd and met,
40
Are at the duke's already: you have been hotly call'd
for;
When, being not at your lodging to be found,

ACT 1. SCENE II.
45
હ
The senate hath sent about three several quests
To search you out.
Othello.
'Tis well I am found by you.
I will but spend a word here in the house,
And go with you.
Cassio.
Ancient, what makes he here?
Iago. Faith, he to-night hath boarded a land carack;
If it prove lawful prize, he 's made for ever.
Cassio. I do not understand.
Iago.
Cassio.
[Exit.
He's married.
To who?
Re-enter OTHELLO.
Iago. Marry, to—Come, captain, will you go?
Othello,
Have with you.
Cassio. Here comes another troop to seek for you.
Iago. It is Brabantio.-General, be advis'd;
He comes to bad intent.
Enter BRABANTIO, RODERIGO, and Officers with torches and
Othello.
weapons.
Holla! stand there!
Down with him, thief!
[They draw on both sides.
Roderigo. Signior, it is the Moor.
Brabantio.
Iago. You, Roderigo! come, sir, I am for you.
Othello. Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust
them.
Good signior, you shall more command with years
Than with your weapons.
60
Brabantio. O thou foul thief, where hast thou stow'd my
daughter?
Damn'd as thou art, thou hast enchanted her;
For I'll refer me to all things of sense,
If she in chains of magic were not bound,
5c

46
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
Whether a maid so tender, fair, and happy,
So opposite to marriage that she shunn'd
The wealthy curled darlings of our nation,
Would ever have, to incur a general mock,
Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom
Of such a thing as thou,-to fear, not to delight.
Judge me the world, if 't is not gross in sense
That thou hast practis'd on her with foul charms,
Abus'd her delicate youth with drugs or minerais
That weaken motion. I'll have 't disputed on ;
'T is probable and palpable to thinking.
I therefore apprehend and do attach thee
For an abuser of the world, a practiser
Of arts inhibited and out of warrant.-
Lay hold upon him; if he do resist,
Subdue him at his peril.
Othello.
Hold your hands,
Both you of my inclining, and the rest
Were it my cue to fight, I should have known it
Without a prompter.-Where will you that I go
To answer this your charge?
Brabantio.
Of law and course of direct session
Call thee to answer.
Othello.
To prison, till fit time
What if I do obey?
How may the duke be therewith satisfied,
Whose messengers are here about my side,
Upon some present business of the state,
To bring me to him?
I Officer..
'T is true, most worthy signior,
The duke 's in council, and your noble self,
I am sure, is sent for.
Brabantio.
How the duke in council!
In this time of the night!-Bring him away;
Mine 's not an idle cause: the duke himself,
gc
1
ACT I. SCENE III.
47
Or
any of my brothers of the state,
Cannot but feel this wrong as 't were their own ;
For if such actions may have passage free,
Bond-slaves and pagans shall our statesmen be.
SCENE III. A Council-chamber.
[Exeunt.
The DUKE and Senators sitting at a table; Officers attending.
Duke. There is no composition in these news
That gives them credit.
I Senator.
Indeed, they are disproportion'd;
My letters say a hundred and seven galleys.
Duke. And mine, a hundred and forty.
2 Senator.
But though they jump not on a just account,—
As in these cases, where the aim reports,
'T is oft with difference-yet do they all confirm
A Turkish fleet, and bearing up to Cyprus.
And mine, two hundred;
Duke. Nay, it is possible enough to judgment,
I do not so secure me in the error,
But the main article I do approve
In fearful sense.
Sailor. [Within] What, ho! what, ho! what, ho!
I Officer. A messenger from the galleys.
10
Enter a Sailor.
Duke.
Now, what's the business?
Sailor. The Turkish preparation makes for Rhodes ;
So was I bid report here to the state
By Signior Angelo.
Duke. How say you by this change?
I Senator.
This cannot be,
By no assay of reason; 't is a pageant,
To keep us in false gaze. When we consider
The importancy of Cyprus to the Turk,
48
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
And let ourselves again but understand,
That as it more concerns the Turk than Rhodes,
So may he with more facile question bear it,
For that it stands not in such warlike brace,
But altogether lacks the abilities
That Rhodes is dress'd in,-if we make thought of this,
We must not think the Turk is so unskilful
To leave that latest which concerns him first,
Neglecting an attempt of ease and gain,
To wake and wage a danger profitless.
Duke. Nay, in all confidence, he 's not for Rhodes.
1 Officer. Here is more news.
Enter a Messenger.
Messenger. The Ottomites, reverend and gracious,
Steering with due course towards the isle of Rhodes,
Have there injointed them with an after fleet.
1 Senator. Ay, so I thought.- How many, as you guess?
Messenger. Of thirty sail; and now they do re-stem
Their backward course, bearing with frank appearance
Their purposes toward Cyprus.-Signior Montano,
Your trusty and most valiant servitor,
With his free duty recommends you thus,
And prays you to believe him.
Duke. 'T is certain, then, for Cyprus.
Marcus Luccicos, is not he in town?
1 Senator. He 's now in Florence.
Duke. Write from us to
m; post-post-haste dispatch.
1 Senator. Here comes Brabantio and the valiant Moor
Enter BRABANTIO, OTHELLO, IAGO, RODERIGO, and Officers.
Duke. Valiant Othello, we must straight employ your
Against the general enemy Ottoman.--
[To Brabantio] I did not see you; welcome, gentle signior:
We lack'd your counsel and your help to-night.
30
40
ACT I. SCENE III.
49
Brabantio. So did I yours.
Good your grace, pardon
me;
Neither my place nor aught I heard of business
Hath rais'd me from my bed, nor doth the general care
Take hold on me, for my particular grief
Is of so flood-gate and o'erbearing nature
That it engluts and swallows other sorrows
And it is still itself.
Duke.
Why, what's the matter?
Brabantio. My daughter! O, my daughter!
Duke and Senators.
Brabantio.
She is abus'd, stolen from me, and corrupted
Dead?
Ay, to me;
60
By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks;
For nature so preposterously to err,
Being not deficient, blind, or lame of sense,
Sans witchcraft could not.
Duke. Whoe'er he be that in this foul proceeding
Hath thus beguil'd your daughter of herself
And you of her, the bloody book of law
You shall yourself read in the bitter letter
}
After your own sense; yea, though our proper son
Stood in your action.
Brabantio.
Humbly I thank your grace.
Here is the man, this Moor, whom now, it seems.
Your special mandate for the state affairs
Hath hither brought.
Duke and Senators. We are very sorry for 't.
20
70
Duke. [To Othello] What, in your own part, can you say
to this?
Brabantio. Nothing, but this is so.
Othello. Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors,
My very noble and approv'd good masters,
That I have ta'en away this old man's daughter,
It is most true; true, I have married her :
D
50
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
The very head and front of my offending
Hath this extent, no more. Rude am I in my speech,
And little blest with the soft phrase of peace:
For since these arms of mine had seven years' pith,
Till now some nine moons wasted, they have us'd
Their dearest action in the tented field ;
And little of this great world can I speak,
More than pertains to feats of broil and battle,
And therefore little shall I grace my cause
In speaking for myself. Yet, by your gracious patience,
I will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver
Of my whole course of love; what drugs, what charms,
What conjuration, and what mighty magic,—
For such proceeding I am charg'd withal,-
I won his daughter.
Brabantio.
A maiden never bold;
Of spirit so still and quiet, that her motion.
Blush'd at herself; and she, in spite of nature,
Of years, of country, credit, every thing,
To fall in love with what she fear'd to look on!
It is a judgment maim'd and most imperfect
That will confess perfection so could err
Against all rules of nature, and must be driven
To find out practices of cunning hell,
Why this should be. I therefore vouch again
That with some mixtures powerful o'er the blood,
Or with some dram conjur'd to this effect,
He wrought upon her.
Duke.
To vouch this, is no proof,
Without more wider and more overt test
Than these thin habits and poor likelihoods
Of modern seeming do prefer against him.
I Senator. But, Othello, speak :
Did
you by indirect and forced courses
Subdue and poison this young maid's affections?
80
90
100
IIC
ACT I. SCENE III.
Or came it by request, and such fair question
As soul to soul affordeth?
Othello.
I do beseech you,
Send for the lady to the Sagittary,
And let her speak of me before her father.
If you do find me foul in her report,
The trust, the office I do hold of you,
Not only take away, but let your sentence
Even fall upon my life.
Duke.
Fetch Desdemona hither.
120
Othello. Ancient, conduct them; you best know the place.—
[Exeunt Iago and attendants.
And, till she come, as truly as to heaven
I do confess the vices of my blood,
So justly to your grave ears I 'll present
How I did thrive in this fair lady's love,
And she in mine.
Duke. Say it, Othello.
Othello. Her father lov'd me, oft invited me,
Still question'd me the story of my life
From year to year,-the battles, sieges, fortunes,
That I have pass'd.
I ran it through, even from my boyish days
To the very moment that he bade me tell it ;
Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances,
Of moving accidents by flood and field,
Of hair-breadth scapes i' the imminent deadly breach,
Of being taken by the insolent foe
And sold to slavery, of my redemption thence,
And portance in my travel's history;
Wherein of antres vast and deserts idle,
130
140
Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch heaven.
It was my hint to speak,-such was the process:
And of the Cannibals that each other eat,
The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads.
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
Do grow beneath their shoulders. This to hear
Would Desdemona seriously incline :
But still the house affairs would draw her thence;
Which ever as she could with haste dispatch,
She'd come again, and with a greedy ear
Devour up my discourse: which I observing,
Took once a pliant hour, and found good means
To draw from her a prayer of earnest heart
That I would all my pilgrimage dilate,
Whereof by parcels she had something heard,
But not intentively. I did consent,
And often did beguile her of her tears,
When I did speak of some distressful stroke
That my youth suffer'd. My story being done,
She gave me for my pains a world of sighs:
150
She swore, in faith, 't was strange, 't was passing strange, 160
'T was pitiful, 't was, wondrous pitiful;
She wish'd she had not heard it, yet she wish'd
That heaven had made her such a man; she thank'd me,
And bade me, if I had a friend that lov'd her,
I should but teach him how to tell my story,
And that would woo her. Upon this hint I spake;
She lov'd me for the dangers I had pass'd,
And I lov'd her that she did pity them.
This only is the witchcraft I have us'd.
Here comes the lady; let her witness it.
Enter DESDEMONA, IAGO, and Attendants.
Duke. I think this tale would win my daughter too.-
Good Brabantio,
Take up this mangled matter at the best ;
Men do their broken weapons rather use
Than their bare hands.
Brabantio.
I pray you, hear her speak;
If she confess that she was half the wooer,
170
ACT I. SCENE III.
F
Destruction on my head, if my bad blame
Light on the man!-Come hither, gentle mistress;
Do you perceive in all this noble company
Where mos
owe obedience?
here a divided duty:
53

My noble father,
180
am bound for life and education;
life and education both do learn me
How to respect you; you are the lord of duty;
I am hitherto your daughter; but here 's my husband,
And so much duty as my mother show'd
To you, preferring you before her father,
So much I challenge that I may profess
Due to the Moor my lord.
Brabantio.
God be with you !—I have done.—
Please it your grace, on to the state affairs;
I had
Gother to adopt a child than get it.-

Come hither, Moor;
I here do give thee that with all my heart
Which, but thou hast already, with all my heart
I would keep from thee.—For your sake, jewel,
I am glad at soul I have no other child;
For thy escape would teach me tyranny,
To hang clogs on them.-I have done, my lord.
Duke. Let me speak like yourself, and lay a sentence,
Which, as a grise or step, may help these lovers
Into your favour.
When remedies are past, the griefs are ended
By seeing the worst, which late on hopes depended.
To mourn a mischief that is past and gone
Is the next way to draw new mischief on.
What cannot be preserv'd when fortune takes,
Patience her injury a mockery makes.
The robb'd that smiles steals something from the thief;
He robs himself that spends a bootless grief.
190
200
54
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
Brabantio. So let the Turk of Cyprus us beguile;
We lose it not, so long as we can smile.
He bears the sentence well that nothing bears
But the free comfort which from thence he he
But he bears both the sentence and the sorre
That, to pay grief, must of poor patience bo
These sentences, to sugar or to gall,
Being strong on both sides, are equivocal :
But words are words; I never yet did hear
That the bruis'd heart was pierced through the ear.—
Beseech you, now to the affairs of state.
210

220
Duke. The Turk with a most mighty preparation makes
for Cyprus.-Othello, the fortitude of the place is best known
to you; and though we have there a substitute of most al-
lowed sufficiency, yet opinion, a sovereign mistress of effects,
throws a more safer voice on you: you must therefore be con-
tent to slubber the gloss of your new fortunes w
stubborn and boisterous expedition.
Othello. The tyrant custom, most grave senator
Hath made the flinty and steel couch of war
My thrice-driven bed of down; I do agnize
A natural and prompt alacrity
I find in hardness, and do undertake
These present wars against the Ottomites.
Most humbly therefore bending to your state,
I crave fit disposition for my wife,
Due reference of place and exhibition,
With such accommodation and besort
As levels with her breeding.

Duke.
Be 't at her father's.
If you please,
230
Brabantio.
I'll not have it so.
Othello. Nor I.
Desdemona.
Nor I; I would not there reside,
240
To put my father in impatient thoughts

y
ENE
being in his eye. Most gracious du
o my unfolding lend your prosperous ear;
And let me find a charter in your voice,
To assist my simpleness.
M
Duke. What would you, Desdemona?
Desdemona. That I did love the Moor to live with him,
violence and storm of fortunes
Oven
the world: my heart's subdued
quality of my lord;
saw Othello's visage in his mind,
And to his honours and his valiant parts.
Did I my soul and fortunes consecrate.
o that, dear lords, if I be left behind,
moth of peace, and he go to the war,
The rites for which I love him are bereft me,
And I a heavy interim shall support
By his dear absence. Let me go with him.
Othello. Let her have your voices.
In
with me, heaven, I therefore beg it not,
he palate of my appetite,
with heat-the young affects
and proper satisfaction,
But to be free and bounteous to her mind:
And heaven defend your good souls, that you think
I will your serious and great business scant
For she is with me. No, when light-wing`d toys
Of feather'd Cupid seel with wanton dulness
My speculative and offic'd instruments,
That my disports corrupt and taint my business,
Let housewives make a skillet of my helm,
And all indign and base adversities
Make head against my estimation !
Duke. Be it as you shall privately determine,
Either for her stay or going. The affair cries haste,
And speed must answer it.
250
260
270

HE
ICE.
must away to-night.
With all my heart.
nine i' the morning here we 'll meet again.—
eave some officer behind,
me shall our commission bring to you,
ith such things else of quality and respect.
As doth import you.
Othello.
A man he is of honesty and trust:
To his conveyance I assign my wife,
2.8
So please your grace, my ancient te
I
A
S
A
With what else needful your good grace shall think
To be sent after me.
Duke.
Let it be so.-
Good night to every one.-And, noble signior,
If virtue no delighted beauty lack,
Your son-in-law is far more fair than black.
I Senator. Adieu, brave Moor! use Desdemona well.
Brabantio. Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see
She has deceiv'd her father, and may thee.
[Exeunt Duke, Senators, Officers et
Othello. My life upon her faith!-Honest lago
My Desdemona must I leave to thee;
I prithee, let thy wife attend on her,
And bring them after in the best advantage.—
Come, Desdemona; I have but an hour
Of love, of worldly matters and direction,
To spend with thee: we must obey the time.
290
[Exeunt Othello and Desdemona.
Roderigo. Iago-
300
Iago. What say'st thou, noble heart?
Roderigo. What will I do, thinkest thou?
Iago. Why, go to bed, and sleep.
Roderigo. I will incontinently drown myself.
Iago. If thou dost, I shall never love thee after.
Why,
thou silly gentleman!
7
ACT I. SCENE III:
57
Roderigo. It is silliness to live when to live is torment;
and then have we a prescription to die when death is our
physician.
309
Iago. O villanous! I have looked upon the world for
four times seven years; and since I could distinguish be-
twixt a benefit and an injury, I never found man that knew
how to love himself. Ere I would say, I would drown my-
self for the love of a guinea-hen, I would change my human-
ity with a baboon.
Roderigo. What should I do? I confess it is my shame to
be so fond; but it is not in my virtue to amend it.

317
Iago. Virtue! a fig ! 't is in ourselves that we are thus or
thus. Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills
are gardeners; so that if we w' plant nettles, or sow
lettuce, set hyssop and weed up yme, supply it with one
many, either to have it
with industry, why, the
gender of herbs or distract it wit
sterile with idleness or manured
power and corrigible authority of this lies in our wills. If
the balance of our lives had not one scale of reason to poise
another of sensuality, the blood and baseness of our natures
would conduct us to most preposterous conclusions; but we
have reason to cool our raging Lotions, our carnal stings,
our unbitted lusts, whereof I take this that you call love to
be a sect or scion.
Roderigo. It cannot be.
330
Iago. It is merely a lust of the blood and a permission of
the will. Come, be a man. Drown thyself! drown cats and
blind puppies. I have professed me thy friend, and I con-
fess me knit to thy deserving with cables of perdurable
toughness; I could never better stead thee than now. Put
money in thy purse; follow these wars; defeat thy favour
with an usurped beard; I say, put money in thy purse. It
cannot be that Desdemona should long continue her love to
the Moor,-put money it thy purse, nor he his to her it
was a violent commenceraient, and thou shalt see an answer-
L
58
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
able sequestration;-put but money in thy purse. These
Moors are changeable in their wills;-fill thy purse with
money: the food that to him now is as luscious as locusts,
shall be to him shortly as bitter as coloquintida. She must
change for youth: when she is sated with his body, she will
find the error of her choice; she must have change, she
must: therefore put money in thy purse. If thou wilt needs
damn thyself, do it a more delicate way than drowning.
Make all the money thou canst : if sanctimony and a frail
vow betwixt an erring barbarian and a supersubtle Venetian
be not too hard for my wits and all the tribe of hell, thou
shalt enjoy her; therefore make money. A pox of drown-
ing thyself! it is clean out of the way; seek thou rather to
be hanged in compassi g thy joy than to be drowned and
go without her.
Roderigo. Wilt thou be fast to my hopes, if I depend on
the issue?
358
lago. Thou art sure of me.-Go, make money.—I have
told thee often, and I re-tell thee again and again, I hate the
Moor: my cause is hearted ; thine hath no less reason. Let
us be conjunctive in our revenge against him; if thou canst
cuckold him, thou dost thyself a pleasure, me a sport. There
(are many events in the womb of time which will be deliv-
\ered. Traverse! go, provide thy money. We will have
more of this to-morrow. Adieu.
Roderigo. Where shall we meet i' the morning?
Iago. At my lodging.
Roderigo. I'll be with thee be imes.
Tago. Go to; farewell. Do you hear, Roderigo?
Roderigo. What say you?
Iago. No more of drowning, do you hear?
Roderigo. I am changed; I'll sell all my land.
Tago. Thus do I ever make my fool my purse;
For I mine own gain'd knowledge should profane,
If I would time expend with such snipe,
370
Exit
ACT I. SCENE III.
59
But for my sport and profit. I hate the Mour;
And it is thought abroad, that 'twixt my sheets
He has done my office: I know not if 't be true;
But I, for mere suspicion in that kind,
Will do as if for surety. He holds me well;
The better shall my purpose work on him.
Cassio's a proper man: let me see now;
To get his place and to plume up my will
In double knavery How, how?—Let's see :-
After some time, to abuse Othello's ear
That he is too familiar with his wife.
He hath a person and a smooth dispose
To be suspected, fram'd to make women false.
The Moor is of a free and open nature,
That thinks men honest that but seem to be so,
And will as tenderly be led by the nose
As asses are. -☀
I have 't. It is engender'd. Hell and night.
380
390
Must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light. [Exit.


ACT II.
SCENE I. A Seaport in Cyprus. A Platform.
Enter MONTANO and two Gentlemen.
Montano. What from the cape can you discern at sea?
1 Gentleman. Nothing at all: it is a high-wrought flood;
I cannot, 'twixt the heaven and the main,

Descry a sail.
antano. Methinks the wind hath spoke aloud at land,
Jast ne'er shook our battlements.
n'd so upon the sea,
when mountains melt on them,
What shall we hear of this?
gation of the Turkish fleet:
he foaming shore,

10
ACT II. SCENE I.
~The chidden billow seems to pelt the clouds ;
The wind-shak'd surge, with high and monstrous mane,
Seems to cast water on the burning Bear,
And quench the guards of the ever-fixed pole.
I never did like molestation view
On the enchafed flood.
A
· Montano.
If that the Turkish fleet
Be not enshelter'd and embay'd, they are drown'd;
It is impossible they bear it out.
Enter a third Gentleman.
3 Gentleman. News, lads! our wars are done.
The desperate tempest hath so bang'd the Turks,
That their designment halts; a noble ship of Venice
Hath seen a grievous wrack and sufferance
On most part of their fleet.
Montano. How! is this true?
3 Gentleman.
A Veronese, Michael Cassio,
The ship is here put in;
Lieutenant to the warlike Moor Othello,
Is come on shore: the Moor himself at sea,
And is in full commission here for Cyprus.
Montano. I am glad on 't; 't is a worthy governor.
61
20
30
3 Gentleman. But this same Cassio, though he speak of
comfort
Touching the Turkish loss, yet he looks sadly,
And prays the Moor be safe; for they were parted
With foul and violent tempest.
Montano.
Pray heavens he be;
For I have serv'd him, and the man commands
Like a full soldier. Let's to the seaside, ho!
As well to see the vessel that 's come in
As to throw out our eyes for brave Othello,
Even till we make the main and the aerial blue
An indistinct regard.
62
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
3 Gentleman.
Come, let's do so:
For every minute is expectancy
Of more arrivance.
40
Enter CASSIO.
Cassio. Thanks, you the valiant of this warlike isle,
That so approve the Moor! O, let the heavens
Give him defence against the elements,
For I have lost him on a dangerous sea.
Montano. Is he well shipp'd?
Cassio. His bark is stoutly timber'd, and his pilot.
Of very expert and approv'd allowance;
Therefore my hopes, not surfeited to death,
-Stand in bold cure.
50
[A cry within, 'A sail, a sail, a sail !'
Enter a fourth Gentleman.
Cassio. What noise?
4 Gentleman. The town is empty; on the brow o' the sea
Stand ranks of people, and they cry 'A sail !'
Cassio. My hopes do shape him for the governor.
[Guns heard.
2 Gentleman. They do discharge their shot of courtesy ;
Our friends at least.
Cassio.
I
pray you, sir, go forth,
And give us truth who 't is that is arriv'd.
2 Gentleman. I shall.
[Exit.
60
Montano. But, good lieutenant, is your general wiv'd?
Cassio. Most fortunately: he hath achiev'd a maid
That paragons description and wild fame;
One that excels the quirks of blazoning pens,
And in the essential vesture of creation
Does tire the enginer.
Re-enter second Gentleman.
How now! who has put in?
ACT II. SCENE I.
63
2 Gentleman. 'T is one Iago, ancient to the general.
Cassio. He's had most favourable and happy speed.
Tempests themselves, high seas, and howling winds,
The gutter'd rocks, and congregated sands,-
Traitors ensteep'd to clog the guiltless keel,
As having sense of beauty, do omit
Their mortal natures, letting go safely by
The divine Desdemona.
Montano.
What is she?
Cassio. She that I spake of, our great captain's captain,
Left in the conduct of the bold Iago,
Whose footing here anticipates our thoughts
A se'nnight's speed. Great Jove, Othello guard,
And swell his sail with thine own powerful breath,
That he may bless this bay with his tall ship,
Give renew'd fire to our extincted spirits,
And bring all Cyprus comfort!
70
80
Enter DESDEMONA, EMILIA, IAGO, RODERIGO, and Attendants.
O, behold,
The riches of the ship is come on shore !
Ye men of Cyprus, let her have your knees.—
Hail to thee, lady! and the grace of heaven,
Before, behind thee, and on every hand,
Enwheel thee round!
Desdemona.
I thank you, valiant Cassio.
What tidings can you tell me of my lord?
Cassio. He is not yet arriv'd; nor know I aught
But that he 's well and will be shortly here.
Desdemona. O, but I fear-
How lost you company?
Cassio. The great contention of the sea and skies
Parted our fellowship- But, hark! a sail.
[Within ‘A sail, a sail!' Guns heard.
2 Gentleman. They give their greeting to the citadel;
This likewise is a friend.
64
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
of
Cassio.
See for the news.-[Exit Gentlemon.
Good ancient, you are welcome.-To Emilia] Welcon
mistress.-
Let it not gall your patience, good Iago,
That I extend my manners 't is my breeding
That gives me this bold show of courtesy.
[Kissing her.
Iago. Sir, would she give you so much of her lips
As of her tongue she oft bestows on me,
You'd have enough.
Desdemona.
Alas, she has no speech.
Iago. In faith, too much ;
I find it still, when I have list to sleep:
Marry, before your ladyship, I grant,,
She puts her tongue a little in her heart,
And chides with thinking.
Emilia. You have little cause to say so.
Iago. Come on, come on; you are pictures out of doors,
Bells in your parlours, wild-cats in your kitchens,
Saints in your injuries, devils being offended,
Players in your housewifery, and housewives in your beds.
Desdemona. O, fie upon thee, slanderer!
Iago. Nay, it is true, or else I am a Turk;
You rise to play, and go to bed to work.
Emilia. You shall not write my praise.
Iago.
No, let me not.
IOC
110
Desdemona. What wouldst thou write of me, if thou
shouldst praise me?
Iago. O gentle lady, do not put me to 't;
For I am nothing, if not critical.
Desdemona. Come on, assay.-There 's one gone to the
harbour?
Iago. Ay, madam.
Desdemona. I am not merry; but I do beguile
The thing I am by seeming otherwise.-
Come, how wouldst thou praise me?
12C

ACT II. SCENE I.
65
Tago. I am about it ; but indeed my invention
mes from my pate as birdlime does from frize;
ucks out brains and all: but my Muse labours,
d thus she is deliver'd.
she be fair and wise, fairness and wit,
e one 's for use, the other useth it.
Desdemona. Well prais'd! How if she be black and
witty?
ago. If she be black, and thereto have a wit,
'll find a white that shall her blackness fit.
Lesdemona. Worse and worse.
Emilia. How if fair and foolish?
Iago. She never yet was foolish that was fair;
or even her folly help'd her to an heir.
130
Desdemona. These are old fond paradoxes to make fools
agh i' the alehouse. What miserable praise hast thou for
that's foul and foolish?
1go. There's none so foul and foolish thereunto,
Br does foul pranks which fair and wise ones do.
140
Desdemona. O heavy ignorance! thou praisest the worst
i. But what praise couldst thou bestow on a deserving
woman indeed, one that in the authority of her merit did
sy put on the vouch of very malice itself?
go. She that was ever fair and never proud,
d tongue at will and yet was never loud,
ever lack'd gold and yet went never gay,
ed from her wish and yet said 'Now I may,
he that being anger'd, her revenge being nigh,
ade her wrong stay and her displeasure"
he that in wisdom never was so frail
o change the cod's head for the salmon's tail,
She that could think and ne'er disclose her mind
ee suitors following and not look behind,
he was a wight, if ever such wight were,
Desdemona. To do what?
E
150

66
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
Iago. To suckle fools and chronicle small beer.
Desdemona. O most lame and impotent conclusion!
not learn of him, Emilia, though he be thy husband.
say you, Cassio? is he not a most profane and liberal co
sellor ?
Cassio. He speaks home, madam; you may relish 1'
more in the soldier than in the scholar.
13
Iago. [Aside] He takes her by the palm: ay, well s
whisper; with as little a web as this will I ensnare as gr
a fly as Cassio. Ay, smile upor her, do; I will gyve thee
thine own courtship. You say true; 't is so, indeed: if such
tricks as these strip you out of your lieutenantry, it had beer
better you had not kissed your three fingers so oft, which
now again you are most apt to play the sir in. Very good
well kissed! an excellent courtesy! 't is so, indeed. Yet
again your fingers to your lips?-[ Trumpet within.] The
Moor! I know his trumpet.
Cassio. 'T is truly so.
Desdemona. Let 's meet him and
Cassio. Lo, where he comes
Enter OTHELLO Attendants.
Othello. O my fair "
Desdemona.
Othello. It gives me wond
To see you her
If after ever
May the
And le
Oly
My dear Othello!
great as my content
ore mu O my soul's joy!
come such calms,
All they have waken'd death!
ng bark climb hills of seas
nd duck again as low
m heaven!
If it were now to die,
w to be most happy; 'for, I fear.
hath her content so absolute
not another comfort like to this
cceeds in unknown fate.
17


ACT II. SCENE I
2
demona.
The heavens forbid
190
hat our loves and comforts should increase,
as our days do grow!
hello.
Amen to that, sweet powers!
not speak enough of this content;
stops me here; it is too much of joy :
this, and this, the greatest discords be
e'er our hearts shall make!
[Kissing her.
go. [Aside] O, you are well tun'd now!
But I'll set down the pegs that inake this music,
onest as I am.
hello.
Come, let us to the castle.
friends; our wars are done, the Turks are drown'd.
does my old acquaintance of this isle?—
Honey, you shall be well desir'd in Cyprus;
e found great love amongst them. O my sweet,
ttle out of fashion, and I dote
ine own comforts. I prithee, good Iago,
the bay and disembark my coffers ;
thou the master to the citadel ;
s a good one, and his worthiness
challenge much respect.-Come, Desdemona,
more, well met at Cyprus.
200
209
[Exeunt Othello, Desdemona, and Attendants.
go. Do thou meet me presently at the harbour.-Come
er. If thou be'st valiant,-as, they say, base men being
ove have then a nobility in their natures more than is na-
to them,-list me. The lieutenant to-night watches on
court of guard. First, I must tell thee this-Desdemona
irectly in love with him.
Ведется
Begi
216
Roderigo. With him! why, 't is not possible.
ago. Lay thy finger thus, and let thy soul be instructed.
rk me with what violence she first loved the Moor, but
bragging and telling her fantastical lies; and will she
e him still for prating? let not thy discreet heart think it.
врех


OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
Her eye must be fed; and what delight shall she have 10
look on the devil? When the blood is made dull, thei
should be, again to inflame it and to give satiety a fresh ap
petite, loveliness in favour, sympathy in years, manners, ay
beauties; all which the Moor is defective in. Now, for wari
of these required conveniences, her delicate tenderness wi
find itself abused, begin to heave the gorge, disrelish and al
hor the Moor; very nature will instruct her in it, and com
pel her to some second choice. Now, sir, this granted,—as
it is a most pregnant and unforced position--who stands so
eminent in the degree of this fortune as Cassio does? a knavė
very voluble; no further conscionable than in putting on the
mere form of civil and humane seeming, for the better com-
passing of his salt and most hidden loose affection? why,
none; why, none: a slipper and subtle knave, a finder of
occasions, that has an eye can stamp and counterfeit adván
tages, though true advantage never present itself; a devilish
knave! Besides, the knave is handsome, young, and hathall
those requisites in him that folly and green minds look after:
a pestilent complete knave; and the woman hath found him
already.
#41
Roderigo. I cannot believe that in her; she 's full of most
blessed condition.
Iago. Blessed fig's end! the wine she drinks is made of
grapes; if she had been blessed she would never have loved
the Moor. Blessed pudding! Didst thou not see her pad-
dle with the palm of his hand? didst not mark that?
Roderigo. Yes, that I did; but that was but courtesy.
Iago. Lechery, by this hand; an index and obscure pro-
ogue to the history of lust and foul thoughts. They met so
near with their lips that their breaths embraced togeth
Villanous thoughts, Roderigo!-But, sir, be you ruled by me,
I have brought you from Venice. Watch you to-night;
the command I'll lay 't upon you.
Cassio knows you not.
I'll not be far from you; do you find some occasion to
fo
ACT II. SCENE I.
69
ger Cassio, either by speaking too loud, or tainting his disci-
pline, or from what other course you please, which the time
shall more favourably minister.
Roderigo. Well.
259
Iago. Sir, he is rash and very sudden in choler, and haply
may strike at you: provoke him that he may; for even out
of that will I cause these of Cyprus to mutiny, whose qualifi-
cation shall come into no true taste again but by the dis-
planting of Cassio. So shall you have a shorter journey to
your desires by the means I shall then have to prefer them;
and the impediment most profitably removed, without the
which there were no expectation of our prosperity.
Roderigo. I will do this, if I can bring it to any oppor-
tunity.
269
Iago. I warrant thee. Meet me by and by at the citadel;
I must fetch his necessaries ashore. Farewell.
Roderigo. Adieu.
Iago. That Cassio loves her, I do well believe it ;
That she loves him, 't is apt and of great credit :
The Moor, howbeit that I endure him not,
Is of a constant, loving, noble nature,
A d I dare think he 'll prove to Desdemona
A nost dear husband. Now, I do love her too;
Not out of absolute lust, though peradventure
I stand accountant for as great a sin,
But partly led to diet my revenge,
For that I do suspect the lusty Moor
Hath leap'd into my seat: the thought whereof
Doth like a poisonous mineral gnaw my inwards;
And nothing can or shall content my soul
Till I am even'd with him, wife for wife,
Or failing so, yet that I put the Moor
At least into a jealousy so strong
That judgment cannot cure. Which thing to do,
If this poor trash of Venice, whom I trash
[Exit.
280
290

70
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
For his quick hunting, stand the putting on,
I'll have our Michael Cassio on the hip,
Abuse him to the Moor in the rank garb—
For I fear Cassio with my nightcap too—
Make the Moor thank me, love me, and reward me,
For making him egregiously an ass
And practising upon his peace and quiet
Even to madness. 'T is here, but yet confus'd;
Knavery's plain face is never seen till us'd.
SCENE II. A Street.
298
[Exit.
Enter a Herald with a proclamation; People following.
Herald. It is Othello's pleasure, our noble and valiant
general, that, upon certain tidings now arrived, importing.
the mere perdition of the Turkish fleet, every man put him-
self into triumph; some to dance, some to make bonfires,
each man to what sport and revels his addiction leads him:
for, besides these beneficial news, it is the celebration of his
nuptial. So much was his pleasure should be proclaimed.
All offices are open, and there is full liberty of feasting from
this present hour of five till the bell have told eleven. Heav-
en bless the isle of Cyprus and our noble general Othello!
[Exeunt.
SCENE III. A Hall in the Castle.
Enter OTHELLO, DESDEMONA, CASSIO, and Attendants.
Othello. Good Michael, look you to the guard to-night;
Let's teach ourselves that honourable stop,
Not to outsport discretion.
Cassio. Iago hath direction what to do ;
But, notwithstanding, with my personal eye
Will I look to 't.
Othello.
Iago is most honest.
Michael, good night; to-morrow with your earliest

ACT II. Scene III.
71
Let me have speech with you. -[To Desdemona] Come, my
dear love.
Good night.
[Exeunt Othello, Desdemona, and Attendants.
Enter IAGO.
Cassio. Welcome, Iago; we must to the watch.
10
Iago. Not this hour, lieutenant; 't is not yet ten o' the
clock. Our general cast us thus early for the love of his
Desdemona, who let us not therefore blame.
Cassio. She's a most exquisite lady.
Iago. What an eye she has! methinks it sounds a parley
of provocation.
Cassio. An inviting eye; and yet methinks right modest.
Iago. And when she speaks, is it not an alarum to love?
Cassio. She is indeed perfection.
19
Iago. Well, happiness to their sheets! Come, lieutenant,
I have a stoup of wine; and here without are a brace of
Cyprus gallants that would fain have a measure to the
health of black Othello.
Cassio. Not to-night, good Iago. I have very poor and
unhappy brains for drinking; I could well wish courtesy
would invent some other custom of entertainment.
Iago. O, they are our friends; but one cup: I'll drink
for you.
Cassio. I have drunk but one cup to-night, and that was
craftily qualified too, and behold what innovation it makes.
here. I am unfortunate in the infirmity, and dare not task
my weakness with any more.
32
Iago. What, man! 't is a night of revels; the gallants de-
sire it.
Cassio. Where are they?
Iago. Here at the door; I pray you, call them in.
Cassio. I'll do 't; but it dislikes me.
Iago. If I can fasten but one cup upon him,
With that which he hath drunk to-night already,
[Exit.
72
OTHELLO, THE MOOR of venice.
´He'll be as full of quarrel and offence
As my young mistress' dog. Now, my sick fool Roderigo,
Whom love hath turn'd almost the wrong side out,
To Desdemona hath to-night carous’d
Potations pottle-deep; and he 's to watch.
Three lads of Cyprus,-noble swelling spirits,
That hold their honours in a wary distance,
The very elements of this warlike isle,--
Have I to-night fluster'd with flowing cups,
4.0
And they watch too. Now, 'mongst this flock of drunk-
ards,
Am I to put our Cassio in some action
That may offend the isle.-But here they come :
If consequence do but approve my dream,
My boat sails freely, both with wind and stream.
50
Re-enter CASSIO; with him MONTANO and Gentlemen; Ser-
vants following with wine.
Cassio. Fore God, they have given me a rouse already.
Montano. Good faith, a little one; not past a pint, as I
am a soldier.
Iago. Some wine, ho!
[Sings] And let me the canakin clink, clink!
And let me the canakin clink!
A soldier's a man;
A life's but a span ;
Why, then, let a soldier drink !
Some wine, boys!
Cassio. Fore God, an excellent song.
60
Iago. I learned it in England, where, indeed, they are
most potent in potting; your Dane, your German, and
your swag-bellied Hollander-Drink, ho!-are nothing to
your English.
Cassio. Is your Englishman so exquisite in his drink-
ing?
70
#

ACT II. SCENE III.
73
Iago. Why, he drinks you with facility your Dane dead
drunk; he sweats not to overthrow your Almain; he gives
your Hollander a vomit ere the next pottle can be filled.
Cassio. To the health of our general !
Montano. I am for it, lieutenant; and I'll do you justice.
Iago. O sweet England!
[Sings] King Stephen was a worthy peer,
His breeches cost him but a crown;
He held them sixpence all too dear,
With that he call'd the tailor lown.
8a
He was a wight of high renown,
And thou art but of low degree :
'Tis pride that pulls the country down;
Then take thine auld cloak about thee.
Some wine, ho!
Cassio. Why, this is a more exquisite song than the other.
Iago. Will you hear 't again?
Cassio. No; for I hold him to be unworthy of his place
that does those things. Well, God 's above all; and there
be souls must be saved, and there be souls must not be
saved.
lago. It's true, good lieutenant.
91
Cassio. For mine own part,-no offence to the general,
nor any man of quality,-I hope to be saved.
Iago. And so do I too, lieutenant.
Cassio. Ay, but, by your leave, not before me; the lieuten-
ant is to be saved before the ancient. Let's have no more
of this; let 's to our affairs.-Forgive us our sins !—Gentle-
men, let's look to our business.-Do not think, gentlemen, I
am drunk this is my ancient; this is my right hand, and
this is my left. I am not drunk now; I can stand well
enough, and speak well enough.
All. Excellent well.
102
Cassio. Why, very well then; you must not think then
that I am drunk.
[Exit.
74
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
Montano. To the platform, masters; come, let's set the
watch.
Iago. You see this fellow that is gone before;
He is a soldier fit to stand by Cæsar
And give direction: and do but see his vice.
'T is to his virtue a just equinox,
The one as long as the other; 't is pity of him.
I fear the trust Othello puts him in,
On some odd time of his infirmity,
Will shake this island.
Montano.
But is he often thus?
Iago. 'T is evermore the prologue to his sleep;
He'll watch the horologe a double set, clock
If drink rock not his cradle.
Montano.
It were well
The general were put in mind of it.
Perhaps he sees it not; or his good nature
Prizes the virtue that appears in Cassio,
And looks not on his evils: is not this true?
Enter RODERIGO.
Iago. [Aside to him] How now, Roderigo!
I pray you, after the lieutenant; go.
IIC
12)
[Exit Roderigo.
Montano. And 't is great pity that the noble Moor
Should hazard such a place as his own second
With one of an ingraft infirmity;
It were an honest action to say
So to the Moor.
Tago.
Not I, for this fair island;
I do love Cassio well, and would do much
To cure him of this evil-But, hark! what noise?
13C
[Cry within: 'Help! help!'
Enter CASSIO, pursuing Roderigo.
Cassio. You rogue! you rascal!
ACT II SCENE III.
75
Montano.
What's the matter, lieutenant?
Cassio. A knave teach me my duty!
I'll beat the knave into a twiggen bottle.
Roderigo. Beat me!
Cassio.
Dost thou prate, rogue?
Montano.
[Striking Roderigo.
Nay, good lieutenant;
[Staying him.
I pray you, sir, hold your hand.
Cassio.
Let me go, sir,
Come, come, you 're drunk.
[They fight.
Or I'll knock you o'er the mazzard.
Montano.
Cassio. Drunk!
Iago. [Aside to Roderigo] Away, I say; go out, and cry a
-mutiny.
[Exit Roderigo.
- Nay, good lieutenant,-—alas, gentlemen !-
Help, ho!-Lieutenant,-sir,-Montano,-sir ;-
Help, masters !—Here's a goodly watch indeed!
Who's that which rings the bell?—Diablo, ho!
The town will rise; God's will, lieutenant, hold!
You will be sham'd for ever.
Othello.
Enter OTHELLO and Attendants.
140
[Bell rings.
What is the matter here?
Montano. Zounds, I bleed still; I am hurt to the death.
Othello. Hold, for your lives!
[Faints.
Iago. Hold, ho! Lieutenant,-sir,— Montano,— gentle-
men!-
Have you forgot all sense of place and duty?
Hold! the general speaks to you; hold, hold, for shame! 150
Othello. Why, how now, ho! from whence ariseth this?
Are we turn'd Turks, and to ourselves do that
Which heaven hath forbid the Ottomites?
76
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
For Christian shame, put by this barbarous brawl!
He that stirs next to carve for his own rage
Holds his soul light; he dies upon his motion.—
Silence that dreadful bell! it frights the isle
From her propriety.-What is the matter, masters?—
Honest Iago, that look'st dead with grieving,
Speak, who began this? on thy love, I charge thee.
Iago. I do not know: friends all but now, even now,
In quarter, and in terms like bride and groom
Devesting them for bed; and then, but now~
As if some planet had unwitted men—
Swords out, and tilting one at other's breast,
In opposition bloody. I cannot speak
Any beginning to this peevish odds ;
And would in action glorious I had lost
Those legs that brought me to a part of it!
Othello. How comes it, Michael, you are thus forgot?
Cassio. I pray you, pardon me; I cannot speak.
Othello. Worthy Montano, you were wont be civil;
The gravity and stillness of your youth
The world hath noted, and your name is great
In mouths of wisest censure: what's the matter,
That you unlace your reputation thus,
And spend your rich opinion for the name
Of a night-brawler? give me answer to it.
Montano. Worthy Othello, I am hurt to danger :
Your officer, Iago, can inform you,—
While I spare speech, which something now offends me,-
Of all that I do know; nor know I aught
By me that 's said or done amiss this night,
Unless self-charity be sometimes a vice,
And to defend ourselves it be a sin
When violence assails us.
Othello.
My blood begins my safer guides to rule;
160
170
18c
Now, by heaven,
getting
angry
¡

ACT II. SCENE III.
77
!
And passion, having my best judgment collied,
Assays to lead the way. If I once stir,
Or do but lift this arm, the best of you
Shall sink in my rebuke. Give me to know
How this foul rout began, who set it on,
And he that is approv'd in this offence,
Though he had twinn'd with me, both at a birth,
Shall lose me.-What! in a town of war,
Yet wild, the people's hearts brimful of fear,
To manage private and domestic quarrel,
In night, and on the court and guard of safety !
'Tis monstrous.-Iago, who began 't?
Montano. If partially affin'd, or leagu'd in office,
Thou dost deliver more or less than truth,
Thou art no soldier.
Iago.
Touch me not so near :
I had rather have this tongue cut from my mouth
Than it should do offence to Michael Cassio ;
Yet, I persuade myself, to speak the truth
Shall nothing wrong him.-Thus it is, general.
Montano and myself being in speech,
There comes a fellow crying out for help,
And Cassio following him with determin'd sword,
To execute upon him. Sir, this gentleman
Steps in to Cassio, and entreats his pause;
Myself the crying fellow did pursue,
Lest by his clamour-as it so fell out—
The town might fall in fright; he, swift of foot,
Outran my purpose, and I return'd the rather
For that I heard the clink and fall of swords,
And Cassio high in oath, which till to-night
I ne'er might say before. When I came back-
For this was brief-I found them close together,
At blow and thrust, even as again they were
When you yourself did part them.
190
200
210
220
78
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
+
More of this matter cannot I report:
But men are men; the best sometimes forget.
Though Cassio did some little wrong to him,
As men in rage strike those that wish them best,
Yet surely Cassio, I believe, receiv'd
From him that fled some strange indignity,
Which patience could not pass.
Othello.
I know, Iago,
Thy honesty and love doth mince this matter,
Making it light to Cassio.-Cassio, I love thee;
But never more be officer of mine.
Re-enter DESDEMONA, attended.
230
Look, if my gentle love be not rais'd up!
I'll make thee an example.
Desdemona.
What's the matter?
Othello. All's well now, sweeting; come away to bed.—
Sir, for your hurts, myself will be your surgeon.—
Lead him off.—
Iago, look with care about the town,
[Montano is led off.
And silence those whom this vile brawl distracted.-
Come, Desdemona; 't is the soldiers' life
To have their balmy slumbers wak'd with strife.
240
[Exeunt all but Iago and Cassio.
Iago. What, are you hurt, lieutenant?
Cassio. Ay, past all surgery.
Iago. Marry, heaven forbid!
reputation lost

Cassio. Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost
my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and
what remains is bestial. My reputation, Iago, my reputa-
{tion!
Iago. As I am an honest man, I thought you had received
some bodily wound; there is more sense in that than in repu-
tation./Reputation is an idle and most false imposition ; oft
/ got without merit, and lost without deserving : you have lost
ACT II. SCENE III.
79
no reputation at all, unless you repute yourself such a loser.
What, man! there are ways to recover the general again :
you are but now cast in his mood, a punishment more in
policy than in malice; even so as one would beat his of
fenceless dog to affright an imperious lion. Sue to him
again, and he 's yours.
257
Cassio. I will rather sue to be despised than to deceive so
good a commander with so slight, so drunken, and so indis-
creet an officer. Drunk? and speak parrot? and squabble?
swagger? swear? and discourse fustian with one's own
shadow?-O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no
name to be known by, let us call thee devil!
lago. What was he that you followed with your sword?
What had he done to you?
Cassio. I know not.
Iago. Is 't possible?
266
Cassio. I remember a mass of things, but nothing distinct-
ly; a quarrel, but nothing wherefore. O God, that men
should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their
brains! that we should, with joy, pleasance, revel, and ap-
plause, transform ourselves into beasts!
272
lago. Why, but you are now well enough; how came you
thus recovered?
Cassio. It hath pleased the devil drunkenness to give place
to the devil wrath; one unperfectness shows me another, to
make me frankly despise myself.
Iago. Come, you are too severe a moraler. As the time,
the place, and the condition of this country stands, I could
heartily wish this had not befallen; but, since it is as it is,
mend it for your own good.
281
Cassio. I will ask him for my place again; he shall tell me
I am a drunkard! Had I as many mouths as Hydra, such
an answer would stop them all. To be now a sensible man,
by and by a fool, and presently a beast! O strange! Every
inordinate cup is unblest, and the ingredient is a devil.
80
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
Iago. Come, come, good wine is a good familiar creature,
if it be well used; exclaim no more against it. And, good
lieutenant, I think you think I love you.
Cassio. I have well approved it, sir.-I drunk!
290
Iago. You or any man living may be drunk at a time, man.
I'll tell you what you shall do. Our general's wife is now
the general; I may say so in this respect, for that he hath
devoted and given up himself to the contemplation, mark,
and denotement of her parts and graces. Confess yourself
freely to her; importune her help to put you in your place
again. She is of so free, so kind, so apt, so blessed a dis-
position, she holds it a vice in her goodness not to do
more than she is requested. This broken joint between you
and her husband entreat her to splinter; and, my fortunes
against any lay worth naming, this crack of your love shall
grow stronger than it was before.
Cassio. You advise me well.
302
Iago. I protest, in the sincerity of love and honest kind-
ness.
Cassio. I think it freely; and betimes in the morning I
will beseech the virtuous Desdemona to undertake for me.
I am desperate of my fortunes if they check me here.
Iago. You are in the right. Good night, lieutenant; I
must to the watch.
Cassio. Good night, honest Iago.
310
[Exit.
Iago. And what 's he then that says I play the villain,
When this advice is free I give and honest,
Probal to thinking, and indeed the course
To win the Moor again? For 't is most easy
The inclining Desdemona to subdue
In any honest suit; she 's fram'd as fruitful
As the free elements. And then for her
To win the Moor--were 't to renounce his baptism,
All seals and symbols of redeemed sin,
His soul is so enfetter'd to her love
320

ACT H. SCENE III.
81
That she may make, unmake, do what she list,
Even as her appetite shall play the god
With his weak function. How am I then a villain
To counsel Cassio to this parallel course,
Directly to his good? Divinity of hell!
When devils will the blackest sins put on,
They do suggest at first with heavenly shows,
As I do now for whiles this honest fool
Plies Desdemona to repair his fortunes,
And she for him pleads strongly to the Moor,
I'll pour this pestilence into his ear,—
That she repeals him for her body's lust;
And by how much she strives to do him good
She shall undo her credit with the Moor.
So will I turn her virtue into pitch,
And out of her own goodness make the net
That shall enmesh them all.—
Enter RODerigo.
How now, Roderigo!
330
339
Roderigo. I do follow here in the chase, not like a hound
that hunts, but one that fills up the cry. My money is al-
most spent; I have been to-night exceedingly well cudgel-
led; and I think the issue will be, I shall have so much
experience for my pains, and so, with no money at all and
a little more wit, return again to Venice.
Iago. How poor are they that have not patience!
What wound did ever heal but by degrees?
Thou know'st we work by wit and not by witchcraft,
And wit depends on dilatory time.
Does 't not go well? Cassio hath beaten thee,
And thou, by that small hurt, hast cashier'd Cassio.
Though other things grow fair against the sun,
Yet fruits that blossom first will first be ripe;
Content thyself awhile. By the mass, 't is morning;
350

F

;
82
OTHELLO, THE MO
Pleasure and action make the hours seem short.
Retire thee; go where thou art billeted.
Away, I say; thou shalt know more hereafter :
Nay, get thee gone.--[Exit Roderigo.] Two things are to be
done :
My wife must move for Cassio to her mistress;
I'll set her on :
Myself the while to draw the Moor apart,
And bring him jump when he may Cassio find
Soliciting his wife.-Ay, that's the way;
Dull not device by coldness and delay.
[Exil

MELPOMENe, the muse of tragEDY,

VENETIAN REMAINS AT FAMAGUSTA, CYPRUS.
ACT III.
SCENE I. Before the Castle.
Enter CASSIO and some Musicians.
Cassio. Masters, play here; I will content your paíns;
Something that 's brief; and bid good morrow, general.
Enter Clown.
[Music.
Clown. Why, masters, have your instruments been in Na-
ples, that they speak i' the nose thus?


HE MOOR of veniCE.
n. O,
now!
pray you, wind instruments?
,, marry, are they, sir.
ereby hangs a tale. But, masters, here's
ney for you; and the general so likes your music, that he
desires you, for love's sake, to make no more noise with it.
I Musician. Well, sir, we will not.
I l
Clown. If you have any music that may not be heard, to
't again; but, as they say, to hear music the general does.
not greatly care.
I Musician. We have none such, sir.
Clown. Then put up your pipes in your bag, for I 'll away.
Go; vanish into air; away!
[Exeunt Musicians.
Cassio. Dost thou hear, my honest friend?
Clown. No, I hear not your honest friend; I hear you.
19
Cassio. Prithee, keep up thy quillets. There's a poor
piece of gold for thee. If the gentlewoman that attends
the general's wife be stirring, tell her there 's one Cassio
entreats her a little favour of speech; wilt thou do this?
Clown. She is stirring, sir; if she will stir hither, I shall
seem to notify unto her.
Cassio. Do, good my friend.
[Exit Clown.
Enter IAGO.
In happy time, Iago.
Iago. You have not been a-bed, then?
Cassio. Why, no; the day had broke
Before we parted. I have made bold, Iago,
To send in to your wife; my suit to her
Is, that she will to virtuous Desdemona
Procure me some access.
Iago.
I'll send her to you presently;
And I'll devise a mean to draw the Moor
Out of the way, that your converse and business
May be more free.
30


ACT III. SCENE II.
85
Cassio. I humbly thank you for 't.—[Exit Iago.] I never
knew
A Florentine more kind and honest.
Enter EMILIA. of the
of être
of the mo
Emilia. Good morrow, good lieutenant; I am sorry
For your displeasure, but all will sure be well.
The general and his wife are talking of it,
And she speaks for you stoutly: the Moor replies,
That he you hurt is of great fame in Cyprus
And great affinity, and that in wholesome wisdom
#
He might not but refuse you; but he protests he loves you,
And needs no other suitor but his likings
To take the saf'st occasion by the front
'To bring you in again.
Cassio.
Yet, I beseech you,
If you think fit, or that it may be done,
Give me advantage of some brief discourse
With Desdemona alone
Emilia.
Pray
I will bestow you where you shɔ
To speak your bosom freely.
40

50
Cassio.
I a
u to you.
[Exeunt.
SCENE II. A Room in the Castle.
Enter OTHELLO, IAGO, and Gentlemen.
Othello. These letters give, Iago, to the pilot,
And by him do my duties to the senate.
That done, I will be walking on the works;
Repair there to me.
Iago.
Well, my good lord, I'll do 't.
Othello. This fortification, gentlemen, shall we see 't?
Gentlemen. We'll wait upon your lordship.
[Exeunt

86
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
SCENE III. The Garden of the Castle.
Enter DESDEMONA, CASSIO, and EMILIA.
Desdemona. Be thou assur'd, good Cassio, I will do
All my abilities in thy behalf.
Emilia. Good madam, do; I warrant it grieves my hus-
band

As if the case were his.
Desdemona. O, that 's an honest fellow.-Do not doubt,
Cassio,
But I will have my lord and you again
As friendly as you were.
Cassio.
Bounteous madam,
Whatever shall become of Michael Cassio,
He's never any thing but your true servant.
Desdemona. I know 't; I thank you. You do love my
lord:
You have known him
He sha
man în a pc
well assur'd
no further off
'Ay, but, lady,
IC
F
Cassio.
That policy m
Or feed upon st
t so long,
and waterish diet,
Or breed itself sout of circumstance,
That, I being absent and my place supplied,
My general will forget my love and service.
Desdemona. Do not doubt that; before Emilia here
I give thee warrant of thy place. Assure thee,
If I do vow a friendship, I 'll perform it
To the last article: my lord shall never rest;
I'll watch him tame and talk him out of patience;
His bed shall seem a school, his board a shrift;
I'll intermingle every thing he does
With Cassio's suit. Therefore be merry, Cassio ;
20

ACT III. SCENE III.
87
For thy solicitor shall rather die
Than give thy cause away.
Emilia. Madam, here comes my lord.
Cassio. Madam, I 'll take my leave.
Desdemona. Why, stay, and hear me speak.
Cassio. Madam, not now; I am very ill at ease,
Unfit for mine own purposes.
Desdemona. Well, do your discretion.
Enter OTHELLO and IAGO.
Iago. Ha! I like not that.
30
[Exit Cassio.
What dost thou say?
Othello.
Iago. Nothing, my lord; or if I know not what.
Othello. Was not that Cassio parted from my wife?
Iago. Cassio, my lord! No, sure, I cannot think it
That he would steal away so guilty-like,
Seeing you coming.
Othello.
I do believe 't was he.
Desdemona. How now, my lord!
I have been talking with a suitor here,
A man that languishes in your displeasure.
Othello. Who is 't you mean?
40
Desdemona. Why, your lieutenant Cassio. Good my lord,
If I have any grace or power to move you,
His present reconciliation take;
For if he be not one that truly loves you,
That errs in ignorance and not in cunning,
I have no judgment in an honest face.
I prithee, call him back.
Othello.
Went he hence now?
Desdemona. Ay, sooth; so humbled
That he hath left part of his grief with me,
To suffer with him. Good love, call him back.
Othello. Not now, sweet Desdemona; some other time.
Desdemona. But shall 't be shortly?
50

88
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
Othello.
The sooner, sweet, for you.
No, not to-night.
Desdemona. Shall 't be to-night at supper?
Othello.
Desdemona. To-morrow dinner, then?
Othello.
I meet the captains at the citadel.
I shall not dine at home;
159
Desdemona. Why, then, to-morrow night, or Tuesday morn ;
On Tuesday noon, or night; on Wednesday morn :
I prithee name the time, but let it not
Exceed three days. In faith, he 's penitent;
And yet his trespass, in our common reason—
Save that, they say, the wars must make examples
Out of their best-is not almost a fault
To incur a private check. When shall he come?
Tell me, Othello; I wonder in my soul
What you would ask me that I should deny,
Or stand so mammering on. What! Michael Cassio,
That came a-wooing with you, and so many a time,
When I have spoke of you dispraisingly,
Hath ta'en your part,—to have so much to do
To bring him in! Trust me, I could do much—
Othello. Prithee, no more: let him come when he will;
I will deny thee nothing.
Desdemona.
Why, this is not a boon ;
'T is as I should entreat you wear your gloves,
Or feed on nourishing dishes, or keep you warm,
Or sue to you to do a peculiar profit
To your own person: nay, when I have a suit
Wherein I mean to touch your love indeed,
It shall be full of poise and difficult weight,
And fearful to be granted.
Othello.
I will deny thee nothing;
Whereon, I do beseech thee, grant me this,
To leave me but a little to myself.
Desdemona. Shall I deny you? no; farewell, my lord.
20
80
ACT III. SCENE III.
89
Othello. Farewell, my Desdemona; I 'll come to thee
straight.
Desdemona. Emilia, come.—Be as your fancies teach you;
Whate'er you be, I am obedient.
[Exeunt Desdemona and Emilia.
Othello. Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul
But I do love thee! and when I love thee not
go
Chaos is come again.
Iago. My noble lord,-
Othello.
What dost thou say, Iago?
Iago. Did Michael Cassio, when you woo'd my lady,
Know of your love?
Othello. He did, from first to last; why dost thou ask?
Iago. But for a satisfaction of my thought;
No further harm.
Othello.
Why of thy thought, Iago?
Iago. I did not think he had been acquainted with her.
Othello. O, yes; and went between us very oft.
Iago. Indeed!
100
Othello. Indeed! ay, indeed; discern'st thou aught in that!
Is he not honest?
Iago.
Honest, my lord!
Othello.
Honest! ay, honest.
Iago. My lord, for aught I know.
Think, my lord!
Think, my lord!
Othello. What dost thou think?
Iago.
Othello.
By heaven, he echoes me,
As if there were some monster in his thought
Too hideous to be shown.-Thou dost mean somet
I heard thee say even now, thou lik’dst not that,-
When Cassio left my wife: what didst not like?
And when I told thee he was of my counsel
In my whole course of wooing, thou crist Inde
And didst contract and purse thy browgeth

110
90
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
doubt
As if thou then hadst shut up in thy brain
Some horrible conceit. If thou dost love me,
Show me thy thought.
Iago. My lord, you know I love you.

Othello.
I think thou dost
(And, for I know thou 'rt full of love and honesty,
And weigh'st thy words before thou giv'st them breath,
Therefore these stops of thine fright me the more :
For such things in a false disloyal knave
Are tricks of custom, but in a man that 's just
They are close delations, working from the heart
That passion cannot rule.
Iago.
For Michael Cassio,
I dare be sworn I think that he is honest.
Othello. I think so too.
Iago.
120
Men should be what they seem;
Or those that be not, would they might seem none!
Othello. Certain, men should be what they seem.
Iago. Why, then, I think Cassio 's an honest man.
Othello. Nay, yet there 's more in this.
I prithee, speak to me as to thy thinkings,
As thou dost ruminate, and give thy worst of thoughts
The worst of words.
Iago.
Good, my lord, pardon me;
Though I am bound to every act of duty,
I am not bound to that all slaves are free to.
Utter my thoughts? Why, say they are vile and false,–
As where 's that palace whereinto foul things
Sometimes intrude not? who has a breast so pure,
But so
Keep
Wi
If thou
uncleanly apprehensions.
A stranger
TAK
and law-days, and in session sit
s lawful?
ost conspire against thy friend, Iago,
m wrong'd and mak'st his ear
ts.
130

140
ACT III. SCENE III.
i
I do beseech you--
Iago.
Though I perchance am vicious in my guess,
As, I confess, it is my nature's plague
To spy into abuses, and oft my jealousy
Shapes faults that are not-that your wisdom yet,
From one that so imperfectly conceitsmag
Would take no notice, nor build yourself a trouble
Out of his scattering and unsure observance.
It were not for your quiet nor your good,
Nor for my manhood, honesty, or wisdom,
To let you know my thoughts.
Othello.
What dost thou mean?
Iago. Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls.
91

150
Who steals my purse steals trash; 't is something, nothing;
'T was mine, 't is his, and has been slave to thousands ;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him
And makes me poor indeed.---
Othello. By heaven, I 'll know thy thoughts.
Iago. You cannot, if my heart were in your hand;
Nor shall not, whilst 't is in my custody.
Othello. Ha!
Iago.
O, beware, my lord, of jealousy!
It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on that cuckold lives in bliss
Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger;
But, O, what damned minutes tells he o'er
Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves!
Othello. O misery!
Iago. Poor and content is rich, and rich enough
But riches fineless is as poor as winter
To him that ever fears he shall be poor.
Good heaven, the souls of all my tribe defend
rom jealousy!
160



170
92
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
Othello.
Why, why is this?
Think'st thou I'd make a life of jealousy,
To follow still the changes of the moon
With fresh suspicions? No; to be once in doubt
Is once to be resolv'd: exchange me for a goat,
When I shall turn the business of my soul
To such exsufflicate and blown surmises,
Matching thy inference. 'T is not to make me jealous.
To say my wife is fair, feeds well, loves company,
Is free of speech, sings, plays, and dances well;
Where virtue is, these are more virtuous :
Nor from mine own weak merits will I draw
The smallest fear or doubt of her revolt ;
For she had eyes, and chose me. No, Iago!
I'll see before I doubt; when I doubt, prove:
And on the proof there is no more but this,--
Away at once with love or jealousy!
Iago. I am glad of it; for now I shall have reason
To show the love and duty that I bear you
With franker spirit; therefore, as I am bound,
Receive it from me. I speak not yet of proof.
Look to your wife; observe her well with Cassio;
Wear your eye thus, not jealous nor secure:
I would not have your free and noble nature
Out of self-bounty be abus'd; look to 't.
I know our country disposition well:
In Venice they do let heaven see the pranks
180
They dare not show their husbands; their best conscience
Is not to leave 't undone, but keep 't unknown.
Othello. Dost thou say so?
Jago. She did deceive her father, marrying you ;
And when she seem'd to shake and fear your looks,
She lov'd them most.
Othello.
Iago.
And so she did.
Why, go to, then ;
190
200
ACT III. SCENE III.
93
She that, so young, could give out such a seeming,
To seel her father's eyes up close as oak-
He thought 't was witchcraft—but I am much to blame ;
I humbly do beseech you of your pardon
For too much loving you.
Othello.
Iago. I see this hath a little dash'd your spirits.
Othello. Not a jot, not a jot.
I am bound to thee for ever.
Jago.
I' faith, I fear it has.
I hope you will consider what is spoke
Comes from my love. But I do see you 're mov'd:
I am to pray you not to strain my speech
To grosser issues nor to larger reach
Than to suspicion.
210
220
Othello. I will not.
Iago.
Should you do so, my lord,
My speech should fall into such vile success
As my thoughts aim not at.
My lord, I see you 're mov’d.
Othello.
Cassio 's my worthy friend-
No, not much mov'd;
I do not think but Desdemona 's honest.
Iago. Long live she so! and long live you to think so!
Othello. And yet, how nature erring from itself,-
Iago. Ay, there's the point; as—to be bold with you—
Not to affect many proposed matches
Of her own clime, complexion, and degree,
Whereto we see in all things nature tends—
Foh! one may smell in such a will most rank,
Foul disproportion, thoughts unnatural.—
But pardon me; I do not in position.
Distinctly speak of her, though I may fear
Her will, recoiling to her better judgment,
May fall to match you with her country forms
And happily repent.
Othello.
Farewell, farewell:
230
94
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
If more thou dost perceive, let me know more ;
Set on thy wife to observe: leave me, Iago.
Iago. [Going] My lord, I take my leave.
240
Othello. Why did I marry? This honest creature doubt-
less
Sees and knows more, much more, than he unfolds.
Iago. [Returning] My lord, I would I might entreat your
honour
To scan this thing no further; leave it to time.
Though it be fit that Cassio have his place,
For, sure, he fills it up with great ability,
Yet, if you please to hold him off awhile,
You shall by that perceive him and his means.
Note if your lady strain his entertainment
With any strong or vehement importunity;
Much will be seen in that. In the mean time,
Let me be thought too busy in my fears—
As worthy cause I have to fear I am-
And hold her free, I do beseech your honour.
Othello. Fear not my government.
Iago. I once more take my leave.
Othello. This fellow 's of exceeding honesty,
And knows all qualities, with a learned spirit,
Of human dealings. If I do prove her haggard,
Though that her jesses were my dear heart-strings,
I'd whistle her off and let her down the wind,
To prey at fortune. Haply, for I am black,
And have not those soft parts of conversation
That chamberers have, or for I am declin'd
Into the vale of years,-yet that 's not much—
She's gone.
I am abus'd; and my relief
Must be to loathe her. O curse of marriage,
That we can call these delicate creatures ours,
And not their appetites! I had rather be a toad,
And live upon the vapour of a dungeon,
250
[Exit.
260
270

ACT III. SCENE III.
95
Than keep a corner in the thing I love
For others' uses. Yet, 't is the plague of great ones ;
Prerogativ'd are they less than the base ;
'T is destiny unshunnable, like death :
Even then this forked plague is fated to us
When we do quicken.—Desdemona comes.
Enter DESDEMONA and EMILIA.
If she be false, O, then heaven mocks itself!
I'll not believe 't.
Desdemona.
How now, my dear Othello!
Your dinner, and the generous islanders
By you invited, do attend your presence.
Othello. I am to blame.
Desdemona.
Why do you speak so faintly?
Are you not well?
280
Othello. I have a pain upon my forehead here.
Desdemona. Faith, that's with watching; 't will away again:
Let me but bind it hard, within this hour
It will be well.
Othello.
Your napkin is too little ;
[He puts the handkerchief from him; and it drops.
Let it alone. Come, I'll go in with you.
Desdemona. I am very sorry that you are not well.
[Exeunt Othello and Desdemona.
Emilia. I am glad I have found this napkin.
This was her first remembrance from the Moor:
My wayward husband hath a hundred times
Woo'd me to steal it; but she so loves the token,
For he conjur'd her she should ever keep it,
That she reserves it evermore about her
To kiss and talk to. I'll have the work ta'en out,
And give 't Iago: what he will do with it
Heaven knows, not I ;
I nothing but to please his fantasy.
293

OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
Enter IAGO.
Iago. How now! what do you here alone?
Emilia. Do not you chide; I have a thing for you.
Iago. A thing for me? it is a common thing—
Emilia. Ha!
Iago. To have a foolish wife.
Emilia. O, is that all? What will you give me now
For that same handkerchief?
Iago.
Emilia. What handkerchief!
What handkerchief?
Why, that the Moor first gave to Desdemona ;
That which so often you did bid me steal.
Iago. Hast stolen it from her?
Emilia. No, faith; she let it drop by negligence,
And, to the advantage, I, being here, took 't up.
Look, here it is.
Iago.
A good wench; give it me.
300
310
Emilia. What will you do with 't, that you have been so
earnest
To have me filch it?
Iago. [Snatching it] Why, what 's that to you?
Emilia. If it be not for some purpose of import,
Give 't me again; poor lady, she 'll run mad
When she shall lack it.
Iago. Be not acknown on 't ; I have use for it.
Go, leave me.
319
[Exit Emilia.
I will in Cassio's lodging lose this napkin,
And let him find it. Trifles light as air
Are to the jealous confirmations strong
As proofs of holy writ; this may do something.
The Moor already changes with my poison;
Dangerous conceits are in their natures poisons,
Which at the first are scarce found to distaste,
But with a little act upon the blood


ACT III. SCENE III.
→
Burn like the mines of sulphur.-I did say so;
Look, where he comes
Enter OTHELLO.
Not poppy, nor mandragora,
330
Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world,
Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep
Which thou ow'dst yesterday.
Othello.
Ha ha! false to me?
Iago. Why, how now, general! no more of that.
Othello. Avaunt! be gone! thou hast set me on the rack.
I swear 't is better to be much abus’d
Than but to know 't a little.--
Iago.
How now, my lord!
Othello. What sense had I of her stolen hours of lust?
I saw 't not, thought it not, it harm'd not me:
I slept the next night well, was free and merry ;
I found not Cassio's kisses on her lips:
He that is robbed, not wanting what is stolen,
Let him not know 't, and he 's not robb'd at all.
Iago. I am sorry to hear this.
Othello. I had been happy, if the general camp,
Pioners and all, had tasted her sweet body,
So I had nothing known. O, now, for ever
Farewell the tranquil mind! farewell content!
Farewell the plumed troop, and the big wars,
That make ambition virtue! O, farewell!
Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump,
The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife,
The royal banner, and all quality,
Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!
And, O you mortal engines, whose rude throats
The immortal Jove's dread clamours counterfeit,
Farewell! Othello's occupation 's gone!
Iago. Is 't possible, my lord?
G
340
350

OTHELLO, THE MOOR CF VENICE.
Othello. Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore,
Be sure of it give me the ocular proof;
Or, by the worth of man's eternal soul,
Thou hadst been better have been born a dog
Than answer my wak'd wrath!
Iago.
Is 't come to this?
Othello. Make me to see 't; or, at the least, so prove it,
That the probation bear no hinge nor loop
To hang a doubt on; or woe upon thy life!
Iago. My noble lord,—
Othello. If thou dost slander her and torture me,
Never pray more; abandon all remorse ;
On horror's head horrors accumulate ;
Do deeds to make heaven weep, all earth amaz'd:
For nothing canst thou to damnation add
Greater than that.
Iago.
O grace! O heaven forgive me!
Are you a man? have you a soul or sense?
God be wi' you; take mine office. O wretched fool,
That liv'st to make thine honesty a vice!
O monstrous world! Take note, take note, O world,
To be direct and honest is not safe.
I thank you for this profit; and from hence
I'll love no friend, sith love breeds such offence.
Othello. Nay, stay; thou shouldst be honest.
Iago. I should be wise, for honesty 's a fool,
And loses that it works for.
Othello.
By the world,
I think my wife be honest, and think she is not;
I think that thou art just, and think thou art not.
I'll have some proof. Her name, that was as fresh
As Dian's visage, is now begrim'd and black
As mine own face. If there be cords, or knives,
Poison, or fire, or suffocating streams,
I'll not endure it. Would I were satisfied!
360
370
380

390


ACT III. SCENE III.
99
Iago. I see, sir, you are eaten up with passion ;
I do repent me that I put it to you.
You would be satisfied?
Othello.
Would! nay, I will.
Iago. And may but, how? how satisfied, my
If imputation and strong circumstances,
Which lead directly to the door of truth,
Will give you satisfaction, you may have 't.
Othello. Give me a living reason she 's disloyal.
Iago. I do not like the office;
But, sith I am enter'd in this cause so far,
Prick'd to 't by foolish honesty and love,
I will go on. I lay with Cassio lately;
And, being troubled with a raging tooth,
I could not sleep.
There are a kind of men so loose of soul,
That in their sleeps will mutter their affairs;
One of this kind is Cassio.
In sleep I heard him say 'Sweet Desdemona,
Let us be wary, let us hide our loves;'
And then, sir, would he gripe and wring my hand,
Cry 'O sweet creature!' and then kiss me hard,
As if he pluck'd up kisses by the roots
That grew upon my lips; and sigh'd, and then
Cried 'Cursed fate that gave thee to the Moor!'
Othello. O monstrous! monstrous!
40C
410
Iago.
Nay, this was but his dream.
Othello. But this denoted a foregone conclusion;
'T is a shrewd doubt, though it be but a dream.
Iago. And this may help to thicken other proofs
That do demonstrate thinly.
Othello.
I 'll tear her all to pieces!
Iago. Nay, but be wise: yet we see nothing done;
She may be honest yet. Tell me but this,
Have you not sometimes seen a handkerchief
Spotted with strawberries in your wife's hand?
420

OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
၁ဝ
Othello. I gave her such a one; 't was my first gift.
I know not that; but such a handkerchief—
it was your wife's—did I to-day
pe his beard with.
If it be that,—
f it be that, or any that was hers,
s against her with the other proofs.
llo. O, that the slave had forty thousand lives!
is too poor, too weak for my revenge.
Now do I see 't is true.
Look here, Iago;
All my fond love thus do I blow to heaven.
'T is gone.
Arise, black vengeance, from the hollow heil!
Yield up, O love, thy crown and hearted throne
To tyrannous hate! Swell, bosom, with thy fraught,
For 't is of aspics' tongues!
Iago.
Yet be content.
Othello. O, blood, blood, blood!
Iago. Patience, I say; your mind perhaps may change.
Othello. Never, Iago. Like to the Pontic sea,
Whose icy current and compulsive course
Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on
To the Propontic and the Hellespont,
Even so my bloody thoughts, with violent pace,
Shall ne'er look back, ne'er ebb to humble love,
Till that a capable and wide revenge
430
439
Swallow them up. Now, by yond marble heaven, Kneels.
In the due reverence of a sacred vow
I here engage my words.
Do not rise yet.~
[Kneels.
451
Iago.
Witness, you ever-burning lights above,
You elements that clip us round about,
Witness that here Iago doth give up
The execution of his wit, hands, heart,
To wrong'd Othello's service! Let him command,

ACT III. SCENE IV.
ΙΩ
And to obey shall be in me remorse,
What bloody business ever.
Othello.
I greet thy love,
[They rise.
Not with vain thanks, but with acceptance bounteous,
And will upon the instant put thee to 't;
Within these three days let me hear thee say
That Cassio 's not alive.
Iago. My friend is dead; 't is done at your request:
But let her live.
Othello.
Damn her, lewd minx! O, damn her!
Come, go with me apart; I will withdraw,
To furnish me with some swift means of death
For the fair devil. Now art thou my lieutenant.
Iago. I am your own for ever.
SCENE IV. Before the Castle.
Enter DESDEMONA, EMILIA, and Clown.
461
[Exeunt.
Desdemona. Do you know, sirrah, where Lieutenant Cas
sio lies?
Clown. I dare not say he lies any where.
Desdemona. Why, man?
Clown. He's a soldier, and for one to say a soldier lies, is
stabbing.
Desdemona. Go to; where lodges he?
Clown. To tell you where he lodges, is to tell you where
I lie.
Desdemona. Can any thing be made of this?
10
Clown. I know not where he lodges; and for me to devise
a lodging, and say he lies here or he lies there, were to lie in
mine own throat.
Desdemona. Can you inquire him out, and be edified by
report?
Clown. I will catechise the world for him; that is, make
questions, and by them answer.

02
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
Desdemona. Seek him, bid him come hither; tell him I
have moved my lord on his behalf, and hope all will be well.
Clown. To do this is within the compass of man's wit,
and therefore I will attempt the doing.
[Exit.
Desdemona. Where should I lose that handkerchief,
Emilia?
Emilia. I know not, madam.
Desdemona. Believe me, I had rather have lost my purse
Full of crusadoes; and, but my noble Moor
Is true of mind and made of no such baseness
As jealous creatures are, it were enough
To put him to ill thinking.
Emilia.
Is he not jealous?
22

Desdemona. Who, he? I think the sun where he was born
Drew all such humours from him.
Emilia.
Look, where he comes.
31
Desdemona. I will not leave him now till Cassio
Be call'd to him.
Enter OTHEllo.
How is 't with you, my lord?
Othello. Well, my good lady.—[Aside] O, hardness to
dissemble !-
How do you, Desdemona?
Desdemona.
Well, my good lord.
Othello. Give me your hand. This hand is moist, my lady.
Desdemona. It yet hath felt no age nor known no sorrow.
Othello. This argues fruitfulness and liberal heart.
Hot, hot, and moist: this hand of yours requires
A sequester from liberty, fasting and prayer,
Much castigation, exercise devout;
For here's a young and sweating devil here,
That commonly rebels. 'T is a good hand,
A frank one.
Desdemona. You may, indeed, say so;
For 't was that hand that gave away my heart.
40

ACT III. SCENE IV
103
Othello. A liberal hand: the hearts of old gave hands;
But our new heraldry is hands, not hearts.
Desdemona. I cannot speak of this.
promise.
Othello. What promise, chuck?
Come now, your
Desdemona. I have sent to bid Cassio come speak with
you.
Othello. I have a salt and sorry rheum offends me;
Lend me thy handkerchief.
Desdemona.
Othello. That which I gave you.
50
Here, my lord.
Desdemona.
I have it not about me.
Othello. Not?
Desdemona.
No, indeed, my lord.
Othello.
That is a fault.
That handkerchief
Did an Egyptian to my mother give;
She was a charmer, and could almost read
The thoughts of people : she told her, while she kept it,
'T would make her amiable and subdue my father
Entirely to her love, but if she lost it
Or made a gift of it, my father's eye
60
Should hold her loathed and his spirits should hunt
After new fancies. She dying gave it me ;
And bid me, when my fate would have me wive,
To give it her. I did so and take heed on 't
Make it a darling like your precious eye :
To lose 't or give 't away were such perdition
As nothing else could match.
Desdemona.
Is 't possible?
Othello. 'T is true; there's magic in the web of it.
A sibyl, that had number'd in the world
The sun to course two hundred compasses,
70
In her prophetic fury sew'd the work;
The worms were hallow'd that did breed the silk;

104
OTHÈLLO, THE Moor of venice.
And it was dyed in mummy which the skilful
Conserv'd of maidens' hearts.
Desdemona.
Indeed! is 't true?
Othello. Most veritable; therefore look to 't well.
Desdemona. Then would to God that I had never seen 't!
Othello. Ha! wherefore?
Desdemona. Why do you speak so startingly and rash?
Othello. Is 't lost? is 't gone? speak, is it out o' the way?
Desdemona. Heaven bless us !
Othello. Say you?
Desdemona. It is not lost; but what an if it were?
Othello. How !
Desdemona. I say, it is not lost.
Othello.
Fetch 't, let me see 't.
Desdemona. Why, so I can, sir, but I will not now.
This is a trick to put me from my suit;
Pray you, let Cassio be receiv'd again.
Othello. Fetch me the handkerchief; my mind misgives.
Desdemona. Come, come ;
You'll never meet a more sufficient man.
Othello. The handkerchief!
Desdemona.
Othello. The handkerchief!
Desdemona.
I pray, talk me of Cassio.
A man that all his time
Hath founded his good fortunes on your love,
Shar'd dangers with you,—
Othello. The handkerchief!
Desdemona. In sooth, you are to blame.
Othello. Away!
80
90
[Exit.
Emilia. Is not this man jealous?
{
Desdemona. I ne'er saw this before.
Sure, there's some wonder in this handkerchief;
I am most unhappy in the loss of it.
Emilia. "T is not a year or two shows us a man:
They are all but stomachs, and we all but food ;
100

ACT III. SCENE IV.
They eat us hungerly, and when they are full
They belch us.
Look you, Cassio and my husband!
Enter CASSIO and IAGO.
Iago. There is no other way; 't is she must do 't :
And, lo, the happiness! go, and importune her.
Desdemona. How now, good Cassio! what's the news
with you?
Cassio. Madam, my former suit: I do beseech you
That by your virtuous means I may again
Exist, and be a member of his love
Whom I with all the office of my heart
Entirely honour; I would not be delay'd.
If my offence be of such mortal kind
That nor my service past nor present sorrows
Nor purpos'd merit in futurity
Can ransom me into his love again,
But to know so must be my benefit,
So shall I clothe me in a forc'd content,
And shut myself up in some other course
To fortune's alms.
Desdemona.
Alas, thrice-gentle Cassio!
My advocation is not now in tune ;
My lord is not my lord, nor should I know him,
Were he in favour as in humour alter'd.
So help me every spirit sanctified,
As I have spoken for you all my best
And stood within the blank of his displeasure
For my free speech! You must awhile be patient :
What I can do I will; and more I will
Than for myself I dare: let that suffice you.
Iago. Is my lord angry?
Emilia.
He went hence but now,
And certainly in strange unquietness.
Iago. Can he be angry? I have seen the cannon,
110
120
130

OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
When it hath blown his ranks into the air,
And, like the devil, from his very arm
Puff'd his own brother;-and can he be angry?
Something of moment then: I will go meet him;
There 's matter in 't indeed, if he be angry.
Desdemona. I prithee, do so.—
[Exit Iago.
Something, sure, of state,
Either from Venice or some unhatch'd practice
Made demonstrable here in Cyprus to him,
Hath puddled his clear spirit; and in such cases
Men's natures wrangle with inferior things,
Though great ones are their object. 'T is even so;
For let our finger ache, and it indues
Our other healthful members even to that sense
Of pain: nay, we must think men are not gods,
Nor of them look for such observancy
As fits the bridal. Beshrew me much, Emilia,
I was, unhandsome warrior as I am,
Arraigning his unkindness with my soul;
But now I find I had suborn'd the witness,
And he 's indicted falsely.
Emilia. Pray heaven it be state matters, as you think,
And no conception nor no jealous toy
Concerning you.
Desdemona. Alas the day! I never gave him cause.
Emilia. But jealous souls will not be answer'd so;
They are not ever jealous for the cause,
But jealous for they are jealous: 't is a monster
Begot upon itself, born on itself.
140
150
160
Desdemona. Heaven keep that monster from Othello's
mind!
Emilia. Lady, amen.
Desdemona. I will go seek him.--Cassio, walk hereabout;
If I do find him fit, I'll move your suit
And seek to effect it to my uttermost.
ACT III. SCENE IV.
107
Cassio. I humbly thank your ladyship.
[Exeunt Desdemona and Emilia.
Enter BIANCA.
Bianca. Save you, friend Cassio!
Cassio.
How is it with you, my most fair Bianca?
I' faith, sweet love, I was coming to your house.
What make you from home?
Bianca. And I was going to your lodging, Cassio.
What, keep a week away?, seven days and nights?
Eight score eight hours? (and lovers' absent hours,
More tedious than the dial eight score times?
O weary reckoning!
Cassio.
Pardon me, Bianca;
I have this while with leaden thoughts been press'd,
But I shall in a more continuate time
Strike off this score of absence.
Take me this work out.
Bianca.
Sweet Bianca,
170
[Giving her Desdemona's handkerchief.
O Cassio, whence came this?
This is some token from a newer friend;
To the felt absence now I feel a cause.
Is 't come to this? Well, well.
Cassio.
Throw your vile guesses in the
From whence you have them.
Go to, woman !
devil's teeth,
You are jealous now
Why, whose is it?
That this is from some mistress, some remembrance:
No, in good troth, Bianca.
Bianca.
Cassio. I know not, sweet; I found it in my chamber.
I like the work well; ere it be demanded-
As like enough it will-I 'd have it copied :
Take it, and do 't; and leave me for this time.
Bianca. Leave you! wherefore?
Cassio. I do attend here on the general;
180
190
108
OTHELLO, THE MOOR of venice.
And think it no addition, nor my wish,
To have him see me woman'd.
Bianca.
Cassio. Not that I love you not.
Bianca.
Why, I pray you?
But that you do not love me,
I pray you, bring me on the way a little,
And say if I shall see you soon at night.
Cassio. 'T is but a little way that I can bring you,
For I attend here; but I 'll see you soon.
Bianca. 'T is very good; I must be circumstanc'd.
200
[Exeunt.

"a noble ship of Venice" (ii. 1. 22).

THE CITADEL AT FAMAGUSTA,
ACT IV.
SCENE I. Cyprus. Before the Castle.
Enter OTHELLO and IAGO.
Jago. Will you think so?
Othello.
Think so, Iago!
Iago.
What,
To kiss in private?
Othello.
An unauthoriz'd kiss.
It is hypocrisy against the devil;
They that mean virtuously and yet do so,
The devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heaven.
Iago. So they do nothing, 't is a venial slip;
But if I give my wife a handkerchief,-
Othello. What then?
Iago. Why, then, 't is hers, my lord; and, being hers,
She may, I think, bestow 't on any man.
Othello. She is protectress of her honour too;
May she give that?
10
IIO
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
Iago. Her honour is an essence that 's not seen;
They have it very oft that have it not :
But, for the handkerchief,-
Othello. By heaven, I would most gladly have forgot it.
Thou said'st-O, it comes o'er my memory,
As doth the raven o'er the infected house,
Boding to all-he had my handkerchief.
Iago. Ay, what of that?
Othello.
Iago.
That's not so good now.
If I had said I had seen him do you wrong?
Or heard him say,—as knaves be such abroad,
Who having, by their own importunate suit,
Or voluntary dotage of some mistress,
Convinced or supplied them, cannot choose
But they must blab—
Othello.
Hath he said any thing?
Iago. He hath, my lord; but be you well assur'd,
No more than he 'll unswear.
What hath he said?
Othello.
Iago. Faith, that he did-I know not what he did.
What,
21
29
Othello. What? what? Handkerchief — confessions
handkerchief!-To confess, and be hanged for his labour;
—first, to be hanged, and then to confess.—I tremble at it.
Nature would not invest herself in such shadowing passior
without some instruction. It is not words that shake me
thus. Pish! Noses, ears, and lips.-Is 't possible?-Con-
fess-handkerchief!-O devil!
[Falls in a trance.
Iago. Work on,
My medicine, work! Thus credulous fools are caught:
And many worthy and chaste dames even thus,
All guiltless, mee. Teproach.—What, ho! my lord!
My lord, I say! Othello!
40

ACT IV. SCENE I.
III
Enter CASSIO.
How now, Cassio!
Cassio. What 's the matter?
Iago. My lord is fallen into an epilepsy:
This is his second fit; he had one yesterday.
Cassio. Rub him about the temples.
Iago.
No, forbear;
The lethargy must have his quiet course:
If not, he foams at mouth, and by and by
Breaks out to savage madness. Look, he stirs :
Do you withdraw yourself a little while,
He will recover straight; when he is gone,
I would on great occasion speak with you.
How is it, general? have you not hurt your head?
Othello. Dost thou mock me?
Iago.
Would you would bear
would bear your fortune like a man!
50
[Exit Cassio.
I mock you! no, by heaven.
Othello. A horned man 's a monster and a beast.
Iago. There's many a beast then in a populous city,
And many a civil monster.
Othello. Did he confess it?
Iago.
Good sir, be a man ;
Think every bearded fellow that 's but yok'd
May draw with you. There's millions now alive
That nightly lie in those unproper beds
Which they dare swear peculiar; your case is better.
'O, 't is the spite of hell, the fiend's arch-mock,
To lip a wanton in a secure couch,
And to suppose her chaste! No, let me know;
And knowing what I am, I know what s' shall be.
Othello. O, thou art wise; 't is certain.
Iago.
Confine yourself but in a patient list.
Stend you awhile apart
Whilst you were here o'erwhelmed with your grief—
60

I 12
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
A passion most unsuiting such a man-
Cassio came hither: I shifted him away,
And laid good 'scuse upon your ecstasy,
1 Bade him anon return and here speak with me;
The which he promis'd. Do but encave yourself,
And mark the fleers, the gibes, and notable scorns,
That dwell in every region of his face;
For I will make him tell the tale anew,
Where, how, how oft, how long ago, and when
He hath, and is again to cope your wife :
I say, but mark his gesture. Marry, patience;
Or I shall say you are all in all in spleen,
And nothing of a man.
Othello.
Dost thou hear, Iago?
I will be found most cunning in my patience;
But-dost thou hear?-most bloody.
Iago.
That's not amiss;
But yet keep time in all. Will you withdraw?
Now will I question Cassio of Bianca,
A housewife that by selling her desires
70
8c
[Othello retires.
Buys herself bread and clothes: it is a creature
That dotes on Cassio; as 't is the strumpet's plague
To beguile many and be beguil'd by one.
He, when he hears of her, cannot refrain
From the excess of laughter.-Here he comes.—
Re-enter Cassio.
As he shall smile, Othello shall go mad;
And his unbookish jealousy must construe
Poor Cassio's smiles, gestures, and light behaviour,
Quite in the wrong.-How do you now, lieutenant?
Cassio. The worser that you give me the addition
Whose want even kills me.
Iago. Ply Desdemona well, and you are sure on 't.
Oc

ACT IV. SCENE Į.
113
Now, if this suit lay in Bianca's power,
How quickly should you speed!
Cassio.
Alas, poor caitiff!
Othello. Look, how he laughs already!
Iago. I never knew woman love man so.
100
Cassio. Alas, poor rogue! I think, i' faith, she loves me.
Othello. Now he denies it faintly, and laughs it out.
Iago. Do you hear, Cassio?
Othello.
Now he importunes him
To tell it o'er: go to; well said, well said.
Iago. She gives it out that you shall marry her;
Do you intend it?
Cassio. Ha, ha, ha!
Othello. Do you triumph, Roman? do you triumph?
IIO
Cassio. I marry her! what? a customer! Prithee, bear
some charity to my wit; do not think it so unwholesome.
Ha, ha, ha!
Othello. So, so, so, so ; they laugh that win.
Iago. Faith, the cry goes that you shall marry her.
Cassio. Prithee, say true.
Iago. I am a very villain else.
Othello. Have you scored me?
Well.
119
Cassio. This is the monkey's own giving-out; she is per-
suaded I will marry her, out of her own love and flattery, not
out of my promise.
Othello. Iago beckons me; now he begins the story.
Cassio. She was here even now; she haunts me in every
place. I was the other day talking on the sea-bank with
certain Venetians; and thither comes the bauble, and, by this
hand, she falls me thus about my neck-
Othello. Crying 'O dear Cassio!' as it were; his gesture
imports it.

129
Cassio. So hangs, and lolls, and weeps upon me; so hales
and pulls me: ha, ha, ha!
Othello. Now he tells how she plucked him to my cham-
H
114
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
ber.-O, I see that nose of yours, but not that dog I shall
throw it to.
Cassio. Well, I must leave her company.
Iago. Before me! look, where she comes.
Cassio. 'T is such another fitchew! marry, a perfumed one.
Enter BIANCA.
What do you mean by this haunting of me?
138
Bianca. Let the devil and his dam haunt you! What did
you mean by that same handkerchief you gave me even now?
I was a fine fool to take it. I must take out the work?—A
likely piece of work, that you should find it in your chamber,
and not know who left it there! This is some minx's token,
and I must take out the work? There, give it your hobby-
horse; wheresoever you had it, I 'll take out no work on 't.
Cassio. How now, my sweet Bianca! how now! how now!
Othello. By heaven, that should be my handkerchief!
Bianca. An you 'll come to supper to-night, you may; an
you will not, come when you are next prepared for.
Tago. After her, after her.
Cassio. Faith, I must; she 'll rail in the street else.
Iago. Will you sup there?
Cassio. Faith, I intend so.
[Exit.
150
Iago. Well, I may chance to see you; for I would very
fain speak with you.
Cassio. Prithee, come; will you?
Iago. Go to; say no more.
[Exit Cassio.
Othello. [Advancing] How shall I murther him, Iago?
Iago. Did you perceive how he laughed at his vice?
Othello. O Iago!
Iago. And did you see the handkerchief?
Othello. Was that mine?
>
160

Iago. Yours, by this hand; and to see how he prizes the
foolish woman your wife! she gave it him, and he hath given
it his whore.
ACT IV SCENE I.
115
Othello. I would have him nine years a-killing.—A fine
woman! a fair woman! a sweet woman!
Iago. Nay, you must forget that.
168
Othello. Ay, let her rot, and perish, and be damned to-
night; for she shall not live: no, my heart is turned to
stone; I strike it, and it hurts my hand.—O, the world hath
not a sweeter creature; she might lie by an emperor's side
and command him tasks.
Iago. Nay, that 's not your way.
Othello. Hang her! I do but say what she is; so delicate
with her needle! an admirable musician! O! she will sing
the savageness out of a bear! of so high and plenteous wit
and invention !—
Iago. She's the worse for all this.
179
Othello. O, a thousand thousand times;-and then, of so
gentle a condition!
Iago. Ay, too gentle.
Othello. Nay, that 's certain ;-but yet the pity of it, Iago!
O Iago, the pity of it, Iago!
Iago. If you are so fond over her iniquity, give her patent
to offend; for, if it touch not you, it comes near nobody.
Othello. I will chop her into messes! cuckold me!
Iago. O, 't is foul in her.
Othello. With mine officer !
Iago. That 's fouler.
$190
Othello. Get me some poison, Iago; this night :-I'll not
expostulate with her, lest her body and beauty unprovide my
mind again :—this night, Iago.
Iago. Do it not with poison; strangle her in her bed, even
the bed she hath contaminated.
Othello. Good, good! the justice of it pleases; very good!
Iago. And for Cassio, let me be his undertaker; you shall
hear more by midnight.
Othello. Excellent good!-[A trumpet within.] What trum-
pet is that same.

200
116
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
Tago. Something from Venice, sure. "T is Lodovico
Come from the duke; and, see, your wife is with him.
Enter LODOVICO, DESDEMONA, and Attendants.
Lodovico. Save you, worthy general!
Othello.
Lodovico. The duke and senators of Venice greet you.
With all my heart, sir.
[Gives him a letter.
Othello. I kiss the instrument of their pleasures.
[Opens the letter, and reads.
Desdemona. And what 's the news, good cousin Lodovico?
Iago. I am very glad to see you, signior;
Welcome to Cyprus.
Lodovico. I thank you. How does Lieutenant Cassio?
Iago. Lives, sir.
210
Desdemona. Cousin, there 's fallen between him and my
lord
An unkind breach; but you shall make all well.
Othello. Are you sure of that?
Desdemona. My lord?
Othello. [Reads] 'This fail you not to do, as you will—'
Lodovico. He did not call; he 's busy in the paper.
Is there division 'twixt my lord and Cassio?
Desdemona. A most unhappy one; I would do much
To atone them, for the love I bear to Cassio.
219
Othello. Fire and brimstone!
Desdemona.
Othello.
My lord?
Are you wise?
A
Desdemona. What, is he angry?
Lodovico.
May be the letter mov'd him ;
For, as I think, they do command him home,
Deputing Cassio in his government.
Desdemona. Trust me, I am glad on 't.
Othello.

Desdemona.
Indeed!
My lord?
ACT IV. SCENE I.
117
Othello. I am glad to see you mad.
Desdemona.
Othello. [Striking her] Devil!
Why, sweet Othello,-
Desdemona. I have not deserv'd this.
Lodovico. My lord, this would not be believ'd in Venice,
Though I should swear I saw 't; 't is
saw 't; 't is very much :
Make her amends; she weeps.
Othello.
O devil, devil!
If that the earth could teem with woman's tears,
Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile.
Out of my sight!
Desdemona.
I will not stay to offend you.
Lodovico. Truly, an obedient lady ;
I do beseech your lordship, call her back.
Othello. Mistress!
230
[Going.
Desdemona.
Othello.
My lord?
What would you with her, sir?
Lodovico. Who, I, my lord?
Othello. Ay; you did wish that I would make her turn.
Sir, she can turn and turn, and yet go on,
And turn again; and she can weep, sir, weep;
And she 's obedient, as you say, obedient,
Very obedient.—Proceed you in your tears.—
Concerning this, sir,-O well-painted passion!—
I am commanded home.-Get you away;
I'll send for you anon.-Sir, I obey the mandate,
And will return to Venice.-Hence, avaunt!—
240
[Exit Desdemona.
Cassio shall have my place. And, sir, to-night,
I do entreat that we may sup together;
You are welcome, sir, to Cyprus.-Goats and monkeys!
249
[Exit.
Lodovico. Is this the noble Moor whom our full senate
Call all in all sufficient? Is this the nature
Whom passion could not shake? whose solid virtue
118
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
The shot of accident nor dart of chance
Could neither graze nor pierce ?
Iago.
He is much chang'd.
Lodovico. Are his wits safe? is he not light of brain?
Iago. He's that he is; I may not breathe my censure.
What he might be-if what he might he is not-
I would to heaven he were !
Lodovico.
What, strike his wife!
Iago. Faith, that was not so well; yet would I knew
That stroke would prove the worst!
Lodovico.
Is it his use?
260
Or did the letters work upon his blood,
And new-create this fault?
Iago.
Alas, alas!
It is not honesty in me to speak
What I have seen and known. You shall observe him,
And his own courses will denote him so
That I may save my speech; do but go after,
And mark how he continues.
Lodovico. I am sorry that I am deceiv'd in him. [Exeunt.
SCENE II. A Room in the Castle.
Enter OTHELLO and EMILIA.
Othello. You have seen nothing then?
Emilia. Nor ever heard, nor ever did suspect.
Othello. Yes, you have seen Cassio and she together.
Emilia. But then I saw no harm, and then I heard
Each syllable that breath made up between them.
Othello. What, did they never whisper?
Emilia.
Othello. Nor send you out o' the way?
Emilia. Never.
Never, my lord.
Othello. To fetch her fan, her gloves, her mask, nor noth
ing?
ACT IV. SCENE II.
119
G
Emilia. Never, my lord.
Othello. That 's strange.
Emilia. I durst, my lord, to wager she is honest,
Lay down my soul at stake: if you think other,
Remove your thought; it doth abuse your bosom.
If any wretch have put this in your head,
Let heaven requite it with the serpent's curse!
For, if she be not honest, chaste, and true,
There's no man happy; the purest of their wives
Is foul as slander.
Othello.
10
20
Bid her come hither; go. [Exit Emilia.
She says enough; yet she's a simple bawd
That cannot say as much. This is a subtle whore,
A closet lock and key of villanous secrets:
And yet she 'll kneel and pray; I have seen her do 't.
Enter DESDEMONA with EMILIA.
Desdemona. My lord, what is your will?
Othello.
Pray, chuck, come nither
Let me see your eyes;
Desdemona. What is your pleasure?
Othello.
Look in my face.
Desdemona.
What horrible fancy 's this?
Othello. [To Emilia] Some of your function, mistress;
shut the door;
Cough, or cry hem, if any body come.
Your mystery, your mystery; nay, dispatch. [Exit Emilia.
Desdemona. Upon my knees, what doth your speecn im-
port?
'I understand a fury in your words,
But not the words.
Othello. Why, what art thou?
Desdemona.
And loyal wife.
Othello.
30
Your wife, my lord; your true
Come, swear it, damn thyself;
120
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
Lest, being like one of heaven, the devils themselves
Should fear to seize thee: therefore be double damn'd;
Swear thou art honest.
Desdemona.
Heaven doth truly know it.
Othello. Heaven truly knows that thou art false as hell.
Desdemona. To whom, my lord? with whom? how am I
false?
Othello. O Desdemona! away! away! away!
Desdemona. Alas the heavy day! Why do you weep?
Am I the motive of these tears, my lord?
If haply you my father do suspect
An instrument of this your calling back,
Lay not your blame on me; if you have lost him,
Why, I have lost him too.
Othello.
Had it pleas'd heaven
To try me with affliction, had they rain'd
All kinds of sores and shames on my bare head,
Steep'd me in poverty to the very lips,
Given to captivity me and my utmost hopes,
I should have found in some place of my soul
A drop of patience; but, alas, to make me
A fixed figure for the time of scorn
To point his slow unmoving finger at!
Yet could I bear that too; well, very well:
But there, where I have garner'd up my heart,
Where either I must live or bear no life,
The fountain from the which my current runs
Or else dries up,—to be discarded thence!
Or keep it as a cistern for foul toads
To knot and gender in !-Turn thy complexion there,
Patience, thou young and rose-lipp'd cherubin,-
Ay, there, look grim as hell!
Desdemona. I hope my noble lord esteems me honest.
Othello. O, ay; as summer flies are in the shambles,
That quicken even with blowing. O thou weed,
40
50
60
ACT IV. SCENE II.
121
Who art so lovely fair and smell'st so sweet
That the sense aches at thee, would thou hadst ne'er been
born!
}
Desdemona. Alas, what ignorant sin have I committed?
Othello. Was this fair paper, this most goodly book,
Made to write whore upon? What committed!
Committed! O thou public commoner!
I should make very forges of my cheeks,
That would to cinders burn up modesty,
Did I but speak thy deeds. What committed!
Heaven stops the nose at it and the moon winks;
The bawdy wind that kisses all it meets
Is hush'd within the hollow mine of earth,
And will not hear it.
Impudent strumpet!
Desdemona.
What committed!
By heaven, you do me wrong.
Othello. Are not you a strumpet?
Desdemona.
If to preserve this vessel for my lord
From any other foul unlawful touch
Be not to be a strumpet, I am none.
Othello. What, not a whore?
Desdemona.
Othello. Is 't possible?
7c
80
No, as I am a Christian;
No, as I shall be sav'd.
Desdemona. O, heaven forgive us!
Othello.
I cry you mercy, then;
I took you for that cunning whore of Venice.
That married with Othello.-You, mistress,
That have the office opposite to Saint Peter,
And keep the gate of hell!
90
Enter EMILIA.
You, you, ay, you!
We have done our course; there's money for your pains.
I pray you, turn the key and keep our counsel.
[Exit.
I22
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
Emilia. Alas, what does this gentleman conceive?
How do you, madam? how do you, my good lady?
Desdemona. Faith, half asleep.
Emilia. Good madam, what's the matter with my lord?
Desdemona. With who?
Emilia. Why, with my lord, madam.
Desdemona. Who is thy lord?·
Emilia.
99
He that is yours, sweet lady.
Desdemona. I have none: do not talk to me, Emilia;
I cannot weep, nor answer have I none,
But what should go by water. Prithee, to-night
Lay on my bed my wedding sheets: remember;
And call thy husband hither.
Emilia.
Here's a change indeed! [Exit.
Desdemona. 'Ỷ is meet I should be us'd so, very meet.
How have I been behav'd, that he might stick
The small'st opinion on my least misuse?
Re-enter EMILIA with IAGO.
Iago. What is your pleasure, madam? How is 't with you?
Desdemona. I cannot tell. Those that do teach young
babes
Do it with gentle means and easy tasks:
He might have chid me so; for, in good faith,
I am a child to chiding.
Iago.
What's the matter, lady?
Emilia. Alas, Iago, my lord hath so bewhor'd her,
Thrown such despite and heavy terms upon her,
As true hearts cannot bear.
110
What name, fair lady?
Desdemona. Am I that name, Iago?
Iago.
Desdemona. Such as she says my lord did say I was.
Emilia. He call'd her whore; a beggar in his drink
Could not have laid such terms upon his callat.
Iago. Why did he so?
120
ACT IV. SCENE II.
123
Desdemona. I do not know; I am sure I am none such.
Iago. Do not weep, do not weep. Alas the day!
Emilia. Hath she forsook so many noble matches,
Her father and her country and her friends,
To be call'd whore? would it not make one weep?
Desdemona. It is my wretched fortune.
Iago.
How comes this trick upon him?
Desdemona.
Beshrew him for 't!
Nay, heaven doth know.
Emilia. I will be hang'd, if some eternal villain,
Some busy and insinuating rogue,
13C
Some cogging, cozening slave, to get some office,
Have not devis'd this slander; I'll be hang'd else.
Iago. Fie, there is no such man; it is impossible.
Desdemona. If any such there be, heaven pardon him!
Emilia. A halter pardon him! and hell gnaw his bones!
Why should he call her whore? who keeps her company?
What place? what time? what form? what likelihood?
The Moor's abus'd by some most villanous knave,
Some base notorious knave, some scurvy fellow.
O heaven, that such companions thou 'dst unfold,
And put in every honest hand a whip
To lash the rascals naked through the world
Even from the east to the west!
Iago.
Speak within door.
Emilia. O, fie upon them! Some such squire he was
That turn'd your wit the seamy side without,
And made you to suspect me with the Moor.
Iago. You are a fool; go to.
Desdemona.
O good Iago,
What shall I do to win my lord again?
: Good friend, go to him; for, by this light of heaven,
I know not how I lost him. Here I kneel:
If e'er my will did trespass 'gainst his love,
Either in discourse of thought or actual deed,
140
150
124
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
i
Or that mine eyes, mine ears, or any sense,
Delighted them in any other form,
Or that I do not yet, and ever did,
And ever will-though he do shake me off
To beggarly divorcement-love him dearly,
Comfort forswear me ! Unkindness may do much.;
And his unkindness may defeat my life,
But never taint my love. I cannot say whore:
It doth abhor me now I speak the word;
To do the act that might the addition earn
Not the world's mass of vanity could make me.
Iago. I pray you, be content; 't is but his humour:
The business of the state does him offence,
And he does chide with you.
Desdemona. If 't were no other,-
Iago.
169
'T is but so, I warrant.
[Trumpets within.
Hark, how these instruments summon to supper!
The messengers of Venice stay the meat:
Go in, and weep not; all things shall be well. —
[Exeunt Desdemona and Emilia.
170
Enter RODErigo.
How now, Roderigo !
Roderigo. I do not find that thou dealest justly with me.
Iago. What in the contrary?
Roderigo. Every day thou daffest me with some device,
Iago; and rather, as it seems to me now, keepest from me
all conveniency than suppliest me with the least advantage
of hope. I will indeed no longer endure it, nor am I yet
persuaded to put up in peace what already I have foolishly
suffered.
Iago. Will you hear me, Roderigo?
180
Roderigo. Faith, I have heard too much, for your words
and performances are no kin together.
ACT IV. SCENE II.
125
Iago. You charge me most unjustly.
Roderigo. With nought but truth. I have wasted myself
out of my means. The jewels you have had from me to
deliver to Desdemona would half have corrupted a votarist;
you have told me she hath received them, and returned me
expectations and comforts of sudden respect and acquaint-
ance, but I find none.
Iago. Well; go to; very well.
190
Roderigo. Very well! go to! I cannot go to, man; nor
't is not very well: nay, I think it is scurvy, and begin to
find myself fobbed in it.
Iago. Very well.
Roderigo. I tell you 't is not very well. I will make my-
self known to Desdemona: if she will return me my jewels,
I will give over my suit and repent my unlawful solicitation;
if not, assure yourself I will seek satisfaction of you.
Iago. You have said now.
Roderigo. Ay, and said nothing but what I protest intend-
ment of doing.
201
Iago. Why, now I see there 's mettle in thee, and even
from this instant do build on t'e a better opinion than
ever before. Give me thy hand, Koderigo thou hast taken
against me a most just exception; but yet, I protest, I have
dealt most directly in thy affair.
Roderigo. It hath not appeared.
Iago. I grant indeed it hath not appeared, and your sus-
picion is not without wit and judgment. But, Roderigo, if
thou hast that in thee indeed, which I have greater reason to
believe now than ever, I mean purpose, courage and valour,
this night show it; if thou the next night following enjoy
not Desdemona, take me from this world with treachery and
devise engines for my life.
214
Roderigo. Well, what is it? is it within reason and compass?
Iago. Sir, there is especial commission come from Venice
to depute Cassio in Othello's place.
126
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
Roderigo. Is that true? why, then Othello and Desdemona
return again to Venice.
219
Iago. O, no: he goes into Mauritania and takes away
with him the fair Desdemona, unless his abode be lingered
here by some accident; wherein none can be so determinate
as the removing of Cassio.
Roderigo. How do you mean, removing of him?
Iago. Why, by making him uncapable of Othello's place;
knocking out his brains.
Roderigo. And that you would have me to do?
Iago. Ay, if you dare do yourself a profit and a right. He
sups to-night with a harlotry, and thither will I go to him;
he knows not yet of his honourable fortune. If you will
watch his going thence, which I will fashion to fall out be-
tween twelve and one, you may take him at your pleasure; I
will be near to second your attempt, and he shall fall be-
tween us. Come, stand not amazed at it, but go along with
me; I will show you such a necessity in his death that you
shall think yourself bound to put it on him. It is now high
supper-time, and the night grows to waste; about it!
Roderigo. I will hear further reason for this.
Iago. And you shall be satisfied.
SCENE III. Another Room in the Castle.
238
[Exeunt.
Enter OTHELLO, LODOVICO, DESDEMONA, EMILIA, and
Attendants.
Lodovico. I do beseech you, sir, trouble yourself no fur-
ther.
Othello. O, pardon me; 't will do me good to walk.
Lodovico. Madam, good night; I humbly thank your
ladyship.
Desdemona. Your honour is most welcome.
Othello.
0,- Desdemona,-
Will you walk, sir?
ACT IV. SCENE III.
C
Desdemona. My lord?
Othello. Get you to bed on the instant; I will be returned
forthwith dismiss your attendant there; look it be done.
Desdemona. I will, my lord.
[Exeunt Othello, Lodovico, and Attendants.
Emilia. How goes it now? he looks gentler than he did.
Desdemona. He says he will return incontinent;
He hath commanded me to go to bed,
And bade me to dismiss you.
Emilia.
Dismiss me!
Desdemona. It was his bidding; therefore, good Emilia,
Give me my nightly wearing, and adieu:
We must not now displease him.
Emilia. I would you had never seen him!
11
Desdemona. So would not I; my love doth so approve
him,
That even his stubbornness, his checks, his frowns,-
Prithee, unpin me,-have grace and favour in them.
20
Emilia. I have laid those sheets you bade me on the bed.
Desdemona. All 's one.-Good faith, how foolish are our
minds!
If I do die before thee, prithee, shroud me
In one of those same sheets.
Emilia.
Come, come, you talk.
Desdemona. My mother had a maid call'd Barbara;
She was in love, and he she lov'd prov'd mad
And did forsake her. She had a song of 'willow;'
An old thing 't was, but it express'd her fortune,
And she died singing it. That song to-night
Will not go from my mind; I have much to do
But to go hang my head all at one side,
And sing it like poor Barbara.-Prithee, dispatch.
Emilia. Shall I go fetch your night-gown?
Desdemona.
This Lodovico is a proper man.
30
No, unpin me here.
;

HELLO, THE moor of VENICE.
Emilia. A very handsome man.
Desdemona. He speaks well.
Emilia. I know a lady in Venice would have walked
barefoot to Palestine for a touch of his nether lip.
Desdemona. [Singing] The poor soul sat sighing by a syca-
more tree,
Sing all a green willow;
Her hand on her bosom, her head on her knee,
Sing willow, willow, willow:
The fresh streams ran by her, and murmur'd her moans;
Sing willow, willow, willow;
Her salt tears fell from her, and soften'd the stones;
Lay by these:
[Singing] Sing willow, willow, willow;
Prithee, hie thee; he 'll come anon :--
[Singing] Sing all a green willow must be my garland.
Let nobody blame him; his scorn I approve,
Nay, that 's not next.-Hark! who is 't that knocks?
Emilia. It's the wind.
40
50
Desdemona. [Singing] I call'd my love false love; but what
said he then?
Sing willow, willow, willow:
If I court moe women, you'll couch with moe men.—
So, get thee gone; good night. Mine eyes do itch;
Doth that bode weeping?
Emilia.
"T is neither here nor there.
Desdemona. I have heard it said so.-O, these men, these
men!-
Dost thou in conscience think, tell me, Emilia,-
That there be women do abuse their husbands
In such gross kind?
Emilia.
There be some such, no question.
60
Desdemona. Wouldst thou do such a deed for all the
world?
Emilia. Why, would not you?
ACT IV. SCENE III.
Desdemona.
129
No, by this heavenly light!
Emilia. Nor I neither by this heavenly light;
I might do 't as well i' the dark.
Desdemona. Wouldst thou do such a deed for all the
world?
Emilia. The world 's a huge thing; it is a great price
For a small vice.
Desdemona.
68
In troth, I think thou wouldst not.
Emilia. In troth, I think I should; and undo 't when I
had done. Marry, I would not do such a thing for a joint-
ring, nor for measures of lawn, nor for gowns, petticoats, nor
caps, nor any petty exhibition; but, for the whole world,—
why, who would not make her husband a cuckold to make
him a monarch? I should venture purgatory for 't.
Desdemona. Beshrew me, if I would do such a wrong
For the whole world.
Emilia. Why, the wrong is but a wrong i' the world; and
having the world for your labour, 't is a wrong in your own
world, and you might quickly make it right.
Desdemona. I do not think there is any such woman.
80
Emilia. Yes, a dozen; and as many to the vantage as
would store the world they played for.
But I do think it is their husbands' faults
If wives do fall. Say that they slack their duties,
And pour out treasures into foreign laps,
Or else break out in peevish jealousies,
Throwing restraint upon us; or say they strike us,
Or scant our former having in despite;
Why, we have galls, and though we have some grace,
Yet have we some revenge. Let husbands know
Their wives have sense like them; they see and smell
And have their palates both for sweet and sour,
As husbands have. What is it that they do
When they change us for others? Is it sport?
I think it is; and doth affection breed it?
130
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
I think it doth; is 't frailty that thus errs?
It is so too; and have not we affections,
Desires for sport, and frailty, as men have?
Then let them use us well; else let them know,
The ills we do, their ills instruct us so.
IOC
Desdemona. Good night, good night; heaven me such uses
send,
Not to pick bad from bad, but by bad mend!
[Exeunt.

נוין
COLONNADE OF DUCAL PALACE, VENICE.

VENETIAN GENERAL.
SCENE I.
ACT V.
Cyprus. A Street.
Cyprus.
Enter LAGO and RODERigo.
Jago. Here, stand behind this bulk; straight will he come
Wear thy good rapier bare, and put it home.
Quick, quick; fear nothing; I'll be at thy elbow.
It makes us, or it mars us; think on that,
And fix most firm thy resolution.
Roderigo. Be near at hand; I may miscarry in 't.
Tago. Here, at thy hand; be bold, and take thy stand.
[Retires
132
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
Roderigo. I have no great devotion to the deed;
And yet he hath given me satisfying reasons:
'T is but a man gone.
Iago. I have rubb'd
And he grows angry.
Forth, my sword; he dies.
this young quat almost to the sense,
Now, whether he kill Cassio,
Or Cassio him, or each do kill the other,
Every way makes my game.
Live Roderigo,
He calls me to a restitution large
Of gold and jewels that I bobb'd from him,
As gifts to Desdemona;
It must not be. If Cassio do remain,
He hath a daily beauty in his life
That makes me ugly; and, besides, the Moor
May unfold me to him; there stand I in much peril:
No, he must die.—But so; I hear him coming.
Enter CASSIO.
Roderigo. I know his gait, 't is he.—Villain, thou diest!
10
20
[Makes a pass at Cassio.
Cassio. That thrust had been mine enemy indeed,
But that my coat is better than thou know'st;
I will make proof of thine.
Roderigo.
[Draws and wounds Roderigo.
O, I am slain !
[Iago from behind wounds Cassio in the leg, and exit.
Cassio. I am maim'd for ever. Help, ho! murther! mur-
ther!
Enter OTHello.
Othello. The voice of Cassio; Iago keeps his word.
Roderigo. O, villain that I am !
Othello.
It is even so.
Cassio. O, help, ho! light! a surgeon!
Othello. 'T is he.-O brave Iago, honest and just,
That hast such noble sense of thy friend's wrong!
Thou teachest me.-Minion, your dear lies dead,
And your unblest fate hies; strumpet, I come!
[Falls.
36
ACT V. SCENE I.
13.
Forth of my heart those charms, thine eyes, are blotted;
Thy bed lust-stain'd shall with lust's blood be spotted.
Enter LODOVICO and GRATIANO.
[Exit.
Cassio. What, ho! no watch? no passage? murther! mur-
ther!
Gratiano. 'T is some mischance; the cry is very direful.
Cassio. O, help!
Lodovico. Hark!
Roderigo. O wretched villain!
Lodovico. Two or three groan; it is a heavy night;
These may be counterfeits; let 's think 't unsafe
To come in to the cry without more help.
Roderigo. Nobody come? then shall I bleed to death.
Lodovico, Hark!
Re-enter IAGO, with a light.
VC
Gratiano. Here's one comes in his shirt, with light and
weapons.
Iago. Who's there? whose noise is this that cries on mur-
ther?
49
What's the matter?
Lodovico. We do not know.
Iago.
Did not you hear a cry?
Cassio. Here, here! for heaven's sake, help me!
Iago.
Gratiano. This is Othello's ancient, as I take it.
Lodovico. The same indeed; a very valiant fellow.
Iago. What are you here that cry so grievously?
Cassio. Iago? O, I am spoil'd, undone by villains!
Give me some help.
Iago. O me, lieutenant! what villains have done this?
Cassio. I think that one of them is hereabout,
And cannot make away.
Iago.
O treacherous villains!-
What are you there? come in, and give some help.
[To Lodovico and Gratiano
134
OTHELLO, THE MOOK OF VENICE.
Roderigo. O, help me here!
60
Cassio. That 's one of them.
Iago.
O murtherous slave! O villain!
[Stabs Roderigo.
Roderigo. O damn'd Iago! O inhuman dog!
Iago. Kill men i' the dark!- Where be these bloody
thieves?
How silent is this town!-Ho! murther! murther!-
What may you be? are you of good or evil?
Lodovico. As you shall prove us, praise us.
Iago. Signior Lodovico?
Lodovico. He, sir.
Iago. I cry you mercy. Here's Cassio hurt by villains.
Gratiano. Cassio!
Iago. How is 't, brother?
Cassio. My leg is cut in two.
Iago.
Marry, heaven forbid!
Light, gentlemen; I'll bind it with my shirt.
Enter BIANCA.
Bianca. What is the matter, ho? who is 't that cried?
Iago. Who is 't that cried!
70
Bianca. O my dear Cassio! my sweet Cassio! O Cassio,
Cassio, Cassio!
Iago. O notable strumpet!--Cassio, may you suspect.
Who they should be that have thus mangled you?
Cassio. No.
8c
Gratiano. I am sorry to find you thus; I have been to seek
you.
Iago. Lend me a garter.—So.—Q, for a chair,
To bear him easily hence!
Bianca. Alas, he faints! O Cassio, Cassio, Cassio!
Iago. Gentlemen all, I do suspect this trash
To be a party in this injury.-
Patience awhile, good Cassio.- Come, come ;
ACT V. SCENE I.
135
Lend me a light.-Know we this face or no?
Alas, my friend and my dear countryman
Roderigo! no:-yes, sure; O heaven! Roderigo.
Gratiano. What, of Venice?
Iago. Even he, sir; did you know him?
Gratiano.
90
Know him! ay.
Iago. Signior Gratiano? I cry you gentle pardon;
These bloody accidents must excuse my manners,
That so neglected you.
Gratiano.
I am glad to see you.
Iago. How do you, Cassio?—O, a chair, a chair!
Gratiano. Roderigo !
lago. He, he, 't is he.--[A chair brought in.] O, that 's well
said; the chair.
Some good man bear him carefully from hence;
I'll fetch the general's surgeon.-[To Bianca] For you, mis-
tress,
TOO
Save you your labour.—He that lies slain here, Cassio,
Was my dear friend; what malice was between you?
Cassio. None in the world; nor do I know the man.
Iago. [To Bianca] What, look you pale?—O, bear him out
[Cassio and Roderigo are borne off.
Stay you, good gentlemen.-Look you pale, mistress?--
o' the air.-
Do you perceive the gastness of her eye?
Nay, if you stare, we shall hear more anon.—
Behold her well; I pray you, look upon her :
Do you see, gentlemen nay, guiltiness will speak,
Though tongues were out of use.
Enter EMILIA.
I TO
Emilia. Alas, what's the matter? what's the matter, hus-
band?
Iago. Cassio hath here been set on in the dark
By Roderigo and fellows that are scap'd;
He's almost slain, and Roderigo dead.
136
OTHELLO, THE MOOR of venice.
Emilia. Alas, good gentleman! alas, good Cassio!
Iago. This is the fruit of whoring.-Prithee, Emilia,
Go know of Cassio where he supp'd to-night.-
What, do you shake at that?
Bianca. He supp'd at my house; but I therefore shake
not.
Iago. O, did he so? I charge you, go with me.
Emilia. Fie, fie upon thee, strumpet !
Bianca. I am no strumpet; but of life as honest
As you that thus abuse me.
Emilia.
120
As I! foh! fie upon thee!
Iago. Kind gentlemen, let's go see poor Cassio dress'd.—
Come, mistress, you must tell 's another tale.—
Emilia, run you to the citadel,
And tell my lord and lady what hath happ'd.-
Will you go on, I pray?-[Aside] This is the night
That either makes me or fordoes me quite.→
!
[Exeunt.
SCENE II. A Bedchamber in the Castle; DESDEMONA in
bed asleep; a light burning.
Enter OTHELLO.
Othello. It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul,--
Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars!—
It is the cause. Yet I'll not shed her blood,
Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow,
And smooth as monumental alabaster.
Yet she must die, else she 'll betray more men.
Put out the light, and then-put out the light!
If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,
I can again thy former light restore,
Should I repent me; but once put out thy light,
Thou cunning'st pattern of excelling nature,
I know not where is that Promethean heat
That can thy light relume. When I have pluck'd the rose,
ic
ACT V. SCENE II.
137
I cannot give it vital growth again,
It must needs wither; I'll smell it on the tree. [Kissing her.
Ah, balmy breath, that dost almost persuade
Justice to break her sword! One more, one more.
Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee,
And love thee after. One more, and this the last;
So sweet was ne'er so fatal. I must weep,
But they are cruel tears: this
It strikes where it doth love.
Desdemona. Who's there?
Othello.
sorrow 's heavenly;
She wakes.
Othello?
Ay, Desdemona.
Desdemona. Will you come to bed, my lord?
Othello. Have you pray'd to-night, Desdemona ?
Desdemona.
Othello. If you bethink yourself of any crime
Unreconcil'd as yet to heaven and grace,
Solicit for it straight.
20
Ay, my lord.
Desdemona. Alas, my lord, what do you mean by that?
Othello. Well, do it, and be brief; I will walk by:
I would not kill thy unprepared spirit;
No; heaven forfend! I would not kill thy soul.
Desdemona. Talk you of killing?
Desdemona.
Othello.
Have mercy on me!
Othello.
30
Ay, I do.
Then heaven
Amen, with all my heart!
Desdemona. If you say so, I hope you will not kill me.
Othello. Hum!
Desdemona. And yet I fear you; for you are fatal then
When your eyes roll so: why I should fear I know not,
Since guiltiness I know not, but yet I feel I fear.
*Othello. Think on thy sins.
Desdemona.
They are loves I bear to you.
Othello. Ay, and for that thou diest.
Desdemona. That death 's unnatural that kills for loving.
41
138
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
Alas, why gnaw you so your nether lip?
Some bloody passion shakes your very frame:
These are portents; but yet I hope, I hope,
They do not point on me.
Othello.
Desdemona. I will so.
Peace, and be still!
What's the matter?
Othello. That handkerchief which I so lov'd and gave thee
Thou gav'st to Cassio.
Desdemona.
No, by my life and soul!
Send for the man, and ask him.
Sweet soul, take heed,
50
Othello.
Take heed of perjury; thou art on thy death-bed.
Desdemona. Ay, but not yet to die.
Othello.
Therefore confess the freely of thy sin;
For to deny each article with oath
Yes, presently:
Cannot remove nor choke the strong conception
That I do groan withal. Thou art to die.
Desdemona. Then Lord have mercy on me!
Othello.
I say, amen.
Desdemona. And have you mercy too! I never did
Offend you in my life; never lov'd Cassio
But with such general warranty of heaven
As I might love; I never gave him token.
Othello. By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in 's hand.
O perjur'd woman! thou dost stone my heart,
And mak'st me call what I intend to do
A murther, which I thought a sacrifice.
I saw the handkerchief.
Desdemona.
He found it then;
I never gave it him: send for him hither;
Let him confess a truth.
Othello.
He hath confess'd,
Desdemona. What, my lord?
Othello. That he hath us'd thee.
6c
ACT V. SCENE II.
139
Desdemona.
Othello.
How? unlawfully?
Ay. 70
No, his mouth is stopp'd;
Desdemona. He will not say so.
Othello.
Honest Iago hath ta'en order for 't.
Desdemona. O! my fear interprets; what, is he dead?
Othello. Had all his hairs been lives, my great revenge
Had stomach for them all.
Desdemona. Alas! he is betray'd, and I undone.
Othello. Out, strumpet! weep'st thou for him to my
face?
Desdemona. O, banish me, my lord, but kill me not!
Othello. Down, strumpet!
Desdemona. Kill me to-morrow; let me live to-night!
Othello. Nay, if you strive,—
Desdemona. But half an hour!
Othello.
Sa
Being done, there is no pause.
Desdemona. But while I say one prayer !
Othello.
It is too late.
[He stifles her.
Emilia. [Within] My lord, my lord! what, ho! my lord,
my lord!
Othello. 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.-
So, so.
Emilia. [Within] What, ho! my lord, my lord!
Othello.
Who's there?
Emilia. [Within] O, good my lord, I would speak a word
with you!
90
Othello. Yes;—'t is Emilia.-By and by.-She 's dead.—
"T is like she comes to speak of Cassio's death.—
The noise was here.-Ha! no more moving?
Still as the grave.-Shall she come in? were 't good?—
140
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
I think she stirs again ;—no. What's best to do?
If she come in, she 'll sure speak to my wife.
My wife! my wife! what wife? I have no wife.
O, insupportable! O heavy hour!
Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse
Of sun and moon, and that the affrighted globe
Should yawn at alteration.
Emilia.
That I may speak with you, O, good my lord!
Othello. I had forgot thee. O, come in, Emilia.-
Soft; by and by.-Let me the curtains draw.—
Where art thou?
[Within] I do beseech you
гос
[Unlocks the door.
Enter EMILIA.
What's the matter with thee now?
Emilia. O, my good lord, yonder 's foul murther done!
Othello. What, now?
Emilia. But now, my lord.
Othello. It is the very error of the moon;
She comes more nearer earth than she was wont,
And makes men mad.
Emilia. Cassio, my lord, hath kill'd a young Venetian
Call'd Roderigo.
Othello.
And Cassio kill'd!
Emilia.
Roderigo kill'd!
No, Cassio is not kill'd.
Othello. Not Cassio kill'd !(then murther 's out of tune,
And sweet revenge grows harsh.)
Desdemona. O, falsely, falsely murther'd!
Emilia.
Othello. That! what?
ΠΙΟ
Alas, what cry is that?
Emilia. Out, and alas! that was my lady's voice.—
Help! help, ho! help!-O lady, speak again!
Sweet Desdemona! O sweet mistress, speak !
Desdemona. A guiltless death I die.
120
ACT V. SCENE II.
141
Farewell!/
Emilia. O, who hath done this deed?
Desdemona. Nobody; I myself.
Commend me to my kind lord; O, farewell!
Othello. Why, how should she be murther'd?
Emilia.
[Dies.
Alas, who knows?
Othello. You heard her say herself, it was not I.
Emilia. She said so; I must needs report the truth.
Othello. She 's like a liar gone to burning hell;
was I that kill'd her.
Emilia.
And you the blacker devil!
O, the more angel she,
Othello. She turn'd to folly, and she was a whore.
Emilia. Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil.
Othello. She was false as water.
Emilia.
130
Thou art rash as fire, to say
That she was false; O, she was heavenly true!
Othello. O, I were damn'd beneath all depth in hell,
But that I did proceed upon just grounds
To this extremity. Thy husband knew it all.
Emilia. My husband!
Othello. Thy husband.
Emilia. That she was false to wedlock?
Othello. Ay, with Cassio.(^^ Nay, had she been true,
If heaven would make me such another world
Of one entire and perfect chrysolite,
I'd not have sold her for it.
Emilia. My husband!
Othello.
Ay, 't was he that told me first;
An honest man he is, and hates the slime
That sticks on filthy deeds.
Emilia.
My husband!
140
Othello. What needs this iterance, woman? I say thy
husband.
Emilia. O mistress, villany hath made mocks with love!-
My husband say that she was false!
142
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
Othello.
He, woman;
151
I say thy husband: dost understand the word ?
My friend, thy husband, honest, honest Iago.
Emilia. If he say so, may his pernicious soul
Rot half a grain a day! he lies to the heart;
She was too fond of her most filthy bargain.
Othello. Ha!
Emilia. Do thy worst;
-
This deed of thine is no more worthy heaven
Than thou wast worthy her.
Othello.
Peace, you were best!
160
Emilia. Thou hast not half that power to do me harm
As I have to be hurt. O gull! O dolt!
As ignorant as dirt! thou hast done a deed—
I care not for thy sword; I'll make thee known,
Though I lost twenty lives.-Help! help, ho! help!
The Moor hath kill'd my mistress! Murther! murther!
Enter MONTANO, GRATIANO, IAGO, and others.
Montano. What is the matter?-How now, general!
Emilia. O, are you come, Iago? you have done well,
That men must lay their murthers on your neck.
Gratiano. What is the matter?
Emilia. Disprove this villain, if thou be'st a man;
He says thou told'st him that his wife was false.
I know thou didst not, thou 'rt not such a villain;
Speak, for my heart is full.
Iago. I told him what I thought, and told no more
Than what he found himself was apt and true.
Emilia. But did you ever tell him she was false?
Iago. I did.
Emilia. You told a lie, an odious, damned lie;
Upon my soul, a lie, a wicked lie!
170
180
She false with Cassio !—did you say with Cassio?
Iago. With Cassio, mistress. Go to, charm your tongue.
ACT V. SCENE II.
143
=
1
Emilia. I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to
speak:
My mistress here lies murther'd in her bed,—
All. O heavens forfend!
Emilia. And your reports have set the murther on.
Othello. Nay, stare not, masters; it is true, indeed.
Gratiano. 'T is a strange truth.
Montano. O monstrous act!
Emilia.
Villany, villany, villany!
190
I think upon 't, I think;-I smell 't ;-O villany!-
I thought so then!-I'll kill myself for grief.—
O villany, villany!
Iago. What, are you mad? I charge you, get you home.
Emilia. Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak ;
'T is proper I obey him, but not now.
Perchance, Iago, I will ne'er go home.
Othello. O! O! O!
Emilia.
[He falls on the bed.
Nay, lay thee down and roar ;
For thou hast kill'd the sweetest innocent
That e'er did lift up eye.
Othello.
[Rising] O, she was foul!-
I scarce did know you, uncle; there lies your niece,
Whose breath, indeed, these hands have newly stopp'd.
I know this act shows horrible and grim.
200
Gratiano. Poor Desdemona! I am glad thy father 's dead.
Thy match was mortal to him, and pure grief
Shore his old thread in twain did he live now,
This sight would make him do a desperate turn,
Yea, curse his better angel from his side,
And fall to reprobance.
Othello. "T is pitiful; but yet Iago knows
That she with Cassio hath the act of shame
A thousand times committed; Cassio confess'd it:
And she did gratify his amorous works
With that recognizance and pledge of love
210
144
OTHELLO, THE MOOR of venice.
Which I first gave her. I saw it in his hand;
It was a handkerchief, an antique token
My father gave my mother.
Emilia. O heaven! O heavenly powers!
Iago. Come, hold your peace.
Emilia.
'T will out, 't will out !—I peace!
No, I will speak as liberal as the north;
Let heaven and men and devils, let them all,
All, all, cry shame against me, yet I 'll speak.
Iago. Be wise, and get you home.
Emilia.
Gratiano.
I will not.
220
[Iago offers to stab Emilia.
Fie!
Your sword upon a woman?
Emilia. O thou dull Moor! that handkerchief thou
speak'st of
I found by fortune and did give my husband;
For often, with a solemn earnestness,
More than indeed belong'd to such a trifle,
He begg'd of me to steal it.
Iago.
Villanous whore!
Emilia. She give it Cassio! no, alas! I found it,
And I did give 't my husband.
Iago.
Filth, thou liest !
230
Emilia. By heaven, I do not, I do not, gentlemen.
O murtherous coxcomb! what should such a fool
Do with so good a wife?
Othello.
But what serve for the thunder?-Precious villain!
Are there no stones in heaven
[He runs at Iago; Iago, from behind, stabs Emilia,
and exit.
Gratiano. The woman falls; sure, he hath kill'd his wife.
Emilia. Ay, ay. O, lay me by my mistress' side.
Gratiano. He 's gone, but his wife 's kill'd.
Montano. 'T is a notorious villain. Take you this weapon,
1

ACT V. SCENE II.
145
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,
240
For 't is a damned slave. [Exeunt Montano and Gratiano.
Othello.
I am not valiant neither.
But every puny whipster gets my sword.
But why should honour outlive honesty?
Let it go all.
Emilia.
What did thy song bode, lady?
Hark, canst thou hear me? I will play the swan,
And die in music. [Singing] Willow, willow, willow.-
Moor, she was chaste; she loved thee, cruel Moor;
So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true:
So speaking-as I think-I die I die.
Othello. I have another weapon in this chamber;
It is a sword of Spain, the ice-brook's temper.-
O, here it is.Uncle, I must come forth.
[Dies.
251
Gratiano. [Within] If thou attempt it, it will cost thee
dear;
Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer.
Othello. Look in upon me then, and speak with me,
Or, naked as I am, I will assault thee.
Re-enter GRATIANO.
Gratiano. What is the matter?
Othello.
A better never did itself sustain
Behold, I have a weapon;
Upon a soldier's thigh: I have seen the day,
That with this little arm and this good sword
I have made my way through more impediments
Than twenty times your stop.-But, O vain boast!
Who can control his fate? 't is not so now.-
Be not afraid, though you do see me weapon'd;
Here is my journey's end, here is my butt,
And very sea-mark of my utmost sail.
K
200

146
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
Do you go back dismay'd? 't is a lost fear;
Man but a rush against Othello's breast,
And he retires.-Where should Othello go?
Now, how dost thou look now? O ill-starr'd wench!
Pale as thy smock! when we shall meet at compt,
This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven,
And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl!
Even like thy chastity.—
O, cursed, cursed slave !-
Whip me, ye devils,
From the possession of this heavenly sight!
Blow me about in winds! roast me in sulphur!
Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!
O Desdemona! Desdemona! dead!
Oh! Oh! Oh!
27C
280
Enter LODOVICO, MONTANO, CASSIO carried in a chair, and
Officers with IAGO, prisoner.
Lodovico. Where is this rash and most unfortunate man?
Othello. That 's he that was Othello; here I am.
Lodovico. Where is that viper? bring the villain forth.
Othello. I look down towards his feet; but that's a fable.
If that thou be'st a devil, I cannot kill thee. [Wounds Iago
Lodovico. Wrench his sword from him.
Iago.
I bleed, sir, but not kill'd.
Othello. I am not sorry neither: I'd have thee live;
For, in my sense, 't is happiness to die.
Lodovico. O thou Othello, that wert once so good,
Fallen in the practice of a damned slave,
What shall be said to thee?
Othello.
Why, any thing:
An honourable murtherer, if you will;
For naught I did in hate, but all in honour.
Lodovico. This wretch hath part confess'd his villany.
you and he consent in Cassio's death?
Did
294

ACT V. SCENE II.
147
Othello. Ay.
Cassio. Dear general, I never gave you cause.
Othello. I do believe it, and I ask you pardon.
Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil
Why he hath thus ensnar'd my soul and body?
Iago. Demand me nothing: what you know, you know;
From this time forth I never will speak word.
Lodovico. What, not to pray?
Gratiano.
Othello. Well, thou dost best.
300
Torments will ope your lips.
Lodovico. Sir, you shall understand what hath befallen,
Which, as I think, you know not. Here is a letter
Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigo,
And here another; the one of them imports
The death of Cassio to be undertook
By Roderigo.
310
Othello. O villain!
Cassio.
Most heathenish and most gross!
Lodovico. 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.
Othello.
How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief
That was my wife's?
Cassio.
O the pernicious caitiff!-
I found it in my chamber;
320
And he himself confess'd but even now
That there he dropt it for a special purpose
Which wrought to his desire.
Othello.
O fool! fool! fool!
Cassio. There is besides in Roderigo's letter,
How he upbraids Iago that he made him.
Brave me upon the watch; whereon it came
That I was cast and even but now he spake,

148
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.
After long seeming dead, Iago hurt him,
Iago set him on.
Lodovico. You must forsake this room, and go with us;
Your power and your command is taken off,
And Cassio rules in Cyprus. For this slave,
If there be any cunning cruelty
That can torment him much and hold him long,
It shall be his. You shall close prisoner rest,
Till that the nature of your fault be known
To the Venetian state.-Come, bring him away.
Othello. Soft you; a word or two before you go.
I have done the state some service, and they know 't.
No more of that.-I pray you, in your letters,
When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice; then must you speak
Of one that lov'd not wisely but too well;
Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought
Perplex'd in the extreme; of one whose hand,
Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away
Richer than all his tribe of one whose subdued eyes,
Albeit unused to the melting mood,
Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees
Their medicinable gum.
Set you down this ;
And say besides, that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk
Beat a Venetian and traduc'd the state,
I took by the throat the circumcised dog,
And smote him-thus.
Lodovico. O bloody period!
Gratiano.
331
340
350
[Stabs himself.
All that's spoke is marr'd.
Othello. I kiss'd thee ere I kill'd thee;—no way but this,
Killing myself, to die upon a kiss. [Falls on the bed, and dies.
Cassio. This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon;
For he was great of heart.
361
ACT V. SCENE II.
149
Lodovico.
[To Iago] O Spartan dog,
More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea!
Look on the tragic loading of this bed;
This is thy work: the object poisons sight;
Let it be hid.-Gratiano, keep the house,
And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor,
For they succeed on you.-To you, lord governor,
Remains the censure of this hellish villain,
The time, the place, the torture; O, enforce it!
Myself will straight aboard, and to the state.
This heavy act with heavy heart relate.
370
[Exeunt.


VIEW OF CERINI, CYPRUS.
NOTES.
ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE NOTES.
Abbott (or Gr.), Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar (third edition).
A. S., Anglo-Saxon.
A. V., Authorized Version of the Bible (1611).
B. and F., Beaumont and Fletcher.
B. J., Ben Jonson.
Camb. ed., "Cambridge edition" of Shakespeare, edited by Clark and Wright.
Cf. (confer), compare.
Clarke, "Cassell's Illustrated Shakespeare," edited by Charles and Mary Cowden
Clarke (London, n. d.).
Coll., Collier (second edition).
Coll. MS., Manuscript Corrections of Second Folio, edited by Collier.
D., Dyce (second edition).
H., Hudson (first edition).
Id. (idem), the same.
K., Knight (second edition).
Nares, Glossary, edited by Halliwell and Wright (London, 1859).
Prol., Prologue.
S., Shakespeare.
Schmidt, A. Schmidt's Shakespeare-Lexicon (Berlin, 1874).
Sr., Singer.
St., Staunton.
Theo., Theobald.
V., Verplanck.
W., White.
Walker, Wm. Sidney Walker's Critical Examination of the Text of Shakespeare
(London, 1860).
Warb., Warburton.
Wb., Webster's Dictionary (revised quarto edition of 1864).
Worc., Worceste Dictionary (quarto edition).
The abbreviatas of the names of Shakespeare's Plays will be readily understood; as
T. N. for Twelfth Night, Cor. for Coriolanus, 3 Hen. VI. for The Third Part of King
Henry the Sixth, etc. P. P. refers to The Passionate Pilgrim; V. and A. to Venus
and Adonis; L. C. to Lover's Complaint; and Sonn. to the Sonnets.
When the abbreviation of the name of a play is followed by a reference to page,
Rolfe's edition of the play is meant.
The numbers of the lines (except for Othello) are those of the "Globe" ed. or of
Crowell's reprint of that ed.
NOTES.

GENERAL OF VENICE, IN TIME OF WAR.
ACT I
DRAMATIS PERSONA.-Nothing of the kind is given in the quarto
but at the end of the play in the 1st folio we find the following
*The only other plays in the folio to which similar lists are appended are Temp.,
T. G. of V., M. for M., W. T., 2 Hen. IV., and T. of A.
154
NOTES.
The Names of the Actors.
Othello, the Moore.
Brabantio, Father to Desdemona.
Cassio, an Honourable Lieutenant.
Iago, a Villaine.
Rodorigo, a gull'd Gentleman.
Duke of Venice.
Senators.
Montano, Gouernour of Cyprus.
Gentlemen of Cyprus.
Lodouico, and Gratiano, two noble
Venetians.
Saylors.
Clowne.
Desdemona, Wife to Othello.
Emilia, Wife to lago.
Bianca, a Curtezan.
SCENE I. "The republic of Venice became the virtual sovereigns of
Cyprus in 1471; when the state assumed the guardianship of the sou
of Catharine Cornaro, who had married the illegitimate son of John III.
of Lusignan, and, being left a widow, wanted the protection of the state
to maintain the power which her husband had usurped. The island was
then first garrisoned by Venetian troops. Catharine in 1489 abdicated
the sovereignty in favour of the republic. Cyprus was retained by the
Venetians till 1570, when it was invaded by a powerful Turkish force,
and was finally subjected to the dominion of Selim II. in 1571. From
that period it has formed a part of the Turkish empire. Leikosia, the
inland capital of the island, was taken by storm; and Famagusta, the
principal seaport, capitulated after a long and gallant defence. It is
evident therefore that we must refer the action of Othello to a period be-
fore the subjugation of Cyprus by the Turks. The locality of the scenes
after act i. must be placed at Famagusta, which was strongly fortified-a
fact which Shakespeare must have known when (iii. 2. 3) he wrote 'I
will be walking on the works' " (K.).
The cut on p. 153 is from Vecellio's Habili Antichi, 1590, and repre-
sents the identical dress worn by Prince Veniero, when he was made gen-
eral at the time of the Turkish war, in 1570. "The general of the Vene-
tian forces, to whatever nation he might trace his birth (and it was always
a foreigner who was selected for that office, 'lest,' as Paulus Jovius says,
'any one of their own countrymen might be puffed up with pride, and
grow too ambitious '), assumed, on the day of his election, a peculiar
habit, consisting of a full gown of crimson velvet with loose sleeves, over
which was worn a mantle of cloth of gold, buttoned upon the right shoul-
der with massy gold buttons. The cap was of crimson velvet, and the
baton of office was of silver, ensigned with the winged lion of St. Mark”
(K.). Another portrait of Prince Veniero (see p. 131 above) in the Habiti d'
Huomini e Donne Venetiane, 1609, represents him in armour, but still wear-
ing the mantle and bearing the baton already described. Othello speaks
of his "helm" (i. 3. 271), and of course in action he wore the armour
of the period, which was much the same throughout Christian Europe.
I. Tush. Omitted in the folios.*
* We may as well say here that we do not propose to give all the little differences be-
tween the quartos and the folios; nor shall we in all cases state our reasons for choosing
the reading of the one or the other. For a full list of the varia lectiones the curious
reader must go to the Camb. cd.
ACT I. SCENE 1.
155
Coleridge remarks here: "Admirable is the preparation, so truly and
peculiarly Shaksperian, in the introduction of Roderigo, as the dupe on
whom Iago shall first exercise his art, and in so doing display his own
character. Roderigo, without any fixed principle, but not without the
moral notions and sympathies with honour which his rank and connec-
tions had hung upon him, is already well fitted and predisposed for the
purpose; for very want of character and strength of passion, like wind
loudest in an empty house, constitute his character. The first three lines
happily state the nature and foundation of the friendship between him
and Iago-the purse--as also the contrast of Roderigo's intemperance
of mind with Iago's coolness-the coolness of a preconceiving experi-
menter."
3. This.
That is, the elopement and marriage of Desdemona.
4. 'Sblood. A contraction of God's blood. See Ham. pp. 208, 230. The
folio suppresses the oath here. See p. 11 above.
10. Off-capp'd. The folio reading (" Off-capt"); the quartos have
"Oft capt," which some modern editors. prefer, making cap salute by
taking off the cap. The only instance of the verb in S. is in Hen. V. iii.
7. 124: "I will cap that proverb," etc. Cf. A. and C. ii. 7. 63: “I have
ever held my cap off to thy fortunes."
13. Circumstance. Circumlocution.
See Ham. p. 197.
16. Certes. Certainly. See Temp. p. 133. Some editors begin the quo-
tation with for. The printing of the early eds. leaves the point doubtful.
19. Arithmetician. Steevens quotes R. and J. iii. 1. 106: “that fights
by the book of arithmetic."
40, etc.
21. Wife. Probably=woman, as in M. of V. iii. 2. 58, Hen. l. iii. 3.
The reference seems to be to his passion for Bianca. Some
take the line to mean "A fellow whose ignorance of war would be con·
demned in a pretty woman," which is favoured by the allusion to a spin-
ster which follows. Theo. would read "the Florentine 's A fellow almost
damn'd in a fair wife," making it a quotation of Othello's remark con-
cerning lago, meaning, he says, that "Iago had so beautiful a wife that
she was his heaven on earth, that he idolized her," etc. Steevens explains
it as very near being married," and quotes iv. 1. 116 below: "Faith,
the cry goes that you shall marry her." Tyrwhitt conjectures "life" for
wife, “alluding to the judgment denounced in the Gospel against those
of whom all men speak well." W. reads "wise." Other attempts at em-
endation are "phyz" (Hanmer), "face" (Capell), "guise," strife," etc.
23. Division. Disposition, arrangement.
Cf. Much Ado, v. 1. 230 :
Rightly reasoned, and in his own division.'
99 66
24. Theoric. Theory; as in A. W. iv. 3. 162 and Hen. V. i. 1. 52.
25. Toged. Wearing the toga, or gowned. It is the reading of the
Ist quarto; the folios have "tongued,” which some prefer. There seems
to be a similar misprint of "tongue" for "togue or toge" in the 1st
folio in Cor. ii. 3. 122, where the later folios substitute "gown." Steevens
suggests that S. may have formed the word toged “in allusion to the
Latin adage, Cedant arma toga." Cf. Cicero's use of togati=in the garb
of peace.
Propose. Speak, talk. See Much Ado, p. 140.
156
NOTES.
30. Be-lee'd.
Placed on the lee, or in a position unfavourable to the
wind (Schmidt). The folio has "Christen'd," which K. prefers to
Christian.
31. Debitor and creditor. The title of certain ancient treatises on
book-keeping; here used as a nickname (Clarke). So counter-caster is
contemptuous for an accountant, or one who reckons by counters. Cf.
Cymb. v. 4. 174: "O the charity of a penny cord! it sums up thousands
in a trice: you have no true debitor and creditor but it; of what 's past,
is, and to come, the discharge; your neck, sir, is pen, book, and coun-
ters." See also A. Y. L. p. 164.
The folios and some modern eds. put a period after creditor.
33. God bless the mark! See M. of V. p. 138, or R. and J. p. 186. The
folio omits God.
Ancient. Ensign. See Hen. V. p. 154.
(
in
36. Letter. "Recommendations by letter " (Schmidt). Clarke sug-
gests that it may mean "according to the letter of his promise" or
accordance with theoretical knowledge and pretensions" (cf. 17 or 24
above). The Coll. MS. gives "favour."
37. Old gradation. The established order of promotion. Cf. M. for
M. iv. 3. 104: "By cold gradation" (that is, by deliberate steps).
39 Affin'd. Bound by any tie. Cf. ii. 3. 200 below. The 1st quarto
has "assign'd."
=
41. Content you. Be at ease, do not worry. Cf. Cymb. i. 5. 26: “O,
content thee!" Often it is compose yourself, keep your temper. See
Much Ado, p. 164, or R. and J. p. 160.
Cf. Ham. iii. 2. 66:
45. Knee-crooking.
hinges of the knee," etc.
48. For nought but provender, etc.
in J. C. iv. 1. 19 fol.
49. Honest knaves.
"And crook the pregnant
Cf. what Antony says of Lepidus
Iago's sneer in using the word knaves for ser-
vants, while scoffing at their fidelity, is of kindred wit with Falstaff's
calling a tradesman who applies for his justly due money a knave"
(Clarke). See 2 Hen. IV. i. 2. 41. Cf. 115 below. On me, see
Gr. 220.
50. Trimm'd. . . visages. The Coll. MS. has "learn'd. . . usages,"
and W. conjectures
"train'd...
usages;" but no change is really
called for. Trimm'd in forms and visages wearing the outward ap-
pearance.
63. Compliment extern. Outward appearance (Schmidt). H. prints
complement." See R. and J. p. 171, note on Captain of compliments.
S. uses extern as a noun in Sonn. 125. 2.
65. Daws. The 1st quarto has "Doues" (doves), which Malone de-
fends.
66. Full. The quarto reading; the folio has "fall," which K. adopts,
making the passage mean "What a fall does Fortune owe him!" With
our reading, owe own, possess; as often. See Mach. p. 162 or M. N. D.
p. 152, and cf. iii. 3. 333 below. For full fortune, cf. Cymb. v. 4. 110 and
A. and C. iv. 15. 24.
Thick-lips has been cited in support of the notion that Othello is a
ACT I. SCENE 1.
157
negro (see pp. 21, 25 above), but Roderigo uses the term contemptuously
as African.
- at
Coleridge remarks: "Roderigo turns off to Othello; and here comes
one, if not the only, seeming justification of our blackamoor or negro
Othello. Even if we supposed this an uninterrupted tradition of the
theatre, and that Shakspeare himself, from want of scenes, and the ex-
perience that nothing could be made too marked for the senses of his
audience, had practically sanctioned it—would this prove aught con-
cerning his own intention as a poet for all ages? Can we imagine him
so utterly ignorant as to make a barbarous negro plead royal birth-
a time, too, when negroes were not known except as slaves? As for
Iago's language to Brabantio, it implies merely that Othello was a Moor
that is, black. Though I think the rivalry of Roderigo sufficient to ac-
count for his wilful confusion of Moor and Negro-yet, even if com-
pelled to give this up, I should think it only adapted for the acting of
the day, and should complain of an enormity built on a single word.
... Besides, if we could in good earnest believe Shakspeare ignorant
of the distinction, still why should we adopt one disagreeable pos-
sibility instead of a ten times greater and more pleasing probability?
It is a common error to mistake the epithets applied by the dramatis
persone to each other as truly descriptive of what the audience ought
to see or know. No doubt Desdemona saw Othello's visage in his
mind; yet, as we are constituted, and most surely as an English audi-
ence was disposed in the beginning of the seventeenth century, it would
be something monstrous to conceive this beautiful Venetian girl falling
in love with a veritable negro. It would argue a disproportionateness,
a want of balance, in Desdemona which Shakspeare does not appear
to have in the least contemplated.
>>
68. The first him refers to Brabantio, the second to Othello.
71. Though that.
For that as a conjunctional affix," see Gr. 287;
and for as that in 73, Gr. 109.
•
•
75. Like as.
yourselves," etc.
Cf. Rich. III. iv. 1. 9: "Upon the like devotion as
76. By night and negligence. That is, at night and through negli-
gence.
86. Zounds. Omitted in the folio. See R. and J. p. 180.
87. Burst. Often used of the heart; as in A. W. iv. 3. 367, J. C. iii, 2.
190, Lear, v. 3. 182, 199, etc.
88. Snorting. Snoring; as in 1 Hen. IV. ii. 4. 578: "Fast asleep be-
hind the arras, and snorting like a horse."
93. Worser.
Gr. II.
The folio reading; the quartos have "worse." Cf.
94. Haunt. Usually transitive in S., but cf. Macb. i. 6. 9, and L. C. 130.
97. Distempering. Disordering, intoxicating. Cf. Ham. iii. 2. 312, 313.
98. Upon malicious bravery. Urged by a malicious desire to brave
me" (Clarke). The folios have "knavery." For upon, see Gr. 191.
104. A grange. That is, a lonely farm-house where a robbery could be
easily committed. Cf. M. for M. iii. 1. 277 and W. T. iv. 4. 309.
113. Odd-even, etc. Apparently meant for the interval between twelve
158
NOTES.
at night and one in the morning, as Henley explains it. Clarke cites.
Macb. iii. 4. 127, where Macbeth asks "What is the night?" and Lady
Macbeth replies "Almost at odds with morning, which is which." "Odd
season and "odd hour" have been suggested as emendations.
115. Knave. Menial. See on 49 above.
117. And your allowance.
And is allowed or approved by you. The
3d quarto has "and to your allowance."
121. From. Away from, contrary to; as in J. C. i. 3. 35, ii. 1. 196,
Ham. iii. 2. 22, etc. Gr. 158.
126. In. Changed by Pope to "To," and by Capell to "On." The
Coll. MS. also has "On," and " Laying" for Tying, and "wheedling" for
wheeling. For in=on, cf. i. 3. 74 below: "in your own part;" 2 Hen.
VI. iii. 2. 257: "In pain of your dislike," etc. Gr. 160.
Extravagant. Wandering, vagabond. See Ham. p. 176. Wheeling
has much the same sense. Cf. T. and C. v. 7. 2:
Attend me where
I wheel."
66
138. Check. Rebuke; as in iii. 3. 67 and iv. 3. 19 below.
139. Cast him. Throw him over, dismiss him. Cf. ii. 3. 12, 254, and
v. 2. 327 below.
141. Stand in act. Are in action, are now going on. Stand is often
nearly be (Schmidt). Cf. i. 3. 70 and ii. 1. 51 below.
142. Fathom. Calibre, capacity; a nautical metaphor. Cf. i. 2. 17
below: "give him cable."
Coleridge remarks here: "The forced praise of Othello followed
by the bitter hatred of him in this speech! And observe how Brabantio's
dream prepares for his recurrence to the notion of philters, and how both
prepare for carrying on the plot of the arraignment of Othello on this
ground."
148. Sagittary. "The residence at the arsenal of the commanding
officers of the navy and army of the republic. The figure of an archer,
with his drawn bow, still indicates the place" (K.). Some take it to be
the name of an inn. Clarke suggests that it may be "a private house
bearing one of those distinctive names, and even signs, which it was the
mode formerly to give to private mansions in England." It appears
from i. 2. 45 below that Othello was not at his usual lodging, and the
messengers of the senate had not known where to find him. Cassio also
asks "What makes he here?" which implies that he was in an unfamiliar
place. Note also what Othello says in i. 3. 121. If the arsenal had been
the "place," no guide to it would have been necessary.
151. My despised time. Cf. R. and J. i. 4. 110: “a despised life clos'd
in my breast."
156. More. The folios have "moe." See A. Y. L. p. 176 or Much
Ado, p. 137.
161. Is. The reading of quartos and 1st folio; the later folios have
"Are." See Gr. 335.
162. Maidhood. Used again in T. N. iii. 1. 162. The quartos have
"manhood."
163. Abus'd. Deluded, deceived. Cf. Temp. v. 1. 112, Much Ado, v. 2.
100, etc.
ACT I. SCENE II.
159
171. At most.
That is, of the houses.
172. Night. From 1st quarto; the other early eds. have "might."
SCENE II.-2. Stuff o' the conscience. Matter of conscience. Cf. Ham.
ii. 2. 324:
'there was no such stuff in my thoughts," etc.
3. Contriv'd. Deliberate. Cf. Hen. V. iv. 1. 171:
premeditated and
contrived murther;" 7. C. ii. 3. 16: "the Fates with traitors do contrive"
(that is, plot), etc.
5. Yerk'd. Thrust, stabbed. Cf. Hen. V. iv. 7. 83:
Cf. Hen. V. iv. 7. 83: "their wounded
steeds... Yerk out their armed heels at their dead masters.
6. 'Tis better, etc. "How well these few words impress at the outset
the truth of Othello's own character of himself at the end, that he was
not easily wrought!' His self-government distinguishes him through-
out from Leontes" (Coleridge).
He. Probably referring to Roderigo.
10. Forbear. Spare, let alone. Cf. Ham. v. 1. 296: "For love of God,
forbear him," etc.
• .
12. Magnifico. Cf. M. of V. iii. 2. 282: "the magnificoes Of greatest
port." Tollet quotes Minsheu, Dict. The chief men of Venice are by
a peculiar name called magnifici, i. e. magnificoes."
14. Double. Malone quotes Thomas's Hist. of Italy, 1560: "Whereas
many have reported, the duke in ballotyng should have two voices; it is
nothinge so; for in giving his voice he hath but one ballot, as all others
have."
He had, however, a vote in each of the various councils of the
Venetian state, a privilege which no other person enjoyed. But double,
as Steevens suggests, may be simply forcible. Henley understands it to
refer to the power of either divorcing or punishing.
17. Give him cable. That is, give him cable for. For the ellipsis, cf.
i. 3. 94 below: "I won his daughter" (with). Gr. 202.
20. Which when I know. Omitted in Ist quarto.
22. Siege. Rank; literally, seat. Cf. Ham. iv. 7. 77:
of the unwor-
thiest siege." It is used in the literal sense in M. for M. iv. 2. 101:
upon the very siege of justice." The quartos have "height" or
hight."
*
Demerits. Merits; as in Cor. i. 1. 276: "Of his demerits rob Co-
minius." It was what one merits or deserves, in a good as well as a
bad sense. For the latter, see Mach. iv. 3. 226: "Not for their own de-
merits, but for mine." Steevens quotes Dugdale, Warwickshire: "Henry
Conway, esq., for his singular demerits received the dignity of knight-
hood."
23. Unbonneted. As this naturally means with the cap off (cf. Lear, iii,
1. 14), Pope changed it to "unbonnetting," Theo. to "and bonneted,” and
Hanmer to "e'en bonneted." Schmidt remarks: "Perhaps the meaning
is simply, I may say so with all courtesy and humility; and Othello's
words must perhaps be accompanied by a corresponding gesture, as the
Ist folio seems to imply by placing the word unbonneted in a paren-
thesis." Coleridge says: "It is not I, but my demerits, that may speak
unbonnetted—without the symbol of a petitioning inferior."
"Free from domestic cares" (Johnson);
(Johnson); "not tied to
26. Unhoused.
1бо
NOTES.
a household and family" (Schmidt). In T. of A. iv. 3. 229, it is = house.
less, shelterless.
27. Circumscription. Restraint; used by S. only here.
Confine. Accented on either syllable. See Ham. p. 176.
28. For the sea's worth. Cf. W. T. iv. 4. 501 :
"for all the sun sees,
Or the close earth wombs, or the profound sea hides
In unknown fathoms;"
and Hen. V. i. 2. 164:
"as rich with praise
As is the ooze and bottom of the sea
With sunken wrack and sunless treasuries."
30. You were best.
See F. C. p. 166, or Gr. 230, 352.
Gr. 490.
31. Parts. Merits (Schmidt). Cf. i. 3. 252 below: "his valiant
parts."
33. Fanus. Cf. M. of V. i. 1. 50: "by two-headed Janus."
35. The goodness, etc. Cf. M. for M. iv. 2. 76 :
"The best and wholesomest spirits of the night
Envelop you, good Provost !
37. Haste-post-haste. An emphatic form of post-haste. Cf. "post-post-
haste" in i. 3. 46 below.
40. Heat.
Haste, urgency; as in 2 Hen. IV. iv. 3. 27, etc.
41. Sequent. The 1st quarto has "frequent."
43. Consuls. Senators, councillors; as in i. 1. 25 above. Theo.
changed it to "couns'lers," and Johnson to "council.'
46. About. The folio reading; the quartos have "aboue" or "above.”
Quests. Used in a concrete sense, like search in i. 1. 148 (Schmidt). It
is inquest, jury, in Sonn. 46. 10 and Rich. III. i. 4. 189.
49. Makes. Does. See Ham. p. 185.
50. Carack.
A large ship, or galleon. Cf. C. of E. iii. 2. 140:
"whole
armadoes of caracks." Steevens quotes B. and F., Coxcomb: "They 're
made like caracks, all for strength and stowage."
52. To who? The later quartos and folios (3d and 4th) read “Tɔ
whom?" See Gr. 274.
As Steevens remarks, it is singular that Cassio should ask this ques-
tion. Cf. iii. 3. 94 fol. below. Blackstone suggests that his ignorance is
affected, in order to keep his friend's secret until it should be publicly
known.
53. Have with you.
55. Be advis'd. Be
56. To bad intent. Cf. T. of S. i. 2. 199:
that intent?" Gr. 186.
I'll go with you. See A. Y. L. p. 146.
cautious, take heed.
59. Keep up, etc.
65. If she, etc.
67. Opposite.
See p. 29 above.
See M. N. D. p. 126.
Why came I hither but to
This line is not in the Ist quarto.
Opposed, averse. Cf. Lear, ii. 1. 51:
'Seeing how loathly opposite I stood
To his unnatural purpose," etc.
68. Curled. Foppish, elegant. Cf. A. and C. v. 2. 304; "the curled
Antony," etc.
ACT I. SCENE III.
161
70. Guardage. Guardianship; used by S. nowhere else.
71. To fear, not to delight. "To one more likely to terrify than de-
light her" (Malone). Steevens and Schmidt make fear and delight
verbs.
72-77. Judge... thee.
thee. Omitted in 1st quarto. For me, see on i. I.
49 above; and cf. 7. C. i. 2. 270, Ham. ii. 2. 601, etc.
Gross in sense.
74. Minerals.
44
""
Palpable to reason (Clarke).
Cf. ii. 1. 284 below: "like a poisonous mineral," etc.
75. Weaken motion. "Subdue the impulse of affection" (Clarke). Cf.
i. 3. III:
"Did you by indirect and forced courses
Subdue and poison this young maid's affections?"
Or it may mean "impair the faculties," as Ritson explains it; referring
to the power attributed to love potions or philters "of perverting and of
course weakening or impairing both the sight and judgment, and of pro-
curing fondness or dotage toward any unworthy object." Schmidt gives
a similar explanation. Hanmer changed weaken to "waken," taking
motion to have the same sense as in i. 3. 328 below.
Disputed on. Argued in court, made the subject of judicial investiga-,
tion.
77. Attach. Arrest; a law term. Cf. R. and J. v. 3. 173: "whoe'er
you find attach." See also Hen. VIII. i. 1, 217, i. 2. 210, etc.
78. Abuser of the world. Corrupter of the community.
83. Cue. For the literal and figurative use of the word in S., see Ham.
p. 213.
86. Course of direct session. The regular course of legal proceedings.
SCENE III.-I. Composition. Consistency, agreement.
News. Both singular and plural in S. See Much Ado, p. 125, and cf.
32 below.
.
•
do
5. Jump. Agree. Cf. T. N. v. 1. 259: "till each circumstance.
cohere and jump." So jump with, as in M. of V. ii. 9. 32, 1 Hen. IV. i. 2.
78, etc. Just exact; as in Much Ado, ii. 1. 375 : a just seven-night;"
M. of V. iv. I. 327: "a just pound," etc.
6. Where the aim reports. "Where men report, not by certain knowl-
edge, but by aim or conjecture" (Johnson).
(Johnson). Cf. J. C. i. 2. 163 : "What
you would work me to, I have some aim," etc. The quartos have "they
aim;" and the Coll. MS. "with the same reports."
10. I do not, etc. "I do not feel so over-confident on account of the
error that may be in these reports, but that I can perceive ground for
dread in the main particular" (Clarke). For fearful full of fear, see
J.
7. C. p. 175.
Omitted in Ist quarto.
What say you to, etc. Cf. M. of V. i. 2. 58 :
lord?" and see note in our ed. p. 132.
By any test of reason. For the double
16. By Signior Angelo.
17. How say you by, etc.
"How say you by the French
18. By no assay of reason.
negative, see Gr. 406.
The word is commonly applied to a theat-
Pageant. Show, pretence.
rical exhibition. See M. N. D. p. 163.
L
162
NOTES.
20. Importancy. Used by S. nowhere else.
23. With more facile question bear it. "With greater facility of con-
test carry it" (Clarke). Question=“trial and decision by force of arms,
as the ultima ratio regum" (Schmidt).
24. For that, etc.
Because it is not in such warlike condition of de-
fence. Brace literally means armour; as in Per. ii. 1. 133. Cf. vantbrace
in T. and C. i. 3. 297.
30. Wage. Hazard, encounter.
33. Oltomites.
35. Injointed.
2 Hen. IV. iv. 1.
36. Ay, etc.
37. Re-stem.
sterne.
Cf. 1 Hen. IV. iv. 4. 20:
"too weak
To wage an instant trial with the king.
Ottomans. Cf. 235 and ii. 3. 171 below.
Joined, allied. Cf. insinewed in the same sense in
172 (see also K. John, v. 2. 63).
This line is not in the 1st quarto.
The first quarto has "resterine," the other quartos “re-
42. To believe him.
That is, not to doubt the truth of this intelligence
(Johnson). Sr. and Keightley read "relieve."
44 Luccicos. The reading of all the early eds. changed by Capell to
"Lucchese" because it is not an Italian form. K. suggests that it is
probably the name of "a Greek soldier of Cyprus-an Estradiot-one
who from his local knowledge was enabled to give him information."
46. Post-post-haste. See on i. 2. 37 above.
48. Valiant Othello, etc. Reed quotes Thomas, Hist. of Italye: "By
lande they are served of straungers, both for generalls, for capitaines, and
for all other men of warre: because theyr lawe permitteth not any Vene-
tian to be capitaine over an armie by lande: Fearing, I thinke, Cæsar's
example." See p. 154 above.
49. Ottoman. Schmidt is doubtful whether this is noun or adjective.
We are inclined to think it the latter. S. uses the word only here.
52. Good your grace. See Gr. 13.
56. Is of so flood-gate, etc. That is, has the impetuosity of a flood
rushing through an open sluice. Cf. Hen. V. i. I. 33 :
"Never came reformation in a flood,
With such a heady currance, scouring faults.”
57. Engluts. Swallows up. Cf. Hen. V. iv. 3. 83:
"For certainly thou art so near the gulf,
Thou needs must be englutted."
61. Mountebanks. Quacks. Cf. Ham. iv. 7. 142: "I bought an unc-
tion of a mountebank," etc. The word is used as a verb (= gull) in Cor.
iii. 2. 132.
63. Being, etc. This line is not in the 1st quarto.
64. Sans. See A. Y. L. p. 163.
67. The bloody book of law. By the Venetian law the giving of love-
potions was highly criminal (Clarke).
69. Proper.
selves;" M. for M. iii. 1. 413: "his proper tongue," etc.
Own; as often. Cf. Temp. iii. 3. 60:
"their proper
70. Stood in your action. Were the subject of your accusation. See
on i. 1. 141 above.
ACT I. SCENE III.
163
82. Soft. The folio reading; the quartos have "set." Cf. Cor. iii. 2. 82:
90. Round.
"Thou art their soldier, and being bred in broils
Hast not the soft way which, thou dost confess,
Were fit for thee to use,
"" etc.
Plain, direct. See Hen. V. p. 175. For the adverb
(=directly) see Ham. p. 203. For unvarnish'd the 2d and 3d quartos
have "unravish'd." On deliver relate, see Ham. p. 186.
94 I won his daughter. The later folios add "with." See on i. 2. 17
above, and cf. T. of A. iv. 3. 262: "more than I could frame employ-
ment" (for); Cymb. ii. 4. 68: "well worth watching " (for), etc.
96. Herself. Itself. Cf. Gr. 229.
105. Conjur'd. Charmed by incantations. For the accent, see M. N.
D. p. 164.
107. More wider. More apparent or obvious (Schmidt). For the
double comparative, see Gr. 11. The quartos have "more certaine ;"
and the Ist folio joins this speech to the preceding.
Overt test. Open proofs, external evidence " Johnson).
108. Thin habits. Superficial appearances.
109. Modern. Common, insignificant. See Macb. p. 243.
115. Sagittary. See on i. 1. 148 above.
118. The trust, etc. The line is not in the 1st quarto; neither is 123
just below.
124. Justly. Truthfully. Cf. M. for M. v. 1. 298: "Look you speak
justly," etc.
125. Thrive. Prosper, succeed. Cf. M. of V. ii. 7. 60:
choose, and thrive I as I may," etc.
"Here do I
See A. Y. L. p. 171.
136. Scapes. Not "'scapes," as often printed.
139. Portance in my. The reading of the folios and 2d and 3d quar-
tos. The 1st quarto has "with it all my." Portance=conduct, deport-
ment; as Cor. ii. 3. 232: his present portance.
140. Antres. Caverns (Latin, antrum); found only here.
Idle. Barren, unproductive; the reading of the quartos and 1st folio.
Wiclif has "The earth was idel and voide." The later folios read
"wild." Cf. idleness=want of cultivation, in 323 below and in Hen. V.
v. 2. 51.
142. It was my hint. I had occasion. Cf. hint subject, in Temp. i.
2. 134, ii. 1. 3. etc.
143. Cannibals.
Also alluded to in 3 Hen. VI. i. 4. 152, v. 5. 61. In
2 Hen. IV. ii. 4. 180 Pistol confounds the word with " Hannibals."
144. Anthropophagi. Man - eaters. The quartos print "Anthro-
pophagie," and the 1st folio "Antropophague." Raleigh, in his Dis-
coverie of Guiana, 1596, mentions the Amazons, the Cannibals, and the
"nation of people whose heads appear not above their shoulders." So
Hakluyt, in his Voyages, 1598, speaks of a people "whose heades appeare
not above their shoulders: they are reported to have their eyes in their
shoulders, and their mouthes in the middle of their breasts." In Ho!-
land's Pliny, 1601, we read of " Anthropophagi, or eaters of man's flesh,
whom we have placed above the north pole, tenne daies journey by land
above the river Borysthenes," etc., and of people "without heads stand-
164
NOTES.
ing upon their neckes who carrie eies in their shoulders." Hall, in his
Quo Vadis, refers to "headlesse Easterne people that have their eyes in
their breasts, a misconceit arising from the fashion of their attire," etc.
Steevens quotes the tragedy of Locrine, 1595:
"Or where the bloody Anthropophagi
With greedy jaws devour the wandring wights."
Cf. Temp. iii. 3. 46 :
147. Still.
"or that there were such men
Whose heads stood in their breasts?
Ever, very often. Gr. 69.
149. A greedy ear. Malone cites Marlowe, Lust's Dominion, written
before 1593:
""
Hang both your greedy ears upon my lips;
Let them devour my speech;'
and Spenser, F. Q. vi. 9. 26 :
46
153. Dilate.
Whylest thus he talkt, the knight with greedy eare
Hong still upon his melting mouth attent.
""
Relate at length. Cf. C. of E. i. 1. 123 :
"Do me the favour to dilate at full
What hath befall'n of them and thee till now."
So dilated detailed in A. W. ii. 1. 59 and Ham. i. 2. 38.
=
155. Intentively. Attentively. The 1st folio has "instinctively," and
the other folios "distinctively." Steevens cites Chapman, Iliad, x.:
"with intentive ear;" and Odyssey, viii.: "intentively retaine." Bul-
lokar, in his Expositor, 1616, has "Intentive, which listeneth well and is
earnestly bent to a thing;" and Cockerham, in his Dict. of Hard Words,
1632, “Intentive, that listeneth."
159. Sighs. The quarto reading; the folios have "kisses," which is
inconsistent with the character of Desdemona (see 94 above), and with
what follows.
160. Passing. Often used adverbially, but only before adjectives and
adverbs (Schmidt).
On swore, cf. Whitaker's Vindication of Mary Queen of Scots (quoted
by Steevens): "Let not the modern reader be hurt here and in para-
graph x. at a Lady, a Queen, and a Mary, swearing. To aver upon faith
and honour, was then called swearing, equally with a solemn appeal to
GOD; and considered as the same with it.
""
163. Her. That is, for her; though some take it to mean that she
would fain have been such a man. The former explanation is favoured
by what follows.
167. Hint. The folio reading; the quartos have "heate."
173. Take up, etc.
well as possible, in T.
177. On my head.
"lite") on me."
That is, make the best of it. Cf. at the best=as
of A. iii. 6. 29, etc.
The folio reading; the quartos have "light (or
"Where nature doth with
183. Learn. Teach. See Much Ado, p. 153 or A. Y. L. p. 141.
188. Challenge. Claim. Cf. Lear, i. 1. 54 :
merit challenge," etc.
ACT I. SCENE III.
165
190. Please it your grace.
See A. Y. L. p. 138, note on So please you,
or M. of V. p. 134, note on If it please you.
191. Had rather to. See M. of V. p. 132, note on I had rather to be
married.
194. Which, etc.
195. For your.
This line is omitted in the 1st quarto.
66
Hanmer reads And for your" for the sake of the
measure. Cf. Gr. 484.
197. Escape. Clarke thinks the word may have the sense of "sally,
prank" (Fr. escapade) in addition to that of "flight, elopement."
199. Like yourself. "In a strain of resignation to that which is ir-
retrievably past and gone, like yours when you say 'I have done""
(Clarke). Sir J. Reynolds explains it: "Let me speak as yourself would
speak, were you not too much heated with passion."
200. Grise. Step, degree. Cf. T. M. iii. 1. 135:
"Olivia.
That's a degree to love.
"Viola. No, not a grise;"
and T. of A. iv. 3. 16: "every grise of fortune."
201. Into your favour. Omitted in the folios.
202. When remedies, etc. Cf. L. L. L. v. 2. 28: "past cure is still
past care."
205. Next. Nearest. Cf. W. T. iii. 3. 129: "the next way home;" I
Hen. IV. iii. 1. 264: "T is the next way to turn tailor," etc.
For new
the quartos have "more."
213. The free comfort, etc. "The gratuitous sentiments of consola-
tion which he hears delivered together with the sentence" (Clarke).
219. Pierced. Penetrated, reached. Cf. M. of V. v. I. 67: "With
sweetest touches pierce your mistress' ear," etc. Warb. would read
"pieced "=cured.
220. Beseech you, etc. The quarto reading; the 1st and 2d folios
have" I humbly beseech you, proceed to the affairs of state."
222. Fortitude. Strength. Cf. 1 Hen. VI. ii. 1. 17: "his own arm's
fortitude."
224. Allowed. Acknowledged; as in Hen. VIII. ii. 4. 4:
all sides the authority allow'd," etc.
"And on
225. More safer. Cf. "more wider " in 107 above; also Temp. i. 2
19: more better," etc.
เ
226. Slubber. Sully, soil. S. uses the word only here and in M. of V.
ii. 8. 39: "Slubber (=slight, slur over) not business for my sake;" but
we have beslubber (=daub, smear) in 1 Hen. IV. ii. 4. 341.
For the metaphor, cf. Much Ado, iii. 2. 6: "that would be as great a
soil in the new gloss of your marriage," etc.; and Macb. i. 7. 34 : "Which
should be worn now in their newest gloss."
229. Couch. The quartos have "cooch," the folios "coach.'
230. Thrice-driven. Referring to the selection of the feathers by
driving with a fan, to separate the light from the heavy (Johnson).
Agnize. Acknowledge, confess, avow. Malone quotes A Summarie
Report, etc., 1586: "a repentant convert, agnising her Maiesties great
mercie," etc.
166
NOTES.
232 Hardness. Hardship; as in Cymb. iii. 6. 21: "hardness ever
Of hardiness is mother."
236. Reference. Assignment.
4th folios) has "reuerence.
""
The 1st quarto (followed by 3d and
Exhibition. Provision, allowance; as in T. G. of V. i. 3. 69 :
"What maintenance he from his friends receives,
Like exhibition thou shalt have from me."
See also iv. 3. 72 below.
273. Besort.
Befitting attendance " (Clarke). Schmidt defines ac-
commodation and besort as "besorting or convenient accommodation.”
We find the verb in Lear, i. 4. 272: "such men as may besort (=be-
come, befit) your age."
238. Levels with. Is in keeping with.
If you please, etc.
The 1st folio has "Why at her Fathers?" the
other folios, "Why, at her Fathers."
240. Nor I; I would not. The folios have " Nor would I."
243. To my unfolding. To what I say.
etc.
Cf. M. W. i. 3. 105, ii. 2. 227,
For your prosperous (that is, propitious, favouring) the quartos have
"a gracious." Cf. T. of A. v. I. 186: “To the protection of the pros-
perous gods."
244. And let me, etc. "Let your favour privilege me" (Johnson).
245. Simpleness. Simplicity. See Much Ado, p. 141.
247. That I did love, etc. "Here is a notable instance of the way in
which S. makes his most gentle women speak out firmly and eloquent-
ly when stress of need comes. Desdemona, since her entrance, has re-
mained silent, save when directly appealed to by her father, when sec-
onding her husband's fiat by echoing his 'Nor I,' and now when replying
to the Duke's question. Desdemona is gentle even to timidity; but,
like many women whose gentleness of nature has been wrought into
timidity by a too rigid strictness on the part of those who bring them
up, she is capable of singularly bold action and self-assertion on rare
occasions. Her independent act in leaving her father's house, and
marrying the man of her choice, is precisely characteristic of the one,
Encour-
and her present speech is an eminent specimen of the other.
aged by loving treatment, she is capable of exerting moral strength;
chilled by severity, she is a moral coward. Desdemona has the virtues.
of a gentle-natured woman; but, alas! she also has the faults of a timid
woman" (Clarke).
248. My downright violence, etc. The bold action I have taken, and
the stormy fortunes I have voluntarily encountered, in order to marry
him. The Ist quarto has "scorne of Fortunes.
Ma-
249. Subdued, etc. Made subject to the very nature of my lord.
lone makes quality profession, but the next line favours the other ex-
planation. For very quality the 1st quarto has "utmost pleasure."
255. A moth.
"Figuratively, an idle eater " (Schmidt).
258. Dear. Deeply felt. See Rich. II. p. 164 or Temp. p. 124
259. Let her have your voices. The folio has "voice." The quarto
reading is
ACT I SCENE III
167
"Your voyces Lords: beseech you let her will
Have a free way.'
260. Vouch with me, heaven. Omitted in Ist quarto.
The read-
**
262, 263. Nor to comply, etc. A much disputed passage. The quartos
have "heate, the young affects, In my defunct;" the 1st folio,
"heat the
yong affects ("effects" in later folios) In my defunct," etc.
ing in the text is Rann's. The meaning is, "I ask it not to please ap-
petite, or satisfy loose desires, the passions of youth which I have now
outlived, or for any particular gratification of myself, but merely that I
may indulge the wishes of my wife" (Johnson). Theo. reads “heat, the
young affects, In my distinct," etc.; Malone changes "distinct to "dis-
junct." For other attempts at emendation, see the Var. of 1821 and the
Camb. ed. For affects inclinations, desires, cf. L. L. L. i. 1. 152:
"For
every man with his affects is born," etc. It has been said that Othello
would hardly "confess that all youthful passions were defunct in him ;”
but it may be replied that he only means, as the connection shows, that
their early impetuosity is past-that he can control them, and is no
longer controlled by them. In iii. 3. 265, he again alludes to the fact
that he is not a young man, but "declined into the vale of years." After
all, the passage is not without its difficulties; but the reading in the
text is quite as satisfactory as any of the freer emendations that have
been proposed.
264. Free. Liberal, bountiful.
free;" T. and C. iv. 5. 100: "His
free," etc.
Cf. 1 Hen. VI. v.
Cf. 1 Hen. VI. v. 4. 82 ; “liberal and
heart and hand both open and both
265. Defend. Forbid. See Much Ado, p. 129.
266. Scant. Be deficient in, neglect. Cf. iv. 3. 88 below.
267. For. Because. See M1. of V. p. 134, note on For he is a Christian.
Toys. Trifles. Cf. 1 Hen. VI. iv. 1. 145 : "a toy, a thing of no regard."
See also M. N. D. p. 179.
268. Seel. Blind; a term in falconry. See Macb. p. 212.
tos have "foyles," and the Coll. MS. gives "foil."
The quar-
269. Offic'd. The folio reading; the quartos have "active." In either
case, the meaning is "my visual and active powers. So speculation=vis-
ion; as in Macb. iii. 4. 95: "no speculation in those eyes," etc.
270. Disports. Sports, pastimes; as in R. of L. arg. 11: "in several
disports."
271. Skillet. A small kettle or boiler; still a familiar word in New
England.
272. Indign. Unworthy, disgraceful; used by S. only here.
273. Estimation. The folio reading; the quartos have "reputation,"
which means the same.
282. Import, Concern. Cf. L. L. L. iv. 1. 57: "This letter is mistook,
it imparteth none here," etc.
285. With what else, etc. That is, whatever else your grace shall think
needful, etc. For many similar transpositions, see Gr. 419. Cf. v. 2. 4
below.
287, And, noble signior. Most editions insert here the stage direction,
"To Brabantio," but the speech itself shows to whom it is addressed.
168
NOTES.
$
288. Delighted. "Delighting" (Hanmer's reading) or delightful. Cf
Cymb, v. 4. 102:
"to make my gift,
The more delay'd, delighted."
=
Cf. becomed becoming, in R. and J. iv. 2. 26, etc.
291. If thou hast eyes to see. The 1st quarto reads “have a quick eye
to see."
Coleridge observes here: "In real life, how do we look back to little
speeches as presentimental of, or contrasted with, an affecting event!
Even so Shakespeare, as secure of being read over and over, of becoming
a family friend, provides this passage for his readers, and leaves it to them."
296. In the best advantage. At the most favourable opportunity. Cf.
ii. 1. 237 and iii. 3. 312 below.
•
304. Incontinently. Immediately. It is used by S. only here, but we
have incontinent in the same sense iniv. 3. 11 below. See also A. Y. L.
v. 2. 42 and Rich. II. v. 6. 48.
311. Four times seven years.
"It is remarkable that S. has here taken
pains to specify the exact age of Iago, as he has specified that of Hamlet.
They are perhaps the two most intellectual characters that our poet has
drawn; and he has made them nearly of the same age, as if at that period
of life a man's intellect were at its culminating point of activity and en-
ergy.. That Iago should be no more than twenty-eight years old, and
yet so versed in worldly ways, so decided in his opinions, so competent
in stratagem, so expert in turning the worthiest as well as the weakest
points of human nature to his purpose, so utterly without faith in good-
ness as he is, makes him the more an innate villain. His cynical con-
tempt is not the growth of sad experience or soured feeling, his coarse-
ness and hardness are not the result of a long course of battling with the
world, the savage pertinacity of revenge is not the offspring of an old-
conceived resentment; but he is a hard, cold-blooded, almost vivacious
scoundrel, from inherent disposition, who uses his keen intellect with the
same fierce joy in its skill and power to destroy that he uses his sharp
dagger or sword" (Clarke).
314. A guinea-hen. A cant term for a woman of loose character.
317. Fond. Foolish; as often. See M. N. D. p. 163.
318. Virtue! a fig, etc. Coleridge remarks:
Coleridge remarks: "This speech comprises
the passionless character of Iago. It is all will in intellect; and there-
fore he is here a bold partisan of a truth, but yet of a truth converted into
a falsehood by the absence of all the necessary modifications caused by
the frail nature of man. And then comes the last sentiment:
"Our raging motions, our carnal stings, our unbitted lusts, whereof I take this that
you
call love to be a sect or scion!'
Here is the true Iagoism of, alas! how many! Note Iago's pride of
mastery in the repetition of 'Go, make money!' to his anticipated dupe,
even stronger than his love of lucre; and when Roderigo is completely
won-
"I am chang'd. I'll go sell all my land;'
when the effect has been fully produced, the repetition of triumph-
"Go to: farewell; put money enough in your purse!'
ACT I. SCENE III.
169
The remainder-Iago's soliloquy-the motive-hunting of a motiveless
malignity-how awful it is! Yea, whilst he is still allowed to bear the
divine image, it is too fiendish for his own steady view-for the lonely
gaze of a being next to devil, and only not quite devil-and yet a char
acter which Shakspeare has attempted and executed without disgust and
without scandal !" See also p. 31 fol. above.
322. Gender. Kind. Cf. The Phonix and the Turtle, 18: "thy sable
gender."
323. Idleness. See on i. 3. 140 above.
325. Balance. The folios have
takes to be a misprint for "beam."
brain"
or "braine," which Steevens
328. Motions. Sensual impulses. For stings, see A. Y. L. p. 164, note
on The brutish sting. Unbitted=unbridled.
to
330. Sect. Cutting; changed by Hanmer to slip," and by Johnson
Cf. Hen. V. iv. 5. 7:
set.
""
335. Perdurable. An emphatic form of durable.
"O perdurable shame!" So perdurably=lastingly, in M. for M. iii. 1. 115.
336. Stead. Help, be of use to; as in Temp. i. 2. 165, M. of V. i. 3. 7,
R. and F. ii. 3. 54, etc.
Disfigure or disguise thy face.
Cf. Gen. xxix. 17, etc.
337. Defeat thy favour.
face, see J. C. p. 131.
342. Sequestration.
""
For favour=
Separation, rupture. Cf. Hen. V. i. 1. 58:
Any retirement, any sequestration
From open haunts and popularity."
Sequester is used in the same sense in iii. 4. 39 below.
344. Locusts. Perhaps here called luscious from their association with
honey in Matt. iii. 4 (Schmidt).
345. Coloquintida. Colocynth, or "bitter apple." Bullein, in his Bul-
wark of Defence, 1579, speaks of it as "most bitter, white like a baule, full
of seedes, leaves like to cucumbers," etc.
351. Erring, Erratic, wandering; as in Ham. i. 1. 154:
agant and erring spirit," etc.
"The extrav-
Supersubtle. Used by S. nowhere else. Cf. superdainty (T. of S. ii. 1.
189), superfinical (Lear, ii. 2. 19), etc.
J.
354. Clean. Entirely. Cf. 7. C. i. 3. 35: "clean from the purpose,"
See also Josh. iii. 17, Ps. lxxvii. 8, etc.
etc.
357. If I depend on the issue. Omitted in 1st quarto.
361. Hearted. Seated or fixed in the heart. Cf. iii. 3. 436 below:
'hearted throne."
362. Conjunctive. Conjoined, united. Cf. Ham. iv. 7. 14: "conjunc-
tive to my life and soul." The 1st quarto has "communicative."
365. Traverse. A military word of command = march, go on (Schmidt).
Cf. 2 Hen. IV. iii. 2. 291: "Hold, Wart, traverse.
370-374. Go to
·
Ist folio reads thus:
(
""
purse. The reading of the 2d and 3d quartos. The
Iago. Go too, farewell, Do you heare, Rodorigo?
Rod. Ile sell all my Land.
Exit.
"Iago. Thus do I euer make my Foole, my purse:
Some modern eds. follow the folio.
170
NOTES.
376. Snipe. "Woodcock is the term generally used by S. to denote
an insignificant fellow [see Ham. p. 191]; but Iago is more sarcastic,
and compares his dupe to a smaller and meaner bird" (Steevens).
378. It is thought, etc. Snider (System of Shakespeare's Dramas, vol.
i. p. 112 fol.) endeavours to show that Iago is really jealous of Othello,
and that the latter has been guilty of adultery with Emilia, but it does
not seem to us that he makes out his case.
381. Will do, etc. "That is, I will act as if I were certain of the
fact" (Mason).
Holds me well. Thinks well of me. See Much Ado, p. 144.
383. Proper. Comely, handsome. See Mer. p. 132 or A. Y. L. p. 143.
384. To plume up my will, etc. "This, in Iago's mouth, has most
characteristic effect; as if any project that involved reduplication of
knavery were a feather in the cap of his depraved will-a thing to plume
himself upon as a feat of intellectual volition. The words S. chooses
are so significant, so inclusive, that they suggest a crowd of images in
their expressive conciseness" (Clarke). For plume the 1st quarto has
"make."
386. Abuse. Deceive, delude. See on i. 1. 163 above.
388. Dispose.
Disposition, temper. Cf. T. and C. ii. 3. 174 :
"He doth rely on none,
But carries on the stream of his dispose
Without observance or respect of any," etc.
ACT II.
SCENE I-A Seaport in Cyprus. Undoubtedly Famagusta, which
was the chief port of the island at that time. See p. 154 above.
2. High-wrought. S. is fond of compounds with high; as high-battled,
high-judging, high-reared, high-resolved, high-sighted, high-stomached, etc.
3. Heaven. Sky. The 1st quarto has "haven."
5. At land. We still say at sea, but not at land. In Florio's Mon-
taigne we find "at shore." Cf. Gr. 143, 144-
7. Ruffian'd. Played the ruffian, been boisterous; the only instance
of the verb in S. Cf. 2 Hen. IV. iii. 1. 22: "the ruffian billows;" and T.
and C. i. 3. 38: "the ruffian Boreas."
8. Mountains melt. Perhaps suggested by Judges, v. 5 :
tains melted from before the Lord" (Steevens).
"The moun-
10. Segregation. Separation, dispersion; used by S. only here.
""
""
12. The chidden billow. The quartos have "chiding. S. often uses
chide in the sense of "to make an incessant noise. Cf. A. Y. L. ii. 1. 7 :
"And churlish chiding of the winter's wind;" Hen. VIII. iii. 2. 197: “As
doth a rock against the chiding flood," etc. In M. N. D. iv. I. 120, it is
used of the baying of hounds.
13. Wind-shak'd. We have wind-shaken in Cor. v. 2. 117: "the oak
S. uses shaked, shook, and shaken as the par-
not to be wind-shaken."
ticiple.
ACT II. SCENE I.
171
Mane. The quartos have "mayne," the folios "maine," or "main."
Most of the modern eds. give "main" (=force, as in "might and
main "), which is quite as likely to be right.
15. The guards, etc. Johnson says, "alluding to the star Arctophy-
lax."
The constellation now known as Bootes was originally called
Arctophylax, or Arcturus, both of which names mean the guard or keeper
of the bear. The name Arcturus was afterwards given to the principal
star in the constellation. We have no doubt that the guards of the pole
here are the two stars commonly called the Pointers. The 1st quarto
reads "ever-fired."
16. Molestation. Disturbance; used nowhere else by S.
17. Enchafed chafed (see F. C. p. 131), enraged. Cf. Cymb. iv. 2.
174: "Their royal blood enchaf'd.”
18. Embay'd.
see Gr. 440.
Land-locked. For these words with the prefix en-,
22. Designment. Design, enterprise. Cf. Cor. v. 6. 35: "serv'd his
designments."
23. Sufferance. Disaster..
"}
"
25, 26. The early eds. put a colon after in, and a comma after Vero-
nese, which the quartos spell "Veronessa," and the 1st folio "Veren-
nessa. Theo. changed the pointing to "in, A Veronessa; Michael,'
etc., and is followed by some of the recent editors, who take the ship to
be"
one fitted out by the people of Verona, a city of the Venetian state."
This is a rather forced explanation; and, as a choice of difficulties, it
seems better to suppose that S. forgot for the moment that he had made
Cassio a Florentine, or that he chose to let the speaker call him a Ver-
onese. Veronese may be metrically a quadrisyllable; some print it
"Veronesé."
30. On 't.
Of it. See Gr. 181. For 't is, cf. Macb. i. 4. 58: “It is a
peerless kinsman ;" T. of A. iii. 1. 23: a noble gentleman 't is," etc.
Oftener it is used contemptuously; as in M. of V. iii. 3. 18, Hen. V. iii. 6.
70, A. and C. iii. 2. 6, etc.
34. With. By. See Gr. 193.
36. Full.
man.
"
Complete, perfect. Cf. A. and C. iii. 13. 87: "the fullest
•
Regard=
39, 40. Even till.. regard. Omitted in 1st quarto.
view; as in L. C. 213: "The deep-green emerald, in whose fresh re-
gard," etc.
42. Arrivance. Arrival. The Ist folio has "Arriuancie." Clarke
notes that there is an unusual number of words in -ce in this play.
49. Expert and approv'd allowance. That is, allowed and proved ex-
pertness. See Ham. p. 271, note on Excellent differences.
50. My hopes, etc. 'My hopes, not having been utterly destroyed by
reiterated false excitement and successive defeat, remain in confident ex-
pectation of being fulfilled" (Clarke). Malone compares T. N. i. 1. 2:
"Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken and so die;"
and T. G. of V iii. 1. 220;
172
NOTES.
"O, I have fed upon this woe already,
And now excess of it will make me surfeit."
Henley cites Prov. xiii. 12: "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick."
60. Wiv'd. Cf. M. of V. i. 2. 145 : "I had rather he should shrive me
than wive me ;" 2 Hen. IV. i. 2. 61 : manned, horsed, and wived," etc.
61. Achiev'd. Won; as in M. of V. iii. 2. 210: "Achiev'd her mis-
tress," etc.
Coleridge remarks: Here is Cassio's warm-hearted, yet perfectly
disengaged, praise of Desdemona, and sympathy with the most fortu-
nately' wived Othello; and yet Cassio is an enthusiastic admirer, almost
a worshipper, of Desdemona. O, that detestable code that excellence
cannot be loved in any form that is female but it must needs be selfish!
Observe Othello's 'honest,' and Cassio's 'bold' Iago, and Cassio's full
guileless-hearted wishes for the safety and love-raptures of Othello and
the divine Desdemona.' And also note the exquisite circumstance of
Cassio's kissing Iago's wife, as if it ought to be impossible that the dull-
est auditor should not feel Cassio's religious love of Desdemona's purity.
Iago's answers are the sneers which a proud, bad intellect feels towards
women, and expresses to a wife. Surely it ought to be considered a
very exalted compliment to women, that all the sarcasms on them in
Shakspeare are put in the mouths of villains."
63. Quirks. Conceits; as in Much Ado, ii. 3. 245: "odd quirks and
remnants of wit," etc. Blazoning praising, extolling; as in R. and J.
ii. 6. 26: "and that thy skill be more To blazon it," etc.
64. The essential vesture of creation. "The real qualities with which
creation has invested her " (Johnson). S. uses essential nowhere else.
65. Does tire the enginer. Wearies out the inventor (Schmidt); or
tires whoever attempts to devise eulogies worthy of her. The 1st quarto
has "Does beare all excellency ;" the Ist folio, "Do's tyre the Ingeniuer."
Steevens reads "ingener"=ingenious person, or artist; and cites B. J.
Sejanus, i. I :
No, Silius, we are no good ingeners,
We want the fine arts," etc.
Johnson suggests "th' ingenious verse," Capell gives "tire the inventer,"
and Jervis conjectures "tire the imaginer." The reading in the text is
doubtful, but it is preferable to the tame phrase of the quarto.
70. Ensteep'd. The reading of the folios and 2d and 3d quartos. The
Ist quarto has "enscerped," which W. takes to be a misprint of "en-
scarp'd." Boswell explains traitors ensteep'd as traitors concealed
under the water;" and Schmidt defines ensteeped as "steeped, lying
under water.'
>>
72. Mortal. Deadly, destructive. See Rich. II. p. 189 or Macb. p.
171.
74. Captain's captain. Cf. Rich. III. iv. 4. 336: "And she shall be
sole victress, Cæsar's Cæsar."
77. Se'nnight's. See A. Y. L. p. 177. We have seven-night in Much
Ado, ii. 1. 375 and W. T. i. 2. 17.
Jove. "For this absurdity I have not the smallest doubt that the
Master of the Revels, and not our poet, is answerable" (Malone).
ACT II. SCENE I.
173
Clarke remarks: "Far from thinking that there is either 'absurdity' in
the word, or that it was a substitution for any other, we believe it to have
been the author's own word, characteristically put into Cassio's mouth
here. To this day Italians use mythological adjurations in common
with Christian apprals; and in Shakespeare's time the custom was
almost universal."
80. Extincted. Used by S. only here; but we have extinct in Rich.
II. i. 3. 222 and Ham. i. 3. 118, and extincture in L. C. 294.
81. And bring, etc. This line is found only in the quartos.
82. Riches. Singular, as in iii. 3. 173 below. Cf. Sonn. 87. 6: "for
that riches," etc.
86. Enwheel. Encompass. Gr. 440.
103. List. Desire, inclination; the reading of Ist quarto. The folios
and later quartos have "leave," and the Coll. MS. "lust."
106. Chides. Scolds; as in A. Y. L. iii. 5. 64, 65, etc.
110. Saints in your injuries. Sanctimonious when doing injuries.
III. Housewives. Often used contemptuously=hussies. Cf. iv. 1. 87
below, and see Hen. V. p. 183.
118. Critical. Censorious; as in M. N. D. v. 1. 54 :
some satire,
keen and critical." S. uses the word only twice; but he has critic in the
same sense in L. L. L. iv. 3. 170: "critic Timon." The noun also is
always censurer, carper; as in Sonn. 112. 10, T. and C. v. 2. 131, etc.
=
121. I am not merry, etc. "The struggle of courtesy in Desdemona
to abstract her attention" (Coleridge).
125. Birdlime. For the allusion, see IIam. p. 233, note on Limed.
Frize is a coarse woollen cloth, mentioned again in M. W. v. 5. 146.
Steevens quotes The Puritan: "The excuse stuck upon my tongue, like
ship-pitch upon a mariner's gown."
132. White.
There is a play on white and wight (Schmidt); and in
135 just below, one on folly, which was often wantonness. See on v. 2.
132 below.
=
137. Fond. Foolish; as in i. 3. 317 above,
142. Heavy. Dull. Cf. K. John, iv. I. 47:
time," etc.
"cheer'd up the heavy
144. One that, etc. One who, in the consciousness of her own merit,
dare challenge the testimony of malice itself in her behalf.
153. To change, etc. As (Gr. 281) to change a choice bit for one less
esteemed. Steevens cites Queen Elizabeth's Household Book "Item,
the Master Cookes have to fee all the salmon's tailes."
155. See suitors, etc. This line is not in the 1st quarto.
156. Wight. Originally=person, and applied to both sexes. Cf. Dray-
ton, Muses' Elys. :
"These sprightly gallants lov'd a lass,
Call'd Lirope the bright;
In the whole world there scarcely was
So delicate a wight.'
>>
158. Chronicle small beer. That is, keep petty household accounts.
161. Profane and liberal counsellor. Coarse and wanton talker.
profane, cf. 2 Hen. IV. v. 5. 54 ; and for liberal, see Ham. p. 258.
For
174
NOTES.
4.
163. Home. That is, without reserve (Schmidt). Cf. Ham. iii. 3.
29: she 'll tax him home" (reprove him soundly); Id. iii. 4. 1: "Look
you lay home to him;" M. for M. iv. 3. 148: Accuse him home and
home," etc.
165. Well said. Well done; as in iv. I. 107 and v. 1. 98 below.
167. Gyve. Fetter, shackle; the only instance of the verb in S. Court-
ship=courtesy; as in L. L. L. v. 2. 363: "Trim gallants, full of court-
ship and of state," etc.
171. Play the sir. Play the fine gentleman. For the ironical use, cf.
W. T. i. 2. 212: "this great sir;" Cymb. i. 1. 166: "To draw upon an
exile! O brave sir !" etc.
172. Courtesy. It is doubtful whether this refers to Cassio or Desde-
mona, as the word in the sense of an act of salutation was used of both
See Much Ado, p. 159, note on Courtesies; and cf. R. of L. 1338:
"The homely villain court'sies to her low."
sexes.
178. Warrior. In playful allusion to her having followed him to the
wars; and perhaps Desdemona has the present address in mind in iii. 4.
150 below. Steevens gives sundry quotations to show that English imi-
tators of the French sonneteers often called their mistresses "warriors"
(guerrières); but, as Schmidt remarks, these passages from Othello do
not prove that S. was among them.
"
My dear Othello! Exquisitely true to such a nature as Desde-
mona's, her having no more words than this simple exclamation in
which to express her full-hearted happiness; while equally true to the
glowing ardour of such a nature as Othello's is his giving way to that
burst of eloquent tenderness which describes the overflow of his manly
delight" (Clarke).
179. Content. Happiness, joy; as in 187 and 192 just below. Cf.
Hen. VIII. 4. 3 :
'this night he dedicates
To fair content and you," etc.
197. Set. Changed by Pope to "let;" but, as Malone suggests, set
down the pegs may have been the musical technicality of the time.
201. Honey. See R. and J. p. 177, note on Honey nurse.
Steevens explains well desir'd as "much solicited by invitations," but
it seems to be simply well beloved, a favourite. Othello adds, "I have
found great love amongst them.'
203. Out of fashion. "Out of conventional method" (Clarke). Cf.
Hen V. iv. 1. 85.
206. Master. That is, the
pilot, as Johnson explains it.
Macb. i. 3. 7, etc.
captain (as we still use the term), not the
Cf. Temp. i. 1. 2, 8, 11, 13, ii. 2. 48, v. 1. 99,
211. Base men, etc. "The insolent contempt with which Iago treats
Roderigo, not even caring to conceal the disdain he feels for his inferior-
ity of intellect and weak credulity, is one of the peculiarities of his tact
in swaying this poor dupe. It coolly assumes his own superiority as an
incontrovertible fact, which imposes upon his victim, and tames him into
unquestioning submission" (Clarke).
212. A nobility, etc. Malone quotes Ham. iv. 5. 161: "Nature is fine in
ACT II. SCENE I.
175
love;" and Steevens adds from Dryden: "Why love does all that 's
noble here below."
214. The court of guard. The place where the guard musters. Cf. B.
and F., The Beggar's Bush: "Visit your courts of guard, view your muni-
tion."
217. Thus. That is, on thy lips, while thou art listening to a wiser
man (Johnson).
224 Favour. Personal appearance.
226. Conveniences. Attractions.
See on i. 3. 337 above.
See on i.
227. Heave the gorge. Cf. Ham. v. 1. 207: "my gorge rises at it."
230. Pregnant. Probable, plausible; as in M. for M. ii. 1. 23: "'T is
very pregnant," etc.
232. Conscionable. Conscientious; used by S. only here.
234. Salt. Lustful, licentious; as in M. for M. v. 1. 406, A. and C. ii.
I. 21, etc.
235. Slipper. "Slippery" (the reading of the later folios). The quar-
tos have "subtle slippery."
"the
239. Green. Inexperienced; as in K. John, ii. 1. 472, Ham. i. 3. 101, etc.
243. Condition. Disposition, qualities. Cf. M. of V. i. 2. 143:
condition of a saint."
246. Blessed pudding! Omitted in the quartos.
249. Index. Prologue. The index was formerly placed at the begin-
ning of books. See Ham. p. 236.
256. Tainting. Discrediting, impugning. Cf. Hen. VIII. iii. 1. 55, etc.
257. Course. The 1st quarto has
gives.
cause," which the Coll. MS. also
260. Sudden. Hasty, impetuous. See A. Y. L. p. 167.
262. Whose qualification, etc. "Whose resentment shall not be so
qualified or tempered as to be well tasted, as not to retain some bitter-
ness (Johnson). Cf. the use of qualified in ii. 3. 30 below.
265. Prefer. Advance, promote. Cf. Hen. VIII. iv. 1. 102: "Newly
preferr'd from the king's secretary," etc.
267. Prosperity. Success; as in L. L. L. v. 2. 871: “A jest's pros-
"A
perity," etc.
271. His.
'Even the word his here in reference to Othello, without
naming him or giving him his title, has characteristic effect in Iago's
mouth as a piece of cool, off-hand, slighting mention; and is therefore
calculated to confirm the impression he wishes to produce upon Rod-
erigo of hatred towards the Moor" (Clarke).
274. Apt, etc. Natural and very credible. Cf. v. 2. 176 below: "apt
and true."
282. I do suspect, etc. See on i. 3. 378 above. For lusty the quartos
have "lustful.'
Coleridge observes here: "This thought, originally by Iago's own
confession a mere suspicion, is now ripening, and gnaws his base nature
as his own poisonous mineral' is about to gnaw the noble heart of his
general."
290. Whom I trash, etc. For trash the 1st quarto has "crush," and
the other early eds. "trace." The emendation is Steevens's, and is gen-
176
NOTES.
erally adopted. The repetition is quite in Shakespeare's manner. For
trash, a hunter's term-check, keep back, see Temp. p. 113. Iago means
that he restrains Roderigo like a hound for his too impatient pursuit of
Desdemona.
--་
For the first trash Warb. substituted "brach" (a worthless hound),
which Coll. adopts.
291. The putting on.
This refers to his picking a quarrel with Cassio,
not to his "quick hunting" of Desdemona.
292. On the hip. A term in wrestling, meaning to "have the advan-
tage of." Cf. M. of V. i. 3. 47: "If I can catch him once upon the hip ;"
and Id. iv. 1. 334: "Now, infidel, I have you on the hip."
293. In the rank garb. In the coarsest fashion. For garb, cf. Ham. ii.
2.390: comply with you in this garb," etc.
299. Knavery's plain face, etc. The full design of knavery is never
visible until the moment comes for its being put in practice. Iago's
complacent contemplation of his own villany, his willing self-admission of
scoundrelism, are thoroughly those of a man whose pride of intellect is
all-engrossing, and who has no one perception of moral beauty or dig-
nity. He can even afford to allow that the Moor is of a free and open
nature,' that he 'is of a constant, loving, noble nature,' even though he
hates him, because he holds these as very poor and contemptible charac-
teristics; he carelessly admits the possibility of his having an adulterous.
liking for Desdemona, but chooses to ascribe it quite as much to desire
of 'revenge' as preference; and remorselessly plans the ruin of Cassio
from no stronger motive than bare suspicion and professional envy; his
sovereign thought, through all, being his own superiority of intellect,
which can crush these simple good people from out his path at will, as
if they were so many miserable worms (Clarke).
SCENE II.-3. Mere perdition. Absolute destruction. Sce J. C. p. 129,
note on Merely upon myself.
3. Put himself into triumph. Give himself up to exultation. Cf. Per.
i. 3. 24 "puts himself unto the shipman's toil," etc.
5. Addiction. Inclination; as in Hen. V. i. I. 54: "Since his addiction.
was to courses vain.”
7. Nuptial. The quartos have "nuptialls." See Temp. p. 143.
8. Offices. The rooms in the castle where food and drink were pre-
pared and kept. See Rich. II. p. 159.
SCENE III.-1. Good Michael, etc. "These few words, introduced at
is juncture, are illustrative of Shakespeare's peculiar skill in dramatic
art.
They seem insignificant; but they give augmented effect to Othel-
lo's subsequent anger at Cassio's having been betrayed not only into neg-
lect of duty in preserving order, but into breach of order himself. They
also serve to set well before the mind Othello's trust and confidence in
Cassio as his chosen officer, and his liking for him as a personal friend;
calling him by his Christian name Michael, which, after the one final im-
pressive appeal to him, 'How comes it, Michael, you are thus forgot?' he
never again uses " (Clarke).
ACT II. SCENE III.
177
12. Cast. Dismissed, sent off. See on i. 1. 139 above.
17. Right modest. "It is worthy of observation how wonderfully this
brief morsel of dialogue is made to serve the dramatist's purpose in de-
velopment of character. It shows the hard intellectual calculator, Iago,
dallying with unhallowed suggestions, and presenting them to the thought
of the man whom he hopes to corrupt and sway to his purpose; while the
imagination of even the sensualist, Cassio, is held within bounds by the
more potent influence of Desdemona's pure immaculacy. It is the coun-
teracting power of virtue against vice; the might of innocence over guilt;
and, while depicting forcibly the natures of the two men, indirectly de-
notes that of the woman" (Clarke).
21. Stoup. Cup, flagon. See Ham. p. 260.
30. Craftily qualified. Slyly diluted (that is, by Cassio himself).
31. Here. That is, in my head; as a gesture shows.
37. Dislikes. Displeases, is distasteful to.
see R. and J. p. 165. Cf. Gr. 297.
43. Carous'd.
For the impersonal use,
Drunk. Cf. Ham. v. 2. 300: "The queen carouses to
thy fortune, Hamlet,” etc.
44. Pottle-deep. To the bottom of the pottle or tankard (originally a
measure of two quarts). Cf. M. W. ii. 1. 223 and iii. 5. 30. We find
pottle-pot in 2 Hen. IV. ii. 2. 83 and v. 3. 68.
45. Swelling. Cf. Hen. V. v. I. 15: "here he comes, swelling like a
turkey-cock."
46. That hold, etc. That is, are sensitive with regard to their honour,
or quick to take offence at a supposed insult.
47. The very elements. "As quarrelsome as the discordia semina re-
rum; as quick in opposition as fire and water" (Johnson). Cf. Rich. II.
iii. 3. 55:
"Methinks King Richard and myself should meet
With no less terror than the elements
Of fire and water, when their thundering shock
At meeting tears the cloudy cheeks of heaven.'
Schmidt makes elements" a pure extract, as it were,
a pure extract, as it were, the very quintes-
sence of the isle."
(4
52. If consequence, etc. If the result do but justify my expectation.
Every scheme subsisting only in the imagination may be termed a
dream" (Johnson).
54. Fore.
A rouse.
Not 'fore. See Hen. V. p. 155.
A bumper, or too deep a draught. See Ham. p. 181.
58. Canakin. A diminutive of can; used by S. only here. Steevens
cites Barclay, Ship of Fools: "some quafes ye canakin halfe full."
69. Exquisite. The 1st quarto and some modern eds. have "expert."
Cf. B. and F., The Captain:
"Lod. Are the Englishmen
Such stubborn drinkers?
"Piso.
not a leak at sea
Can suck more liquor; you shali have their children
Christen'd in mull'd sack, and at five years old
Able to knock a Dane down."
On the intemperance of the Danes, see Ham. pp. 182, 193.
M
178
NOTES.
72. Almain. German (Fr. Allemand). Cf. Drayton, Polyolbion: “Of
Almains, and to them for their stout captain gave," etc. We find also
the forms Aleman and Alman. Cf. Holland, Ammianus Marcellinus:
Chonodomarius and Vestralpus, Aleman kings ;" and Owen, Epigrams:
"'T is good to be and have, a Greek, I think,
Once said; an Alman added, and to drink."
So Germany was called Almany; as in Harrington's Ariosto: “And
dwelt in Almany."
77. King Stephen, etc. These stanzas are from an old song, "Take
thy old cloak about thee," which may be found in Percy's Relique.. Cf.
Temp. iv. 1. 221: "O King Stephano! O peer!"
80. Lown. Lout, stupid fellow.' Cf. Per. iv. 6. 19:
lown." Loon (see Macb. v. 3. 11) is the same word.
both lord and
111. Equinox. Equal, counterpart; the only instance of the word in S.
114. On. See Gr. 180.
117. He'll watch, etc. That is, he will keep awake while the clock
strikes two rounds, or twenty-four hours. S. uses horologe nowhere else.
Cf. Drayton, Moses: "The cock, the country horologe," etc.
127. Ingraft. Ingrafted, inveterate. Cf. 7. C. ii. 1. 184: "the ingrafted
love he bears to Cæsar," etc.
128. Action. Metrically a trisyllable. Cf. patience in 345 below.
134. Twiggen. Covered with twigs, or wicker-work.
have "wicker."
137. Mazzard. Head. See Ham. p. 261.
The quartos
143. Diablo! The devil! "Appropriately put into the mouth of the
Italian Iago" (Clarke).
149. All sense of place. Hanmer's correction of the "all place of
sense
""
of the early eds.
152. Turn'd Turks.
See Ham. P. 228.
155. For.
The 1st quarto has "forth," which some editors prefer.
Cf. Ham. 1. 3. 20: "He may not. Carve for himself" (that is, indulge
himself, do as he pleases).
•
158. From her propriety. That is, out of herself. Cf. T. N. v. I. 150:
"That makes thee strangle thy propriety" (disavow thy individuality).
162. In quarter. In peace, or concord (Schmidt). Cf. C. of E. ii. 1.
108: "keep fair quarter with his bed;" and K. John, v. 5. 20: "keep
good quarter and good care to-night." Some make it on our station,
at our posts.
163. Devesting. Undressing.
164. Planet. For the supposed planetary influence, cf. Ham. i. 1. 162 :
no planets strike ;" and see note in our ed. p. 177.
167. Peevish odds. Silly quarrel. For peevish, see Hen. V. p. 171.
170. Are thus forgot. Have thus forgotten yourself. See Gr. 295.
172. Were wont be civil. For the omission of to, see Gr. 349.
173. Stillness. Cf. Hen. V. iii. 1. 4: As modest stillness and hu-
mility."
175. Censure. Judgment. See Ham, p. 190 or Macb. p. 251.
176. Unlace. Slacken, or loosen; or, perhaps, strip off its ornaments
(Johnson). Schmidt gives the latter explanation (= disgrace).
ACT II. SCENE III.
179
177. Spend your rich opinion. Throw away or squander your valuable
reputation.
179. Hurt to danger. Dangerously wounded.
181. Something now offends. Now somewhat pains. For the ad-
verbial use of something, see Gr. 68.
184. Self-charity. Charity to one's self, care of one's self.
187. My blood, etc. "My angry impulse begins to prevail over my
steadier sense and judgment" (Clarke).
188. Collied. Obscured; literally, blackened as with coal or smut.
See M. N. D. p. 129.
193. Approv'd in this offence. Proved to have been engaged in this
Ĉf. M. of V. iii. 2. 79 : approve it with a text," etc.
offence.
197. Manage. Bring about, set on foot. Cf. the use of the noun in R.
and 7. iii. 1. 148: "The unlucky manage of this fatal brawl."
198. The court and guard of safety. "The very spot and guarding-
place of safety" (Clarke). Theo. plausibly reads "of guard," as in ii. I.
214 above.
199. Monstrous. A trisyllable, as in Macb. iii. 6. 8. Gr. 477.
200. Affin'd. Influenced by any tie or affinity. See on i. 1. 39 above.
Leagu'd is Pope's correction of the "league" of the early eds.
201. Deliver. Speak. See on i. 3. 90 above.
210. Execute upon him.
211. Entreats his pause.
"Must give us pause," etc.
"Wreak his anger upon him" (Schmidt).
Begs him to stop. Cf. Ham. iii. 1. 68:
212. Myself, etc. lago's thoroughly lying account of the incidents
that occurred, with his art in seeming to mince' the matter' and
make it light to Cassio,' while in fact contriving to give all possible
heightening touches of his misdeed, is most skilfully managed in this
speech. It will be remembered that far from pursuing Roderigo and re-
turning to the scene of the conflict, Iago never stirs from the spot, but
remains to direct the movements of his puppets, and prompt them in
the parts which he has previously designed that they should perform;
and that instead of Cassio's having been high in oath,' he has given vent
to nothing more offensive in speech than the threats, 'I'll beat the
knave into a twiggen bottle' and 'I'll knock you o'er the mazzard
(Clarke).
216. For that. Because. See on i. 3. 267 above.
234. Sweeting. Cf. T. of S. iv. 3. 36: "What, sweeting, all amort?"
T. N. ii. 3. 43: "Trip no further, pretty sweeting," etc.
236. Lead him off. Malone may be right in thinking this a stage-
direction that has got into the text. W. remarks that Othello would
have been more likely to say, "Lead him away.” Cf. 2 Hen. VI. v. 3. 9 :
"thrice I led him off."
249. Sense. Sensibility, feeling. The quartos have “offence."
254. Cast. Dismissed, cashiered. See on i. 1. 139 above.
259. Slight. The folio reading; the quartos have "light."
260. Speak parrot. Talk nonsense; like discourse fustian just below.
264. What. Who; as in Hen. V. iv. 3. 18: “What 's he that wishes
so?" Gr. 254.
180
NOTES.
271. Pleasance. "Pleasure" (the quarto reading). Cf. P. P. 158:
'Youth is full of pleasance, age is full of care."
276. Unperfectness. Imperfection; used by S. only here.
fect in Sonn. 23. I and Ps. cxxxix. 16.
=
Cf. unper-
278. Moraler. Moralizer. Gr. 443. Cf. moral moralize in A. Y. L.
ii. 7. 29.
283. Hydra. For the allusion, cf. 1 Hen. IV. v. 4. 25 and Cor. iii. 1. 93.
The word is an adjective in 2 Hen. IV. iv. 2. 38: "this Hydra son of
See Hen. V. p. 155. So pres-
war."
285. By and by. Presently; as often.
ently=immediately; as in v. 2. 52 below.
286. Unblest. Accursed; as in v. 1. 34 below.
See Much Ado, p. 121.
290. Approved. Proved. Cf. 193
Cf. 193 above.
291. A time. The quartos have
The quartos have "some time;" and W. conjectures
one time." A is sometimes = one. See Ham. p. 274, or R. and J.
P. 177.
17
295. Denotement. Denoting, indication. The early eds. have "deuote-
ment or "devotement." Theo. made the change, "blunderingly " in
Schmidt's opinion; but it is improbable that S. should have written
"devoted himself to the devotement." We find denote (mark, indi-
cate) in iii. 3. 416 and iv. 1. 265 below.
Parts. Qualities. Cf. i. 3. 252 above.
300. Splinter. Bind up with splints; the only sense in which S. uses
the verb. Cf. Rich. III. ii. 2. 118:
">
"The broken rancour of your high-swoln hearts,
But lately splinter'd, knit, and join'd together.'
301. Lay. Wager, stake; as in 2 Hen. VI. v. 2. 27 and Cymb. i. 4. 159.
Crack. Breach. Cf. L. L. L. v. 2. 415: "My love to thee is sound,
sans crack or flaw.'
312. What's.
Who is. See on 264 above.
313. Free. Innocent, harmless.
below: "hold her free."
See Ham. p. 213, and cf. iii. 3. 255
314. Probal. A word found nowhere else. It may be an abbreviation
of probable or provable. Coll. compares miseral for miserable (Paynter)
and varial for variable (Barnaby Rich).
316. Inclining. Ready, favourably disposed.
317. Fruitful. Bountiful, generous. Cf. Hen. VIII. i. 3. 56 : “A hand
as fruitful as the land that feeds us.
>>
318. As the free elements. Out of which all things are produced. See
Hen. V. p. 169.
324. Function. "Operation of the mental faculties " (Schmidt); as in
Macb. i. 3. 140: "function Is smother'd in surmise.
325. Parallel.
>>
Coinciding with his wish or purpose.
Instigate. Cf. ii. 1. 291 above, and see Ham. p. 257.
Tempt. See Rich. II. pp. 153, 198.
332. Pestilence. Poison.
327. Put on.
328. Suggest.
333. Repeals. Strives to restore him to his place; literally, recalls.
See F. C. p. 157, note on The repealing of my banish'd brother.
340. Cry. Pack.
Pack. Cf. Cor. iii. 3. 120: "You common cry of curs!"
ACT III. SCE
181
345. Patience. A trisyllable. Gr. 479.
351. Though other things, etc. Althoug our other plans are grow-
ing to maturity, yet the fruits of our scheme for the removal of Cassio, as
it first bore promising blossom, will naturally first ripen.' Iago is trying
to inspire Roderigo with patience for the ripening of his plan against
Desdemona by bidding him remember that meanwhile his plan against
Cassio is succeeding” (Clarke). Johnson explains the passage thus:
"Of many different things, all planned with the same art and promoted
with the same diligence, some must succeed sooner than others, by the
order of nature. Everything cannot be done at once; we must proceed
by the necessary gradation. We are not to despair of slow events any
more than of tardy fruits, while the causes are in regular progress, and
the fruits grow fair against the sun.”
353. By the mass. Changed in the folio to In troth." See p. II
above.
360. Apart. Aside. See Ham. p. 242, and cf. iv. 1. 67 below.
361. Jump. Just, exactly. Cf. Ham. i. 1.65: "jump ("just" in folio)
at this dead hour;" and Id. v. 2. 386: "jump upon this bloody ques-
tion." Cf. the use of the verb jump in i. 3. 5 above.
ACT III.
SCENE I.-I. Content. Reward, pay. Cf. Rich. III. iii. 2. 113:
the next Sabbath, and I will content you,” etc.
"Come
2. Bid good morrow. It was the custom for friends to serenade a new-
married couple on the morning after their marriage, or to bid them good
morrow by a morning song. See R. and F. p. 193, note on Hunts-up.
Cf. Milton, L'All. 45 (referring to the lark):
"Then to come, in spite of sorrow,
And at my window bid good morrow."
3. Naples. "The Neapolitans have a singularly drawling nasal twang
in the utterance of their dialect; and Shylock tells of when the bagpipe
sings i' the nose (Clarke). For speak the Coll. MS. has “squeak.”
The 1st quarto has of all loves," for which see
10. For love's sake.
M. N. D. p. 154.
20. Quillets. Quibbles, subtleties. See Ham. p. 262.
25. Seem to.
A colloquial periphrasis. Cf. J. N. D. ¡¡ì. 1. 19: "let
the prologue seem to say;" AL. of V. ii, 4. 11 : "it shall seem to signify,"
etc.
26. Good my friend. Cf. i. 3. 52 above :
Gr. 13.
Good your grace," etc.
In happy time. Just in time. See R. and F. p. 195.
32. Access.
Accented by S. on the last syllable, except in Ham, ii. 1.
IIO.
Gr. 490.
33. Mean.
Often used by S. in the singular, though oftener in the
plural. Cf. W. T. iv. 4. 89, R. and J. iii. 3. 45, v. 3. 240, etc.
182
NOTES.
34. Converse. Conversation;
converse," etc.
37. A Florentine.
as in Ham. ii. 1. 42: "your party in
That is, even a Florentine. Iago was a Venetian;
as is evident from iii. 3. 201, 202 and v. 1. 89 fol.
39. Your displeasure. That is, the displeasure you have incurred from
Othello (Steevens). For sure the quartos have "soone."
43. Affinity. Family connection; used by S. only here.
Wholesome. Sound, reasonable. See Ham. p. 230.
46. To take, etc. This line is not in the folios.
50. Desdemona. The folios have "Desdemon" here, as in five other
passages. K. takes the ground that the contraction is one of familiar
tenderness; but, if so, S. would not have put it in Cassio's mouth. It is
probably a mere transcriber's or printer's error.
*
51. Bestow you. Conduct you to a place. See Ham. pp. 212, 240.
52. I am, etc.
Omitted in Ist quarto.
SCENE II.-2. Senate. The quartos have
3. Works. See on i. 1. 1 (p. 154) above.
6. We'll. The reading of the 3d folio.
Weel," and the quartos
"We.'
state."
The 1st has "Well," the 2d
The 1st has "
*C
??
SCENE III.-3. Warrant. The quartos have "know."
4. Case. The quarto reading; the folios have cause.
10. I know 't. As in the folios; the quartos read "O, sir, I thank you.'
12. Strangeness. Distant behaviour. The quartos have "strangest."
Cf. V. and A. 310: "She puts on outward strangeness, seems unkind,"
etc.
14. That policy, etc. "He may either of himself think it politic to
keep me out of office so long, or he may be satisfied with such slight
reasons, or so many accidents may make him think my readmission at
that time improper, that I may be quite forgotten " (Johnson). Clarke's
explanation of 15, 16 is perhaps better: "Or be sustained by such
trivial occurrences, or be renewed by such unforeseen circumstances.
19. Doubt. Suspect, fear. See Ham. pp. 187, 202, 220.
>>
20. Assure thee. Assure thyself, be assured. Cf. iv. 2. 198 below.
23. Watch him tame. Alluding to the practice of taming hawks by
keeping them from sleep. Cf. T. and C. iii. 2. 46: "you must be
watched ere you be made tame, must you?" Steevens cites Cartwright,
Lady Errant:
"we'll keep you,
As they do hawks, watching until you leave
Your wildness ;'
66
Monsieur D'Olive: your only way to deal with women and parrots is
to keep them waking;” and Sir W. Davenant, Just Italian: "They 've
watch'd my hardy violence so tame."
*K strangely overlooks this passage in his note on iii. 3. 55. He says that Desde-
mon is used in five passages (iii. 3. 55, iv. 2. 40, V. 2. 25, 203, 281), four times by Othello
and once by Gratiano. In all these his theory is plausible enough, but the present
passage is fatal to it. The error is not corrected in his 2d ed.
ACT III. SCENE III.
183
24. Shrift. Confessional. Cf. R. and J. ii. 4. 192, ii. 5. 68, etc.
28. Give thy cause away. That is, give it up.
39. Steal. The 1st quarto has "sneake."
47. His present reconciliation take. "Accept the submission which he
nakes in order to be reconciled" (Johnson). Warb. would read “make.”
Schmidt explains reconciliation as "restoration to favour."
49. Cunning. "Knowledge, forethought " (Schmidt). Cf. T. and C.v.
5. 41 and T. of A. v. 4. 28. Cf. also the use of the adjective=knowing;
as in T. of S. ii. 1. 56: "Cunning in music and the mathematics," etc.
52. Sooth. In sooth, truly.
In sooth, truly. See M. N. D. p. 153, note on Good troth.
The 1st quarto has "I suffer."
54. To suffer.
66. Their. Rowe's emendation for the "her" of the early eds.
Coll. MS. has "our," and Sr. (2d ed.) "the."
67. Check. Rebuke. See on i. 1. 138 above.
The
70. Mammering. Hesitating; used by S. nowhere else. The Ist
quarto has "muttering."
muttering." Steevens cites the comedy of Acolastus, 1540:
I stand in doubt, or in a mamorynge between hope and fear;" and
Drant, Horace, sat. ii. 3: "then mameryng he doth doute." Malone adds
from Lyly, Euphues. "neither stand in a mamering, whether it be best
to depart or not."
71. That came, etc.
See on i. 2. 52 above.
72. Spoke. For this form, see Gr. 343.
77. As.
"The if is implied in the subjunctive" (Gr. 107). For the
omission of to with wear, see Gr. 349.
79. Peculiar. Private, one's own; as in iv. 1. 62 below.
'Occasions, noble Glouces-
82. Poise. Weight. Cf. Lear, ii. I. 122 :
ter, of some poise," etc. Clarke thinks it also includes the idea of “nice
balance, careful adjustment, as by scales."
90. Wretch. Sometimes used as a term of tenderness blended with
pity. "It expresses the utmost degree of amiableness, joined with an
idea which perhaps all tenderness includes, of feebleness, softness, and
"The pretty
want of protection" (Johnson). Cf. R. and J. i. 3. 44:
wretch left crying," etc. Theo. changed the word to "wench."
106. By heaven, etc. The folio reads "Alas, thou ecchos't me." The
'alas was of course put in to fill the gap made by the omission of the
oath.
113. Purse. Wrinkle. In M. of V. i. 3. 175 it means to put in a purse;
and in A. and C. ii. 2. 192, pursed up gained possession of.
115. Conceit. Conception, idea. Cf. the use of the verb (=conceives
imagines) in 149 below.
118. For. Because. See on i. 3. 267 above.
123. Delations. The 1st quarto has "denotements;" the 1st folio and
2d and 3d quartos, "dilations;" the later folios, “cold delations." Close
delations=secret accusations, hidden intimations. For close, see Mach.
pp. 223, 246. Delations is not found elsewhere in S. Sir Henry Wotton,
in his Reliquia Wottoniana, 1651, speaking of the Inquisitori di Stati at
Venice, says that they "receive all secret delations in matter of practice
against the Republick."
Working from the heart, etc. "Either 'working from the heart that
184
NOTES.
>>>
cannot control its passion of generous indignation,' or 'working from the
heart that passionate impulse cannot move to speak out unadvisedly'
(Clarke).
As for, with respect to.
See Gr. 149.
124. For.
127. Seem none. That is, not seem honest men; as Malone and Clarke
explain it. Johnson makes it "no longer seem, or bear the shape of
men.'
""
130. Yet there's more.
There's yet more.
Cf." yet not =not yet,
and see R. and J. p. 165. Gr. 76.
Cf.
135. To that all slaves are free to. That is, to that which all slaves are
free to do or not to do; or we may say that free is not bound.
Cymb. v. 1. 7:
"Every good servant does not all commands:
No bond but to do just ones."
139. But some uncleanly apprehensions, etc. "That some injurious sus-
picions will not occasionally enter into it, keep court there for judging
others, and sit side by side, as on a law bench, with more legitimate med-
itations" (Clarke). Leets and law-days mean the same. Steevens quotes
Jacob, Law Dict.: "Leet is otherwise called a law-day." In the only
other instance of the word in S. (T. of S. ind. 2. 89 : present her at the
leet") it means a court-leet. Cf. Bullokar, English Expositor, 1616: "A
leet is a court or law-day, holden commonly every half year." On this
passage cf. R. of L. 853 :
"But no perfection is so absolute
That some impurity doth not intrude."
For the legal image Malone compares Sonn. 30. 1 :
""
66
"When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past."
145. Though I perchance, etc. "Though I perhaps am mistaken, led
into an error by my natural disposition, which is apt to shape faults that
have no existence"(Malone). Clarke believes that though is here="inas-
much as, since ;" but this is not absolutely necessary. As he himself re-
marks, "the confused and imperfect construction in this speech is won-
derfully managed, to give the effect of Iago's adoption of a hesitating, un-
willing manner; half expressing, half suppressing his suggestions, and
whetting his victim's anxiety to hear more by bidding him desire to hear
no more. Malone observes: "The adversative particle though does
not indeed appear very proper; but in an abrupt and studiously clouded
sentence like the present, where more is meant to be conveyed than meets
the ear, strict propriety may well be dispensed with. The word perchance,
if strongly marked in speaking, would sufficiently show that the speak-
For that
er did not suppose himself vicious in his guess.
your wisdom
yet the 1st quarto has "I intreate you then," which perhaps better suits
the broken character of the sentence. Possibly, in revising the play, S.
made the change to the more logical form of the folio, and overlooked
the though, which does not suit that form so well.
149. Conceits.
See on 115 above. The first quarto has "coniects,"
and Warb. reads "conjects."
ACT III. SCENE III.
185
151. Scattering and unsure observance. Random and uncertain obser-
vation. Cf. T. N. ii. 3. 50:
"What 's to come is still unsure, etc.
155. Good name, etc. Malone suggests that S. may have had in mind.
Proverbs, xxii. 1.
158. 'T was mine, etc.
The same editor cites Horace, Sat. ii. 2 :
"Nunc ager Umbreni sub nomine, nuper Ofelli
Dictus, erit nulli proprius, sed cedet in usum
Nunc mihi, nunc alii;"
thus translated by Drant, 1567:
Now Umbrens grounde, of late Ofells,
(A thing not very stable)
Now myne, now thine, so muste we take
The worlde as variable."
Cf. Temp. ii. 1. 121 :
160. Not enriches. Cf. Temp. ii. 1. 121: "I not doubt;" Id. v. 1. 38:
"Whereof the ewe not bites," etc. Gr. 305. W. conjectures "naught
for not.
162. Thoughts. The first quarto has “ thought."
166. Green-eyed. Cf. M. of V. iii. 2. 110: "green-eyed jealousy." For
green applied to eyes in a complimentary sense, see R. and J. p. 198.
Mock. Changed by Hanmer to "make," which Schmidt thinks "may
be right." Clarke says: "Here mock bears the sense of disdain, spurn,
tear wrathfully, even while feeding on. . . . Jealousy, even while greedily
devouring scraps of evidence, and stray tokens of supposed guilt, bitterly
scorns them, and stands self-contemned for feeding on them."
cites in confirmation of "make" iii. 4. 160 below:
"t is a monster
Begot upon itself, born on itself;"
and Massinger, The Picture:
แ
why should I nourish
A fury here, and with imagin'd food,
Holding no real ground on which to raise
A building of suspicion she was ever
Or can be false?"
Mason
For ourself, we agree with Furness, who says: "The meat that jealousy
feeds on is the victim of jealousy, the jealous man, who is mocked with
trifles light as air." Cf. Hunter: "Jealousy mocks the person who surren-
ders his mind to her influence, deluding him perpetually with some new
show of suspicion, sporting with his agonized feelings, just as the feline
tribe sport with the prey which they have got into their power. The cat
is green-eyed." St. also suggests that the meat the monster mocks “
be his credulous victim," that is, the jealous man.
66
may
170. Strongly. The folios have " soundly," and the Coll. MS. has
fondly."
172. Poor and content, etc. Malone quotes Dorastus and Fawnia (the
novel on which W. T. is founded), 1592: “We are rich, in that we are
poor with content."
173. Fineless. Infinite, boundless; the only instance of the word in
S. For fine end, see Ham. p. 262. Pope substituted "endless " here.
186
NOTES.
182. Exsufflicate. "Probably synonymous to blown-empty, unsub-
stantial, frivolous" (Schmidt). This seems better than to make it-con-
temptible, abominable (from Low Latin, exsufflare, to spit upon), as Nares
does. Malone says: "Whether our poet had any authority for the word,
which I think is used in the sense of swollen, and appears to have been
formed from sufflatus, I am unable to ascertain." The early eds. have
"exufflicate" ("exufflicated" in 4th folio).
183. Matching thy inference. That is, such as you have described (in.
169, 170 above).
186. Where virtue is, etc. "An action in itself indifferent grows vir-
tuous by its end and application" (Johnson). The 2d and later folios
have "most virtuous."
188. Doubt. Suspicion; as in 417 below: "a shrewd doubt,” etc.
Revolt is often used of inconstancy in love; as in K. John, iii. 1. 322, R.
and F. iv. 1. 58, Cymb. i. 6. 112, iii. 4. 57, etc.
>"
200. Self-bounty. Inherent generosity (Warb.).
204. Leave 't.
The reading of the 1st quarto and the folios; the 2d
and 3d quartos have "leave. On the other hand, the 2d and 3d quar-
tos have keep 't (or "keepe 't"), the folios "kept," and the 1st quarto
"keepe."
206. She did deceive her father, etc.
"This and the following argument
of lago ought to be deeply impressed on every reader. Deceit and false-
hood, whatever conveniences they may for a time promise or produce,
are in the sum of life obstacles to happiness. Those who profit by the
cheat distrust the deceiver, and the act by which kindness is sought puts
an end to confidence " (Johnson). Cf. Clarke's note on And so she did:
In this little speech of four monosyllabic words is contained the moral
of Desdemona's fate. Had Othello been able to refute as a foul calumny
this insinuated truth of Iago's, the villain's scheme must have come to
naught at once. But, unhappily, Desdemona's timidity has led her to
conceal from her father her love for the Moor by affecting to dread him ;
and this former deviation from strict honesty is now enabling a traitor to
undermine her husband's faith in her honour. O, just and wise, and most
moral Shakespeare!" See also p. 29 above.
210. Seel. See on i. 3. 268 above.
oak (Steevens).
Close as oak=close as the grain of
212. Beseech you of your pardon. Cf. M. N. D. iii. 1. 185: “I shall de-
sire you of more acquaintance;" Hen. V. iii. 3. 45:
"whom of succours
we entreated;" Spenser, F. Q. ii. 9. 42 : "If it be I, of pardon I you pray,"
etc. Gr. 174.
219. Issues. Conclusions. On reach, cf. T. and C. iv. 4. 110:
"the moral of my wit
Is 'plain and true;' there's all the reach of it.
>
222. Success. Consequence; that which succeeds or follows. Cf. "bad
success in 3 Hen. VI. ii. 2. 46 and T. and C. ii. 2. 117. See also F. C.
P. 151.
223. Worthy. The 1st quarto has "trusty."
224. I see you are mov'd. "The art with which this wretch contrives
ACT III. SCENE III.
187
to exasperate the pangs of the wound he is inflicting, affecting to com-
miserate while he is stabbing deeper and deeper, torturing the brave nat-
ure by noticing its ill-concealed anguish, together with the efforts made
by the courageous man to repress the writhings of his pierced soul, are
surely unsurpassed in passionate composition " (Clarke).
227. Erring. Straying, wandering. See i. 3. 351 above: "an erring
barbarian ;" and cf. i. 3. 62, 100.
230. Complexion. Alluding to the fair skin of Desdemona in contrast
with the dark Moorish skin of Othello, and perhaps also, as Clarke sug-
gests, to the temperament of the Italians in comparison with that of the
Moors. Cf. Ham. p. 193.
232. Foh! The quartos have "Fie."
Rank. "Morbid " (Schmidt). Johnson says: A rank will is self-will
overgrown and exuberant."
"me-
234. Position. Assertion. Cf. ii. 1. 230 above, and T. and C. iii. 3. 112.
236. Recoiling. Going back, reverting. Cf. W. T. i. 2. 154 :
thoughts I did recoil Twenty-three years," etc.
237. Fall to. Come to, begin. Cf. Ham. v. 2. 216: "before you fall to
play," etc. Match=compare; as in T. and C. i. 3. 194, R. and F. ii.
prol. 4.
238. Happily. Haply; as often. See Ham. pp. 175, 208.
240. Set on thy wife, etc. "In this brief speech of Othello's the dram-
atist has wonderfully combined the native nobleness of the speaker with
the meanness inevitably supervening from jealousy. The nature of the
man revolts from having the probabilities of his chosen wife's fall dis-
cussed by the gross lips of Iago, and he abruptly dismisses him; but the
vitiating poison of jealousy having once been instilled, the moral dignity
that has already taken one step in degradation condescends to desire him
to watch, and to set on his wife to observe" (Clarke).
246. Though it be fit. The reading of the 1st quarto; the folios have
Although 'tis fit," and the other quartos "And though tis fit."
247. For, sure, etc. "Observe again how the liar can treacherously
eulogize when it may serve his purpose [cf. ii. 3. 109 above]. In the
present instance, he knows that at this particular juncture praise of
Cassio would be specially calculated to injure instead of benefit him with
Othello; and, moreover, the mention of Cassio's place serves to suggest
the idea that Iago himself may fill it-a suggestion adopted and acted
upon, as is seen by Othello's words at the close of this scene, 'Now art
thou my lieutenant'" (Clarke).
249. His means. That is, "whether he thinks his best means, his most
powerful interest, is by the solicitation of your lady" (Johnson).
250. Strain his entertainment. Urge his reinstatement; "press hard
his readmission to his office" (Johnson). For entertainment as a military
term (=service), cf. A. W. iii. 6. 13, iv. 1. 17, Cor. iv. 3. 49, and A. and Ċ.
iv. 6. 16.
251. Importunity. The Var. of 1821 has "opportunity."
255. Free. Free from guilt. See A. Y. L. p. 165.
256. Government. Self-control; as in R. of L. 1400, 1 Hen. IV. i, 2.
31, iii. 1. 184, etc.
188
NOTES.
See Much
259. Learned. Experienced (Warb.); intelligent (Schmidt).
260. Haggard. A haggard was a wild, untrained hawk.
Ado, p. 140. S. uses the word adjectively nowhere else.
261. Fesses. Leathern or silken straps attached to the foot of the hawk,
by which the falconer held her. Cf. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 4. 19:
(where let
'That like an Hauke, which feeling her selfe freed
From bels and jesses which did let her flight"
hinder).
262. Let her down the wind. "The falconers always let the hawk fly
against the wind; if she flies with the wind behind her, she seldom re-
turns. If therefore a hawk was for any reason to be dismissed, she was
let down the wind, and from that time shifted for herself and preyed at
fortune" (Johnson). Percy quotes Burton, Anat. of Melan.: "As a long-
winged hawke, when he is first whistled off the fist, mounts aloft," etc. Cf.
B. and F., Bonduca :
"he that basely
Whistled his honour off to the wind."
263. For. Because. See on i. 3. 267 above.
Black. Not to be taken too literally. It is often opposed to fair. Cf.
T. G. of V. v. 2. 12: “Black men are pearls in beauteous ladies' eyes."
See also Much Ado, iii. 1. 63, etc.
264. Parts. Gifts. See M. N. D. p. 164. Cf. i. 3. 252 above.
265. Chamberers. "Men of intrigue," according to Steevens; but more
likely, as Schmidt defines it="men conversant with the arts of peace,
opposed to soldiers," like carpet-monger in Much Ado, v. 2. 32. Cf. the
Countess of Pembroke's Antonius, 1590: "Fal'n from a souldier to a
chamberer."
274. Prerogativ'd. "Privileged, exempt from certain evils” (Schmidt).
Malone wished to read "more for less.
276. This forked plague. The horns of the cuckold. Cf. W. T. i. 2.
186 and T. and C. i. 2. 178. Malone cites one of Sir John Harrington's
Epigrams:
"Acteon guiltless unawares espying
Naked Diana bathing in her bowre,
Was plagu'd with hornes; his dogs did him devoure;
Wherefore take heed, ye that are curious, prying,
With some such forked plague you be not smitten,
And in your foreheads see your faults be written."
277. Quicken. That is, begin to live. Cf. iv. 2. 66 below: "That
quicken even with blowing," etc.
Desdemona comes. The quarto reading; the folios have "Looke where
she comes.
>>
280. Generous. Noble; as in M. for M. iv. 6. 13: "The generous and
gravest citizens ;" Ham. i. 3. 74: "most select and generous," etc. Cf.
the Latin generosus.
281. Attend. Await. Cf. M. W. i. 1. 279:
sir," etc.
"The dinner attends you,
287. Napkin. Handkerchief. Cf. 306 below, and see A. Y. L. p. 190.
292. A hundred times. This is apparently inconsistent with the brief
ACT III. SCENE III.
189
66
time that has elapsed since the beginning of the drama; but it is really
an illustration of what Furness (Hamlet, vol. i. p. xv.) calls the poet's
two series of times, the one suggestive and illusory, and the other visi-
ble and explicitly indicated." Halpin calls them the protractive series
and the accelerating series; and Christopher North describes them as
Shakespeare's "two clocks." Clarke remarks here: "In hardly any
play is our dramatist's system of simultaneously indicated long time and
short time more visibly and skilfully sustained than in Othello. He had
to give the brief effect of recent marriage, consequent upon the elope-
ment and secret espousals which occur in the opening of the play; and
he had also to give the lengthened effect of conjugal union, in order to
add to the tragic impression of broken wedded faith and destroyed wed-
ded happiness. To produce the former effect, he has made but one
night elapse since the arrival of the wedded pair in Cyprus and the cele-
bration of their nuptials; to produce the latter effect, he throws in occa-
sional touches that indicate a longer period."
294. Should. The Var. of 1821 has "would."
(C
295. Reserves. Preserves, keeps. Cf. Sonn. 32. 7: "Reserve them for
my love, not for their rhyme ;" Per. iv. 1. 40: reserve That excellent
complexion," etc.
296. Ta'en out. Copied; as in iii. 4. 179, iv. 1. 141 fol. below. Cf. Hol-
land's Pliny: "Nicophanes [a famous painter] gave his mind wholly to
antique pictures, partly to exemplifie and take out their patterns ;" and
Middleton, Women Beware, etc. :
"she intends
To take out other works in a new sampler."
299. Fantasy. Fancy, whim. For the different senses of the word in
S., see Ham. pp. 171, 246. The 1st quarto reads here: "I nothing
know, but for his," etc.
312. To the advantage. Opportunely (Johnson).
313. Wench. Cf. v. 2. 271 below, and see Temp. p. 115.
316. Import. Importance; as in T. of S. iii. 2. 104, 1 Hen. VI. i. 1. 91, etc.
318. Lack. Miss. See A. Y. L. p. 187.
319. Acknown. The reading of the folios and the 2d quarto; the 1st
and 3d quartos have "not you known on 't. The meaning is, "do not
confess to the knowledge of it" (Schmidt). Cf. acknowledge. Steevens
cites Golding's Ovid: "Howbeit I durst not be so bolde of hope ac-
knowne to be;" and Puttenham, Arte of English Poesie, 1589:
would I not have a translatour be ashamed to be acknowen of his trans-
lation."
In the Life of Ariosto appended to Sir John Harrington's Or-
lando Furioso, we read: "Some say he was married to her privilie, but
durst not be acknowne of it."
325. The Moor, etc. This line is not in the 1st quarto.
326. Conceits. Conceptions. See on 115 above.
SO
327. Distaste. To be distasteful or unsavoury. Cf. T. and C. iv. 4.
50: Distasting with the salt of broken tears" ("distasted" in the
quartos). It is used transitively (=embitter) in T. and C. ii. 2. 123:
"Cannot distaste the goodness;" and (=dislike) in Id. ii. 2. 66: “Al-
though my will distaste what it elected."
190
NOTES.
328. Act. Action, operation; as in i. 1. 62 above.
329. I did say so. Referring to what he has just said.
Othello's looks that the "poison" is burning his blood.
He sees by
330. Mandragora. Mandrake. For the various superstitions connect-
ed with the plant, see R. and J. p. 206, note on Mandrakes'. Cf. A. and
C. i. 5. 4 fol.
5.4
331. Syrups. Used by S. only here and in C. of E. v. 1. 104 :
wholesome syrups, drugs, and holy prayers."
332. Medicine.
"With
Used again as a verb in Cymb. iv. 2. 243: “Great
griefs, I see, medicine the less."
333. Ow'dst. Ownedst, hadst; as in i. 1. 66 above.
338. What sense, etc. Steevens quotes Middleton, The Witch (see
Macb. p. II):
and again :
I feele no ease; the burthen 's not yet off,
So long as the abuse sticks in my knowledge.
Oh, tis a paine of hell to know ones shame!
Had it byn hid and don, it had byn don happy,
For he that 's ignorant lives long and merry;
"Hadst thou byn secret, then had I byn happy,
And had a hope (like man) of joies to come.
Now here I stand a stayne to my creation;
And, which is heavier than all torments to me,
The understanding of this base adultery," etc.
340. The next night. Indication of long time; as if many nights had
elapsed. The folio reads, "the next night well, fed well, was free," etc.
346. Pioners. Spelt "Pyoners" in the quartos and 1st and 2d folios,
"Pioneers" in the later folios. See Ham. p. 198. The word is here=
the vilest of the camp. Pioneers were generally degraded soldiers, ap-
pointed to that office as a punishment. Cf. Davies, The Art of War,
1619: "Such a one is to be dismissed with punishment, or to be made
some abject pioner.
""
347. So. Provided that, if.
352. The ear-piercing fife.
sive epithet to "fear-'spersing
Gr. 133. O now, etc. See p. 33 above.
Warb. wanted to change this most expres-
!" Cf. M. of V. ii. 5. 30:
"when you hear the drum.
And the vile squealing of the wry-neck'd fife;"
and see note in our edition, p. 142.
According to Warton, the fife and drum were used together in the
European armies, especially in the German, as early as the first quarter
of the 16th century. The fife was subsequently given up in the English
service, and we find no mention of it until 1747, when it was used by the
order of the Duke of Cumberland in the camp at Maestricht.
It is un-
known to the French even now; and M. Alfred de Vigny, in translating
this passage of Othello, gives us only the drum :
"Adieu donc, le coursier que la trompette anime,
Et ses hennissements et les bruits du tambour,
L'étendard qu'on déploie avec des cris d'amour!"
354. Circumstance. S. uses the singular and the plural indifferently.
Ct. R. of L. 1262 and 1703, etc.
ACT III. SCENE III.
191
355. Whose rude throats. Steevens quotes Milton, P. L. vi. 586: "From
those deep-throated engines belch'd, whose roar," etc.
The quartos
have "wide throats."
356. Clamours. Applied by S. to the sound of cannon (K. John, ii. 1.
383), of drums and trumpets (Id. v. 2. 168), of tempests (2 Hen. IV. iii. 1.
24, T. and C. v. 2. 174), etc.
361. Man's. The 1st quarto has "mans," the folios "mine" (which
some editors prefer), the later quartos "my." Steevens suggests that
"S. might have designed an opposition between man and dog.
362. Hadst been better have been. See Much Ado, p. 132, note on Have
made Hercules have turned, or Gr. 360.
365. Probation. Proof; as the context shows. Cf. Ham. i. 1. 156:
"and of the truth herein
This present object made probation," etc.
369. Remorse. Pity, compunction. See Mach. p. 171.
371. Do deeds, etc.
Cf. M. for M. ii. 2. 121 :
"Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven.
As make the angels weep.
"
379. This profit. This good lesson (Schmidt).
This good lesson (Schmidt). Cf. Cymb. iii. 3. 18:
"to apprehend thus
Draws us a profit from all things we see."
380. Sith. Since. It is the folio reading, the quartos having "since."
See Ham. p. 201.
381. Shouldst.
Cf. Macb. i. 2. 46: "You should be women; And yet
Gr. 323. lago plays upon the word in his reply.
The change from the subjunctive to the indicative is
very significant (Gr. 299),
your beards," etc.
384. Be... is.
44
386. Her name. The reading of 2d and 3d quartos; the folios have
My name," which K. defends.
388. If there be cords, etc.
sharp, or waters deep," etc.
Cf. Per. iv. 2. 160: "If fires be hot, knives
398. Living. "That has the life of truth and fact in it, not founded on
mere surmise" (Clarke). For she's the quartos have "that she 's."
401. Prick'd. Spurred, incited. Cf. T. of S. iii. 2. 75, Rich. II. ii. 1. 207,
etc.
406. Sleeps. Cf. Ham. iv. 7. 30: "Break not your sleeps for that,” etc.
See Macb. p. 209, note on Loves, or Rich. II. p. 206, note on Sights.
414. Cursed fate, etc. "The effect of long time is conveyed through-
out this speech" (Clarke).
417. A shrewd doubt. Ground for evil suspicion. For doubt, see on
188 above; and for shrewd, see Hen. VIII. p. 202 and J. C. p. 145. The
Ist quarto gives this line to Iago.
420. Yet. As yet. See on 130 above.
428. Any that was. The quartos and 1st folio have "any, it was;" the
later folios, "any, if 't was. The correction is Malone's.
>>
432. True. The 1st quarto has "time."
433. Fond.
Foolish. See on i. 3. 317 above.
192
NOTES.
435. The hollow hell. The folio reading; the quartos have "thy hol-
low cell," which most editors prefer; but we are inclined to agree with
K. that hell was intended to be antithetical to the preceding heaven. Cf.
Milton, P. L. i. 314:
"He call'd so loud that all the hollow deep
Of hell resounded;
and Id. i. 542: "A shout that tore hell's concave.
436. Hearted. See on i. 3. 361 above. Hearted throne="the heart
on which thou wast enthroned" (Johnson). Cf. T. N. ii. 4. 22 :
"It gives a very echo to the seat
Where Love is thron'd."
437. Fraught. Freight, load. It is used literally in T. N. v. 1. 64:
"the Phoenix and her fraught from Candy;" and T. A. i. I. 71:
"the
bark that hath discharg'd her fraught." Cf. fraughtage in C. of E. iv. I.
87 and T. and C. prol. 13.
441-448. These lines are not in the 1st quarto. Steevens suggests that
S. took the simile from Holland's Pliny: "And the sea Pontus ever
more floweth and runneth out into Propontis, but the sea never retireth
backe againe within Pontus."
442. Compulsive. Used again in Ham. iii. 4. 86. Cf. compulsative in
Ham. i. 1. 103.
443. Feels. The folios have "keepes" or "keeps." The Coll. MS.
has "knows," which W. adopts.
447. Capable. Capacious, ample. For another peculiar use of the
word, see A. Y. L. p. 182.
448. Yond. Not to be printed "'yond," as it often is.
121, or J. C. p. 134.
See Temp. p.
Marble. Probably everlasting (Schmidt). Cf. Cymb. v. 4. 87: "Peep
through thy marble mansion;" Id. v. 4. 120: "The marble pavement
closes ;" and T. of A. iv. 3. 191: the marbled mansion all above."
450. Engage. Pledge. Cf. A. Y. L. v. 5. 172: "I do engage my life,"
etc.
451. Witness, etc. This apostrophe proves that S. intended this scene
should be in the open air.
452. Clip. Embrace, surround. Cf. K. John, v. 2. 34: "Neptune's
arms, who clippeth thee about ;" Cymb. ii. 3. 139:
"His meanest garment,
That ever hath but clipp'd his body," etc.
454. Execution.
Exercise, employment. Cf. 3 Hen. VI. ii. 3. III:
"The execution of my big-swoln heart," etc. Cf. the use of execute in
T. and C. v. 7. 6: "In fellest manner execute your arms, etc.
456. Remorse. Pity; as in 369 above. "It shall be an act, not of
cruelty, but of tenderness to obey him; not of malice to others, but of ten-
derness for him" (Johnson). Steevens compares Cymb. iv. 2. 168:
457. Business ever.
I'd let a parish of such Clotens blood,
And praise myself for charity."
The quartos have "worke so ever."
ACT III. SCENE IV.
193
SCENE IV.-2. Lies. Lodges, resides. Cf. T. G. of V. iv. 2. 137:
"Where lies Sir Proteus?" 2 Hen. IV. iii. 2. 299: "when I lay at Clem-
ent's inn," etc. See also Milton, L'All. 79: "Where perhaps some
beauty lies," etc.
17. By them answer. That is, by them be enabled to answer, or get
the information to use in my answer.
22. Should.
mean?" Gr. 325.
Could. Cf. Hen. VIII. iii. 2. 160: "What should this
For handkerchief the 1st quarto has "handkercher." See Hen. V. p.
163.
23. I know not. A direct lie. "Emilia is one of those who think that
a lie is the easiest means of evading a difficulty; and the dramatist has
made her a coarse type of such women; while he has made the delicate,
the gentle, the innocent Desdemona a refined type of them. Fine moral
harmony in even two such dissimilar characters!" (Clarke).
24. Had rather. See A. Y. L. p. 139, note on Had as lief.
25. Crusadoes. Portuguese gold coins current in England in the time
of S. They were so called from the cross stamped upon them.
36. For yet (cf. iii. 3. 420 above), see Gr. 76; and for the double nega-
tive, Gr. 406.
39. Sequester. Sequestration, separation. See A. Y. L. p. 152, note
on Sequester'd.
40. Exercise. Performance of religious duties. Cf. W. T. iii. 2. 242,
Rich. III. iii. 2. 112, iii. 7. 64, etc.
46. Our new heraldry, etc. This was thought by Warb., Chalmers,
Douce, and others, to refer to the arms of the order of Baronets, instituted
by King James in 1611, and was used by them in fixing the date of the
play (see p. 11 above); but if the passage contains any such allusion, it
must have been inserted some years after the play was written. Stee-
vens considered it" only a figurative expression, without the least refer-
ence to King James's creation of baronets ;" and we are inclined to agree
with him.
48. Chuck. Equivalent to chick.
50. Sorry. Sore, painful
quartos have "sullen," and the
of the relative, see Gr. 244.
See Mach. p. 212.
(Schmidt); the folio reading. The
Coll. MS. "sudden." For the ellipsis
56. Charmer. Enchantress. Cf. Deut. xviii. 11: "Let none be found
among you that is a charmer." Perkins, in his Discourse of the damned
Art of Witchcraft, 1610, speaks of "diviners, charmers, jugglers," etc.
61. Loathed. The 1st quarto has "loathly," which is found in Temp.
iv. I. 20 and 2 Hen. IV. iv. 4. 122.
63. Wive. See on ii. 1. 60 above.
64. Her. The antecedent is implied in wive.
68. 'Tis true, etc. See pp. 17 and 29 above.
69. A sibyl, etc. Cf. T. of S. i. 2. 70: “As old as Sibyl;" and M. of V.
1. 2. 116: " as old as Sibylla.'
Had number'd, etc. Numbered the sun to course, to run two hundred
compasses, two hundred annual circuits" (Johnson).
73. Dyed in mummy. The balsamic liquor that oozed from mummies
N
194
NOTES.
was supposed to have medicinal properties. Steevens says that in his
day it was still sold in the principal apothecaries' shops. See Macb. p.
228.
74. Conserv'd. Prepared as a conserve. The 1st quarto has "Con-
serues," and "with" for which in 73.
rashly
=
78. Startingly. Abruptly. Rash =
vehemently, violently
(Johnson). Cf. M. for M. v. 1. 36: "most bitterly and strange. For
other examples of this and similar ellipses, see Gr. 397, or Schmidt, Ap-
pendix, p. 1419.
91. Talk me. Cf. T. of S. i. 2. 190 : "No, say'st me so, friend?" etc.
Gr. 220.
102. 'Tis not, etc. This, like I ne'er saw this before just above, helps
to give the effect of long time. They are indefinite expressions, and
the present one applies to experience of marriage in the abstract; but
they tend to do away with the effect of Desdemona's recent nuptials, and
to substitute that of her having been some time wedded" (Clarke).
104. Hungerly. Hungrily. Cf. T. of A. i. 1. 262: "I feed Most hun-
gerly on your sight." It is an adjective in T. of S. iii. 2. 177.
Gr. 447.
107. Happiness. Good luck. For the accent of importune, see R. and
J. p. 143, or Ham. p. 190.
110. Virtuous. Powerful; as in M. N. D. iii. 2. 267: "this virtuous
property. See M. N. D. p. 169.
112. Office. The 1st quarto has "duty," which means the same.
118. My benefit. An act of kindness to me.
120. Shut myself up in. The 1st quarto has shoote my selfe up in ;"
and the Coll. MS. "shift myself upon." Capell reads "shoot myself
upon." S. elsewhere uses shut up in confine. Cf T. and C. i. 3. 58, T.
of A. iv. 3. 279, and Macb. ii. 1. 16. The meaning here seems to be,
"confine myself to some other course, awaiting whatever fortune may
bestow upon me (Steevens and Clarke).
""
122. Advocation. Advocacy, pleading; used by S. only here.
124. Favour.
Aspect, personal appearance; as in i. 3. 337 above.
127. Within the blank, etc. "Within the shot of his anger" (John-
son). Cf. Ham. iv. 1. 42 : "As level as the cannon to his blank;" and
see note in our ed. p. 243.
136. Puff'd his own brother.
understood (Malone).
140. Unhatch'd practice.
"And yet he was cool and unruffled" is
Undeveloped treason. For unhatch'd, cf.
-
Ham. i. 3. 65; and for practice plotting, see Ham. p. 255, or Much Ado,
p. 156.
141. Demonstrable. Used by S. only here. For the accent, see Gr.
492.
142. Puddled. Muddied, disturbed, or the Yankee "riled." Cf. C. of
E. v. 1. 173: “pails of puddled mire."
145. It indues, etc. "It imparts to the other limbs the faculty of feel-
ing the same pain" (Schmidt). Cf. Ham. iv. 7. 180: "native and indued
Unto that element. Johnson conjectured "subdues."
•
148. Observancy. Devotion, homage. The Ist folio has "observ
ancie" (and "fits"), the quartos "observances," the later folios "observ
ACT IV. SCENE I.
195
ance." S. does not use observancy elsewhere. For observance in the same
sense, see M. W. ii. 2. 203: “a doting observance ;" A. Y. L. v. 2. 102 :
"duty and observance," etc. W. has "observancy" and "fit," the latter
being probably a misprint.
149. As fits, etc. Another suggestion of "long time." For beshrew,
see M. N. D. p. 152.
150. Unhandsome warrior. "Unfair assailant " (Johnson).
"A love-
ly reminiscence of her husband's calling her my fair warrior in the joy
of his first meeting with her on arrival" (Clarke). See ii. 1. 184 above.
155. Toy. Whim, fancy. See Ham. pp. 187, 195, and cf. note on i. 3.
267 above.
160. For.
161. Upon.
Because; as in i. 3. 267, iii. 3. 263, etc.
The 3d quarto has "
unto."
168. Make. Do. See on i. 2. 49 above. The 4th folio and the Var.
of 1821 have "makes."
177. Continuate. Uninterrupted, unbroken by other business. The
Ist quarto has "convenient." Cf. T. of A. i. I. II:
"continuate good-
ness.
>>
>>
179. Take out. Copy (cf. 189 just below). See on iii. 3. 296 above.
186. In good troth. The 1st quarto has "by my faith.
193. Addition. Credit. For woman'd, see Gr. 290.
194 Why. ... not.
196. Bring me, etc.
200. Circumstanc'd.
Not in the 1st quarto.
Accompany me.
That is,
See Hen. V. p. 158.
That is, I must yield to circumstances.
SCENE I.-2. Unauthoriz’d.
penult. See Macb. p. 218.
ACT IV.
So authorize is accented by S. on the
3. Against the devil. Johnson makes this="to cheat the devil ;"
Schmidt explains against as "towards, to."
5. The devil, etc. "The devil tempts their virtue by stirring up their
passions, and they tempt heaven by placing themselves in such a situa-
tion as makes it scarcely possible to avoid falling by the gratification of
them" (Henley). Cf. Matt. iv. 7.
18. The raven.
It was believed that the raven hovered near a house
in which sickness or infection existed. Malone quotes Marlowe, Jew of
Malta, ii. I:
"Thus like the sad presaging raven, that tolls
The sick man's passport in her hollow beak,
And in the shadow of the silent night,
Does shake contagion from her sable wings.
Cf. Davenant, Love and Honour:
"So ravens croke
When they fly o'er the mansions of the sick,
Boding their death."
24. Dotage of. Doting upon, doting affection for. See M. N. D. p.
174.
196
NOTES.
25. Supplied. "Gratified the desire of" (Schmidt). Cf. M. for M. v.
I. 212.
31. To confess and be hanged. An old proverb. Cf. T. of A. i. 2. 22:
"Ho, ho! confess'd it! hang'd it, have you not?" and Marlowe, Few of
Malta (quoted by Steevens): "Blame us not, but the proverb-Confess,
and be hang'd."
33. Shadowing. Full of shapes and images of things" (Schmidt).
Johnson explains the passage thus: "This passion, which spreads its
clouds over me, is the effect of some agency more than the operation of
words ; it is one of those notices which men have of unseen calamities."
Sir J. Reynolds says: "Othello alludes only to Cassio's dream, which
had been invented and told him by Iago." Hanmer adopted Warbur-
ton's conjecture of "induction" (cf. Rich. III. iv. 4. 5) for instruction.
The Coll. MS. has "shuddering" for shadowing.
35. Noses, ears, and lips. Steevens compares W. T. i. 2. 285 (omitted
under nose in Mrs. Clarke's Concordance):
"Is whispering nothing?
Is leaning cheek to cheek? is meeting noses?
Kissing with inside lip?" etc.
}
Clarke remarks: "This speech, composed entirely of abrupt and inco-
herent words, disjointed phrases, and unconnected exclamations, wrung
from the depths of a soul immersed in images of the most revolting and
poignantly distressing kind, affords a notable instance of Shakespeare's
might in producing powerful impressions through imperfect expres-
sion."
44. He had one yesterday. Iago is a liar, and may lie here; but, as
Clarke remarks, it helps to give the effect of "long time."
46. His. Its. Gr. 228.
47. By and by. Presently. See on ii. 3. 285 above.
55. A horned man. A cuckold. Cf. Much Ado, i. 1. 266, ii. 1. 47, V. I.
184, v. 4. 44, etc. See on iii. 3. 276 above.
57. Civil. Civilized.
Civilized. Cf. Cymb. iii. 6. 23:
"" Ho, who 's here?
If any thing that 's civil, speak; if savage,
Take or lend."
61. Unproper. Not exclusively their own; with perhaps a play on
the other sense. Cf. proper one's own, in i. 3. 69 above. S. uses un-
proper only here, improper (= not becoming) only in Lear, v. 3. 221.
62. Peculiar. Private, one's own; as in i. 1. 60 and iii. 3. 79 above.
63. The spite of hell. Schmidt makes spite="mortification, vexation "
tef. V', and A. 1133); but it seems rather to be malice. The spite of hell
is explained by the fiend's arch-mock. The man is not mortified, for he
does not know his disgrace.
64. Secure. Free from care or suspicion (Latin securus). See Ham.
p. 196. For lip kiss, cf. A. and C. ii. 5. 30.
=
68. In a patient list. Within the bounds of patience. For list=boun-
dary, see Ham. p. 249.
69. O'erwhelmed. The 1st quarto has "erewhile mad;" probably the
compositor's misreading of the MS.
ACT IV. SCENE I.
197
71. Shifted him away. Contrived to get rid of him. Cf. Macb. ii. 3. 151:
"And let us not be dainty of leave-taking,
But shift away
(that is, contrive to get away).
>>
72. Ecstasy. Here swoon; elsewhere any state of being beside
one's self (rapture, madness, etc.). See Ham. p. 201, or Macb. p. 211.
74. Encave.
Conceal; used by S. only here. Cf. Gr. 440.
75. Fleers. Mocks; the only instance of the noun in S. For the
verb, see Much Ado, p. 162. Scorns expressions of scorn. Cf. 1 Hen.
VI. i. 4 39:
"With scoffs, and scorns, and contumelious taunts," etc.
76. Region. Part. Cf. Hen. VIII. ii. 4. 184: "The region of my
breast;" and Lear, i. 1. 147: "The region of my heart."
79. He hath, and is again to cope. He hath met and is again to meet.
For the ellipsis, cf. Gr. 383; and for cope = meet, encounter, see A. Y. L.
p. 155.
81. All in all in spleen. Wholly given up to anger.
v. 2. 19: “A hair-brain'd Hotspur, govern'd by a spleen.”
87. Housewife. Hussy. See on ii. 1. 111 above.
88. It is.
Cf. 1 Hen. IV.
Used contemptuously; as in R. and J. iv. 2. 14, etc. See
on ii. 1. 30 above.
94. Unbookish. Ignorant, unskilled.
97. Worser. Cf. i. 1. 93 above.
Addition. Title. See Ham. p. 193.
101. Caitiff. Formerly used of both sexes. Cf. A. W. iii. 2. 117: “I
[Helena] am the caitiff that do hold him to it ;" Rich. III. iv. 4. 100:
For queen, a very caitiff crown'd with care," etc. Here the word is
used half playfully, half fondly; like fool (see A. Y. L. p. 151), wretch (iii.
3. 90 above), etc.
107. Well said. Well done. See on ii. 1. 165 aboye.
II.
11. Do you triumph, Roman? Roman is ironical, suggested by the
triumph.
112. Customer. A harlot (cf. 87 above); as in A. W. v. 3. 287: some
common customer."
As we still say
Bear some charity. As we still say "bear malice," "bear ill-will,"
etc. Cf. Hen. VIII. iii. 1. 63: "Zeal and obedience he still bore your
grace," etc.
119. Scored me. Johnson (so Schmidt) explains this as="made my
reckoning, settled the term of my life;" Steevens and Clarke take it to
mean "branded me." The 1st quarto has "stor'd me well."
125. The other day. A "long-time" hint.
=
126. Bauble. Contemptuously plaything; or perhaps = fool. The
fool's club or staff was called a bauble; as in A. W. iv. 5. 32 and R. and
7. ii. 4. 97.
127. Me.
"Ethical dative." Gr. 2 20. Cf. i. 1. 49 above. The Ist
quarto has "by this hand she fals thus," etc.
130. Hales. Hauls, draws. See Much Ado, p. 137.
137. Fitchew. Literally, pole-cat; here used contemptuously. Cf. T
and C. v. 1. 67 and Lear, iv. 6. 124. For the idiomatic use of such another,
cf. M. W. i. 4. 160, T. and C. i. 2. 282, 296, etc.
198
NOTES.
144. Hobby-horse. For the contemptuous use of the word, see Much
Ado, p. 144. It was applied to both sexes.
154. Very fain. We should not use this expression now, though we
say "very gladly," etc. Cf. Much Ado, p. 118, note on Very much glad.
169. To-night. "It is this necessity for prompt vengeance on the part
of Othello that makes the dramatist throw in occasional touches of short
time; as it is the need for effect of destruction to established wedded
faith and happiness that makes S. introduce denotements of long time"
(Clarke).
171. It hurts my hand.
Steevens quotes A. and C. iv. 9. 16:
"throw my heart
Against the flint and hardness of my fault;
Which, being dried with grief, will break to powder," etc.
176. She will sing, etc. Cf. V. and A. 1096:
"To recreate himself when he hath sung,
The tiger would be tame and gently hear him."
178. Invention. Mental activity in general (Schmidt). See Much Ado,
P. 156.
181. Condition. Disposition. See on ii. 1. 243 above.
185. Patent. Privilege, formal permission. Malone compares King
Edward III., 1596: "Why then give sin a passport to offend."
192. Unprovide. Unfit, deprive of resolution; used by S. only here.
197. Let me be his undertaker. Let me take care of him. Undertaker
occurs again in T. N. iii. 4. 349, where it is=a meddler, or one who un-
dertakes other people's business.
203. Save you, etc. The 1st quarto has "God save the worthy gen-
eral!" The change, like others of the kind, was probably made on ac-
count of the statute against using the Divine name on the stage. See p.
II above.
With all my heart. The phrase is used both as a reply to a salutation
(=I thank you with all my heart) and as a salutation (=Í greet you with
all my heart). For an example of the former, see Lear, iv. 6. 32; and
for one of the latter, T. of A. iii. 6. 27 (Clarke).
219. Atone them. Bring them at one, reconcile them. Cf. Rich. II. i. 1.
202: Since we cannot atone you," etc. For other meanings of atone,
see A. Y. L. p. 199.
223. Deputing. Substituting; as in iv. 2. 217 below.
225. I am glad, etc. Clarke thinks it possible that S. wrote "mad to
see you glad.' The speech is probably ironical.
231. If that, etc. "If woman's tears could impregnate the earth. By
the doctrine of equivocal generation, new animals were supposed produc-
ible by new combinations of matter " (Johnson). For teem, see Macb. p.
243.
232. Falls. Lets fall. See J. C. p. 169, note on They fall their crests.
Malone says: "S. here alludes to the fabulous accounts of crocodiles.
Each tear, says Othello, which falls from the false Desdemona would
generate a crocodile, the most deceitful of all animals, and whose own
tears are proverbially fallacious." Bullokar, in his English Expositor,
"It is written that he will weep over a man's head when he hath
says:
ACT IV. SCENE II.
199
Wherefore in
devoured the body, and then will eat up the head too.
Latin there is a proverbe, crocodili lachrymæ, crocodile's tears, to signifie
such tears as are fained, and spent only with intent to deceive, or doe
harm." According to the same writer, a dead crocodile, "but in perfect
forme," about nine feet long, had been exhibited in London in the poet's
time.
255. Safe. Sound.
Sound. Cf. 7. C. i. I.
Cf. J. C. i. 1. 14: "a safe conscience," etc.
256. Censure. Opinion, judgment; as in ii. 3. 175 above. See anoth-
er example in the preface to the 1st quarto, quoted on p. II.
260. Use. Custom, habit. Cf. M. of V. iv. 1. 268: "it is still her
use;" Ham. iii. 4. 168: "For use almost can change the stamp of nat-
ure," etc.
262. New-create. For the compound, cf. Temp. i. 2. 81 and Hen. VIII.
v. 5. 42. The hyphen is not in the early eds.
263. Honesty. What is becoming or proper.
hold it not honesty to have it thus set down," etc.
Cf. Ham. ii. 2. 204: 1
SCENE II.-2. Nor ever heard, etc. A suggestion of "long time."
3. And she. Cf. A. and C. iii. 13. 98: "So
with the hand of she
saucy
here;" T. and C. ii. 3. 25: "Praise him that got thee, she that gave thee
suck," etc.
12. Durst to wager.
13. Other.
See Gr. 349.
For the singular use, cf. L L. L. iii 1. 83: "Do the wise
think them other ?” See also Gr. 12.
14. Remove. Banish, put away. Cf. R. of L. 243: "My will is strong,
past reason's weak removing ;" Id. 614:
Id. 614: "thy will remove," etc.
29. Mystery. Like function in 27=trade, occupation. Cf. M. for M.
iv. 2. 30 fol. and T. of A. iv. 1. 18. "Othello taunts Emilia with having
made a traffic in connivance at stolen meetings between Cassio and Des-
demona, and now bids her give a specimen of proficiency in her avoca-
tion; afterwards following up his insult by flinging her money for her
'pains '" (Clarke).
35. Being like one of heaven. "How exquisitely these few words serve
to paint to us Desdemona's look of angelic purity and innocence, togeth-
er with the impression it exercises upon even her husband's jaundiced
sight!" (Clarke).
47. They. For heaven as a plural, cf. Rich. II. i. 2. 6, Mach. ii. 1. 4,
and Ham. iii. 4. 173. See Rich. II. p. 157.
53, 54. A fixed figure, etc. A much disputed passage.
quarto has:
"A fixed figure, for the time of scorne,
To point his slow vnmouing fingers at-oh, oh,"
The 1st folio reads:
"The fixed Figure for the time of Scorne,
To point his slow, and mouing finger at."
The Ist
The Coll. MS. has "slowly moving," which was also a conjecture of
Mason's. St. adopts Hunter's conjecture:
"The fixed figure of the time, for scorn
To point his slow and moving finger at,-"
200
NOTES.
The reading in the text is that of the 2d quarto, and is adopted by W.,
the Camb. editors, Clarke, and others.
The time of scorn" the scornful world" (Schmidt), or "the scornful
spirit of the epoch" (Clarke). Slow (=slow to change its direction) pre-
pares the way for unmoving, which both explains and emphasizes it. That
S. should be supposed to have written "slow and moving" shows what
a poet may suffer at the hands of a prosaic critic. The mistake in the
folio was doubtless one of the ear in transcribing the manuscript.
56. Garner'd. Johnson says: "The garner and the fountain are im-
properly conjoined;" but a succession of metaphors is not a fault, like
the mixing of them.
60. Cistern. Steevens quotes A. and C. ii. 5. 95 :
"So half my Egypt were submerg'd, and made
A cistern for scal'd snakes.”
61. Turn thy complexion, etc. "At such an object do thou, Patience,
thyself change colour; at this do thou, even thou, rosy cherub as thou art,
look as grim as hell" (Johnson).
62. Rose-lipp'd cherubin. Cf. T. A. ii. 4. 24 :
Cf. T. A. ii. 4. 24: "thy rosed lips." For
cherubin, see Temp. p. 115.
67. Lovely. For the adverbial use, cf. 1 Hen. IV. iii. 1. 124:
70. Book.
"I framed to the harp
Many an English ditty lovely well."
For the metaphor, cf. K. John, ii. 1. 485, R. and J. i. 3. 87,
iii. 2. 83, R. of L. 615, 1253, etc.
72. Commoner. Harlot; as in A. W. v. 3. 194.
77. The bawdy wind. Cf. M. of V. ii. 6. 16; "the strumpet wind;"
M. N. D. ii. 1. 129: "the wanton wind," etc.
82. This vessel. This body of mine. Cf. T. of A. v. 1. 204 and Per. iv.
4. 30. It is sometimes a person; as in W. T. iii. 3. 21, J. C. v. 5. 13, etc.
The Biblical phrase "the weaker vessel" (=woman) is used in L. L. L.
i. 2. 276, A. Y. L. ii. 4. 6, etc.
89. Married with. Cf. M. N. D. i. 1. 40 : to marry
with Demetrius."
See also Much Ado, v. 4. 37, R. and J. iii. 5. 219, Ham. i. 2. 151, etc. So the
transitive verb sometimes; as in A. and C. i. 2. 29: "to marry me with
Octavius Cæsar;" but to is oftener used.
90. To Saint Peter. To that of Saint Peter. For the ellipsis, cf. J. C.
ii. 1. 125:
"What need we any spur but our own cause
To prick us to redress? What other bond
Than [that of] secret Romans, that have spoke the word,
And will not palter?""
98. With who? See on i. 2. 52 above.
107. How have I been behav'd? Cf. Ham. iii. 1. 35 : as he is behav'd."
See Gr. 295.
108. Least misuse. The 1st quarto has "greatest abuse;" and the
Coll. MS. "least misdeed." Clarke explains the passage thus: "How
can I have behaved, that even my least misconduct should have subject-
ed me to the smallest misconstruction on his part?" It may be a case
ACT IV. SCENE II.
201
like those explained by Schmidt in his Appendix, p. 1420, and referred
to in A. Y. L. p. 156, note on No more do yours. See also R. and J. p.
199, note on And I am nothing slow to slack his haste.
115. Thrown such despite, etc. This shows that Emilia, among her
other objectionable characteristics, is a listener-a mean listener at doors"
(Clarke).
118. Such as she says, etc. See p. 19 above.
120. Callat. A coarse or lewd woman, a drab. Cf. W. T. ii. 3. 90, 2
Hen. VI. i. 3. 86, and 3 Hen. VI. ii. 2. 145. Malone quotes Harrington,
Ariosto, 1591: "And thus this old, ill-favour'd spiteful callet."
129. Eternal. For the use of the word here, see Ham. p. 195, note on
Eternal blazon.
131. Cogging. Deceiving, lying. Cf. M. W. iii. 1. 123:
"this same
scall, scurvy, cogging companion;" T. and C. v. 6. 11: "you cogging
Greeks," etc. See also Much Ado, p. 164.
As Clarke notes, actresses often make the mistake of delivering this
speech in a manner to indicate that Emilia suspects her husband; but
clearly this is not the case. Her suspicion never for an instant falls
upon Iago.
139. Notorious. Notable, egregious; as in v. 2. 238 below. Cf. C. of E.
iv. I. 84, T. of S. v. 1. 54, etc.
140. Companions. Contemptuous, as fellow now is. See another ex-
ample in note on 131 just above. Cf. Temp. p. 131, note on Your fellow.
142. Rascals. For the original meaning of the word, see A. Y. L. p.
179.
143. Speak within door. That is, not so loud as to be heard outside
the house (Johnson).
144. Squire. For the contemptuous use of the word, see Much Ado,
p. 127.
145. The seamy side without. Cf. ii. 3. 42 above:
Cf. ii. 3. 42 above: "Whom love hath
turn'd almost the wrong side out."
152. Discourse of thought. "Discursive range of thought " (Clarke).
See Ham. p. 183, note on Discourse of reason. The 2d and 3d quartos
have "discourse or thought."
153. Or that. For that as a conjunctional affix," see Gr. 287.
159. Defeat. Destroy. Cf. Sonn. 61. 11: "Mine own true love that
doth my rest defeat." So the noun=ruin, destruction. See Ham. p. 214.
161. It doth abhor me. It is abhorrent to me, it fills me with horror.
Cf. Ham. v. 1. 207 (1st quarto): "Here hung those lippes . . . now they
abhorre me.
>>
162. Addition.
166. Chide with.
with Fortune
you
Juno chide," etc.
Name, title; as in iv. 1. 97 above.
Quarrel with. Cf. Sonn. III. I : "O, for my sake do
chide;" Cymb. v. 4. 32 :
With Mars fall out, with
169. Stay the meat.
268. The 1st quarto
stay."
etc.
Are waiting for supper.
For stay, see Ham. p.
reads: "And the great messengers of Venice
173. In the contrary. Cf. Hen. VIII. iii. 2. 182: "as, i' the contrary,"
202
NOTES.
174. Every day. They have been in Cyprus only one day, but this
gives the impression of "long time."
Daffest me. Dost put me off. All the early eds. except the 1st folio
have" dofftst" or "dofts.' Daff is only another form of doff=do off.
See Much Ado, p. 138.
178. Put up in peace what, etc. We now say "put up with." Cf. T.
A. i. 1. 433: "And basely put it up without revenge."
188. Respect. Attention, notice
(Schmidt); as in 1 Hen. IV. iv. 3. 31 :
"If you vouchsafe me hearing and respect," etc.
193. Fobbed. Cheated, tricked. It is Rowe's correction of the "fopt"
of the early eds. Cf. 1 Hen. IV. i. 2. 68: "And resolution thus fobbed
as it is with the rusty curb of old father antic the law;" Cor. i. 1. 97:
you must not think to fob off our disgrace with a tale," etc.
199. You have said. Well said, quite right" (Schmidt); as in T. G.
of V. ii. 4. 29, T. N. iii. 1. 12, etc.
200. Intendment. Intention. See A. Y. L. p. 139.
202. Mettle. The early eds. make no distinction between mettle and
metal. See Rich. II. p. 157, note on That metal.
206. Directly. Honestly, in a straightforward manner. Cf. Cymě. iii.
5. 113: "directly and truly," etc.
214. Engines. Ritson and Clarke explain this as instruments of
torture. Cf. Lear, i. 4. 290: "That, like an engine, wrench'd my frame
of nature." But it may simply mean " device or contrivance," as Schmidt
gives it.
Cf. A. W. iii. 5. 21: "their promises, enticements, oaths, tokens,
and all these engines of lust," etc.
221. Lingered. Prolonged, protracted. For the transitive use, see
M. N. D. p. 124, or Gr. 290.
222. Determinate. Decisive; as in Hen. VIII. ii. 4. 176: a deter-
minate resolution," etc. It is limited, fixed, in Sonn. 87. 4 and T. N. ii.
I. II.
=
225. Uncapable. Cf. M. of V. iv. 1. 5: "Uncapable of pity." Else-
where S. uses incapable. See Gr. 442.
The 1st quarto has "harlot."
as in K. John, ii. 1. 356: “Why
229. Harlotry. See R. and J. p. 204.
234. Amazed. In a maze, bewildered;
stand these royal fronts amazed thus ?" R. and J. iii. 1. 139: "Stand not
amaz'd," etc.
236, 237. High supper-time. High time for supper. Mason wanted to
read "nigh."
237. Grows to waste.
Is wasting away. Malone says that "perhaps
we ought to print waist." See Ham. p. 186, note on Vast.
SCENE III.-2. 'T will do me good to walk. "One of Shakespeare's
subtle indications of physical condition; it perfectly shows the restless-
ness, the mal-ease, the fret of limb and frame accompanying fever of the
mind" (Clarke).
10. He looks gentler, etc. "This also serves to denote the present
state of Othello with perfect truth to natural course in emotional dis-
turbance. His look and manner are calmer, because he has come to a
resolved conclusion. . . . His mind being once made up as to the course
ACT IV. SCENE III.
203
he must pursue and the punishment he will inflict, it can suffer him to
speak and look more gently than he did" (Clarke).
II. Incontinent. Immediately. See on i. 3. 304 above, and cf. A. Y. L.
p. 194.
15. Wearing. Clothes; as in W. T. iv. 4 9: "With a swain's wear-
ing.'
19. Checks. See on i. 1. 138 above.
22. All's one. All the same, very well. Cf. Much Ado, v. I. 49:
"Well, all is one," etc.
Faith. The reading of the 1st quarto; the other early eds. have
"father."
23. If I do die, etc. "The touch of superstitious foreboding, the touch
of tender sentiment, the touch of self-chiding for being weak enough to
indulge them, are all perfectly womanly; and make one marvel how a
man could so intuitively have conceived the passage. But then the man
is SHAKESPEARE; whose knowledge of womanhood, in all its intensest
depths, is a miracle in itself" (Clarke). On the poet's fondness for pre-
sentiments, see Ham. p. 273, note on But thou wouldst not think, etc., and
R. and J. p. 157, note on My mind misgives, etc.
24. Talk. That is, talk idly, talk nonsense.
Cf. Much Ado, iii. 3. 37 :
"to babble and to talk;" Macb. iv. 2. 64: "Poor prattler, how thou
talk'st!" etc.
26. Mad. Some of the editors would have this mean "wild" or "in-
constant," but we see no reason for not taking it in the common sense
of insane. Prov'd mad = turned out to be deranged, as Clarke and
others explain it.
To-do is some-
30. To do. Pope needlessly changed this to “ado.”
times used for ado (see Ham. p. 207); but in the present passage the
verb may have its ordinary meaning: I have to do much, that is, to make
a great effort.
34. Proper. Comely, handsome. See on i. 3. 383 above, and cf. Heb.
xi. 23.
39. The poor soul, etc. S. has here "adapted" an old ballad, which
may be found in Percy's Reliques. The original is a man's song, entitled
A Lover's Complaint, being forsaken of his Love ;" and in making it
a woman's song the poet has varied its diction somewhat.
Sighing. This is the reading of the original and of the 2d quarto
("singhing" in 3d quarto). The folios have "singing," which may pos-
sibly be one of the changes made by S.
=
55. Moe. More. See A. Y. L. p. 176. For couch lie, cf. Much Ado,
iii. 1. 46, M. of V. v. 1. 305, etc.
59. Dost thou, etc. Just one of Shakespeare's natural touches of
abrupt reference and introduction of subject. Desdemona asks this
question, and Emilia answers it, using the word such, although there has
been no mention of unfaithfulness during this scene; but it has been the
subject of their thought, it has lain at the root of their dread that Othello
is jealous, and they now show that it is perfectly present to their mind
by this unushered allusion" (Clarke).
63. No, by this heavenly light! "The contrast throughout the present
204
NOTES
brief dialogue, of the innately pure woman and the ingrained coarse
woman, the white-souled Desdemona and the gross-thoughted, mercena-
ry, lax-principled Emilia, with her threadbare sophisms, her shallow ex-
cuses, and her palterings with right and wrong, forms a fine climax to the
light and dark characteristic difference between these two principal fe-
male figures in the tragedy picture, even while the dramatic harmony is
maintained by the single point of moral fallibility which they have in
common" (Clarke).
70. Joint-ring. A common lover's token in the olden time. Its con-
struction is well explained in Dryden's Don Sebastian:
a curious artist wrought them
With joints so close as not to be perceiv'd,
Yet are they both each other's counterpart;
Her part had Fuan inscrib'd, and his had Zayda
(You know these names are theirs), and in the midst
A heart divided in two halves was plac'd.
Now, if the rivets of those rings inclos'd
Fit not each other, I have forg'd this lye ;
But if they join, you must for ever part."
72. Exhibition. See on i. 3. 236 above, and cf. also Lear, i. 2. 25 :
"And the king gone to-night! subscrib'd his power!
Confin'd to exhibition!"
(Steevens).
81. To the vantage. "To boot, over and above
83-100. But I... us so. Omitted in the 1st quarto.
85. And pour, etc. Malone compares Sonn. 142. 8: "Robb'd others'
beds' revenues of their rent." For foreign, cf. Per. iv. 1. 34: "With
more than foreign heart."
86. Peevish. Foolish. Cf. ii. 3. 167 above.
88. Having. "Allowance, pin-money" (Schmidt).
178.
Cf. A. Y. L. p.
In despite. Out of malice; as in Hen. V. iii. 5. 17, etc.
89. Galls. Bitter feelings. Cf. T. and C. i. 3. 237: "they have galls,"
etc.
91. Sense.
Senses, sensation
(Schmidt). Malone explains it as
'sensual appetite.' Cf. M. for M. i. 4. 59, etc.
100. So. The later folios have "to."
IOI. Uses. "Manners, ways" (Schmidt). The 1st quarto has "usage,"
which some modern editors prefer.
ACT V.
SCENE I.-1. Bulk. "A part of a building jutting out" (Schmidt);
as in Cor. ii. I. 226: "stalls, bulks, windows," etc. The 1st and 2d folios
have "barke."
5. Resolution. Metrically equivalent to five syllables. Gr. 479.
II. Quat. Literally, a pustule or pimple. Cf. the contemptuous use
of scab in T. N. ii. 5. 82, T. and C. ii. 1. 31, Cor. i. 1. 169, etc. See also
Much Ado, p. 146. The 1st quarto has "gnat." Steevens quotes Dek
:

ACT V. SCENE II.
ker, Gul's Hornbook, 1609: "a yong quat of the first yeeres reven
and The Devil's Law Case, 1623: "O young quat!”
16
-
To the sense to the quick.
16. Bobb'd from him. Fooled him out of. Cf. T. and C. iii. 1. 75
You shall not bob us out of our melody." In T. and C. ii. 1. 76 and
Rich. III. v. 3. 334, bob=beat, drub.
22. But so. The folio reading" But, soft!" (M. N. D. iv. 1. 124,
etc.). The quartos have "be 't so," which may be what S. wrote.
25. Coat.
That is, "coat of proof" or shirt of mail, worn beneath his
outer garments. Hearing this, Iago wounds him "in the leg."
26. Proof. Trial; as in i. 1. 28 above.
34. Unblest. Accurst; as in ii. 3. 286 above.
35. Forth of. Out of. See Rich. II. p. 192.
37. No passage. No passers-by. Cf. C. of E. iii. 1. 99: “the stirring
passage of the day."
42. A heavy night. "A thick cloudy night, in which an ambush may
be commodiously laid" (Johnson). Steevens cites M. for M. iv. 1. 35:
"the heavy middle of the night;" where, however, it may be = drowsy,
sleepy, as Schmidt explains it.
48. Cries on. Cries out; as in Ham. v. 2. 375: "cries on havoc."
Malone quotes Eastward Hoe, 1605: "Who cries on murder?" John-
son makes it = exclaims against. See Ham. p. 276.
58. Make away. Get away.
Cf. make after (i. 1. 68 above), make for
(i. 3. 14), etc. The transitive make away = make away with, kill; as in
A. Y. L. v. 1. 58, Rich. III. iv. 4. 281, etc.
69. Cry you mercy. Beg your pardon.
below.
71. Brother. That is, brother officer.
See M. N. D. p. 159. Cf. 93
78. May. See Gr. 309; and for should in the next line, Gr. 325.
85. Trash. Worthless creature. Cf. ii. 1. 290 above.
98. Well said. Well done; as in ii. 1. 165 and iv. 1. 107 above.
105. Gentlemen. The quartos have "gentlewoman."
106. Gastness.
tures
Ghastliness, haggard look. The quartos have "ieas-
or "jestures." We find gasted (or ghasted) in Lear, ii. 1. 57.
117. Know of. Find out from. For of from, see Gr. 165 fol.
129. Fordoes. Undoes, destroys. See Ham. p. 201.
SCENE II.-I. It is the cause, etc.
"Othello, full of horror at the cruel
action which he is about to perpetrate, seems at this instant to be seek-
ing his justification from representing to himself the cause, that is, the
greatness of the provocation he had received" (Steevens).
4. Whiter skin of hers than snow. Cf. Mach. v. S. 7: "Thou bloodier
villain than terms can give thee out;" and see on i. 3. 285 above.
7. Put out the light, etc. Warb. pointed the line "Put out the light,
and then-Put out the light!" and explained it thus: 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 repeti-

NOTES.
his first words, as much as to say, But hold, let me first weigh the
tions which this expression so naturally excites." But, as Malone
gests, it probably means, I will now put out the light, and then put
at the light of life. This introduces the following reflections as aptly
as the other explanation, and seems simpler and more natural. The
metaphor is a common one in S. Cf. 3 Hen. VI. ii. 6. 1, Macb. v. 5. 23,
R. of L. 191, etc.
II. Cunning'st. For this contraction of superlatives, cf. Macb. ii. 1. 24,
ii. 2. 4, iii. 4. 126, etc. See Gr. 473.
""
12. Promethean heat. Cf. L. L. L. iv. 3. 304, 351: "Promethean fire."
The folios have "re-Lume
13. Relume.
or "re-lume;" the 1st quar-
to, "returne;" the other quartos, "relumine."
The rose. The folios have "thy rose," and in the next line but one
"smell thee."
21. This sorrow's heavenly. "This tenderness, with which I lament
the punishment which justice compels me to inflict, is a holy passion
(Johnson). Steevens remarks that the cruel tears "seems adopted from
the fabulous history of the crocodile"!
30. By. Aside. Cf. Much Ado, iv. 1. 24: “Stand thee by, friar," etc.
Gr. 36.
32. Forefend. Forbid; as in 185 below. Cf. W. T. iv. 4. 541, Rich.
II. iv. 1. 129 ("forbid in the folios), Cymb. v. 5. 287, etc.
>
42. That death's unnatural, etc. Cf. Rich. II. i. 2. 134:
It is a quarrel most unnatural,
To be reveng'd on him that loveth you."
46. Point on. Cf. T. and C. i. 3. 331 : find Hector's purpose Point-
ing on him;" J. C. i. 3. 32: "the climate that they point upon," etc.
63. Thou dost stone my heart, etc. "Thou dost harden my heart by
denying thy guilt, and causest me to kill thee from wrath at thy perjury,
when I intended thy death to be a sacrifice made to justice" (Clarke).
Johnson remarks here: "I am glad that I have ended my revisal of
this dreadful scene. It is not to be endured."
72. Ta'en order. Taken measures. Cf. Rich. III. i. 4. 288: "Until
the duke take ("give" in the folios) order for his burial;" Id. iv. 2. 53 :
"I will take order for her keeping close," etc.
82. Being done, etc. My deed of retribution being once put into exe-
cution, there must be no pause in completing it " (Clarke).
83. It is too late.
Here the 1st quarto inserts, "Des. O Lord, Lord,
Lord." Tollet and Malone believe that it was omitted in the folio on
account of the statute of 1606 (see p. 11 above).
91. By and by. Presently; as in ii. 1. 270 above.
92. Like. Likely; as often. See Ham. p. 186.
101. At alteration. At the change.
106. Murther. The early eds. have "murthers."
109. Error. Aberration. On more nearer in 110, see Gr. II.
124. Nobody, etc. See p. 30 above.
132. Folly. Wantonness, unchastity; as often.
M. IV. ii. 2. 253, iii. 2. 35, T. and C. v. 2. 18, etc.
this sense in ii. 1. 135 above.
Cf. R. of L. 556, 851,
There is a play upon
See also Deut. xxii. 21.

ACT V. SCENE II.
134. False as water.
Cf. W. T. i. 2. 132:
"but they were false
As o'er-dyed blacks, as wind, as waters."
See also T. and C. iii. 2. 199, T. of A. iii. 6. 99, and Hen. VIII, ii. 1. 130.
Cf. Gen. xlix. 4.
139. My husband! Emilia's astonishment here is sufficient proof that
she did not before suspect Iago of being the "eternal villain" that had
"devised this slander." See on iv. 2. 131 above.
149. Iterance. The quartos have “iteration," which means the same.
So in 208 below the quartos have "reprobation," the folios "repro-
bance."
"C
150. Villany hath made mocks, etc. Villany has taken advantage to
play upon the weakness of passion" (Johnson).
160. You were best. See on i. 2. 30 above.
162. As I have to be hurt. That is, to endure being hurt. Cf. Hen.
VIII. iii. 2. 387:
"I am able now, methinks,
Out of a fortitude of soul I feel,
To endure more miseries and greater far
Than my weak-hearted enemies dare offer;"
and 2 Hen. VI. iv. 1. 130 : "More can I bear than you dare execute."
176. Apt. Natural; as in ii. 1. 274 above.
182. Charm. Check or restrain, as with a charm or spell. Cf. T. of S.
i. 1. 214: "I will charm him first to keep his tongue;" Id. iv. 2. 58: "To
tame a shrew and charm her chattering tongue;" 2 Hen. VI. iv. 1. 64 :
"And therefore shall it charm thy riotous tongue;" and 3 Hen. VI. v. 5.
31: "Peace, wilful boy, or I will charm your tongue." Steevens cites
examples of the phrase from Ben Jonson, Spenser, Chapman, and others.
184-192. My mistress. . . villany. These lines are not in the 1st
quarto.
•
191. I thought so then. Referring to the suspicions she had expressed
in iv. 2. 129 fol. She seems to us about to say, I thought then that
there was villany going on, but little thought my husband was its author.'
The very thought that Iago could be capable of such villany causes her
to interrupt her half-uttered sentence with 'I'll kill myself for grief'"
(Clarke).
205. Shore. The past tense of shear-cut, as with shears. The par-
ticiple is shorn (as in Sonn. 68. 6), but shore for the sake of the rhyme in
1. N. D. v. I. 347.
207. Curse his better angel, etc. Cf. Sonn. 144. 6: "Tempteth my bet-
ter angel from my side."
208. Reprobance.
on 149 above.
เ
"Perdition, eternal damnation " (Schmidt).
211. A thousand times.
the effect of "long time."
See
An indefinite phrase, but used here to give
Cf. " a hundred times" in iii. 3. 292 above.
“a
213. Recognizance. Token. The word is used by S. only here and in
Ham. v. 1. 113, where it has its legal sense.
215. Antique. For the accent, see Mach. p. 130.

NOTES.
My father gave my mother. This is not consistent with iii. 4. 55
nd has been criticised as an oversight in the poet; but, as Steevens
marks, it is only a fresh proof of his art. Othello tells the truth here,
while there he was frightening Desdemona with a fictitious history of
the handkerchief. Clarke remarks: "Even this slight deviation from
truth on the part of Othello works its own retribution. Had he not
over-excited the gentle lady's fears by this description of the handker-
chief, and startled her by his peremptoriness in demanding it, she might
not have been tempted to prevaricate and tell a falsehood in reply to his
divergence from absolute fact. Thus subtly does the greatest of dra-
matic moralists draw his ethical lessons."
219. As liberal as the north. As freely as the north wind blows. The
Ist quarto reads: "I'le be in speaking, liberall as the ayre;" the other
quartos: "Ile be in speaking, liberall as the north." Cf. Rich. II. ii. 1.
229: a liberal tongue;" and Cymb. i. 3. 36 : "the tyrannous breathing
of the north.
230. Filth.
etc.
""
For the personal use, cf. Temp. i. 2. 346, Lear, iv. 2. 39,
"Have
232. Coxcomb. Equivalent here to fool in its strongest sense.
233. Are there no stones in heaven, etc. Cf. J. C. i. 3. 49:
bar'd my bosom to the thunder-stone;" and see note in our ed. p. 138.
234. Precious. For the ironical use, cf. Cymb. iii. 5. 81 and iv. 2. 83.
238. Notorious. Egregious; as in iv. 2. 139 above. Iago was not a
notorious villain in the modern sense of the word, for his villany had but
just then become known.
246. I will play the swan, etc. Cf. R. of L. 1611:
And now this pale swan in her watery nest
Begins the sad dirge of her certain ending."
See also K. John, v. 7. 21, M. of V. iii. 2. 44, and Phenix and Turtle, 15.
252. A sword of Spain, etc. "Spanish blades " (R. and J. i. 4. 84)
were famous for their quality. Steel is tempered by plunging it red-hot
into cold water.
263. Your stop. What you can do to stop me.
Cf. R. and J. ii. 2. 69 :
thy kinsmen are no stop to me," etc. Steevens quotes Cor. i. 1. 72 :
"
Cracking ten thousand curbs
Of more strong link asunder than can ever
Appear in your impediment.'
11
265. Weapon'd. For participles formed from nouns, see Gr. 294, and
cf. woman'd in iii. 4. 194 above. Lines 265-271 are not in the 1st quarto.
266. Butt. Goal, bound.
268. Lost. Wasted, groundless.
269. A rush.
Cf. K. John, iv.
271. Wench.
Often used as the symbol of weakness and inefficiency.
3. 129, Cor. i. 1. 185, i. 4. 18, etc.
See on iii. 3. 313 above.
272. Compt. The last reckoning-day. The 1st quarto spells the word
"count."
281, 282. O Desdemona, etc. The reading of the quartos, where, how-
ever, the two lines form but one. The 1st folio has "Oh. Desdemon!
ACT V. SCENE II.
209
dead Desdemon: dead. Oh, oh !" For the variations in the later folios
and the modern editions, the curious reader may refer to the Camb. ed.
286. His feet. To see if they are cloven.
292. In the practice. Into the snare.
and iii. 4. 140 above. For in, see Gr. 159.
295. All in honour. See p. 27 above.
For practice = plot, cf. i. 3. 102
296. Part. For the adverbial use, cf. Sonn. 113. 3, T. N. iii. 4. 337, etc.
297. Consent in. Plan together, conspire with each other for.
301. Demand. Ask, question. See Ham. p. 243.
314. Discontented. "Full of dissatisfaction" (Schmidt).
317. Belike. Probably. See Ham. p. 225.
327. Cast. Dismissed, cashiered. Cf. i. I. 139 and ii. 3. 12 above.
Spake. Said. Cf. M. for M. v. I. 366: "What you have spoke I par-
don," etc.
331. Taken off. Taken away; as in A. W. ii. 1. 92: "May spend our
wonder too, or take off thine," etc.
337. Bring him away. The quarto reading; the folio has "bring
away," and the Coll. MS. "bring them away.
345. Wrought.
That is, wrought upon. Cf. W. T. v. 3. 58:
"If I had thought the sight of my poor image
Would thus have wrought you,'
"} etc.
See on i. 2. 6 above.
347. Indian. The reading of all the early eds. except the 1st folio,
which has "Iudean." Theo. (followed by Warb. and Malone) maintained
that "Judean" was correct, and that it referred to Herod, who, in a fit
of blind jealousy, threw away Mariamne, his "jewel" of a wife. On the
other hand, Boswell cites in favour of Indian Habington's Castara:
"So the unskilfull Indian those bright gems
Which might adde majestie to diadems
'Mong the waves scatters;'
יי.
and Sir Edward Howard, The Woman's Conquest:
"Behold my queen-
Who with no more concern I 'le cast away
Than Indians do a pearl that ne're did know
Its value."
Coleridge remarks on Warburton's note as follows: "Thus it is for no-
poets to comment on the greatest of poets! To make Othello say that
he, who had killed his wife, was like Herod who had killed Mariamne!
Oh, how many beauties, in this one line, were impenetrable to the ever
thought-swarming Warburton! Othello wishes to excuse himself on the
score of ignorance, and yet not to excuse himself to excuse himself by
accusing. This struggle of feeling is finely conveyed in the word base,
which is applied to the rude Indian, not in his own character, but as the
momentary representative of Othello's. Indian-for I retain the old
reading-means American, a savage in genere.”
350. Drop tears. "The sudden deviation from past tense to present
tense here has impressive effect; it tends to make the weeping of the
noble-natured man and brave soldier the more vividly actual and intense
to the imagination of reader or spectator" (Clarke).
O
210
ADDENDA.
351. Medicinable. Medicinal. S. has the word in four other passages
(Much Ado, ii. 2. 5, T. and C. i. 3. 91, iii. 3. 44, and Cymb. iii. 2. 33), in all
medicinal, and in all pronounced medicinable, as here. Some editors
adopt the "medicinal" of the 1st quarto, but that word, in the only in-
stance in which S. uses it (W. T. ii. 3. 37: “Do come with words as
medicinal as true"), is pronounced medicinal, which would not suit the
measure here.
352. Aleppo. Steevens says: "I am told that it is immediate death
for a Christian to strike a Turk in Aleppo. Othello is boasting of his
own audacity."
357. Period. Ending. Cf. R. of L. 380 : "the period of their ill," etc.
In the present passage there is a kind of play upon the word, to which
Gratiano refers in the next speech.
362. Spartan dog. The dogs of Spartan breed were especially fierce
and savage (Hanmer). See M. N. D. p. 175, note on 110.
369. Censure. Sentence, condemnation. Cf. Cor. iii. 3. 46: "To suf-
fer lawful censure for such faults," etc.
ADDENDA.
THE "TIME - ANALYSIS "OF THE PLAY. — The action covers three
days: the first for act i., the second for act ii., and the third for the rest
of the play; with an interval (for the voyage to Cyprus) between the
first and second.
The Sagittary (p. 158). We cannot find any evidence that the Arsenal
at Venice was ever called "the Sagittary;" probably this is a mere con-
jecture of Knight's. His note, abbreviated on page 158, reads thus:
This is generally taken to be an inn. It was the residence at the ar-
senal of the commanding officers of the navy and army of the republic.
The figure of an archer, with his drawn bow, over the gates, still indicates
the place. Probably Shakspere had looked upon that sculpture.”
The figure mentioned by K. is not "over the gates," but is one of four
statues standing in front of the structure. It represents a man holding
a bow (not "drawn ") in his hand, but is in no respect more conspicuous
than its three companions. If S. was ever in Venice he probably saw
the statue (if it is as old as the gateway, which was built in 1460), but we
cannot imagine why it should suggest to him to call the place the Sagit-
tary. That word means, not an ordinary archer, but a Centaur with a
bow, as in the familiar representations of the zodiacal sign Sagittarius.
This is its sense in the only other passage in which S. uses it, T. and C.
v. 5. 14: "the dreadful Sagittary," etc. That the Sagittary in the present
passage cannot be the Arsenal is, however, sufficiently clear from i. 3. 121.
The Arsenal was by far the largest and most prominent public building,
or collection of buildings, in all Venice, its outer walls being nearly two
miles in circuit. To suppose that anybody in the employ of the govern-
ment would need the help of Iago in finding the place is absurd.
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1. Bianca's liaison with Cassio (appears in III. iv. and IV. i).
2. Roderigo's pursuit of Desdemona (appears at I. i).
3. The True Love of Othello and Desdemona (they are
married before I. i).
The play adds four Intrigues centering around Iago.
4. Against Roderigo: to get money out of him and get rid of
him (V. i. 14).
5. Against Cassio: to get his place (I. i).
6. Against Cassio: to destroy him (V. i. 19; II. i. 316).
7. Against Othello: to make him the victim of his own
jealousy (II. i. 304, etc.).
Of these No. 7 may be regarded as the Main Action, which, as
it progresses, gradually draws all the rest into a common stream of
tendency.
By I. iii. 400, No. 6 is merged in No. 7.
By II. i. 120 (compare II. iii. 53), Nos. 2, 4, and 5 are drawn in.
By II. iii. 319, No. 3 is added.
By III. iii. 321, etc., No. I is made to work in with the rest.
The common working of all these appears first in a preparatory
stage (reflected in Iago's soliloquies: I. fin., II. i. fin., II. iii. 342)
-then in the crescendoing passion of Acts III and IV-finally it
culminates in the tragic accumulation of IV. iii and V-till the
way is prepared for an eighth action.
8. Reaction: Nemesis on Iago (V. ii, from 126).
The Reaction, like the Main Action, assists in binding the rest
together, as affecting Othello, Cassio, and Roderigo.
The general color of the plot is Intrigue it brings out the
interesting principle that villainy clouds the judgment as well as
corrupts the heart (Iago has acted on the baseless belief of his wife's
sin after everything else has been provided against, her simple
honesty ruins him).
EXERCISES
I
1. Distinguish between Retribution and Nemesis, and give exam-
ples.
2. Point out various ways in which the idea of Nemesis is made
emphatic in the play of Richard III.
حب
What is the purpose served in the play by the Night Scene
(V. iii) and the Wooing Scene (I. ii)?
II
1. Explain Pathos, as a thing distinct from Nemesis.
Show how far
accident determines the fate of the principal personages in th
play of Romeo and Juliet.
2. What is the purpose served in the play by the affair of Romeo
and Rosaline?
3. Point out ideas or topics common to such different works as the
Book of Job and the play of Romeo and Juliet.
III
1. Show how the first Act of King Lear serves to set up an unhealthy
moral situation, and how in the remaining Acts this works out
to its natural consequences.
2. Explain the function of Kent, the Fool, and Albany, in the play.
3. Bring out the parallelism between the Main and the Underplot of
King Lear.
IV
1. Analyze the character of Shakespeare's Julius Cæsar: (a) its
contradictions, (b) how these can be explained.
2. Discuss the Orations of Brutus and Antony as throwing light
upon the characters of the speakers.
3. Explain the distinction of the Practical and Inner Life, illustrat-
ing from the play of Julius Cæsar.
V
1. Tell as independent stories three or four of the eight 'actions'
enumerated in the Syllabus to Othello.
2. Bring out the purpose served in the play by Cassio and Roderigo.
3. It has been stated that an eminent impersonator of Othello played
the part on the theory that Desdemona was in fact guilty. Dis-
cuss the possibility of this view.
1329-1000-9-95
INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES
EXPLAINED.
a (=one), 180.
abhor, 201.
abused (=deceived), 158.
access (accent), 181.
achieved, 172.
acknown, 189.
act (=operation), 190.
action (trisyllable), 178.
addiction, 176.
addition (credit), 195.
addition (=title), 197, 201.
advocation, 194.
affects (noun), 167.
affined, 156, 179.
affinity, 182.
agnize, 165.
Aleppo, 210.
all in all in spleen, 197.
all's one, 203.
allowed, 165.
Almain, 178.
amazed, 202.
ancient (noun), 156.
Anthropophagi, 163.
antique (accent), 207.
antres, 163.
apart (aside), 181.
approved (=proved), 179,
180.
apt (natural), 175, 207.
arrivance, 171.
as (that), 157.
assay of reason, 161.
assure thee, 182.
at land, 170.
atone, 198.
attach (=arrest), 161.
attend (=await), 188.
bauble, 197.
be advised, 160.
bear some charity, 197.
be-leed, 156.
belike, 209.
beshrew, 195.
besort, 166.
bestow you, 182.
bid good morrow, 181.
black, 188.
blank, 194.
birdlime, 173.
blazoning, 172.
bobbed, 205.
blood, 179.
brace (armour), 162.
bring (accompany), 195.
bulk, 204.
butt, 208.
by (aside), 206.
coloquintida, 169.
commoner (=harlot), 200.
companions, 201, 208.
compliment extern, 156.
composition, 161.
compt, 208.
compulsive, 192.
conceit, 183.
conceits, 189.
condition, 175, 198.
confess and be hanged, 195
by and by (=presently), 180, confine (accent), 160.
196.
caitiff, 197.
callat, 201.
canakin, 177.
capable, 192.
carack, 160.
caroused (=drunk), 177.
cast (dismiss), 158, 177,
179, 209.
censure (judgment), 178,
199.
censure (=sentence), 210.
certes, 155.
challenge (claim), 164.
chamberers, 188.
charm (=restrain), 207.
charmer, 193.
check (=rebuke), 158, 183.
cherubin, 200.
chide, 170, 173.
chide with, 201.
chronicle small beer, 173.
chuck, 193.
circumscription, 160.
circumstance, 155.
circumstance (number), 190.
circumstanced, 195.
civil, 196.
clamours, 191.
clean (adverb), 169.
clip (=embrace), 192.
close as oak, 186.
coat (coat of proof), 205.
cogging, 201.
collied, 179.
conjunctive, 169.
conjured, 163.
conscionable, 175.
consent in, 209.
conserved, 194.
consuls (senators), 160.
content (=joy), 174.
content (reward), 181.
content you, 156.
continuate, 195:
contrived (=deliberate), 159.
conveniences, 175.
converse (= conversation),
182.
cope (=meet), 197.
counter-caster, 156.
course of direct session, 161.
court of guard, 175, 179.
courtesy, 174.
coxcomb, 2o.
crack (=breach), 180.
craftily qualified, 177.
cries on, 205.
critical, 173.
crusadoes, 193.
cry (pack), 180.
cry you mercy, 205.
cue, 161.
cunning, 183.
cunning'st, 206.
curled (=foppish), 160.
customer (harlot), 197.
daffest, 202.
dear, 166.
debitor and creditor, 156.
212 INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES EXPLAINED.
defeat (=destroy), 201.
defeat (=disfigure), 169.
defend (=forbid), 167.
delations, 183.
delighted (=delighting), 168.
deliver (=relate', 163, 179.
demand (=question), 209.
demerits (=merits), 159-
demonstrable (accent), 194.
denotement, 180.
deputing, 198.
Desdemon, 182.
designment, 171.
determinate, 202.
devesting, 178.
Diablo! 178.
dilate, 164.
directly (honestly), 202.
discontent, 209.
discourse of thought, 201.
dislikes (displeases', 177.
displeasure, 182.
disports, 167.
dispose (noun), 170.
disputed on, 161.
distaste (verb), 189.
distempering, 157.
division (disposition), 155.
dotage of, 195.
double (voice), 159.
doubt (=suspect), 182.
doubt (=suspicion), 186, 191.|
ear-piercing fife, 190.
ecstasy (=swoon), 197.
elements, 177.
embayed, 171.
encave, 197.
enchafed, 171.
engage (=pledge), 192.
enginer, 172.
engines, 202.
engluts, 162.
ensteeped, 172.
entertainment, 187.
entreats his pause, 179.
enwheel, 173.
equinox, 178.
erring, 169, 187.
error (of the moon), 206.
essential, 172.
eternal, 201.
execute upon him, 179.
execution (exercise), 192.
exercise, 193.
exhibition, 166, 204.
falls (transitive), 198.
fantasy (=fancy), 189.
fathom, 158.
favour (face), 169, 175, 194.
fearful, 161.
filth (personal), 208.
fine (end), 185.
fineless, 185.
fitchew, 197.
fleers, 197.
fobbed, 202.
folly (=wantonness), 206.
fond (foolish), 168, 173, 191.
for (as for), 184.
for (because), 167, 179,
183, 188, 195-
forbear (=spare), 159.
fordoes, 205.
fore, 177.
forefend, 206.
forked plague, 188.
forth of, 205.
fortitude (strength), 165.
fraught (noun), 192.
free (=innocent), 180, 187.
free (liberal), 167.
frize, 173.
from (away from), 158.
fruitful (bountiful), 180.
full (=complete), 171.
function (mental), 180.
function (=trade', 199.
galls (noun), 204.
gastness, 205.
gender (=kind), 169.
generous (noble), 188.
give away (=give up), 183.
God bless the mark! 156.
government, 187.
grange, 157.
green, 175.
green-eyed, 185.
grise, 165.
gross in sense, 161.
grows to waste, 202.
guardage, 161.
guards of the pole, 171.
guinea-hen, 168.
gyve, 174.
had rather, 193.
had rather to, 165.
hadst been better have been,
191.
haggard, 188.
expert and approved allow- hales, 197.
ance, 171.
exsufflicate, 186.
extincted, 173.
extravagant, 158.
fall to (=begin), 187.
happily (haply), 187.
happiness (good luck), 194.
hardness (=hardship), 166.
harlotry, 202.
haste-post-haste, 160.
haunt (intransitive), 157.
have been behaved, 200.
have with you, 160.
having (=allowance), 204.
hearted, 169, 192.
heat (= haste), 160.
heave the gorge, 175.
heaven (sky), 170.
heaven (plural), 199.
heavy (cloudy), 205.
heavy (=dull), 173.
high supper-time, 202.
high-wrought, 170.
his (its), 196.
hobby-horse, 198.
holds me well, 170.
home, 174.
honesty, 199.
honey, 174.
horned man, 196.
horologe, 178.
housewives, 173, 197.
how say you by, 161.
hungerly, 194.
hurt to danger, 179.
Hydra, 180.
idle (barren), 163.
idleness, 163.
import (=concern), 167.
import (importance), 189.
importancy, 162.
in (on), 158.
in despite, 204.
in happy time, 181.
in quarter, 178.
in the best advantage, 168.
in the contrary, 201.
in the rank garb, 176.
inclining, 180.
incontinent (adverb), 203.
incontinently, 168.
index, 175.
Indian, 209.
indigu, 167.
ingraft, 178.
injointed, 162.
intendment, 202.
intentively, 164.
invention, 198.
issues, 186.
it is, 171, 197.
it was my hint, 163.
iterance, 207.
jesses, 188.
joint-ring, 204.
jump (=agree), 161.
jump (just), 181.
just (exact), 161.
justly (=truthfully), 163.
knave (=menial), 158.
knee-crooking, 156.
INDEX OF WORDS AND Phrases exPLAINED. 213
lack (=miss), 189.
law-days, 184.
lay (=wager), 180.
learn (teach), 164.
learned, 188.
leets, 184.
let her down the wind, 188.
letter, 156.
levels with, 166.
liberal, 173-
liberal as the north, 208.
lies (lodges), 193.
like (likely), 206.
like... as, 157.
lingered (prolonged), 202.
list (boundary), 196.
list (= desire', 173.
に
​lost (= groundless), 208.
lovely (adverb), 200.
lown, 178.
Luccicos, 162.
magnifico, 159.
maidhood, 158.
make away, 205.
makes (does), 160, 195.
mammering, 183.
manage (=set on foot', 179.
mandragora, 190.
marble, 192.
married with, 200.
master, 174.
match(compare), 187.
Diazzard, 178.
me (ethical dative), 156, 161,
194, 197.
mean, 181.
medicinable, 210.
medicine (verb), 190.
mere (absolute), 176.
mettle, 202.
misuse, 200.
mock, 185.
modern (=common), 163.
moe, 203.
molestation, 171.
monstrous (trisyllable), 179.
moraler, 180.
more nearer, 206.
more safer, 165.
more wider, 163.
mortal (=deadly), 172.
moth, 166.
notions (impulses), 169.
mountebanks, 162.
mummy, 193.
mystery (trade), 199.
napkin ( handkerchief),
188.
new-create, 199.
news (number), 161.
next (=nearest), 165.
not (transposed), 185.
notorious, 201.
nuptial, 176.
observance, 185.
observancy, 194.
odd-even, 157.
odds (=quarrel), 178.
of (=from), 205.
off-capped, 155.
officed, 167.
offices, 176.
old gradation, 156.
on (=0f), 171.
on the hip, 176.
opposite (=averse), 160.
other, 199.
Ottomites, 162.
out of fashion, 174.
overt test, 163.
owe (=own), 156, 190.
pageant, 161.
parallel. 180.
part (adverb), 209.
parts (
merits), 160, 180,
188.
passage (=passers-by), 205.
passing (adverb), 164.
patent, 198.
patience (trisyllable), 181.
peculiar, 183, 196.
peevish (silly), 178, 204.
perdurable, 169.
period (ending), 210.
pestilence, 180.
pierced, 165.
pioners, 190.
planet, 178.
play the sir, 174.
pleasance, 180.
point on, 206.
poise (weight), 183.
portance, 163.
position (assertion), 187.
post-post-haste, 162.
pottie-deep, 177:
practice (=plotting), 194, 209
precious (ironical), 208.
prefer, 175.
pregnant, 175.
prerogatived, 188.
pricked, 191.
probal, 180.
probation (proof), 191.
profane, 173.
profit, 191.
proof (=trial), 205.
proper (=comely), 170, 203.
proper (=own), 162.
propose (speak), 155.
propriety, 178.
prosperity, 175.
puddled, 194.
purse (verb), 183.
put himself into triumph,
176.
put on (=-instigate), 176, 180.
put out the light, 205.
put it up (=put up with it),
202.
quality, 166.
quat, 204
question, 162.
quests, 160.
quicken, 188.
quillets, 181.
quirks, 172.
rank (=morbid), 187.
rascals, 201.
rash (metaphorical), 208.
rash (=rashly), 194.
recognizance, 207.
recoiling, 187.
reference, 166.
regard (view), 171.
region (=part), 197.
remorse (pity), 191, 192.
remove (= banish), 199.
repeal (= recall), 180
reprobance, 207.
reserves (preserves). 189
respect (attention), 202.
riches (singular), 173.
round (plain), 163.
rouse (bumper), 177.
ruffianed, 170.
safe (=sound), 199.
Sagittary, 158, 210.
salt (=lustful), 175.
sans, 162.
'sblood, 155.
scant, 167.
scored me, 197.
scorns (noun), 197.
sect (cutting), 169.
secure, 196.
seel, 167, 186.
seem to, 181.
segregation, 170.
self-bounty, 186.
self-charity, 179.
se'nnight, 172.
sense (feeling), 179.
sense (=senses). 204-
sense, to the, 205.
sequester (noun), 193.
sequestration, 169.
shadowing, 196.
she (her), 199.
shifted him away, 197.
shore (=sheared), 207.
should (=could), 193.
214 INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES EXPLAINED.
shouldst, 191.
shrewd, 191.
shrift, 183.
sibyl, 193.
siege (=rank), 159.
simpleness, 166.
sith, 191.
skillet, 167.
sleeps (noun), 191.
slipper (adjective), 175.
slubber, 165.
snipe, 170.
snorting, 157.
so (=if), 190.
something (adverb), 179.
sooth, 183.
sorry (=sore), 193.
spake (said, 209.
Spartan dog, 210.
speak parrot, 179,
speak within door, 201.
speculation, 167.
spend your rich opinion, 179.
spite of hell, 196.
splinter, 180.
squire (contemptuous), 201.
stand in act, 158.
startingly, 194.
stay the meat, 201.
stead (help), 169.
still (=ever), 164.
stones (of thunder), 208.
stood in your action, 162.
stop (=hindrance), 208.
stoup, 177.
strain, 187.
strangeness, 182.
stuff o' the conscience, 159.
success, 186.
such another, 197.
sudden, 175.
sufferance, 171.
suggest (=tempt), 180.
super-subtle, 169.
supplied (=gratified), 196.
sweeting, 179.
sword of Spain, 208.
syrups, 190.
ta'en order, 206.
ta'en out (=copied), 189, 195.
tainting, 175.
taken off, 209.
talk (=talk idly), 203.
teem, 198.
than (transposed), 205.
that, 157, 201.
theoric, 155.
thick-lips, 156.
thin habits, 163.
thrice driven, 165.
thrive, 163.
time of scorn, 200.
to (omitted), 178, 183.
to the advantage, 189.
to-do, 203.
toged, 155.
toy (whim), 195.
toys (=trifles), 167.
trash, 175, 205.
traverse, 169.
unperfectness, 180.
unproper, 196.
unprovide, 198.
unsure, 185.
upon, 157.
use (=custom), 199.
uses (=manners), 204.
vantage, to the, 204.
Veronese, 171.
very fain, 198.
vessel, 200.
virtuous (=powerful), 194
wage (=hazard), 162.
warrior, 174, 195.
watch him tame, 182.
weaponed, 208.
wearing (clothes), 203.
well desired, 174.
well said, 174, 197, 205.
wench, 189.
what (who), 179, 180.
white (play upon), 173.
who (=whom), 160, 200.
wholesome, 182.
wife (=woman), 155.
trimmed in forms and vis- | wight, 173.
ages, 156.
turned Turks, 178.
twiggen, 178.
unauthorized (accent), 195.
unbitted, 169.
unblest, 180, 205.
unbonneted, 159.
unbookish, 197.
uncapable, 202.
undertaker, 198.
unfolding, to my, 166.
unhandsome, 195.
unhatched, 194.
unhoused, 159.
unlace, 178.
wind-shaked, 170.
with (by), 171.
with all my heart, 198.
wive (verb), 193.
wived, 172.
womaned, 195.
worser, 157, 197.
wretch, 183.
wrought, 209.
yerked, 159.
yet (as yet), 191.
yet (transposed), 184.
yond, 192.
you have said, 202.
you were best, 160, 207,

FINTS.
SHAKESPEARE.
WITH NOTES BY WM. J. ROLFE, A.M.
The Merchant of Verice.
The Tempest.
Julius Cæsar.
Hamlet.
As You Like it.
Henry the Fifth.
Macbeth.
Henry the Eighth.
A Midsummer-Night's Dream.
Richard the Second.
King Lear.
The Taming of the Shrew.
All's Well That Ends Well.
Coriolanus.
Comedy of Errors.
Cymbeline.
Merry Wives of Windsor.
Measure for Measure.
Two Gentlemen of Verona.
Love's Labour 's Lost.
Timon of Athens.
Richard the Third.
Much Ado About Nothing.
Henry VI.
Part I.
Antony and Cleopatra.
Henry VI.
Part II.
Romeo and Juliet.
Henry VI.
Part III.
Othello.
Twelfth Night.
The Winter's Tale.
King John.
Henry IV. Part I.
Henry IV. Part II.
Troilus and Cressida.
Pericles, Prince of Tyre.
The Two Noble Kinsmen.
Poems.
Sonnets.
Titus Andronicus.
Illustrated. 16mo, Cloth, 56 cents per vol.; Paper, 40 cents per vol.
FRIENDLY EDITION, complete in 20 vols., 16mo, Cloth, $30 00;
Half Calf, $60 00. (Sold only in Sets.)
In the preparation of this edition of the English Classics it has been
the aim to adapt them for school and home reading, in essentially the
same way as Greek and Latin Classics are edited for educational´pur-
poses. The chief requisites are a pure text (expurgated, if necessary),
and the notes needed for its thorough explanation and illustration.
Each of Shakespeare's plays is complete in one volume, and is pre-
ceded by an Introduction containing the History of the Play," the
"Sources of the Plot," and "Critical Comments on the Play."
From HORACE HOWARD FURNESS, Ph.D., LL.D., Editor of the "New
Variorum Shakespeare.”
No one can examine these volumes and fail to be impressed with the
conscientious accuracy and scholarly completeness with which they are
edited. The educational purposes for which the notes are written Mr.
Rolfe never loses sight of, but like "a well-experienced archer hits the
mark his eye doth level at."
2
Rolfe's Shakespeare.
From F. J. FURNIVALL, Director of the New Shakspere Society, London.
The merit I see in Mr. Rolfe's school editions of Shakspere's Plays
over those most widely used in England is that Mr. Rolfe edits the plays
as works of a poet, and not only as productions in Tudor English. Some
editors think that all they have to do with a play is to state its source
and explain its hard words and allusions; they treat it as they would a
charter or a catalogue of household furniture, and then rest satisfied.
But Mr. Rolfe, while clearing up all verbal difficulties as carefully as any
Dryasdust, always adds the choicest extracts he can find, on the spirit
and special "note" of each play, and on the leading characteristics of its
chief personages. He does not leave the student without help in getting
at Shakspere's chief attributes, his characterization and poetic power.
And every practical teacher knows that while every boy can look out
hard words in a lexicon for himself, not one in a score can, unhelped,
catch points of and realize character, and feel and express the distinctive.
individuality of each play as a poetic creation
From Prof. EDWARD DOWDEN, LL.D., of the University of Dublin, Au-
thor of "Shakspere: His Mind and Art."
I incline to think that no edition is likely to be so useful for school and
home reading as yours. Your notes contain so much accurate instruc-
tion, with so little that is superfluous; you do not neglect the æsthetic
study of the play; and in externals, paper, type, binding, etc., you make
a book "pleasant to the eye" (as well as "to be desired to make one
wise")—no small matter, I think, with young readers and with old.
From EDWIN A. ABBOTT, M.A., Author of "Shakespearian Grammar."
I have not seen any edition that compresses so much necessary infor-
mation into so small a space, nor any that so completely avoids the com-
mon faults of commentaries on Shakespeare-needless repetition, super-
fluous explanation, and unscholar-like ignoring of difficulties.
From HIRAM CORSON, M.A., Professor of Anglo-Saxon and English
Literature, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.
In the way of annotated editions of separate plays of Shakespear for
educational purposes, I know of none quite up to Rolfe's.
Rolfe's Shakespeare.
3
From Prof. F. J. CHILD, of Harvard University.
I read your "Merchant of Venice" with my class, and found it in every
respect an excellent edition. I do not agree with my friend White in the
opinion that Shakespeare requires but few notes-that is, if he is to be
thoroughly understood. Doubtless he may be enjoyed, and many a hard
place slid over. Your notes give all the help a young student requires,
and yet the reader for pleasure will easily get at just what he wants.
You have indeed been conscientiously concise.
Under date of July 25, 1879, Prof. CHILD adds: Mr. Rolfe's editions
of plays of Shakespeare are very valuable and convenient books, whether
for a college class or for private study. I have used them with my
students, and I welcome every addition that is made to the series. They
show care, research, and good judgment, and are fully up to the time in
scholarship. I fully agree with the opinion that experienced teachers
have expressed of the excellence of these books.
From Rev. A. P. PEABODY, D.D., Professor in Harvard University.
I regard your own work as of the highest merit, while you have turned
the labors of others to the best possible account. I want to have the
higher classes of our schools introduced to Shakespeare chief of all, and
then to other standard English authors; but this cannot be done to ad-
vantage unless under a teacher of equally rare gifts and abundant leisure,
or through editions specially prepared for such use. I trust that you
will have the requisite encouragement to proceed with a work so hap-
pily begun.
From the Examiner and Chronicle, N. Y.
We repeat what we have often said, that there is no edition of Shake-
speare which seems to us preferable to Mr. Rolfe's. As mere specimens
of the printer's and binder's art they are unexcelled, and their other
merits are equally high. Mr. Rolfe, having learned by the practical ex-
perience of the class-room what aid the average student really needs in
order to read Shakespeare intelligently, has put just that amount of aid
into his notes, and no more. Having said what needs to be said, he stops
there. It is a rare virtue in the editor of a classic, and we are propor^
tionately grateful for it.
4
Rolfe's Shakespeare.
From the N. Y. Times.
This work has been done so well that it could hardly have been done
better. It shows throughout knowledge, taste, discriminating judgment,
and, what is rarer and of yet higher value, a sympathetic appreciation of
the poet's moods and purposes.
From the Pacific School Journal, San Francisco.
This edition of Shakespeare's plays bids fair to be the most valuable
aid to the study of English literature yet published. For educational
purposes it is beyond praise. Each of the plays is printed in large clear
type and on excellent paper.
plained by copious notes
Every difficulty of the text is clearly ex-
It is remarkable how many new beauties one
may discern in Shakespeare with the aid of the glossaries attached to
these books.... Teachers can do no higher, better work than to incul-
cate a love for the best literature, and such books as these will best aid
them in cultivating a pure and refined taste.
From the Christian Union, N. Y.
Mr. W. J. Rolfe's capital edition of Shakespeare... by far the best edi-
tion for school and parlor use We speak after some practical use of it
The notes are brief but useful; and the
necessary expurgations are managed with discriminating skill.
in a village Shakespeare Club.
From the Academy, London.
Mr. Rolfe's excellent series of school editions of the Plays of Shake-
speare... they differ from some of the English ones in looking on the
plays as something more than word - puzzles. They give the student
helps and hints on the characters and meanings of the plays, while the
word-notes are also full and posted up to the latest date. . . . Mr. Rolfe
also adds to each of his books a most useful "Index of Words and
Phrases Explained."
PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, New York
Any of the above works will be sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the
United States or Canada, on receipt of the price.
THOMAS GRAY.
SELECT POEMS OF THOMAS GRAY. Edited, with
Notes, by WILLIAM J. ROLFE, A.M., formerly Head
Master of the High School, Cambridge, Mass. Illus-
trated. Square 16mo, Paper, 40 cents; Cloth, 56 cents.
(Uniform with Rolfe's Shakespeare.)
Mr. Rolfe has done his work in a manner that comes as near to per-
fection as man can approach. He knows his subject so well that he is
competent to instruct all in it; and readers will find an immense amount
of knowledge in his elegant volume, all set forth in the most admirable
order, and breathing the most liberal and enlightened spirit, he being a
warm appreciator of the divinity of genius.-Boston Traveller.
The great merit of these books lies in their carefully edited text, and in
the fulness of their explanatory notes. Mr. Rolfe is not satisfied with
simply expounding, but he explores the entire field of English literature,
and therefrom gathers a multitude of illustrations that are interesting in
themselves and valuable as a commentary on the text. He not only in-
structs, but stimulates his readers to fresh exertion; and it is this stimu-
lation that makes his labor so productive in the school-room.-Saturday
Evening Gazette, Boston.
Mr. William J. Rolfe, to whom English literature is largely indebted
for annotated and richly illustrated editions of several of Shakespeare's
Plays, has treated the "Select Poems of Thomas Gray" in the same way
--just as he had previously dealt with the best of Goldsmith's poems.-
Philadelphia Press.
Mr. Rolfe's edition of Thomas Gray's select poems is marked by the
same discriminating taste as his other classics.—Springfield Republican.
Mr. Rolfe's rare abilities as a teacher and his fine scholarly tastes ena-
ble him to prepare a classic like this in the best manner for school use.
There could be no better exercise for the advanced classes in our schools
than the critical study of our best authors, and the volumes that Mr. Rolfe
has prepared will hasten the time when the study of mere form will give
place to the study of the spirit of our literature.-Louisville Courier-
Journal.
An elegant and scholarly little volume.—Christian Intelligencer, N. Y.
PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK.
Sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States or Canada, on
receipt of the price.
ROBERT BROWNING.
SELECT POEMS OF ROBERT BROWNING. Edited,
with Notes, by WILLIAM J. ROLFE, A.M., formerly Head
Master of the High School, Cambridge, Mass., and HEL-
Illustrated. 16mo, Paper, 40 cents;
(Uniform with Rolfe's Shakespeare.)
OISE E. HERSEY.
Cloth, 56 cents.
Probably no critic yet has gone to the heart of Browning's true signifi-
cance as does Miss Hersey. There is something in the fineness of her
insight and her subtle, spiritual sympathy that truly interprets him, while
others write in a more or less scholarly manner about him. Miss Her-
sey's work indicates the blending of two exceptional qualities-the po-
etic sympathy and the critical judgments. She feels intuitively all the
poet's subtle meanings; she is responsible to them by virtue of temper-
ament; yet added to this is the critical faculty, keen, logical, and con-
structive.-Boston Traveller.
To say that the selections have been made by Mr. Rolfe is to say that
they have not only been made by a careful and accurate scholar, but by
a man of pure and beautiful taste. . . . The Notes, which fill some
thirty pages, are admirable in their scope and brevity.-N. Y. Mail and
Express.
We can conscientiously say that both the arrangement of the selec-
tions and the fulness, as well as the illuminating character, of the anno-
tations are all that the most exacting taste could require; and the whole
work is well fitted to charm the poet's established admirers, and to
awaken in others who have not been among these a new sense of
Browning's strength and beauty as a writer.-Hartford Times.
The "Select Poems of Robert Browning" is a marvel of industrious
editing, wise, choice, and excellent judgment in comment. . . . An intro-
duction, a brief account of Browning's life and works, a chronological
table of his works, and a series of extracted critical comments on the
poet, precede the series of selections. Besides these there are at the end
of the book very extensive, valuable, and minutely illustrative notes, to-
gether with addenda supplied by Browning himself on points which the
editors were unable fully to clear up.-N. Y. Star.
PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK.
HARPER & BROTHERS will send the above work by mail, postage prepaid, to any
part of the United States or Canada, on receipt of the price.
ROBERT BROWNING.
A BLOT IN THE 'SCUTCHEON AND OTHER DRA.
MAS. BY ROBERT BROWNING. Edited, with notes, by
WILLIAM J. ROLFE, A.M., and HELOISE E. HERSEY.
With Portrait. 16mo, Paper, 40 cents; Cloth, 56 cents.
(Uniform with Rolfe's Shakespeare.)
Prepared in the same thorough manner as the previous volume upon
the Select Poems of the same author and the numerous manuals of Mr.
Rolfe. No poet needs, for the average reader, such an interpretation
as is here given more than Browning. Read carefully, with reference to
the notes of the editors, the richness of the great poet's thoughts and
fancies will be the better apprehended.—Zion's Herald, Boston.
Out of the eight dramas which the poet wrote between 1837 and 1845
the three most characteristic ones have been selected, and a full idea of
his dramatic power may be gained from them. A synopsis of critical
opinions of Mr. Browning's works is included in the volume. The same
careful scholarship that marked Professor Rolfe's editions of Shakespeare
is shown in this edition of Browning. The lovers of the poet will be
pleased to have old favorites in this attractive form, while many new
readers will be attracted to the author by it. Robert Browning will fill
a larger space in the world's eye in the future than he has done already.
-Brooklyn Union.
The introduction and notes are all that could be desired.-N. Y. Sun.
The book itself is not only a compact compilation of the three plays,
but it is valuable for the commentatory notes. The editing work has
been done in an able manner by Professor Rolfe and Miss Hersey, who
has gained a high place among the modern Browning students.-Phila-
delphia Bulletin.
This dainty volume, with flexible covers and red edges, contains not
merely Browning's dramas, with the author's latest emendations and cor-
rections, but notes and estimates, critical and explanatory, in such vol-
ume, and from sources so exalted, that we have not the temerity to add
one jot or tittle to the aggregate.-N. Y. Commercial Advertiser.
PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK.
HARPER & BROTHERS will send the above work by mail, postage prepaid, to any
part of the United States or Canada, on receipt of the price.
OLIVER GOLDSMITH.
SELECT POEMS OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH. Edited,
with Notes, by WILLIAM J. ROLFE, A.M., formerly Head
Master of the High School, Cambridge, Mass. Illus-
trated. 16mo, Paper, 40 cents; Cloth, 56 cents. (Uni-
form with Rolfe's Shakespeare.)
The carefully arranged editions of "The Merchant of Venice" and
other of Shakespeare's plays prepared by Mr. William J. Rolfe for the
use of students will be remembered with pleasure by many readers, and
they will welcome another volume of a similar character from the same
source, in the form of the "Select Poems of Oliver Goldsmith," edited
with notes fuller than those of any other known edition, many of them
original with the editor.-Boston Transcript.
Mr. Rolfe is doing very useful work in the preparation of compact
hand-books for study in English literature. His own personal culture
and his long experience as a teacher give him good knowledge of what
is wanted in this way.-The Congregationalist, Boston.
Mr. Rolfe has prefixed to the Poems selections illustrative of Gold-
smith's character as a man, and grade as a poet, from sketches by Ma-
caulay, Thackeray, George Colman, Thomas Campbell, John Forster,
and Washington Irving. He has also appended at the end of the
volume a body of scholarly notes explaining and illustrating the poems,
and dealing with the times in which they were written, as well as the
incidents and circumstances attending their composition. — Christian
Intelligencer, N. Y.
The notes are just and discriminating in tone, and supply all that is
necessary either for understanding the thought of the several poems, or
for a critical study of the language. The use of such books in the school-
room cannot but contribute largely towards putting the study of English
literature upon a sound basis; and many an adult reader would find in
the present volume an excellent opportunity for becoming critically ac-
quainted with one of the greatest of last century's poets.-Appleton's
Journal, N. Y.
PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK.
Sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States or Canada, on
receipt of the price.

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