advised by Iago to sue for a renewal of favor through Desdemona, whose influence with her husband must be greater than that of anyone else. ACT III Iago aids Cassio to obtain the desired interview with Desdemona and then entices Othello to the scene. Then he begins to hint that Cassio's suit with the lady is not the honorable one that it really is. Othello's jealousy is aroused and Iago improves every opportunity to add to it. By means of his wife he obtains a handkerchief which Othello had given Desdemona in the early days of their courtship and causes it to be found in Cassio's possession. ACT IV Othello determines that his wife and Cassio must die. To Iago is given the task of killing Cassio and he, glad of the opportunity to thus rid himself forever of his rival, sets on one of his creatures to kill the former lieutenant. ACT V Cassio wounds his assassin, but is wounded himself both by him and by Iago. The latter, fearful that his hireling will inform on him, stabs him to death. The same night Othello goes to his wife's bed-chamber and smothers her to death. Iago's wife Emilia convinces Othello that he has murdered an innocent and faithful wife, and as a reward for her telling of the truth, she is killed by her husband. Iago is wounded by Othello, who then kills himself. Cassio succeeds to the governorship of Cyprus, and Iago is kept a prisoner that he may be tortured. THE TRAGEDY OF OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE ACT FIRST SCENE I Venice. A street. Enter Roderigo and Iago. Rod. 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. Rod. Thou told'st me thou didst hold him in thy hate. Iago. Despise me, if I do not. Three great ones of the city, 3. "know of this"; that is, the intended elopement. Roderigo has been suing for Desdemona's hand, employing Iago to aid him in his suit, and paying his service in advance. Of course the play opens pat upon her elopement with the Moor, and Roderigo presumes Iago to have been in the secret of their intention.-The words, Tush in this speech, and 'Sblood in the next, are not in the folio.H. N. H. 8. "Despise me if I do not"; admirable is the preparation, so 9 In personal suit to make me his lieutenant, Nonsuits my mediators; for, 'Certes,' says he, Forsooth, a great arithmetician, One Michael Cassio, a Florentine, A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife; 20 truly and peculiarly Shakespearean, 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 honor which his rank and connections 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 experimenter. The mere language of protestation,-"If ever I did dream of such a matter, abhor me,”—which, falling in with the associative link, determines Roderigo's continuation of complaint,—“Thou told'st me thou didst hold him in thy hate," elicits at length a true feeling of Iago's mind, the dread of contempt habitual to those who encourage in themselves, and have their keenest pleasure in, the expression of contempt for others. Observe Iago's high self-opinion, and the moral, that a wicked man will employ real feelings, as well as assume those most alien from his own, as instruments of his purposes (Coleridge).-H. N. H. 15. Omitted in Ff. and Qq. 2, 3.-I. G. 21. "A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife"; if this alludes to Bianca, the phrase may possibly mean "very near being married to a most fair wife." Some explain, "A fellow whose ignorance of war would be condemned in a fair woman." The emendations proposed are unsatisfactory, and probably unnecessary.-I. G. That never set a squadron in the field, Nor the division of a battle knows More than a spinster; unless the bookish theoric, As masterly as he: mere prattle without prac- Is all his soldiership. But he, sir, had the elec- And I, of whom his eyes had seen the proof By debitor and creditor: this counter-caster, 30 And I-God bless the mark!-his Moorship's ancient. Rod. By heaven, I rather would have been his hangman. Iago. Why, there's no remedy; 'tis the curse of service, Preferment goes by letter and affection, And not by old gradation, where each second The passage has caused a great deal of controversy. Tyrwhitt would read "fair life," and Coleridge thinks this reading "the true one, as fitting to Iago's contempt for whatever did not display power, and that, intellectual power." The change, however, seems inadmissible. Perhaps it is meant as characteristic of Iago to regard a wife and a mistress as all one.-Cassio is sneeringly called "a great arithmetician” and a “countercaster," in allusion to the pursuits for which the Florentines were distinguished. The point is thus stated by Charles Armitage Browne: "A soldier from Florence, famous for its bankers throughout Europe, and for its invention of bills of exchange, book-keeping, and every thing connected with a counting-house, might well be ridiculed for his promotion, by an Iago, in this manner."-H. N. H. 2 F Stood heir to the first. Now, sir, be judge your self Whether I in any just term am affined To love the Moor. Rod. I would not follow him then. 40 Iago. O, sir, content you; I follow him to serve my turn upon him: Whip me such honest knaves. Others there are Who, trimm'd in forms and visages of duty, 50 Do well thrive by them, and when they have 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: Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty, 50. "Visages"; outward semblances.-C. H. H. 60 |