EMIL. ОTH. That! what? Alas! what cry's that? EMIL. Out, and alas! that was my lady's voice:Help! help, ho! help!-O lady, fpeak again! ocation was removed, no act of violence had in reality taken place by which the conclufion of life could be brought on. But fuch is the peculiar fate of Defdemona, that he is fuppofed to be fmothered, revives to acquaint us that he fmothered herself, and then dies without any oftenfible caufe of death. I am of opinion that fome theatrical direction has been omitted; and that when Othello fays: 66 Not dead? not yet quite dead? "I, that am cruel, am yet merciful; "I would not have thee linger in thy pain:— He then ftabs her, repeating the two laft words, as he repeats the blow. Thus, Virgil: 66 ―fic, fic juvat ire sub umbras.” After the repetition of wounds, Defdemona might speak again, with propriety, and yet very foon expire; as fays Callio of Roderigo: 66 even but now he fpake, "After long feeming dead." The first refolution of Othello was to poifon her, but from this measure he is diffuaded by the policy of lago. He is next determined to ufe the poniard; but, his tendernefs awaking, he cannot bear to deform thofe beauties which be had so often approached with other fenfations, and for different purposes. Therefore, fays he, "Nor fcar that whiter skin of her's than fnow, "And smooth as monumental alabaster:” And this refolution we are to imagine he would have kept, but that he was averfe to employing thofe means again, which had already appeared to be uncertain in their effect. If this apparent want of a play-houfe direction had occafioned any abfurdity in the original reprefentation of the play, probably it is glanced at by Ben Jonfon in The Alchemift, Act V: " Didít hear a cry, faid't thou? Yes, fir, like unto a man that had been ftrangled an hour, and could not fpeak." STEEVENS. The Alchemift was firft reprefented in the year 1610, and this paffage is found in the original copy prined in that year. MALONE, Sweet Desdemona! O, fweet miftrefs, fpeak! DES. A guiltless death I die. EMIL. This deed? DES. O, who hath done Nobody; I myself; farewell: Commend me to my kind lord; O, farewell. [Dies. EMIL. O, the more angel fhe, And you the blacker devil! OTн. She turn'd to folly, and fhe was a whore.* EMIL. Thou doft belie her, and thou art a devil. OTн. She was falfe as water." EMIL. Thou art rash as fire, to say That she was false; O, fhe was heavenly true! She's, like a liar, gone to burning hell;] Here is nothing faulty in this paffage, but it may be read, She's, like a liar, gone to burn in hell. The vulgar denunciation of future vengeance is,-I think, you'll burn in hell for this. WHALLEY. So, in King Richard II: "That hand fhall burn in never-quenching fire,-" STEEVENS. She turn'd to folly, and she was a whore.] Folly, fignifies here, as in the facred writings, depravity of mind. So, in our author's Rape of Lucrece: "Her fad behaviour feeds his vulture folly." MALONE. So, in Deuteronomy, xxii. 21: "fhe hath wrought felly in Ifrael, to play the whore" &c. STEEVENS. 9 — -falfe as water.] As water that will support no weight, nor keep any impreffion. JoHNSON. OTH. Caffio did tup her; afk thy husband elfe. O, I were damn'd beneath all depth in hell, But that I did proceed upon juft grounds To this extremity; Thy husband knew it all. EMIL. My husband? Oтн. Thy husband. EMIL. That she was falfe to wedlock? Отн. Nay, had fhe been true, Ay, with Caffio. If heaven would make me fuch another world Of one entire and perfect chryfolite, I'd not have fold her for it. EMIL. My husband? Отн. Ay, 'twas he that told me first ;' An honest man he is, and hates the flime That sticks on filthy deeds. 2 EMIL. My husband? OTн. What needs this iterance, woman? I fay, thy husband. EMIL. O miftrefs, villainy hath made mocks with love!" treme. this extremity ;] Perhaps our author wrote-to this exThe measure demands a fhorter word than the former. Thus, in Romeo and Juliet : ""Twixt my extremes and me this bloody knife 3 - -that told me first;] The folio reads,—that told me on her first. STEEVENS. iterance,] Thus the folio. The quarto reads-iteration. STEEVENS. 5 Emil.] The firft quarto omits this and the following fpeech. 6 STEEVENS. villainy hath made mocks with love!] Villainy has taken advantage to play upon the weakness of a violent paffion. JOHNSON. I have fometimes thought that thefe words might mean, that My husband fay, that she was falfe? Отн. He, woman; I fay, thy husband; Doft understand the word? My friend, thy husband, honest, honest Iago. EMIL. If he fay fo, may his pernicious foul Rot half a grain a day! he lies to the heart; She was too fond of her moft filthy bargain. OTH. Ha! EMIL. Do thy worst: This deed of thine is no more worthy heaven, Отн. Peace, you were beft. EMIL. Thou haft not half the power to do me harm, As I have to be hurt.' O gull! O dolt! villainy hath play'd on its object under a pretence of kindness." So, in Macbeth: the furfeited grooms "Do mock their charge with fnores." But in this I have very little confidence. MALONE. " Thou haft not half the power to do me harm, As I have to be hurt.] She means to fay,—I have in this caufe power to endure more than thou haft power to infli&. JOHNSON. This fentiment is more expanded in King Henry VIII: "I am able now, methinks, "(Out of a fortitude of foul I feel,) Again, in King Henry VI. Part II: "More can I bear than you dare execute.” Of this laft line there is no trace in the old play on which Shakspeare formed the Second Part of King Henry VI. MALONE. Enter MONTANO, GRATIANO, and IAGO. MON. What is the matter?-How now, general? EMIL. O, are you come, Iago? you have done well, That men must lay their murders on your neck. EMIL. Difprove this villain, if thou be'ft a man: He says, thou told'ft 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. EMIL. But did you ever tell him, fhe was falfe? IAGO. I did. EMIL. You told a lie; an odious, damned lie; Upon my foul, a lie; a wicked lie: - She false with Caffio!-Did you fay, with Caffio? LAGO. With Caffio, mistress; Go to, charm your tongue.* charm your tongue.] By this expreffion, Charm your tongue, the poet meant no more than to make Iago fay,-" Apply fome power, ftrong as a charm would be, to your tongue; for nothing lefs can ftop its volubility. So, in King Henry VI. Part III: Peace, wilful boy, or I will charm your tongue." 66 Again, Ben Jonfon, in Cynthia's Revels: 66 - charm your fkipping tongue." Again, in Spenfer's Fairy Queen, B. V. c. ix: "That well could charm his tongue, and time his fpeech." Again, in The Yorkshire Tragedy, 1608: "The fureft way to charm a woman's tongue, "Is-break her neck:-a politician did it." |
