Отн. No, his mouth is stopp'd; Honest Iago hath ta'en order for't'. DES. My fear interprets then,What, is he dead? OTH. Had all his hairs been lives, my great revenge Had stomach for them all. DES. Alas! he is betray'd, and I undone. ОTH. Out, strumpet! Weep'st thou for him to my face? DES. O, banish me, my lord, but kill me not. OTH. Down, strumpet! DES. Kill me to-morrow, let me live to-night. ОTH. Nay, if you strive, DES. Отн. There is no pause 3. I But half an hour. Being done, hath TA'EN ORDER for't.] i. e. has taken measures. So, in Holinshed's Reign of King John: he took such order for him, that he was despoiled of all his goods and benefices." P. 174. STEEVENS. Again, in Dido, Queen of Carthage, by Marlowe and Nashe, 1594: "I will take order for that presently." MALONE. 2 Had all his hairs been lives,] This thought appears to have been very common, as it occurs frequently in dramatick performances prior to Shakspeare's Othello. So, in The Devil's Charter, by Barnaby Barnes, 1607 : "Know, Cæsar, had I now as many lives "As there are stones, or hairs upon my head, “I would," &c. Again, in Beaumont and Fletcher's King and no King: but if all 66 "My hairs were lives, I would not be engaged Again, in Hieronymo : "Had I as many lives as there be stars." STEEVENS. King and No King, as appears by Sir Henry Herbert's papers, was produced in 1611. See The Historical Account of the English Stage, vol. iii. MALONE. DES. OTH. It is too late *. But while I say one prayer. [He smothers her. EMIL. [Within.] My lord, my lord! what ho! my lord! my lord! OTH. What noise is this ?-Not dead! not yet quite dead? I, that am cruel, am yet merciful; I would not have thee linger in thy pain.- EMIL. [Within.] What ho! my lord, my lord! Отн. Who's there? EMIL. [Within.] O, good my lord, I would speak a word with you. OTH. Yes; 'tis Emilia:-by and by.-She's dead. 'Tis like she comes to speak of Cassio's death; The noise was high.-Ha! no more moving? Still as the grave. Shall she come in? good? Were't I think, she stirs again :-No.-What's the best? 3 Being done, There is no pause.] The first quarto omits this speech. STEEVENS. 4 It is too late.] After this speech of Othello, the elder quarto adds an invocation from Desdemona, consisting only of the sacred name thrice repeated. As this must be supposed to have been uttered while she is yet struggling with death, I think an editor may be excused from inserting such a circumstance of supererogatory horror, especially as it is found in but one of the ancient copies. STEEVENS. This alteration was probably made in consequence of the statute of the 3d of James I. c. 21, which lays a penalty for the profane use of the name of God, &c. in stage-plays, interludes, Maygames, &c. TOLLET. The statute was necessary; for not only the ancient moralities, but the plays (those of Chapman in particular) abound with the most wanton and shocking repetitions of a name which never ought to be mentioned in such an irreverend manner on the stage. STEEVENS. The alteration was undoubtedly made by the Master of the Revels. MALone. If she come in, she'll sure speak to my wife: Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse Of sun and moon; and that the affrighted globe Should yawn at alteration. EMIL. [Within.] I do beseech you I may speak with you, O, good my lord! OTH. I had forgot thee: O, come in, Emilia :— Soft,-by and by :-Let me the curtains draw.— Where art thou? What's the matter with thee [Unlocks the Door. now? Enter EMILIA. EMIL. O, good my lord, yonder's foul murder done. OTH. What? now? EMIL. But now, my lord! OTH. It is the very error of the moon ; She comes more near the earth than she was wont; And makes men mad". EMIL. Cassio, my lord, has kill'd a young Venetian, Call'd-Roderigo. 5 My wife! my wife! what wife?—I have no wife :] "Filium unicum adolescentulum habeo: ah! quid dixi habere me? imò habui, Chreme." Ter. Heautont. STEEVENS. 6 O HEAVY hour!] In the first scene of this Act we have -a heavy night." This epithet likewise occurs in a sense somewhat unusual in Letters from the Paston Family, vol. ii. p. 193: - it is demyd y' my Lady wolde herafter be the rather myn hevy Lady for y' delyng-." STEEVENS. 66 7 It is the very error of the moon ; She comes more near the earth than she was wont; And makes men mad.] So, in The Play of The Wether, by John Heywood, 4to, bl. 1.: "On my fayth I thynke the moone be at the full, STEEVENS. Roderigo kill'd! Отн. And Cassio kill'd ? - EMIL. No, Cassio is not kill'd. OTH. Not Cassio kill'd? Then murder's out of tune, And sweet revenge grows harsh. DES. O, falsely, falsely murder'd! 8 O, falsely, falsely murder'd!] It cannot be supposed that a person who had been effectually strangled or smothered, could speak again; for if the power of breathing returned after the instrument of suffocation was removed, no act of violence had in reality taken place by which the conclusion of life could be brought But such is the peculiar fate of Desdemona, that she is supposed to be smothered, revives to acquaint us that she smothered herself, and then dies without the ostensible cause of death. I am of opinion that some theatrical direction has been omitted; and that when Othello says on. 66 Not dead? not yet quite dead? I, that am cruel, am yet merciful; I would not have thee linger in thy pain :"So, so." He then stabs her, repeating the two last words, as he repeats the blow. Thus, Virgil: sic, sic juvat ire sub umbras. After the repetition of wounds, Desdemona might speak again, with propriety, and yet very soon expire; as says Cassio of Roderigo : The first resolution of Othello was to poison her, but from this measure he is dissuaded by the policy of lago. He is next determined to use the poniard; but, his tenderness awaking, he cannot bear to deform those beauties which he had so often approached with other sensations, and for different purposes. Therefore, says he, 66 I'll not shed her blood, "Nor scar that whiter skin of her's than snow, And this resolution we are to imagine he would have kept, but that he was averse to employing those means again, which had already appeared to be uncertain in their effect. If this apparent want of a play-house direction had occasioned any absurdity in the original representation of the play, probably it is glanced at by Ben Jonson in The Alchemist, Act V.: "Didst EMIL. ОTH. That! what? Alas! what cry is that? EMIL. Out, and alas! that was my lady's voice :Help! help, ho! help!-O lady, speak again ! Sweet Desdemona! O, sweet mistress, speak ! 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. ОTн. Why, how should she be murder'd? truth. Отн. She's, like a liar, gone to burning hell "Twas I that kill'd her. EMIL. O, the more angel she, And you the blacker devil! ; OTH. She turn'd to folly, and she was a whore'. hear a cry, said'st thou? Yes, sir, like unto a man that had been strangled an hour, and could not speak." STEEVENS. If Mr. Malone's conjecture, as to the year in which Othello was written is correct, there cannot be the slightest ground for Mr. Steevens's imputation upon Jonson. The classical reader need not have his attention called to the whimsical interpretation given in the preceding note of the words of Virgil, sic, sic juvat ire sub umbras. Boswell. 9 She's, like a liar, gone to BURNING HELL;] Here is nothing faulty in this passage, 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 shall burn in never-quenching fire-." STEEVENS. ' She turn'd to FOLLY, and she was a whore.] Folly, signifies here, as in the sacred writings, wantonness or unchastity. So, in our author's Rape of Lucrece : "Her sad behaviour feeds his vulture folly." MALone. |