THE TRAGEDY OF OTHELLO. ACT I. 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, should'st 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. 2 Iago. Despise me, if I do not. Three great ones of the city, 1 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. 2 Admirable is the preparation, so truly and peculiarly Shakespearian, 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 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 VOL. X. 35 3 In personal suit to make me his lieutenant, Evades them, with a bombast circumstance circumlucution Horribly stuff'd with epithets of war; And, in conclusion,* foundation of the friendship between him and Iago,-the purse, 66 H. 3 So the folio; the quartos, Oft capp'd." To cap was often used for a salutation of respect, made by taking off the cap. Modern editors generally prefer the quarto reading here. Knight, who adopts that of the folio, supports it with an argument that seems pretty conclusive: "As we read the passage, three great ones of the city wait upon Othello; they off-capp'd-they took cap in hand in personal suit that he should make Iago his lieutenant : but he evades them, &c.; he has already chosen his officer. Here is a scene befitting both the dignity of the great ones of the city and of Othello. The audience was given, the solicitation humbly made, the reasons for refusing it courteously assigned. But take the reading, oft capp'd, and we have Othello perpetually haunted by the three great ones, capping to him and repeating the same prayer, and he perpetually denying them with the same bombast circumstance." The only reply to this is, that Iago is so nimble and so fertile a liar, that we can scarce take his words in any case as a just account of what the Moor has done. For the only question with him is, not what is true, but what will be believed. But the sense of the folio reading seems more in proportion to the gullability of the gull. Circumstance is circumlocution; often so used. Thus in The Merchant of Venice, Act i. sc. 1: 66 You know me well, and herein spend but time, to wind about my love with circumstance. 4 The words, " And, in conclusion," are not in the folio. H. H. Nonsuits my mediators; "for, certes," says he, "I have already 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;' More than a spinster; unless the bookish theoric, Wherein the toged consuls can propose 6 As masterly as he mere prattle, without practice, calm'd 5 So the old copies, wife being spelt with a capital letter. 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. The reference probably is to Bianca, to whom, if Iago's word may be trusted, report said that Cassio was almost married; as he says to Cassio, in Act iv. sc. 1,The cry goes, that you shall marry her." But 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. 6 Instead of toged the folio has tongued, which is preferred by some editors as agreeing better with the words, "mere prattle without practice." In Coriolanus, Act ii. sc. 3, note 6, we have 27 found toge misprinted tongue. Of course, "the toged consuls' are the civil governors; so called by Iago in opposition to the warlike qualifications of which he has been speaking. There may be an allusion to the adage, "Cedant arma toga." Theoric was often used for theory. See King Henry V., Act i. sc. 1, note 3. H. By debitor and creditor: this counter-caster, And I (God bless the mark!) his Moorship's ancient. Iago. But there's no remedy; 'tis the curse of Preferment goes by letter and affection, Not by the old gradation, where each second To love the Moor. Rod. I would not follow him, then. Iago. O, sir! content you; I follow him to serve my turn upon him: 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; " 7 That is, by a mere accountant, a keeper of debt and credit. lago means that Cassio, though knowing no more of war than men of the gown, as distinguished from men of the sword, has yet outsailed him in military advancement. Again, he calls Cassio "this counter-caster," in allusion to the counters formerly used in reckoning up accounts. - The folio has Christen'd instead of Christian; and also " bless the mark," for "God bless the mark," in the last line of this speech. H. 8 Whether I stand within any such terms of affinity to the Moor, as that I am bound to love him. - In the second line above, the folio reads, "And not by old gradation." H. 9 Knave is here used for servant, but with a sly mixture of contempt. The usage was very common. -H. And, throwing but shows of service on their lords, es una These fellows have some soul; and such a one It is as sure as you are Rodérigo, Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago: In following him, I follow but myself; For when my outward action doth demonstrate 10 In complement extern,10 'tis not long after Iago. 10 That is, when his outward carriage answers to what is within, or when the thoughts of his heart are shown in external completeness. Complement is usually printed compliment, and the phrase explained, "outward show of civility." This does not accord with the sense of the passage; which is, that he scorns to have the inward and the outward keep touch or hold any acquaintance with each other, as being the next thing to wearing himself wrong side out. H. 11 So both the quartos: the folio has fall instead of full. The meaning is, how fortunate he is, or how strong in fortune, if he can hold out against such practice. Similar language occurs in Cymbeline : "Our pleasure his full fortune doth confine." And in Antony and Cleopatra: "The imperious show of the full-fortun'd Cæsar.". Of course owe is used in the old sense of own, or pos sess. H. |