Than keep a corner in the thing I love, For others' uses. Yet, 'tis the plague of great ones; Prerogativ'd are they less than the base; 'Tis destiny unshunnable, like death; Even then this forked 40 plague is fated to us, Enter DESDEMONA and EMILIA. If she be false, O, then heaven mocks itself!— Des. How now, my dear Othello? 42 Your dinner, and the generous 12 islanders By you invited, do attend your presence. Des. Why is your speech so faint? are you not well? Oth. I have a pain upon my forehead here. again : Let me but bind it hard, within this hour Your napkin 43 is too little; Handkerchief from him, and it drops. in with you. Come, I'll go 40 One of Sir John Harington's Epigrams will illustrate this forked plague: 'Acteon guiltless unawares espying Naked Diana bathing in ber bowre Was plagued with HORNES; his dogs did him devoure; 41 i. e. when we begin to live. 42 The generous islanders' are the islanders of rank, distinction: generosi, Lat. See vol. ii. p. 92, note 4. This explanation however (as Steevens observes) may be too particular; for generous also signified valiant, of a brave spirit. 43 In the north of England this term for a handkerchief is still used. The word occurs in Macbeth, Julius Cæsar, and other of these plays. Des. I am very sorry that you are not well. [Exeunt OTH. and DES. Emil. 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 would 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'll do with it, heaven knows, not I; I nothing, but to please his fantasy. Enter IAGO. Iago. How now! what do you here alone? Iago. To have a foolish wife. 44 That is, copied. Her first thoughts are to have a copy made of it for her husband, and restore the original to Desdemona : but the sudden coming in of Iago, in a surly humour, makes her alter her resolution, to please him. The same phrase afterwards occurs between Cassio and Bianca, in Sc. iv. 'This scheme of getting the work of this valued handerchief copied, and restoring the original to Desdemona, was probably introduced by the poet to render Emilia less unamiable. It is remarkable that when she perceives Othello's fury on the loss of this token, though she is represented as affectionate to her mistress, she never attempts to relieve her from her distress; which she might easily have done by demanding the handkerchief from her husband, or divulging the story if he refused to restore it. But this would not have served the plot.-In Cinthio's Novel, while the artless Desdemona is caressing the child of Othello's ancient, the villain steals the handkerchief which hung at her girdle without the knowledge of his wife.'-Malone. < This observation is very just; it is particularly striking in the representation; neither is the concluding apology to be admitted, as there is no reason why Emilia should be present when Othello demands the handkerchief.'—Pye. Emil. O, is that all? What will you give me now For that same handkerchief? Iago. Emil. What handkerchief? What handkerchief? Why that the Moor first gave to Desdemona; Emil. No, 'faith; she let it drop by negligence; And, to the advantage 45, I, being here, took 't Look, here it is. up. Iago. you have To have me filch it? Iago. Why, what's that to you? [Snatching it. Emil. If it be not for some purpose of import, Give it me again: Poor lady! she'll run mad, When she shall lack it. Iago. Be not you known of❜t 46; I have use for it. Go, leave me. [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; 45 That is, I being opportunely here, took it up. 46 Seem as if you knew nothing of the matter.' The folio reads, Be not acknown on't.'-This word occurs in the Life of Ariosto, subjoined to Sir John Harington's translation of the Orlando Furioso, p. 418, ed. 1607: Some say he was married to her privilie, but durst not be acknowne of it.' Again in Cornelia, a tragedy, by Thomas Kyd, 1594 : 'Our friend's misfortune doth increase our own. But, with a little act upon the blood, Burn like the mines of sulphur.-I did Enter OTHello. 47 say SO :- Look, where he comes! Not poppy, nor mandra gora 48, Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world, Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep Which thou ow'dst 49 yesterday. Oth. To me? Ha ha! false to me? Iago. Why, how now, general? no more of that. Oth. Avaunt! be gone! thou hast set me on the rack: I swear, 'tis better to be much abus'd, Than but to know't a little. Iago. How now, my lord? Oth. What sense had I of her stolen hours of 47 lago first ruminates on the qualities of the passion which he is labouring to excite; and then proceeds to comment on its effects. Jealousy (says he), with the smallest operation on the blood, flames out with all the violence of sulphur,' &c. I did say so; Look where he comes!' i. e. I knew the least touch of such a passion would not permit the Moor a moment of repose :-I have just said that jealousy is a restless commotion of the mind; and look where Othello approaches, to confirm the propriety and justice of my observation. Steevens. 48 The mandrake has a soporifick quality, and the ancients used it when they wanted an opiate of the most powerful kind. See Antony and Cleopatra, Act i. Sc. 6. 49 i. e. possessedst. 50 A similar passage to this, and what follows it, is found in The Witch, by Middleton. In the same drama there is also a scene between Francisca and her brother Antonio, when she first excites his jealousy, which has several circumstances in common with the dialogue which passes between Iago and Othello on the same subject. It is more than probable that Middleton was the imitator. See vol. iv. p. 209. I saw it not, thought it not, it harm'd not me: He that is robb'd, not wanting what is stolen, Oth. I had been happy, if the general camp, Pioneers 51 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 52! Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump, 51 The vilest of the camp. Pioneers were generally degraded soldiers. According to the old ordinances of war, a soldier who lost any part of his arms by negligence or play, was to be dismissed with punishment, or to be made some abject pioneer.' 52 There are some points of resemblance between this speech and the following lines in a poem of George Peele's 'A Farewell to the Famous and Fortunate Generals of our English Forces, Sir John Norris and Sir Francis Drake, 1589 : Change love for armes; gyrt to your blades, my boyes; Your rests and muskets take, take helme and targe, And let god Mars his trumpet make you mirth, The shriekes of men, the princelie courser's ney.' Malone thought that Shakspeare might have received the hint for this speech from another passage in the old drama of Comon Conditions, 1576. To which Steevens replies, I know not why we should suppose that Shakspeare borrowed so common a repetition as these diversified farewells from any preceding drama. A string of adieus is perhaps the most tempting of all repetitions, because it serves to introduce a train of imagery, as well as to solemnify a speech or composition. Wolsey, like Othello, indulges himself in many farewells; and the 'Valete, aprica montium cacumina ! are common to poets of different ages and countries. In Cavendish's Metrical Visions there is a similar valedictory address to a variety of objects and circumstances. And Steevens instances another in which sixteen succeeding verses begin with the word farewell. |