Emil. She give it Cassio! no, alas; I found it, And I did give't my husband. Iago. Filth, thou liest. Oth. [IAGO stabs EMILIA, then runs out. But what serve for the thunder?"-Precious villain! Mon. 'Tis a notorious villain. Take you this weapon, Which I have here recover'd from the Moor: Come, guard the door without; let him not pass, Oth. [Exeunt MONTANO and GRATIANO. But every puny whipster gets my sword:- Emil. What did thy song bode, lady? So speaking as I think, I die,-I die. Oth. I have another weapon in this chamber, [Dies. Gra. [within.] If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear; Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer. Oth. Look in upon me then, and speak with me, Or, naked as I am, I will assault thee. "Are there no stones in heaven, But what serve for the thunder?] i. e. Does heaven reserve its thunder only make a noise? has it no implements of mischief to punish as well as terrify? -STEEVENS. x — the ice-brook's temper ;-] Steel is hardened by being put red-hot into very cold water.-JOHNSON. Pope and Blackstone read, "Ebro's temper." The waters of the Ebro being famous for tempering steel. Re-enter GRATIANO. Gra. What is the matter? Oth. Behold! I have a weapon; A better never did itself sustain Upon a soldier's thigh: I have seen the day, - O cursed, cursed slave!-Whip me, ye devils, Dead? O! O! O! Enter LODOVICO, MONTANO, CASSIO, carried in a Chair, and Officers, with IAGO, prisoner. Lod. Where is this rash and most unfortunate man? Lod. Where is that viper? bring the villain forth. If that thou be'st a devil, I cannot kill thee. [OTHELLO Wounds IAGO. Lod. Wrench his sword from him. wench !]-Originally signified only a young woman. towards his feet;] To see if, according to the common opinion, his feet be cloven.-JOHNSON. Iago. I bleed, sir; but not kill'd. Oth. I am not sorry neither; I'd have thee live; For, in my sense, 'tis happiness to die. Lod. O thou Othello, that was once so good, Fall'n in the practice of a cursed slave, What shall be said to thee? Oth. Why, any thing : An honourable murderer, if you will; For nought I did in hate, but all in honour. Cas. Dear general, I never gave you cause. Iago. Demand me nothing: What you know, you know: From this time forth I never will speak word. Lod. What? not to pray? Gra. Oth. Well, thou dost best. Torments will ope your lips. Lod. Sir, you shall understand what hath befall'n, And here, another: the one of them imports By Roderigo. Oth. O villain! Cas. Most heathenish, and most gross! Lod. Now here's another discontented paper, Found in his pocket too; and this, it seems, Roderigo meant to have sent this damned villain: But that, belike, Iago in the interim Came in and satisfied him. Cas. I found it in my chamber: And he himself confess'd, but even now, Oth. O fool! fool! fool! Cas. There is, besides, in Roderigo's letter,- Lod. You must forsake this room, and go with us; That can torment him much, and hold him long, I have done the state some service, and they know it; Nor set down aught in malice: then must you speak Of one, not easily jealous, but, being wrought, Richer than all his tribe;" of one, whose subdu'd eyes, Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees Their medicínal gum: Set you down this: Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk a Like the base Judean, &c.] Shakspeare seems to allude to Herod in the play of Mariamne: "I had but one inestimable jewel Yet I in suddaine choler cast it down, Beat a Venetian, and traduc'd the state, I took by the throat the circumcised dog, Lod. O bloody period! Gra. [Stabs himself. All, that's spoke, is marr'd. Oth. I kiss'd thee, ere I kill'd thee;--No way but this, [Falling upon DESDEMONA. [Dies. Killing myself, to die upon a kiss. [To IAGO. Lod. C [Exeunt. bO Spartan dog,] The dogs of Spartan race were reckoned among those of the most fierce and savage kind.—HANMER. с — censure—] i. e. Sentence. The beauties of this play impress themselves so strongly upon the attention of the reader, that they can draw no aid from critical illustration. The fiery openness of Othello, magnanimous, artless, and credulous, boundless in his confidence, ardent in his affection, inflexible in his resolution, and obdurate in his revenge; the cool malignity of Iago, silent in his resentment, subtle in his designs, and studious at once of his interest and his vengeance; the soft simplicity of Desdemona, confident of merit, and conscious of innocence, her artless perseverance in her suit, and her slowness to suspect that she can be suspected, are such proofs of Shakspeare's skill in human nature, as, I suppose, it is vain to seek in any modern writer. The gradual progress which lago makes in the Moor's conviction, and the circumstances which he employs to enflame him, are so artfully natural, that, though it will perhaps not be said of him as he says of himself, that he is a man not easily jealous, yet we cannot but pity him, when at last we find him perplexed in the extreme. There is always danger, lest wickedness, conjoined with abilities, should steal upon esteem, though it misses of approbation; but the character of Iago is so conducted, that he is from the first scene to the last hated and despised. Even the inferior characters of this play would be very conspicuous in any other piece, not only for their justness, but their strength. Cassio is brave, benevolent, and honest; ruined only by his want of stubbornness to resist an insidious invitation. Roderigo's suspicious credulity, and impatient submission to the cheats which he sees practised upon him, and which by persuasion he suffers to be repeated, exhibit a strong picture of a weak mind betrayed by unlawful |