Des. He found it then; I never gave it him :-Send for him hither, Honest Iago hath ta'en order for❜t. Des. My fear interprets then,-What, is he dead? Oth. Had all his hairs been lives 10, my great revenge Had stomach for them all. Des. Alas! he is betray'd, and I undone. Oth. Out, strumpet! Weep'st thou for him to my face?. Des. O, banish me, my lord, but kill me not. Des. Kill me to-morrow, let me live to-night. which I before thought murder,-a sacrifice only.' The difficulty consists in the inverted phrase-' a murder which I thought'being parenthetical. The passage has been hitherto absurdly pointed. Johnson exclaims-'I am glad that have ended this dreadful scene. It is not to be endured.' 9 The quarto 1622 reads: That he hathuds death.' 10 This thought appears to have been common:'Know, Cæsar, had I now as many lives As there are stones, or hairs upon my head, I would,' &c. The Devil's Charter, 1607. Again in Beaumont and Fletcher's King and No King, produced in 1611 : but if all My hairs were lives, I would be engaged 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! Oth. Yes;-'tis Emilia :- by and by.-She's dead. "Tis like she comes to speak of Cassio's death: 11 The first quarto omits this speech. 12 After this speech of Othello, the elder quarto adds an invocation, from Desdemona, consisting only of the sacred name thrice repeated. The statue of the 3d of James I. c. 21, against the profane use of the name of God, &c. was highly necessary, for many of the old plays abound in the most wanton and shocking profanations of a name which never ought to be mentioned in such an irreverend manner on the stage. 13 It is supposed that some theatrical direction has been omitted, and that, when Othello says,' So, so,' he then stabs her. After the repetition of wounds, Desdemona might speak again with propriety, and yet very soon expire. 14 Filium unicum adolescentulum Habeo: ah! quid dixi habere me? imò habui, Chrem Terent, H O insupportable! O heavy hour 15! Of sun and moon; and that the affrighted globe 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 now? [Unlocks the door. 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 16. Emil. Cassio, my lord, has kill'd a young Ve Oth. Not Cassio kill'd? Then murder's out of tune, And sweet revenge grows harsh. Des. O, falsely, falsely murder'd! Oth. That! what? Alas! what cry is that? Emil. Out, and alas! that was my lady's voice : : 15 Steevens seems to think the use of the epithet heavy hour here unusual. Surely there is nothing more common. Heavy, sad, and grievous are synonymous with all our old writers. 16 On my fayth I thynke the moone be at the full, For frantyke fansyes be then most plenteful.' The Play of the Wether, by John Heywood. Help! help, ho! help!-O lady, speak again! Emil. This deed? Des. Emil. O, who hath done Nobody; I myself; farewell: Commend me to my kind lord; O, farewell. [Dies. Emil. O, the more angel she, And you the blacker devil! Oth. She turn'd to folly 17, and she was a whore. Emil. Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil. Oth. She was false as water 18. Emil. Thou art rash as fire, to say That she was false; O, she was heavenly true! Oth. Cassio did tup her; ask thy husband else. O, I were damn'd beneath all depth in hell, But that I did proceed upon just grounds To this extremity; Thy husband knew it all. Emil. My husband? Oth. Thy husband. Emil. That she was false to wedlock? Oth. Nay, had she been true, Ay, with Cassio. If heaven would make me such another world 17 Folly signifies here, as in the sacred writings, wantonness, unchastity. See Deuteronomy, xxii. 21. So in the Rape of Lucrece : 'Her sad behaviour feeds his vulture folly.' 18 i. e. as unstable, as deceitful. In Genesis, xlix. Jacob applies a similar term to Reuben:-Thou wast light as water. Of one entire and perfect chrysolite 19, Emil. My husband? Oth. 20; Ay, 'twas he that told me first 20 An honest man he is, and hates the slime That sticks on filthy deeds. Emil. My husband? Oth. What needs this iterance 21, woman? I say, thy husband. Emil. O mistress, villany hath made mocks with love 22! My husband say, that she was false? Oth. He, woman. I say, thy husband: Dost understand the word? My friend, thy husband, honest, honest Iago. Emil. If he say so, may his pernicious soul Rot half a grain a day! he lies to the heart; She was too fond of her most filthy bargain. Oth. Ha! Emil. Do thy worst: This deed of thine is no more worthy heaven, Oth. Peace, you were best. Emil. Thou hast not half the power to do me harm, As I have to be hurt 23. O gull! O dolt! 19 Pliny informs us that Ptolemy Philadelphus had a statue of his wife Arsinoe, made of one topaz, four cubits in length.-Hist. Nat. b. xxxvii. c. 8. Dr. Clarke, in his Lectures on Mineralogy, says he used topaz and chrysolite as synonymous terms. Perhaps Shakspeare alludes to this story.-Plumptre. 20 The folio reads-that told me on her first. 21 The quarto reads-iteration. The two next speeches are omitted in that copy. 22 Villany hath taken advantage to play upon the weakness of a violent passion. 23 'More can I bear than you dare execute.' This line, from the Second Part of King Henry VI. is one of those attributable to Shakspeare, and explains Emilia's sentiment. There is a similar idea in King Henry VIII. Act iii. Sc. 2, p. 258. |
