Oth. Are you sure of that? Des. My lord? Oth. [Reading.] "This fail you not to do, as you will". Lod. He did not call; he's busy in the paper. Is there division 'twixt my lord and Cassio? Des. A most unhappy one: I would do much T'atone them," for the love I bear to Cassio. Oth. Fire and brimstone! Des. My lord? Oth. Are you wise? Des. What! is he angry? Lod. May be, the letter mov'd him; Des. By my troth, I am glad on't. Des. My lord? Oth. I am glad to see you mad. Des. How, sweet Othello? Oth. Devil! [Striking her. Des. I have not deserv'd this. Lod. My lord, this would not be believ'd in Venice, Though I should swear I saw't: 'Tis very much; Make her amends, she weeps. Oth. O devil, devil! If that the earth could teem with woman's tears, Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile.18 Out of my sight! 17 That is, make them one, reconcile them. See Antony and Cleopatra, Act ii. sc. 2, note 13. 18 If women's tears could impregnate the earth." By the doctrine of equivocal generation new animals were supposed producible by new combinations of matter. Shakespeare here alludes to the fabulous accounts which make the crocodile the most deceitful of animals. "It is written that he will weep over a man's head Des. [Going.] I will not stay to offend you. Lod. Truly, an obedient lady. I do beseech your lordship, call her back. Oth. Mistress! Des. Oth. My lord? What would you with her, sir? Lod. Who, I, my lord? Oth. Ay; you did wish that I would make her turn: Sir, she can turn, and turn, and yet go on, And turn again; and she can weep, sir, weep; Very obedient. - Proceed in you your tears. Concerning this, sir,-O, well-painted passion!Get you away; I am commanded home. I'll send for you anon.-Sir, I obey the mandate, And will return to Venice. -Hence! avaunt! [Exit DESDEMONA. Cassio shall have my place. And, -Sir, to-night, I do entreat that we may sup together: You are welcome, sir, to Cyprus. -Goats, and mon keys ! 19 [Exit. Lod. Is this the noble Moor whom our full senate Call all-in-all sufficient? this the noble nature 20 when he hath devoured the body, and will then eat up the head 100." Wherefore in Latin there is a proverb, "Crocodili lachrymæ, crocodiles teares, to signifie such teares as are feigned, and spent only with intent to deceive or do harm."- Bullokar's Expositor, 1616. 19 In this exclamation Shakespeare has shown great art. Iago in Act iii. sc. 3, being urged to give some evident proof of the guilt of Cassio and Desdemona, tells the Moor it were impossible to have ocular demonstration of it, though they should be as prime as goats, as hot as monkeys. These words, we may suppose, still ring in the ears of Othello, who, being now fully convinced of his wife's infidelity, rushes out with this emphatic exclamation. 20 Thus both the quartos: the folio omits noble before nature. Mr. Dyce is sure it ought to be omitted, and we are not sure but he is right. H. Whom passion could not shake? whose solid virtue The shot of accident, nor dart of chance, Could neither graze, nor pierce ? Iago. He is much chang'd. Lod. Are his wits safe? is he not light of brain? Iago. He's that he is: I may not breathe my cen sure. What he might be, if, what he might, he is not, I would to Heaven, he were. Lod. What! strike his wife? Iago. 'Faith, that was not so well; yet would I knew That stroke would prove the worst. Lod. Is it his use? Or did the letters work upon his blood, Iago. Alas, alas! It is not honesty in me, to speak What I have seen and known. You shall observe him ; And his own courses will denote him so, That I may save my speech. Do but go after, And mark how he continues. Lod. I am sorry, that I am deceiv'd in him. [Exeunt. SCENE II. A Room in the Castle. Enter OTHELLO and EMILIA. Oth. You have seen nothing, then? Emil. Nor ever heard; nor ever did suspect. Oth. Yes, you have seen Cassio and her together. Emil. But then I saw no harm; and then I heard Each syllable that breath made up between them. Oth. What did they never whisper ? Emil. Never, my lord. Oth. Nor send you out o'the way? Emil. Never. Oth. To fetch her fan, her gloves, her mask, nor nothing? Emil. Never, my lord. Oth. That's strange. Emil. I durst, my lord, to wager she is honest, Lay down my soul at stake: if you think other, Remove your thought; it doth abuse your bosom. If any wretch hath put this in your head, Let Heaven requite it with the serpent's curse! For, if she be not honest, chaste, and true, There's no man happy; the purest of their wives Is foul as slander. She says enough; —yet she's a simple bawd, And yet she'll kneel, and pray; I have seen her do't. Re-enter EMILIA, with DESDEMONA. Des. My lord, what is your will? Oth. Des. What is your pleasure? Oth. Look in my face. Des. Pray, chuck, come hither. Let me see your eyes: What horrible fancy's this? Oth. [To EMILIA.] Some of your function, mis tress: Leave procreants alone, and shut the door; Cough, or cry, hem! if any body come: Your mystery, your mystery; — nay, despatch. [Exit EMILIA. Des. Upon my knees, what doth your speech im port? I understand a fury in your words, But not the words.1 Oth. Why, what art thou? Des. And loyal wife. Oth. Your wife, my lord; your true Come, swear it, damn thyself; Lest, being like one of heaven, the devils themselves Should fear to seize thee: therefore be double damn'd; Swear thou art honest. Des. Heaven doth truly know it. Oth. Heaven truly knows that thou art false as hell. Des. To whom, my lord? with whom? How am I false? Oth. O Desdemona ! -away, away, away! Des. Alas, the heavy day!- Why do you weep? Am I th' occasion of these tears, my lord?? If, haply, you my father do suspect An instrument of this your calling back, Lay not your blame on me: if you have lost him, Why, I have lost him too. Oth. Had it pleas'd Heaven To try me with affliction; had He rain'd All kinds of sores and shames on my bare head; 1 So both quartos; the hemistich is not in the folio. H. 2 The folio has motive instead of occasion, the reading of both quartos. And in the last line of this speech, Why is wanting in the folio. H. |