Des. My lord? Oth. Are you wise? Des. What, is he angry? Lod. May be, the letter moved him ; For, as I think, they do command him home, Deputing Cassio in his government. Des. By my troth, I am glad on't. Lod. My lord, this would not be believed in Venice, Though I should swear I saw it. '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.1-Out of my sight! Des. I will not stay to offend you. [Going. Lod. Truly, an obedient lady. I do beseech your lordship, call her back. 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; you 1 "If women's tears could impregnate the earth." Shakspeare here alludes to the fabulous accounts which make the crocodile the most deceitful of animals, whose tears are proverbially fallacious. "It is written that he will weep over a man's head when he hath devoured the body and will then eat up the head too." To fall in this passage, is a verb active. I am commanded home.1--Get you away; [Exit DESDEMONA. keys! [Exit Lod. Is this the noble Moor whom our full senate Call--all-in-all sufficient?--This the noble nature 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 changed. Lod. Are his wits safe? is he not light of brain? Jago. He is that he is; I may not breathe my censure. What he might be,-if what he might, he is not, Lod. What, strike his wife! Iago. 'Faith, that was not so well. Yet 'would I knew That stroke would prove the worst. Lod. Or did the letters work upon his blood, Jago. Is it his use? 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 deceived in him. 1 The quarto reads, "I am commanded here ” [Exeunt. SCENE II.1 A Room in the Castle. Enter OTHELLO and EMILIA. Oth. You have seen nothing, then? Emil. Nor ever heard; nor ever did suspect. Oth. Nor send you out o' the way? Never, my lord. 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, Oth. Bid her come hither;-go. 2 [Exit EMILIA. She says enough;-yet she's a simple bawd 1 There are great difficulties in ascertaining the place of this scene. What Othello says in an early part of it to Emilia-"Leave procreants alone, and shut the door,"--and his subsequent address to her as he goes out, decisively point out a room in Othello's castle as the place of the scene; and compel us to place the interlocutors there, however inconsistent with Roderigo's entry, and Iago's address to Desdemona, "Go in and weep not." The truth is, that our Poet and his audience, in this instance, as in many others, were content, from want of scenery, to consider the very same spot, at one and the same time, as the outside and inside of a house. 2 The quarto reads "of her sex.” A closet-lock-and-key of villanous secrets: 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. 'Pray, chuck, come hither. Let me see your eyes; Des. What is your pleasure? Oth. Look in my face. Des. What horrible fancy's this? Oth. Some of your function, mistress; [To EMILIA. 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 import? 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-damned, 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 the 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, 1 This line is not in the folio. Oth Had it pleased Heaven Yet could I bear that too; well, very well: Or keep it as a cistern, for foul toads To knot and gender in !----Turn thy complexion there! Des. I hope my noble lord esteems me honest. Des. Alas, what ignorant sin have I committed? 1 Rowe reads "the hand of scorn," a satisfactory emendation; and it is to be wished that there was sufficient authority to admit it into the text. Steevens thinks the old reading right, saying, that Othello takes his idea from a clock. The folio reads and moving instead of unmoving; but the reading adopted in the text is probably correct, and the meaning seems to be, that the finger of scorn never moves from, or ceases to point at its object. 2 “At such an object do thou, patience, thyself change color; at this do thou, even thou, rosy cherub as thou art, look grim as hell." The old copies have, "I here look grim as hell." I was written for ay; and here was an evident error of the press for there. Theobald made the correction. 3 The quarto reads :— “O thou black weed, why art so lovely fair? Thou smell'st so sweet, that the sense aches at thee.” |
