B ! (More than, indeed, belong'd to such a trifle,) [it, Filth, thou liest. Emil. By heaven, I do not; I do not, gen- My mistress here lies murder'd in her bed. [fool O murd'rous coxcomb! what should such a Oth. Nay, stare not, masters; it is true, [indeed. Villany, villany, villany!I think upon't, I think,-I smell't;-0 villany! I thought so then; I'll kill myself for grief.. O villany, villany! [get you home. Iago. What, are you mad? I charge you, Emil. Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak; 'Tis proper I obey him, but not now :- Thy match was mortal to him, and pure grief Oth. 'Tis pitiful: but yet Iago knows, Emil. O heaven! O heavenly powers! No, I will speak as liberal + as the air; Gra. Your sword upon a woman? Fie! [IAGO stabs EMILIA, then runs out. Which I have here recover'd from the Moor: ,』, [Exeunt MONTANO and GRATIANO. So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true; ber, It is a sword of Spain, the ice-brook's tem- cost thee dear; Re-enter GRATIANO. Gra. What is the matter? Behold! I have a weapon; ments [boast! Than twenty times your stop:-But, O vain found by fortune, and did give my husband; For often, with a solemn earnestness, + Free. • Forbid. wench! Steel is hardened by being put red-hot into very cold water. § Account, This look of thine will hurt my soul from O cursed, cursed slave!-Whip me, ye devils, Enter LODOVICO, MONTANO, CASSIO, carried in a Chair, and Officers, with IAGO, prisoner. Lod. Where is this rash and most unfortunate man? [am. Oth. That's he, that was Othello; here I Lod. Where is that viper? bring the villain forth. (that's a fable: Oth. I look down towards his feet;-but If that thou be'st a devil, I cannot kill thee. [OTHELLO Wounds IAGO. Lod. Wrench his sword from him. Iago. I bleed, sir; but not killed. Oth. I am not sorry neither; I'd have thee For, in my sense, 'tis happiness to die. [live; 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. Did you and he consent in Cassio's death? Cas. Dear general, I never gave you cause. Oth. I do believe it, and I ask your pardon. Will you, I pray you, demand that demi-devil, Why he hath thus insnared my soul and body? Iago. Demand me nothing: What you know, you know: From this time forth I never will speak word. Torments will ope your lips. [letter, 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 vilBut that, belike, Iago in the interim [lain; Came in and satisfied him. Oth. O the pernicious caitiff! How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief That was my wife's? Cas. And he himself confess'd, but even now Lod. You must forsake this room, and go Oth. Soft you; a word or two, before you I have done the state some service, and they know it; No more of that:-I pray you, in your letters, Of one, that loved not wisely, but too well; Albeit unused to the melting mood, Lod. O bloody period! Gra. [Falling upon DESDEMONA. [To IAGO. This is thy work: the object poisons sight;Let it be hid.-Gratiano, keep the house, And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor, For they succeed to you.-To you, lord go vernor Remains the censure of this hellish villain; The time, the place, the torture,-O enforce it! Myself will straight abroad; and, to the state, This heavy act with heavy heart relate. I found it in my chamber: 164 + By the stratagem. To see if his feet be cloven. 05 beauties of this play impress themselves so strongly upon the attention of the reader, that ey 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 ín human naturas, I suppose, it is vain to seek in any modern writer. The gradual progress which Iago makes in the Moor's conviction, and the circumstances which he employs to inflame 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 Lago 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 suspicions 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 be trayed by unlawful desires to a false friend; and the virtue of Emilia is such as we often find, worn loosely, but not cast of, easy to commit small crimes, but quickened and alarmed at atrocious villanies. The scenes from the beginning to the end are busy, varied by happy interchanges, and regularly promoting the progression of the story; and the narrative in the end, though it tells but what is known already, yet is necessary to produce the death of Othello. Had the scene openedin Cyprus, and the preceding incidents been occasionally related, there had been little wanting to a drama of the most exact and scrupulous regularity.-JOHNSON. THE END London, Printed by William Clowes, Northumberland-court. 7 |