INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. would see plainer," said the ensign. The romancewriter continues to display the perfidious intrigues of the ensign against Desdemona. He steals a handker chief which the Moor had given her, employing the agency of his own child. He contrives with the Moor to murder the captain of Cyprus, after he has made the credulous husband listen to a conversation to which he gives a false colour and direction; and, finally, the Moor and the guilty officer destroy Desdemona together, under circumstances of great brutality. The crime is, however, concealed, and the Moor is finally betrayed by his accomplice. On the 6th of October, 1621, Thomas Walkley entered infidelity, and to connect with the accusation a captain at Stationers' Hall The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Cyprus. That officer, having struck a centinel, was of Venice.' In 1622 Walkley published the edition for discharged from his command by the Moor; and Deswhich he had thus claimed the copy. It is, as was usual demona, interested in his favour, endeavoured to reinwith the separate plays, a small quarto. It is by no state him in her husband's good opinion. The Moor means certain to our minds that Walkley's edition was said one day to the ensign, that his wife was so imporpublished before the folio. The usual date of that edi-tunate for the restoration of the officer, that he must tion is 1623; but there is a copy in existence bearing | take him back. "If you would open your eyes, you the date of 1622. We have, however, no doubt, that the copy of Othello' in the folio was printed from a manuscript copy, without reference to the quarto. The folio edition is regularly divided into acts and scenes; the quarto edition has not a single indication of any subdivision in the acts, and omits the division between Acts 11. and 11. The folio edition contains 163 lines which are not found in the quarto, and these some of the most striking in the play: the number of lines found in the quarto which are not in the folio do not amount to 10. The quarto, then, has not the merit of being the fuller copy. Believing the folio to be the more genuine copy, our text, for the most part, follows that authority. When Shakspere first became acquainted with the 'Moor of Venice' of Giraldi Cinthio (whether in the original Italian, or the French translation, or in one of the little story-books that familiarized the people with the romance and the poetry of the south), he saw in that novel the scaffolding of Othello.' There was formerly in Venice a valiant Moor, says the story. It came to pass that a virtuous lady of wonderful beauty, named Desdemona, became enamoured of his great qualities and noble virtues. The Moor loved her in return, and they were married in spite of the opposition of the lady's friends. It happened too (says the story), that the senate of Venice appointed the Moor to the command of Cyprus, and that his lady determined to accompany him thither. Amongst the officers who attended upon the General was an ensign, of the most agreeable person, but of the most depraved nature. The wife of this man was the friend of Desdemona, and they spent much of their time together. The wicked eusign became violently enamoured of Desdemona; but she, whose thoughts were wholly engrossed by the Moor, was utterly regardless of the ensign's attentions. His love then became terrible hate, and he resolved to accuse Desdemona to her husband of Mr. Dunlop, in his History of Fiction,' has pointed out the material differences between the novel and the tragedy. He adds, " In all these important variations, Shakspere has improved on his original. In a few other particulars he has deviated from it with less judgment; in most respects he has adhered with close imitation. The characters of Iago, Desdemona, and Cassio, are taken from Cinthio with scarcely a shade of difference. The obscure hints and various artifices of the villain to raise suspicion in the Moor are the same in the novel and the drama." M. Guizot, with the eye of real criticism, has seen somewhat further than Mr. Dunlop: "There was wanting in the narrative of Ciuthio the poetical genius which furnished the actors-which created the individuals-which imposed upon each a figure and a character-which made us see their actions, and listen to their words-which presented their thoughts and penetrated their sentiments :-that vivifying power which summons events to arise, to progress, to expand, to be completed :--that creative breath which, breathing over the past, calls it again into being, and fills it with a present and imperishable life :-this was the power which Shakspere alone possessed, and by which, out of a forgotten novel, he has made 'Othello.`" O THE L L O. PERSONS REPRESENTED. DUKE OF VENICE. Appears, Act I. sc. 3. BRABANTIO, a senator; father to Desdemona. Appears, Act I. sc. 1; sc. 2; sc. 3. Two other Senators. GRATIANO, brother to Brabantio. Appears, Act V. sc. 1; sc. 2. LODOVICO, kinsman to Brabantio. Appears, Act IV. sc. 1; sc. 3. Act V. sc. 1; sc. 2. sc. 3; sc. 4. OTHELLO, the Moor. Appears, Act I. sc. 2; sc. 3. Act II. sc. 1; sc. 3. Act III. sc. 2; Act IV. sc. 1; sc. 2; sc. 3. Act V. sc. 1; sc. 2. CASSIO, lieutenant to Othello. Appears, Act I. sc. 2. Act II. sc. 1; sc. 3. Act III. sc. 1; sc. 3; sc. 4. Act IV. sc. 1. Act V. sc. 1; sc. 2. IAGO, ancient to Othello. Appears, Act 1. sc. 1; sc. 2; sc. 3. Act II. sc. 1; sc. 3. Act III. sc. 1; sc. 2; sc. 3; sc. 4. Act IV. sc. 1; sc. 2. Act V. sc. 1; sc. 2. SCENE, FOR THE FIRST ACT, IN VENICE; DURING THE REST OF THE PLAY, AT A SEA-PORT IN CYPRUS. SCENE I.-Venice. A Street. Enter RODERIGO and IAGO. ACT I. the city, In personal suit to make me his lieutenant, Forsooth, a great arithmetician, Circumstance is circumlocution. Iago does not mean to say, that Othello made a long rigmarole speech to the three great ones, and then nonsuited the mediators by telling them he had already chosen his officer; but, in the spirit of calumny, he imputes to Othello that, having chosen his officer before the personal suit was made to him for lago, he suppressed the fact; evaded the mediators; and nonsuited them with a bombast cireccistance. Nor the division of a battle knows More than a spinster; unless the bookish theorick, As masterly as he mere prattle, without practice, Rod. By heaven, I rather would have been his hang man. Iago. Why, there's no remedy, 't is the curse of service; Preferment goes by letter and affection, And not by old gradation, where each second To love the Moor. Rod. I would not follow him then I follow him to serve my turn upon him: a Be-lee'd and calm'd. lagu tes terms of navigation to ex press that Cassio had out-sailed bim. Whip me such honest knaves: Others there are Do well thrive by them, and, when they have lin'd Do themselves homage: these fellows have some soul; Were I the Moor I would not be Iago. Call up her father, Iago. Rod. Here is her father's house; I'll call aloud. Rod. What, hoa! Brabantio! signior Brabantio, hoa! Look to your house, your daughter, and your bags! BRABANTIO, above. Bra. What is the reason of this terrible summous? Rod. Signior, is all your family within? Why, wherefore ask you this? gown; Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul Bra. What, have you lost your wits? Patience, good sir. Rod. My house is not a grange.a Rod. Most grave Brabantio, In simple and pure soul I come to you. Iago. Sir, you are one of those that will not serve God, if the devil bid you. Because we come to do you service, and you think we are ruffians, you'll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse: you'll have your nephews neigh to you: you'll have coursers for cousins, and gennets for germans. Bra. What profane wretch art thou? Iago. I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter and the Moor are making the beast with two backs. If 't be your pleasure and most wise consent, I thus would play and trifle with your reverence: Bra. Strike on the tinder, hoa! [Exit from above. Kcd. Most reverend signior, do you know my voice? With such loud reason to the Cyprus' wars, (Which even now stand in act,) that for their souls, I must show out a flag and sign of love, Which is indeed but sign. That you shall surely find Enter, below, BRABANTIO, and Servants with torches. a Grange. Strictly speaking, the farm-house of a monastery. But it is used by the old writers as a separate dwelling. Nephews. The word was formerly used to siguify a grandson, or any lineal descendant. Extravagant-wandering, unsettled. The Sagittary. This is generally taken to be an inn. was the residence at the arsenal of the commanding officers of the navy and army of the republic. The figure of an archer with his drawn bow, over the gates, still indicates the place. |