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Then slew himself upon the bloody bed.
All these and many more with him are dead." *

The Source of the Plot. The story of 'Il Moro di Venezia' was taken from the Heccatommithi of the Italian novelist Giraldi Cinthio; it is the seventh tale of the third decade, which deals with "The unfaithfulness of Husbands and Wives." No English translation of the novel existed in Shakespeare's time (at least we know of none), but a French translation appeared in the year 1584, and through this medium the work may have come to England. Cinthio's novel may have been of Oriental origin, and in its general character it somewhat resembles the tale of The Three Apples in The Thousand and One Nights; on the other hand it has been ingeniously maintained that " a certain Christophal Moro, a Luogotenente di Cipro, who returned from Cyprus in 1508, after having lost his wife, was the original of the Moor of Venice of Giraldi Cinthio." "Fronting the summit of the Giants' Stair," writes Mr Rawdon Brown, the author of this theory, "where the Doges of Venice were crowned, there are still visible four shields spotted with mulberries (strawberries in the description of Desdemona's handkerchief), indicating that that part of the palace portal on which they are carved was terminated in the reign of Christopher Moro, whose insignia are three mulberries sable and three bends azure on a field argent; the word Moro signifying in Italian either mulberry-tree or blackamoor." Perhaps Shakespeare learnt the true story of his Othello from some of the distinguished Venetians in England; "Cinthio's novel would never have sufficed him for his Othello"† (vide Furness, pp. 372-389). Knowing, however, Shakespeare's transforming power, we may well maintain that, without actual knowledge of Christopher Moro's history, he was capable of creating Othello from Cinthio's savage Moor, Iago from the cunning cowardly ensign of the original, the gentle lady Desdemona from "the virtuous lady of marvellous beauty, named Disdemona (i.e. 'the hapless one')," who is beaten to death "with a stocking filled with sand,"

ard the

*v. Ingleby's Centurie of Prayse (New Shak. Soc.), 2nd edition, p. 131, where the elegy is discussed, and a truer version printed.

+ The title of the novel summarises its contents as follows:

"A Moorish Captain takes to wife a Venetian Dame, and his Ancient accuses her of adultery to her husband: it is planned that the Ancient is to kill him whom he believes to be the adulterer: the Captain kills the woman, is accused by the Ancient, the Moor does not confess, but after the infliction of extreme torture, is banished; and the wicked Ancient, thinking to injure others, provided for himself a miserable death."

This is the only name given by Cinthio. Steevens first pointed out that "Othello" is found in Reynold's God's Revenge against Adultery, standing in one of his arguments

MA

Preface

TRAGEDY OF OT

Cassio and Emilia from the vaguest possible outlines. Th
be read side by side with the play by such as desire to stud
whereby a not altogether artless tale of horror* has become
of tragedies" perhaps the greatest work in the world."†
pathetic of human compositions." ‡

"Dreams, Books, are each a world: and books, we know,
Are a substantial world, both pure and good;
Round them with tendrils strong as flesh and blood,
Our pastime and our happiness will grow.
There find I personal theme, a plenteous store,
Matter wherein right voluble I am,
To which I listen with a ready ear;
Two shall be named pre-eminently dear, -
The gentle Lady married to the Moor;

And heavenly Una, with her milk-white Lamb."

Duration of Action. The action seems to cover th Act I., one day. Interval for voyage. Act II., one day. A V., one day. In order to get over the difficulty of this various theories have been advanced, notably that of Doubl pounded by Halpin and Wilson; according to the latter, “ counts off days and hours, as it were, by two clocks, on one true Historic Time is recorded, and on the other the Drama a false show of time, whereby days, weeks, and months ma utmost contracted" (Furness, pp. 358-372).

According to Mr Fleay, the scheme of time for the play is a Act I., one day. Interval for voyage. Act II., one day one day (Sunday). Interval of a week, at least. Act IV. Sc Act V. Sc. i., ii., iii., one day: where Act IV. begins with v Act III. Sc. iv., and Act V. with the present Act IV. Sc. iii.

as follows:-" She marries Othello, an old German soldier." The nam occurs in the book. It is also found in "The first and second part of the famous Euordanus, Prince of Denmark. With the strange adven Prince of Saxonie: and of both their several fortunes in Love. At Lo

* Mrs Jameson rightly calls attention to a striking incident of the orig Desdemona does not accidentally drop the handkerchief: it is stolen from little child, an infant of three years old, whom he trains and bribes to th love of Desdemona for this child, her little playfellow-the pretty desc taking it in her arms and caressing it, while it profits by its situation to s kerchief from her bosom, are well imagined and beautifully told, etc. † Macaulay.

: Wordsworth-"The tragedy of Othello, Plato's records of the last scene of Socrates, and Izaak Walton's Life of George Herbert are the most path compositions." (A valuable summary of criticisms, English and foreign, in Furness's Othello, pp. 407-453.)

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"OTHELLO must not be conceived as a negro, but a high and chivalrous Moorish chief. Shakespeare learned the spirit of the character from the Spanish poetry, which was prevalent in England in his time. Jealousy does not strike me as the point in his passion; I take it to be rather an agony that the creature, whom he had believed angelic, with whom he had garnered up his heart, and whom he could not help still loving, should be proved impure and worthless. It was the struggle not to love her. It was a moral indignation and regret that virtue should so fall:- But yet the pity of it, lago! O lago! the pity of it, lago!' In addition to this, his honour was concerned: Iago would not have succeeded but by hinting that his honour was compromised. There is no ferocity in Othello; his mind is majestic and composed. He deliberately determines to die; and speaks his last speech with a view of showing his attachment to the Venetian State, though it had superseded him.

"Schiller has the material Sublime; to produce an effect, he sets you a whole town on fire, and throws infants with their mothers into the flames, or locks up a father in an old tower. But Shakespeare drops a handkerchief, and the same or greater effects follow:

"Lear is the most tremendous effort of Shakespeare as a poet; Hamlet as a philosopher or meditator; and Othello is the union of the two. There is something gigantic and unformed in the former two; but in the latter, everything assumes its due place and proportion, and the whole mature powers of his mind are displayed in admirable equilibrium."

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COLERIDGE.

[graphic]

DUKE OF VENICE.

BRABANTIO, a senator

Other Senators.

GRATIANO, brother to Brabantio.

LODOVICO, kinsman to Brabantio.

OTHELLO, a noble Moor in the service of the Venetia

RODERIGO, a Venetian gentleman.

MONTANO, Othello's predecessor in the government of

Clown, servant to Othello.

DESDEMONA, daughter to Brabantio and wife to Othe

Sailor, Messenger, Herald, Officers, Gentlemen, Musician

SCENE: Venice: a seaport in Cyprus

The Tragedy of
Othello, The Moor of Venice.

ACT FIRST.

Scene I.

Venice. A street.

Enter Roderigo and lago.

Rod. Tush, never tell me, I take it much unkindly

That thou, Iago, who hast had my purse

As if the strings were thine, shouldst know of this.

lago. 'Sblood, but you will not hear me :

If ever I did dream of such a matter,
Abhor me.

Rod. Thou told'st me thou didst hold him in thy hate.
lago. Despise me, if I do not. Three great ones of the city,
In personal suit to make me his lieutenant,

Off-capp'd to him: and, by the faith of man,
I know my price, I am worth no worse a place :
But he, as loving his own pride and purposes,
Evades them, with a bombast circumstance
Horribly stuff'd with epithets of war ;

And, in conclusion,

Nonsuits my mediators; for, 'Certes,' says he,
'I have already chose my officer.'

And what was he?

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