Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth
are found in Shakespeare's other tragedies; for the scheme of time
indicated under A seems deliberate and self-consistent, and the scheme
indicated under B seems, if less deliberate, equally self-consistent.
This does not look as if a single scheme had been so vaguely imagined
that inconsistencies arose in working it out; it points to some other
source of contradiction.
'Christopher North,' who dealt very fully with the question, elaborated
a doctrine of Double Time, Short and Long. To do justice to this theory
in a few words is impossible, but its essence is the notion that
Shakespeare, consciously or unconsciously, wanted to produce on the
spectator (for he did not aim at readers) two impressions. He wanted the
spectator to feel a passionate and vehement haste in the action; but he
also wanted him to feel that the action was fairly probable. Consciously
or unconsciously he used Short Time (the scheme of A) for the first
purpose, and Long Time (the scheme of B) for the second. The spectator
is affected in the required manner by both, though without distinctly
noticing the indications of the two schemes.
The notion underlying this theory is probably true, but the theory
itself can hardly stand. Passing minor matters by, I would ask the
reader to consider the following remarks. (_a_) If, as seems to be
maintained, the spectator does not notice the indications of 'Short
Time' at all, how can they possibly affect him? The passion, vehemence
and haste of Othello affect him, because he perceives them; but if he
does not perceive the hints which show the duration of the action from
the arrival in Cyprus to the murder, these hints have simply no
existence for him and are perfectly useless. The theory, therefore, does
not explain the existence of 'Short Time.' (_b_) It is not the case that
'Short Time' is wanted only to produce an impression of vehemence and
haste, and 'Long Time' for probability. The 'Short Time' is equally
wanted for probability: for it is grossly improbable that Iago's
intrigue should not break down if Othello spends a week or weeks between
the successful temptation and his execution of justice. (_c_) And this
brings me to the most important point, which appears to have escaped
notice. The place where 'Long Time' is wanted is not _within_ Iago's
intrigue. 'Long Time' is required simply and solely because the intrigue
and its circumstances presuppose a marriage consummated, and an adultery
possible, for (let us say) some weeks. But, granted that lapse between
the marriage and the temptation, there is no reason whatever why more
than a few days or even one day should elapse between this temptation
and the murder. The whole trouble arises because the temptation begins
on the morning after the consummated marriage. Let some three weeks
elapse between the first night at Cyprus and the temptation; let the
brawl which ends in the disgrace of Cassio occur not on that night but
three weeks later; or again let it occur that night, but let three weeks
elapse before the intercession of Desdemona and the temptation of Iago
begin. All will then be clear. Cassio has time to make acquaintance with
Bianca, and to neglect her: the Senate has time to hear of the perdition
of the Turkish fleet and to recall Othello: the accusations of Iago
cease to be ridiculous; and the headlong speed of the action after the
temptation has begun is quite in place. Now, too, there is no reason why
we should not be affected by the hints of time ('to-day,' 'to-night,'
'even now'), which we _do_ perceive (though we do not calculate them
out). And, lastly, this supposition corresponds with our natural
impression, which is that the temptation and what follows it take place
some little while after the marriage, but occupy, themselves, a very
short time.
Now, of course, the supposition just described is no fact. As the play
stands, it is quite certain that there is no space of three weeks, or
anything like it, either between the arrival in Cyprus and the brawl, or
between the brawl and the temptation. And I draw attention to the
supposition chiefly to show that quite a small change would remove the
difficulties, and to insist that there is nothing wrong at all in regard
to the time from the temptation onward. How to account for the existing
contradictions I do not at all profess to know, and I will merely
mention two possibilities.
Possibly, as Mr. Daniel observes, the play has been tampered with. We
have no text earlier than 1622, six years after Shakespeare's death. It
may be suggested, then, that in the play, as Shakespeare wrote it, there
was a gap of some weeks between the arrival in Cyprus and Cassio's
brawl, or (less probably) between the brawl and the temptation. Perhaps
there was a scene indicating the lapse of time. Perhaps it was dull, or
the play was a little too long, or devotees of the unity of time made
sport of a second breach of that unity coming just after the breach
caused by the voyage. Perhaps accordingly the owners of the play
altered, or hired a dramatist to alter, the arrangement at this point,
and this was unwittingly done in such a way as to produce the
contradictions we are engaged on. There is nothing intrinsically
unlikely in this idea; and certainly, I think, the amount of such
corruption of Shakespeare's texts by the players is usually rather
underrated than otherwise. But I cannot say I see any signs of foreign
alteration in the text, though it is somewhat odd that Roderigo, who
makes no complaint on the day of the arrival in Cyprus when he is being
persuaded to draw Cassio into a quarrel that night, should, directly
after the quarrel (II. iii. 370), complain that he is making no advance
in his pursuit of Desdemona, and should speak as though he had been in
Cyprus long enough to have spent nearly all the money he brought from
Venice.
Or, possibly, Shakespeare's original plan was to allow some time to
elapse after the arrival at Cyprus, but when he reached the point he
found it troublesome to indicate this lapse in an interesting way, and
convenient to produce Cassio's fall by means of the rejoicings on the
night of the arrival, and then almost necessary to let the request for
intercession, and the temptation, follow on the next day. And perhaps he
said to himself, No one in the theatre will notice that all this makes
an impossible position: and I can make all safe by using language that
implies that Othello has after all been married for some time. If so,
probably he was right. I do not think anyone does notice the
impossibilities either in the theatre or in a casual reading of the
play.
Either of these suppositions is possible: neither is, to me, probable.
The first seems the less unlikely. If the second is true, Shakespeare
did in _Othello_ what he seems to do in no other play. I can believe
that he may have done so; but I find it very hard to believe that he
produced this impossible situation without knowing it. It is one thing
to read a drama or see it, quite another to construct and compose it,
and he appears to have imagined the action in _Othello_ with even more
than his usual intensity.
NOTE J.
THE 'ADDITIONS' TO _OTHELLO_ IN THE FIRST FOLIO. THE PONTIC SEA.
The first printed _Othello_ is the first Quarto (Q1), 1622; the second
is the first Folio (F1), 1623. These two texts are two distinct versions
of the play. Q1 contains many oaths and expletives where less
'objectionable' expressions occur in F1. Partly for this reason it is
believed to represent the _earlier_ text, perhaps the text as it stood
before the Act of 1605 against profanity on the stage. Its readings are
frequently superior to those of F1, but it wants many lines that appear
in F1, which probably represents the acting version in 1623. I give a
list of the longer passages absent from Q1:
(_a_) I. i. 122-138. 'If't' ... 'yourself:'
(_b_) I. ii 72-77. 'Judge' ... 'thee'
(_c_) I. iii. 24-30. 'For' ... 'profitless.'
(_d_) III. iii. 383-390. '_Oth._ By' ... 'satisfied! _Iago._'
(_e_) III. iii. 453-460. 'Iago.' ... 'heaven,'
(_f_) IV. i. 38-44. 'To confess' ... 'devil!'
(_g_) IV. ii. 73-76, 'Committed!' ... 'committed!'
(_h_) IV. ii. 151-164. 'Here' ... 'make me.'
(_i_) IV. iii. 31-53. 'I have' ... 'not next'
and 55-57. '_Des._ [_Singing_]' ... 'men.'
(_j_) IV. iii. 60-63. 'I have' ... 'question.'
(_k_) IV. iii. 87-104. 'But I' ... 'us so.'
(_l_) V. ii. 151-154. 'O mistress' ... 'Iago.'
(_m_) V. ii. 185-193. 'My mistress' ... 'villany!'
(_n_) V. ii. 266-272. 'Be not' ... 'wench!'
Were these passages after-thoughts, composed after the version
represented by Q1 was written? Or were they in the version represented
by Q1, and only omitted in printing, whether accidentally or because
they were also omitted in the theatre? Or were some of them
after-thoughts, and others in the original version?
I will take them in order. (_a_) can hardly be an after-thought. Up to
that point Roderigo had hardly said anything, for Iago had always
interposed; and it is very unlikely that Roderigo would now deliver but
four lines, and speak at once of 'she' instead of 'your daughter.'
Probably this 'omission' represents a 'cut' in stage performance. (_b_)
This may also be the case here. In our texts the omission of the passage
would make nonsense, but in Q1 the 'cut' (if a cut) has been mended,
awkwardly enough, by the substitution of 'Such' for 'For' in line 78. In
any case, the lines cannot be an addition. (_c_) cannot be an
after-thought, for the sentence is unfinished without it; and that it
was not meant to be interrupted is clear, because in Q1 line 31 begins
'And,' not 'Nay'; the Duke might say 'Nay' if he were cutting the
previous speaker short, but not 'And.' (_d_) is surely no addition. If
the lines are cut out, not only is the metre spoilt, but the obvious
reason for Iago's words, 'I see, Sir, you are eaten up with passion,'
disappears, and so does the reference of his word 'satisfied' in 393 to
Othello's 'satisfied' in 390. (_e_) is the famous passage about the
Pontic Sea, and I reserve it for the present. (_f_) As Pope observes,
'no hint of this trash in the first edition,' the 'trash' including the
words 'Nature would not invest herself in such shadowing passion without
some instruction. It is not words that shake me thus'! There is nothing
to prove these lines to be original or an after-thought. The omission of
(_g_) is clearly a printer's error, due to the fact that lines 72 and 76
both end with the word 'committed.' No conclusion can be formed as to
(_h_), nor perhaps (_i_), which includes the whole of Desdemona's song;
but if (_j_) is removed the reference in 'such a deed' in 64 is
destroyed. (_k_) is Emilia's long speech about husbands. It cannot well
be an after-thought, for 105-6 evidently refer to 103-4 (even the word
'uses' in 105 refers to 'use' in 103). (_l_) is no after-thought, for
'if he says so' in 155 must point back to 'my husband say that she was
false!' in 152. (_m_) might be an after-thought, but, if so, in the
first version the ending 'to speak' occurred twice within three lines,
and the reason for Iago's sudden alarm in 193 is much less obvious. If
(_n_) is an addition the original collocation was:
but O vain boast!
Who can control his fate? 'Tis not so now.
Pale as thy smock!
which does not sound probable.
Thus, as it seems to me, in the great majority of cases there is more or
less reason to think that the passages wanting in Q1 were nevertheless
parts of the original play, and I cannot in any one case see any
positive ground for supposing a subsequent addition. I think that most