Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth
of the gaps in Q1 were accidents of printing (like many other smaller
gaps in Q1), but that probably one or two were 'cuts'--_e.g._ Emilia's
long speech (_k_). The omission of (_i_) might be due to the state of
the MS.: the words of the song may have been left out of the dialogue,
as appearing on a separate page with the musical notes, or may have been
inserted in such an illegible way as to baffle the printer.
I come now to (_e_), the famous passage about the Pontic Sea. Pope
supposed that it formed part of the original version, but approved of
its omission, as he considered it 'an unnatural excursion in this
place.' Mr. Swinburne thinks it an after-thought, but defends it. 'In
other lips indeed than Othello's, at the crowning minute of culminant
agony, the rush of imaginative reminiscence which brings back upon his
eyes and ears the lightning foam and tideless thunder of the Pontic Sea
might seem a thing less natural than sublime. But Othello has the
passion of a poet closed in as it were and shut up behind the passion of
a hero' (_Study of Shakespeare_, p. 184). I quote these words all the
more gladly because they will remind the reader of my lectures of my
debt to Mr. Swinburne here; and I will only add that the reminiscence
here is of _precisely the same character_ as the reminiscences of the
Arabian trees and the base Indian in Othello's final speech. But I find
it almost impossible to believe that Shakespeare _ever_ wrote the
passage without the words about the Pontic Sea. It seems to me almost an
imperative demand of imagination that Iago's set speech, if I may use
the phrase, should be preceded by a speech of somewhat the same
dimensions, the contrast of which should heighten the horror of its
hypocrisy; it seems to me that Shakespeare must have felt this; and it
is difficult to me to think that he ever made the lines,
In the due reverence of a sacred vow
I here engage my words,
follow directly on the one word 'Never' (however impressive that word in
its isolation might be). And as I can find no _other_ 'omission' in Q1
which appears to point to a subsequent addition, I conclude that this
'omission' _was_ an omission, probably accidental, conceivably due to a
stupid 'cut.' Indeed it is nothing but Mr. Swinburne's opinion that
prevents my feeling certainty on the point.
Finally, I may draw attention to certain facts which may be mere
accidents, but may possibly be significant. Passages (_b_) and (_c_)
consist respectively of six and seven lines; that is, they are almost of
the same length, and in a MS. might well fill exactly the same amount of
space. Passage (_d_) is eight lines long; so is passage (_e_). Now,
taking at random two editions of Shakespeare, the Globe and that of
Delius, I find that (_b_) and (_c_) are 6-1/4 inches apart in the Globe,
8 in Delius; and that (_d_) and (_e_) are separated by 7-3/8 inches in
the Globe, by 8-3/4 in Delius. In other words, there is about the same
distance in each case between two passages of about equal dimensions.
The idea suggested by these facts is that the MS. from which Q1 was
printed was mutilated in various places; that (_b_) and (_c_) occupied
the bottom inches of two successive pages, and that these inches were
torn away; and that this was also the case with (_d_) and (_e_).
This speculation has amused me and may amuse some reader. I do not know
enough of Elizabethan manuscripts to judge of its plausibility.
NOTE K.
OTHELLO'S COURTSHIP.
It is curious that in the First Act two impressions are produced which
have afterwards to be corrected.
1. We must not suppose that Othello's account of his courtship in his
famous speech before the Senate is intended to be exhaustive. He is
accused of having used drugs or charms in order to win Desdemona; and
therefore his purpose in his defence is merely to show that his
witchcraft was the story of his life. It is no part of his business to
trouble the Senators with the details of his courtship, and he so
condenses his narrative of it that it almost appears as though there was
no courtship at all, and as though Desdemona never imagined that he was
in love with her until she had practically confessed her love for him.
Hence she has been praised by some for her courage, and blamed by others
for her forwardness.
But at III. iii. 70 f. matters are presented in quite a new light. There
we find the following words of hers:
What! Michael Cassio,
That came a-wooing with you, and so many a time,
When I have spoke of you dispraisingly,
Hath ta'en your part.
It seems, then, she understood why Othello came so often to her father's
house, and was perfectly secure of his love before she gave him that
very broad 'hint to speak.' I may add that those who find fault with her
forget that it was necessary for her to take the first open step. She
was the daughter of a Venetian grandee, and Othello was a black soldier
of fortune.
2. We learn from the lines just quoted that Cassio used to accompany
Othello in his visits to the house; and from III. iii. 93 f. we learn
that he knew of Othello's love from first to last and 'went between' the
lovers 'very oft.' Yet in Act I. it appears that, while Iago on the
night of the marriage knows about it and knows where to find Othello (I.
i. 158 f.), Cassio, even if he knows where to find Othello (which is
doubtful: see I. ii. 44), seems to know nothing about the marriage. See
I. ii. 49:
_Cas._ Ancient, what makes he here?
_Iago._ 'Faith, he to-night hath boarded a land carack:
If it prove lawful prize, he's made for ever.
_Cas._ I do not understand.
_Iago._ He's married.
_Cas._ To who?
It is possible that Cassio does know, and only pretends ignorance
because he has not been informed by Othello that Iago also knows. And
this idea is consistent with Iago's apparent ignorance of Cassio's part
in the courtship (III. iii. 93). And of course, if this were so, a word
from Shakespeare to the actor who played Cassio would enable him to make
all clear to the audience. The alternative, and perhaps more probable,
explanation would be that, in writing Act I., Shakespeare had not yet
thought of making Cassio Othello's confidant, and that, after writing
Act III., he neglected to alter the passage in Act I. In that case the
further information which Act III. gives regarding Othello's courtship
would probably also be an after-thought.
NOTE L.
OTHELLO IN THE TEMPTATION SCENE.
One reason why some readers think Othello 'easily jealous' is that they
completely misinterpret him in the early part of this scene. They fancy
that he is alarmed and suspicious the moment he hears Iago mutter 'Ha! I
like not that,' as he sees Cassio leaving Desdemona (III. iii. 35). But,
in fact, it takes a long time for Iago to excite surprise, curiosity,
and then grave concern--by no means yet jealousy--even about Cassio; and
it is still longer before Othello understands that Iago is suggesting
doubts about Desdemona too. ('Wronged' in 143 certainly does not refer
to her, as 154 and 162 show.) Nor, even at 171, is the exclamation 'O
misery' meant for an expression of Othello's own present feelings; as
his next speech clearly shows, it expresses an _imagined_ feeling, as
also the speech which elicits it professes to do (for Iago would not
have dared here to apply the term 'cuckold' to Othello). In fact it is
not until Iago hints that Othello, as a foreigner, might easily be
deceived, that he is seriously disturbed about Desdemona.
Salvini played this passage, as might be expected, with entire
understanding. Nor have I ever seen it seriously misinterpreted on the
stage. I gather from the Furness Variorum that Fechter and Edwin Booth
took the same view as Salvini. Actors have to ask themselves what was
the precise state of mind expressed by the words they have to repeat.
But many readers never think of asking such a question.
The lines which probably do most to lead hasty or unimaginative readers
astray are those at 90, where, on Desdemona's departure, Othello
exclaims to himself:
Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul
But I do love thee! and when I love thee not,
Chaos is come again.
He is supposed to mean by the last words that his love is _now_
suspended by suspicion, whereas in fact, in his bliss, he has so totally
forgotten Iago's 'Ha! I like not that,' that the tempter has to begin
all over again. The meaning is, 'If ever I love thee not, Chaos will
have come again.' The feeling of insecurity is due to the excess of
_joy_, as in the wonderful words after he rejoins Desdemona at Cyprus
(II. i. 191):
If it were now to die,
'Twere now to be most happy: for, I fear
My soul hath her content so absolute
That not another comfort like to this
Succeeds in unknown fate.
If any reader boggles at the use of the present in 'Chaos _is_ come
again,' let him observe 'succeeds' in the lines just quoted, or let him
look at the parallel passage in _Venus and Adonis_, 1019:
For, he being dead, with him is beauty slain;
And, beauty dead, black Chaos comes again.
Venus does not know that Adonis is dead when she speaks thus.
NOTE M.
QUESTIONS AS TO _OTHELLO_, ACT IV. SCENE I.
(1) The first part of the scene is hard to understand, and the
commentators give little help. I take the idea to be as follows. Iago
sees that he must renew his attack on Othello; for, on the one hand,
Othello, in spite of the resolution he had arrived at to put Desdemona
to death, has taken the step, without consulting Iago, of testing her in
the matter of Iago's report about the handkerchief; and, on the other
hand, he now seems to have fallen into a dazed lethargic state, and must
be stimulated to action. Iago's plan seems to be to remind Othello of
everything that would madden him again, but to do so by professing to
make light of the whole affair, and by urging Othello to put the best
construction on the facts, or at any rate to acquiesce. So he says, in
effect: 'After all, if she did kiss Cassio, that might mean little. Nay,
she might even go much further without meaning any harm.[266] Of course
there is the handkerchief (10); but then why should she _not_ give it
away?' Then, affecting to renounce this hopeless attempt to disguise his
true opinion, he goes on: 'However, _I_ cannot, as your friend, pretend
that I really regard her as innocent: the fact is, Cassio boasted to me
in so many words of his conquest. [Here he is interrupted by Othello's
swoon.] But, after all, why make such a fuss? You share the fate of most
married men, and you have the advantage of not being deceived in the
matter.' It must have been a great pleasure to Iago to express his real
cynicism thus, with the certainty that he would not be taken seriously
and would advance his plot by it. At 208-210 he recurs to the same plan
of maddening Othello by suggesting that, if he is so fond of Desdemona,
he had better let the matter be, for it concerns no one but him. This
speech follows Othello's exclamation 'O Iago, the pity of it,' and this
is perhaps the moment when we most of all long to destroy Iago.
(2) At 216 Othello tells Iago to get him some poison, that he may kill
Desdemona that night. Iago objects: 'Do it not with poison: strangle her
in her bed, even the bed she hath contaminated?' Why does he object to
poison? Because through the sale of the poison he himself would be
involved? Possibly. Perhaps his idea was that, Desdemona being killed by
Othello, and Cassio killed by Roderigo, he would then admit that he had
informed Othello of the adultery, and perhaps even that he had