Othello Page 7

  I.2 The street in front of the Sagittary 2 very stuff the essence 5 yerked

  struck or (as with a horse) kicked under the ribs 6 prated babbled 10 did

  full hard forbear i.e., barely tolerated 11 fast securely 12 magnifico aristocrat (i.e., Brabantio) 13-14 a voice . . . duke's i.e., an influence twice as

  great as the duke's 17 give him cable i.e., allow him freedom 18 signory

  Venetian political establishment

  Shall out-tongue his complaints. 'Tis yet to know -

  Which, when I know that boasting is an honor,

  I shall promulgate - I fetch my life and being

  From men of royal siege, and my demerits

  May speak unbonneted to as proud a fortune

  As this that I have reached. For know, Iago,

  But that I love the gentle Desdemona,

  I would not my unhoused free condition

  Put into circumscription and confine

  For the sea's worth. But look, what lights come yond?

  Enter Cassio [and Officers] with Torches.

  IAGO

  Those are the raised father and his friends.

  You were best go in.

  OTHELLO Not I; I must be found.

  My parts, my title, and my perfect soul

  Shall manifest me rightly. Is it they?

  IAGO

  By Janus, I think no.

  OTHELLO

  The servants of the duke? And my lieutenant?

  The goodness of the night upon you, friends!

  What is the news?

  CASSIO The duke does greet you, general,

  And he requires your haste-posthaste appearance

  Even on the instant.

  OTHELLO What is the matter, think you?

  CASSIO

  Something from Cyprus, as I may divine. 19 yet to know still not generally known 21 promulgate broadcast, make known 22 siege seat (i.e., rank or status); demerits merits, deserts (obsolete form) 23-24 May speak . . . have reached i.e., can without boasting claim worldly success equal to that of Desdemona's family (this that I have reached) 26-27 my unhoused . . . and confine i.e., trade the outdoors for domesticity, my independence for limits 29 raised roused, alarmed 31 parts abilities; perfect soul clear conscience 32 manifest me i.e., make my case 33 Janus the two-faced Roman god 39 as I may divine i.e., I suppose

  It is a business of some heat. The galleys

  Have sent a dozen sequent messengers

  This very night at one another's heels,

  And many of the consuls, raised and met,

  Are at the duke's already. You have been hotly called for;

  When being not at your lodging to be found,

  The Senate hath sent about three several quests

  To search you out.

  OTHELLO 'Tis well I am found by you.

  I will but spend a word here in the house,

  And go with you. [Exit.]

  CASSIO Ancient, what makes he here?

  IAGO

  Faith, he tonight hath boarded a land carrack.

  If it prove lawful prize, he's made forever.

  CASSIO

  I do not understand.

  IAGO He's married.

  CASSIO To who?

  [Enter Othello.]

  IAGO

  Marry, to - Come, captain, will you go?

  OTHELLO Have with you.

  CASSIO

  Here comes another troop to seek for you.

  Enter Brabantio, Roderigo, with Officers and Torches.

  IAGO

  It is Brabantio. General, be advised.

  He comes to bad intent.

  OTHELLO Holla! stand there!

  RODERIGO

  Signor, it is the Moor.

  BRABANTIO Down with him, thief!

  [They draw on both sides.]

  40 heat intensity or urgency 41 sequent consecutive 46 sent about sent out; several separate 50 Faith by my faith, in faith (a mild oath); carrack treasure ship 53 Marry (a mild form of the oath "By the Virgin Mary")

  IAGO

  You, Roderigo! Come, sir, I am for you.

  OTHELLO

  Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.

  Good signor, you shall more command with years

  Than with your weapons.

  BRABANTIO

  O thou foul thief, where hast thou stowed my daughter?

  Damned as thou art, thou hast enchanted her!

  For I'll refer me to all things of sense,

  If she in chains of magic were not bound,

  Whether a maid so tender, fair, and happy,

  So opposite to marriage that she shunned

  The wealthy curled darlings of our nation,

  Would ever have, t' incur a general mock,

  Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom

  Of such a thing as thou - to fear, not to delight.

  Judge me the world if 'tis not gross in sense

  That thou hast practiced on her with foul charms,

  Abused her delicate youth with drugs or minerals

  That weakens motion. I'll have't disputed on;

  'Tis probable, and palpable to thinking.

  I therefore apprehend and do attach thee

  For an abuser of the world, a practicer

  Of arts inhibited and out of warrant.

  Lay hold upon him. If he do resist,

  Subdue him at his peril.

  OTHELLO Hold your hands,

  Both you of my inclining and the rest.

  Were it my cue to fight, I should have known it

  Without a prompter. Where will you that I go 58 am for you challenge you 59 Keep up i.e., sheathe, put away 69 a general mock universal laughter 72 gross in sense obvious 75 motion perception; disputed on brought to law 77 attach arrest

  To answer this your charge?

  BRABANTIO To prison, till fit time

  Of law and course of direct session

  Call thee to answer.

  OTHELLO What if I do obey?

  How may the duke be therewith satisfied,

  Whose messengers are here about my side

  Upon some present business of the state

  To bring me to him?

  OFFICER 'Tis true, most worthy signor.

  The duke's in council, and your noble self

  I am sure is sent for.

  BRABANTIO How? The duke in council?

  In this time of the night? Bring him away.

  Mine's not an idle cause. The duke himself,

  Or any of my brothers of the state,

  Cannot but feel this wrong as 'twere their own;

  For if such actions may have passage free,

  Bondslaves and pagans shall our statesmen be. Exeunt.

  I.3 Enter Duke, Senators, and Officers [with lights].

  DUKE

  There's no composition in this news

  That gives them credit.

  FIRST SENATOR Indeed they are disproportioned. My letters say a hundred and seven galleys.

  DUKE

  And mine a hundred forty.

  SECOND SENATOR And mine two hundred.

  But though they jump not on a just account - 86 direct session regular trial 95 idle inconsequential I.3 The Venetian Senate Chamber 1 composition consistency; news newly received information 5 jump agree; just account precise estimate

  As in these cases where the aim reports

  'Tis oft with difference - yet do they all confirm

  A Turkish fleet, and bearing up to Cyprus.

  DUKE

  Nay, it is possible enough to judgment.

  I do not so secure me in the error

  But the main article I do approve

  In fearful sense.

  SAILOR Within What, ho! what, ho! what, ho! Enter Sailor.

  OFFICER

  A messenger from the galleys.

  DUKE Now, what's the business?

  SAILOR

  The Turkish preparation makes for Rhodes.

  So was I
bid report here to the state

  By Signor Angelo.

  DUKE

  How say you by this change?

  FIRST SENATOR This cannot be

  By no assay of reason. 'Tis a pageant

  To keep us in false gaze. When we consider

  Th' importancy of Cyprus to the Turk,

  And let ourselves again but understand

  That, as it more concerns the Turk than Rhodes,

  So may he with more facile question bear it,

  For that it stands not in such warlike brace,

  But altogether lacks th' abilities

  That Rhodes is dressed in - if we make thought of this,

  We must not think the Turk is so unskillful

  To leave that latest which concerns him first, 6 aim guess 10-12 I do not . . . sense the discrepancies of the reports aren't enough to cancel the frightening substance (main article) of them 14 preparation forces, assembled fleet 18 assay test, effort; pageant sideshow 19 in false gaze looking the wrong way 23 with . . . it capture it more easily 24 brace state of defense 28 latest last

  Neglecting an attempt of ease and gain

  To wake and wage a danger profitless.

  DUKE

  Nay, in all confidence, he's not for Rhodes.

  OFFICER

  Here is more news.

  Enter a Messenger.

  MESSENGER

  The Ottomites, reverend and gracious,

  Steering with due course toward the isle of Rhodes,

  Have there injointed them with an after fleet.

  FIRST SENATOR

  Ay, so I thought. How many, as you guess?

  MESSENGER

  Of thirty sail; and now they do restem

  Their backward course, bearing with frank appearance

  Their purposes toward Cyprus. Signor Montano,

  Your trusty and most valiant servitor,

  With his free duty recommends you thus

  And prays you to believe him.

  DUKE

  'Tis certain then for Cyprus.

  Marcus Luccicos, is not he in town?

  FIRST SENATOR

  He's now in Florence.

  DUKE

  Write from us to him post-posthaste. Dispatch!

  FIRST SENATOR

  Here comes Brabantio and the valiant Moor.

  Enter Brabantio, Othello, Cassio, Iago, Roderigo, and

  Officers. 30 wake and wage rouse and risk 33 Ottomites Turkish fleet (Turks and Ottomites seem to have been identified in the Elizabethan mind); reverend and gracious (honorific term of address to the assembly) 34 due direct 35 injointed combined (themselves); after fleet a subordinate or secondary navy 37 restem steer again 38 with frank appearance openly, without deceit 41 free duty unlimited loyalty; recommends informs

  DUKE

  Valiant Othello, we must straight employ you

  Against the general enemy Ottoman.

  [To Brabantio]

  I did not see you. Welcome, gentle signor.

  We lacked your counsel and your help tonight.

  BRABANTIO

  So did I yours. Good your grace, pardon me.

  Neither my place, nor aught I heard of business,

  Hath raised me from my bed; nor doth the general care

  Take hold on me; for my particular grief

  Is of so floodgate and o'erbearing nature

  That it engluts and swallows other sorrows,

  And it is still itself.

  DUKE Why, what's the matter?

  BRABANTIO

  My daughter! O, my daughter!

  ALL Dead?

  BRABANTIO Ay, to me.

  She is abused, stol'n from me, and corrupted

  By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks;

  For nature so prepost'rously to err,

  Being not deficient, blind, or lame of sense,

  Sans witchcraft could not.

  DUKE

  Whoe'er he be that in this foul proceeding

  Hath thus beguiled your daughter of herself,

  And you of her, the bloody book of law

  You shall yourself read in the bitter letter

  After your own sense; yea, though our proper son

  Stood in your action. 48 straight straightaway, immediately 53 place position (as senator) 56 of so floodgate so torrential 57 engluts gulps down 60 abused deceived 61 mountebanks quacks or scam artists (for which Venice was notorious) 63 deficient feebleminded 67-69 bloody . . . sense i.e., you may interpret the law in the strictest sense that suits you 69 our proper my own 70 Stood in your action were the object of your charges

  BRABANTIO Humbly I thank your grace. Here is the man - this Moor, whom now, it seems, Your special mandate for the state affairs Hath hither brought.

  ALL We are very sorry for't.

  DUKE [To Othello]

  What, in your own part, can you say to this?

  BRABANTIO

  Nothing, but this is so.

  OTHELLO

  Most potent, grave, and reverend signors,

  My very noble and approved good masters,

  That I have ta'en away this old man's daughter,

  It is most true; true I have married her.

  The very head and front of my offending

  Hath this extent, no more. Rude am I in my speech,

  And little blessed with the soft phrase of peace;

  For since these arms of mine had seven years' pith

  Till now some nine moons wasted, they have used

  Their dearest action in the tented field;

  And little of this great world can I speak

  More than pertains to feats of broils and battle;

  And therefore little shall I grace my cause

  In speaking for myself. Yet, by your gracious patience,

  I will a round unvarnished tale deliver

  Of my whole course of love - what drugs, what

  charms,

  What conjuration, and what mighty magic

  (For such proceeding I am charged withal)

  I won his daughter.

  BRABANTIO A maiden never bold;

  Of spirit so still and quiet that her motion 77 approved tested by experience 81 Rude unskilled, unpolished 83 pith strength 84 wasted gone by 85 dearest most valuable 87 broils strife, hurly-burly 90 round plain 95-96 her motion / Blushed her own feelings caused her to blush

  Blushed at herself; and she - in spite of nature,

  Of years, of country, credit, everything -

  To fall in love with what she feared to look on!

  It is a judgment maimed and most imperfect

  That will confess perfection so could err

  Against all rules of nature, and must be driven

  To find out practices of cunning hell

  Why this should be. I therefore vouch again

  That with some mixtures pow'rful o'er the blood,

  Or with some dram, conjured to this effect,

  He wrought upon her.

  DUKE To vouch this is no proof,

  Without more wider and more overt test

  Than these thin habits and poor likelihoods

  Of modern seeming do prefer against him.

  SENATOR

  But, Othello, speak.

  Did you by indirect and forced courses

  Subdue and poison this young maid's affections?

  Or came it by request, and such fair question

  As soul to soul affordeth?

  OTHELLO I do beseech you,

  Send for the lady to the Sagittary

  And let her speak of me before her father.

  If you do find me foul in her report,

  The trust, the office, I do hold of you

  Not only take away, but let your sentence

  Even fall upon my life.

  DUKE Fetch Desdemona hither.

  97 credit reputation 101-2 must be driven . . . hell i.e., the reasonable mind must seek diabolical plots 103 vouch claim 104 blood passions, sexual appetite 105 dram s
mall portion; conjured bewitched, magically produced (accent on second syllable) 107 more wider . . . overt more thorough and manifest (i.e., convincing) 108-9 these thin . . . seeming i.e., these flimsy signs and conclusions drawn from ordinary appearances 111 forced (1) unnatural, (2) coercive 113 question talk, conversation 117 foul ugly (also "dark," perhaps Othello's ironic reference to his own color)

  OTHELLO

  Ancient, conduct them; you best know the place.

  [Exit two or three Officers with Iago.]

  And till she come, as truly as to heaven

  I do confess the vices of my blood,

  So justly to your grave ears I'll present

  How I did thrive in this fair lady's love,

  And she in mine.

  DUKE

  Say it, Othello.

  OTHELLO

  Her father loved me, oft invited me,

  Still questioned me the story of my life

  From year to year - the battles, sieges, fortunes

  That I have passed.

  I ran it through, even from my boyish days

  To th' very moment that he bade me tell it.

  Wherein I spoke of most disastrous chances,

  Of moving accidents by flood and field;

  Of hairbreadth scapes i' th' imminent deadly breach;

  Of being taken by the insolent foe

  And sold to slavery. Of my redemption thence

  And portance in my traveler's history,

  Wherein of anters vast and deserts idle,

  Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch

  heaven,

  It was my hint to speak - such was my process;

  And of the cannibals that each other eat,

  The anthropophagi, and men whose heads

  Do grow beneath their shoulders. These things to hear

  Would Desdemona seriously incline; 129 Still constantly 134 disastrous unlucky (Latin "ill-starred") 135 accidents by flood and field occurrences on sea and land 136 in . . . deadly breach gap in a defense inviting immediate disaster 137 insolent (1) arrogant, (2) insulting 139 portance behavior, bearing; traveler's history (a minor sub-genre of writing c. 1600, often containing tall tales) 140 anters caves 142

  hint occasion, opportunity; process drift 144 anthropophagi man-eaters

  But still the house affairs would draw her thence,

  Which ever as she could with haste dispatch,

  She'd come again, and with a greedy ear

  Devour up my discourse. Which I observing,

  Took once a pliant hour, and found good means

  To draw from her a prayer of earnest heart

  That I would all my pilgrimage dilate,

  Whereof by parcels she had something heard,

  But not intentively. I did consent,

  And often did beguile her of her tears

  When I did speak of some distressful stroke

  That my youth suffered. My story being done,

  She gave me for my pains a world of kisses.

  She swore in faith 'twas strange, 'twas passing strange;

  'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful.

  She wished she had not heard it, yet she wished

  That heaven had made her such a man. She thanked