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Article SHAKSPERE'S OTHELLO. ← Page 4 of 7 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Shakspere's Othello.
This was necessary to give full motive to the Moor ' s suspicions , to silence the questioning and scruples of his love and trust in Desdemona , ancl to establish in his mind her guilt beyond a doubt . But in the novel , when the Moor betrays his suspicion , she says , with much simplicity , " Be not angered with memy dear lordI have no other cause to bid
, ; me speak , than sorrow that I see you lose so dear a friend ; nor has he done so grave a fault , that you should bear him so much enmity . " Desdemona ' s pleading for the captain is prompted by the sole thought of her lord ' s own interest and sense of justice , which is perhaps the higher motive . Othello is a character of Shakspere ' s creation . In the
story he is passionate in his affections , sudden to suspect , prompt to revenge . Nevertheless , after he is convinced of his wife ' s guilt , his love pleads for her : it cannot be true , — and he bursts out with the exclamation— " By heavens , I scarce can hold this hand from plucking out that tongue of thine , which dares to speak such slander of my wife ! " And
again , — " Make thou these eyes self-witnesses of what thou tell ' st ; _ or , on thy life , I'll make thee wish thou hadst been born without a tongue ! " which suggests the exclamation of Othello , in the torture of his bewilderment and doubt , " Villain , be sure thou prove my love a whore—Be sure of it ; give me the ocular proof ; Or , by the worth of thine eternal soul , Thou hadst been better have been born a dog Than answer my waked wrath . "
But the refined gentleness , the true nobility of soul , the unsuspecting trustfulness , and all the higher qualities which make up the character of Othello , are wanting in the story : his revenge is of an ordinary stamp , and satisfied with planned barbarity of execution ; whereas , in the tragedy , the punishment of his wife ' s stipposed guilt is not revenge ; " For nought I did in hate , but all in honour . "
It is not a selfish prompting , but a feeling of necessity which his stern sense of justice lays on him , and against which his natural tenderness and love vainly wrestles : " Yet she must die , or she'll betray more men . " He is driven by the demon of fate to the verge of the precipice too hurriedly to look backor to resistbewilderment
, ; deprives him of the power of reflection , and in the rapidity of the action in the play he is rendered the helpless tool of lago ' s villany , which Shakspere ' s plot required . We see the force of this necessity , whicli rules Othello strikingly after
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Shakspere's Othello.
This was necessary to give full motive to the Moor ' s suspicions , to silence the questioning and scruples of his love and trust in Desdemona , ancl to establish in his mind her guilt beyond a doubt . But in the novel , when the Moor betrays his suspicion , she says , with much simplicity , " Be not angered with memy dear lordI have no other cause to bid
, ; me speak , than sorrow that I see you lose so dear a friend ; nor has he done so grave a fault , that you should bear him so much enmity . " Desdemona ' s pleading for the captain is prompted by the sole thought of her lord ' s own interest and sense of justice , which is perhaps the higher motive . Othello is a character of Shakspere ' s creation . In the
story he is passionate in his affections , sudden to suspect , prompt to revenge . Nevertheless , after he is convinced of his wife ' s guilt , his love pleads for her : it cannot be true , — and he bursts out with the exclamation— " By heavens , I scarce can hold this hand from plucking out that tongue of thine , which dares to speak such slander of my wife ! " And
again , — " Make thou these eyes self-witnesses of what thou tell ' st ; _ or , on thy life , I'll make thee wish thou hadst been born without a tongue ! " which suggests the exclamation of Othello , in the torture of his bewilderment and doubt , " Villain , be sure thou prove my love a whore—Be sure of it ; give me the ocular proof ; Or , by the worth of thine eternal soul , Thou hadst been better have been born a dog Than answer my waked wrath . "
But the refined gentleness , the true nobility of soul , the unsuspecting trustfulness , and all the higher qualities which make up the character of Othello , are wanting in the story : his revenge is of an ordinary stamp , and satisfied with planned barbarity of execution ; whereas , in the tragedy , the punishment of his wife ' s stipposed guilt is not revenge ; " For nought I did in hate , but all in honour . "
It is not a selfish prompting , but a feeling of necessity which his stern sense of justice lays on him , and against which his natural tenderness and love vainly wrestles : " Yet she must die , or she'll betray more men . " He is driven by the demon of fate to the verge of the precipice too hurriedly to look backor to resistbewilderment
, ; deprives him of the power of reflection , and in the rapidity of the action in the play he is rendered the helpless tool of lago ' s villany , which Shakspere ' s plot required . We see the force of this necessity , whicli rules Othello strikingly after