Not only take away, but let your sentence Even fall upon my life. Duke. Fetch Desdemona hither. Oth. Ancient, conduct them; you best know the place. [Exeunt IAGO and Attendants. And, till she come, as truly as to heaven I do confess the vices of my blood, Duke. Say it, Othello. Oth. Her father lov'd me; oft invited me; Still question'd me the story of my life, From year to year; the battles, sieges, fortunes, I ran it through, even from my boyish days, Of hair-breadth scapes i' the imminent deadly breach; And sold to slavery; of my redemption thence, 8 Wherein of antres9 vast, and desarts idle, Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch heaven, It was my hint to speak, such was the process; Do grow beneath their shoulders.' These things to hear, And portance] and behaviour. 9 1 Do antres-] Caves and dens. men whose heads grow beneath their shoulders,] Of these men there is an account in the interpolated travels of Mandeville, a book of that Would Desdemona seriously incline: But still the house affairs would draw her thence; 'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful: She wish'd, she had not heard it; yet she wish'd That heaven had made her such a man: she thank'd me; And bade me, if I had a friend that lov'd her, Enter DESDEMONA, IAGO, and Attendants. too. Good Brabantio, time. Raleigh also has given an account of men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders, in his Description of Guiana, published in 1596, a book that without doubt Shakspeare had read. But not intentively:] i. e. with attention to all its parts. Take up this mangled matter at the best: Bra. Light on the man!-Come hither, gentle mistress ; Des. I do perceive here a divided duty: My noble father, To you, I am bound for life, and education; How to respect you; you are the lord of duty, Bra. I here do give thee that with all my heart, For thy escape would teach me tyranny, To hang clogs on them.-I have done, my lord. Duke. Let me speak like yourself; and lay a sentence, 4 Which, as a grise, or step, may help these lovers Into your favour. Let me speak like yourself;] i. e. let me speak as yourself would speak, were you not too much heated with passion. as a grise,] Grize from degrees. A grize is a step. When remedies are past, the griefs are ended, The robb'd, that smiles, steals something from the thief; He robs himself, that spends a bootless grief. He bears the sentence well, that nothing bears Being strong on both sides, are equivocal: 5 But the free comfort which from thence he hears :] But the mo-ral precepts of consolation, which are liberally bestowed on occasion of the sentence. JOHNSON. But words are words; I never yet did hear That the bruis'd heart was pierced through the ear.] These moral precepts, says Brabantio, may perhaps be founded in wisdom, but they are of no avail. Words after all are but words; and Í never yet heard that consolatory speeches could reach and penetrate the afflicted heart, through the medium of the ear. 7 to slubber the gloss of your new fortunes-] To slubber, on this occasion, is to obscure. with this more stubborn and boisterous expedi tion. Oth. The tyrant custom, most grave senators, I find in hardness; and do undertake Duke. Be't at her father's. Bra. Oth. Nor I. Des. If you please, I'll not have it so. Nor I; I would not there reside, To put my father in impatient thoughts, By being in his eye. Most gracious duke, To my unfolding lend a gracious ear; And let me find a charter in your voice, To assist my simpleness. 2 Duke. What would you, Desdemona? Des. That I did love the Moor to live with him, My downright violence and storm of fortunes3 8 thrice driven bed of down:] A driven bed, is a bed for which the feathers are selected, by driving with a fan, which separates the light from the heavy. 9 I do agnize-] i. e. acknowledge, confess, avow. 1 I crave fit disposition for my wife; Due reference of place, and exhibition; &c.] I desire, that proper disposition be made for my wife, that she may have prece dency and revenue, accommodation and company, suitable to her rank. Exhibition is allowance. 2 a charter in your voice,] Let your favour privilege me. My downright violence and storm of fortunes-] Violence is not violence suffered, but violence acted. Breach of common rules and obligations. |