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. Duke. I think, this tale would win my daughter too. Good Brabrantio, 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. I pray you, hear her speak; If she confess, that she was half the wooer, Destruction on my head, if my bad blame Light on the man!-Come hither, gentle mistress; Do you perceive in all this noble company, Where most you owe obedience? 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. God be with you!-I have done :- I here do give thee that with all my heart, For thy escape would teach me tyranny, Which, as a grise, or step, may help these lovers 3 Let me speak like yourself;] i. e. let me speak as yourself. would speak, were you not too much heated with passion. 4 as a grise,] Grize from degrees. A grize is a step. When remedies are past, the griefs are ended, Is the next way to draw new mischief on. 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 moral 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 I never yet heard that consolatory speeches could reach and penetrate the afflicted heart, through the medium of the ear. 1 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, 8 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, Duke. What would you, Desdemona ? Des. That I did love the Moor to live with him, My downright violence and storm of fortunes 8 3 -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. 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 precedency and revenue, accommodation and company, suitable to her rank. Exhibition is allowance. 2 a charter in your voice,] Let your favour privilege me. 3 My downright violence and storm of fortunes-1 Violence is not violence suffered, but violence acted. Breach of common rules and obligations. May trumpet to the world; my heart's subdued I saw Othello's visage in his mind; And to his honours, and his valiant parts, By his dear absence: Let me go with him. Oth. Your voices, lords :-'beseech you, let her will Have a free way. Vouch with me, heaven; I therefore beg it not, Nor to comply with heat, the young affects, But to be free and bounteous to her mind: And heaven defend your good souls, that you think 4 Even to, &c.] Quality here means profession. "I am so much enamoured of Othello, that I am even willing to endure all the inconveniencies incident to a military life, and to attend him to the wars." 5 I saw Othello's visage in his mind;] It must raise no wonder, that I loved a man of an appearance so little engaging; I saw his. face only in his mind; the greatness of his character reconciled me to his form. 6 defend, &c.] To defend, is to forbid. 7 My speculative and active instruments,] Speculative instruments, in Shakspeare's language, are the eyes; and active instruments, the hands and fect. |