Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-07-25
The Real Iaga.
EY RICHARD GRANT WHITE.

EY RICHARD GRANT WHITE.
lag0 was young man. only twenty eight
years old,-the youngest of all the men who
figure in the tragedy, excepting possibly. Rod
ergo. He says of himself that he has looked
upon the world for four times seven years.
Brave. and good soldier. he was also of that
order of ability which lifts man speedily above
his fellows. His manners and his guise were of
dashing military sort; and his manner had
corresponding biuntness, tempered at times
by tact to warm-hearted eifusiyeness.
10y the very tact which prompted the
bluntness. For that, although not exactly as
sumed. was consciously adopted. Nevertheless.
he had little malice in his composition: and I'M
less for some good reason he would rather serve
than injure those around him. He made himself
liked 10y ALL and was regarded not only as
man q great ability in his profession and of
sagacity in affairs. but as a warm-hearteJ:
''Whoe-Souied" man and the very prince of GOOD
fellows. Being all this. and being genial and
sympathetic. he was emnently popular He
was moreover, heartlcsS. selfish. cold-blooded
unprincIited and utterly INSCRIPTIONS
scOundrcl.
1t was because he was this manner of man
that he was able to work that woful ruin i'm
which the love of 0tllello and DesCiemona ends
ruin which in its extremity however he did
not plan, and did not at first desire. In fact ne
had no Inclination TO do harm to any one: he
would not have gone out Of his way TO tread
upon worm. if it had kept out of has way. and
been no barrier TO his success in life
1t is needless to say that no such Iago has been
seen upon the stage for the last two hundred
years; there is no memory or record Of him. The
elder Booths IagO was an admirable perforln-
ance, almost wonderful i'm its force and keeping.
| saw it in my boyhOod just as this great actor
was staggering Off the stage and nothing equal
to it have 1 ever seen except Rachel's per-
fornlances But it was the simple strong rep
rcsentation of hardened, crafty villain, a mon
ster OF hate and of cruelty. The climax Of the
whole performance was i'm the Parthan look
which lago as he was borne off wounded and
in bonds. gave Othello.-a Gorgon stare i'm
which hate seemed both petrited and perify-
ing. 1t was frigiltfui. Edwin Booths concep-
ton OF the character, although not SO clear and
strong, is finer. more delicate. and more COM
pick. His iago is not externally mere hard
cncd villain. but "A supar-subtle Venetian who
works out his nendistl plans with dcNterouS
liThtneSs ot touch and smooth sinuosity of move
ment that suggest the tranSniigration of a ser
pent into human form. And in his yisaye and
above all in his eye. burn the venom OF his soul,
which makes Ills face az times look Snake-like
IA We >ay.-erroneously. however for the eyes
OF snake do not burn and FASH on the con-
trslry. they nave their hideouS look because
OF duh and stony lnalisnancy Of express
sion. But even Edwin Booths lago although
much finer and mere nearly consistent with it
self aud with the facts OF the tragedy than ary
other that is known to the annals OF the stage is
not the lago that Shakespeare drew, and whose
linearnents, moral and physical. have Just been
set before the Reader. The chief cause of the
general failure To present this character truly is
the disposition ami habit of the stage-a dispo-
stion and habit not unknown to real
llfe-to divide men into classes. and
TO regard them individually as the en-
bOdiment of some one passion or motive or
type OF character. Iaeo as crafty hypocritc
and therefore the stage has sought to set before
us his hypocrisy and his craft in such a manner
that they in combination are Iago. The best
Iago of the modern stage is hypocrisy and craft
embodied, and he is nothing else. Now the
truth is that the embodiment of such simple
combination of moral baseness and mental sub
tlety was not in Shakespeare's mind and is
quite impossible agent and element of the con-
fusion and disaster of the tragedy.-August At
td,atic.