The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-05-12

is Immediately after the marriage to another
OF the object of his affections. Roderigo
was In this pitiable plight. He was in a
proper frame of mind to have pictured be-
tore him the dusky skin, the corrugated
brow, the villainous temper, the repulsive
kakomorphism of the Moor. Iago pictures
hlm as loving his pride and purpose.
Horribly stuffed with epithets of war"
How skillfully he works on the feelings of
Roderigo! Now he maddens him with ieal-
ousy; now inspires him with hopel We see
the fingers of the master touching the chords
OF the heart, to produce, not music, but a
studied and overlooking ~kakophony. In
like manner he plays with the paternal feel
lngs OF Brabantio with such phrase and figure
OF speech as are not meet for modest ears to
hear. Yet Goethe says
MAN DART das NIGHT vor keuschen Ohren nennen,
was keusche Herzen nicht entbehren kennen.'
1t was through the subtlety and scheming
of lago that the bereaved father, purple with
rage ana effervescent with Indignation, was
led to present himself before the council in
the dead of night. But Iago himself was far
too shrewd to be found in this midnight as
sembly.
at seems not meet nor wholesome to my place
To be produced las il 1 stay l shal)
Against the Moor, y
Though l do hate him as I do hell pains,
Yet FOR necessity of present life
must snow out a mag and sign of love-"
And therefore he turned about, and with
the wonderful skill of a wizard weaver pro-
ceeded to draw the lanate fibres over the
Moorish optics.
But we should be careful not to ascribe
too much praise to Iago for his deception of
the Moor. The skill of the knave was most
beautifully supplemented by the stupidity of
the dupe.
Iago did not really begin to get in his work
until the Venetian pleasure party reached
Cyprus. Cassie had a weakness which mod
nrn Nivi1izof inn hoe nfToof,o11u NrY,chAI -
of the human race. He could be made drunk
with a single glass of wine. Iago knew
this weakness, and took advantage of it as
soon as Cassie was appointed officer of the
guard.
Roderigo was also drunk.
1t was easy to get them into a fight, and
Roderigo-preyiously instructed by Iago-
left Montana to continue the combat,
while he fled to rouse Othello. In
the midst of the fight Othello entered
and seeing Cassie drunk, Immediately re-
duced him to the ranks. Iago appeared
greatly cast down at Cassio's disgrace, and
urged him to apply to Desdemona to secure
his reinstatement She, in perfect good faith
and with the most charming perfection of
gullibility, did so on every possible occa-
sion.
Meanwhile Iago poured poison into Othel-
los ears, and set him to watching and sus-
pecting mis- wife. The stolen handkerchief
was introduced as the master work. Iago in
all this displays consummate skill, and it Is
in this scene that the true dramatic power of
the story appears in all its f~ullness. Iago
knew too well,
"Trines light as air
Are to the jealous continuation strong
AS proofs of holy writ"
a statement whose full strength could only
have been appreciated by an age immensely
more orthodox than this one.
There are, however, two lies in this part of
fhN ~1a rvhfah - - 49, - 1sLk1-
drawn. The one is the fiction of the hand
kerchief which Desdemona so unfortunately
dropped. and which Emelia so eagerly Sc
cured. The other is that overwhelming SYM
postum of falsehood which Iago pretended
to have heard from the sleeping Cassie. l
do not doubt but that people often make
love while asleep, but there is too much
method in the madness of Cassio's amorous
and somnolent caresses.
But lagos scheme succeeded despite the
grossness of his lies. The Moor, goaded to
desperation by the taunts and stratagems of
the knave, smothers his innocent wife, and
stabs her afterwards. Blood runs on all
sides, and the curtain falls on a scene CORY
and chastity.
To epitomize the chief characters: Blanca
is without the egis of polite literature.
Emilia is a plant tool, of quite too facile
morals. Desdemona is a simpering, gushing
maiden with a baby stare. Cassie is too good
and narrow for his latitude. Brabantio is a
clustering parent too short for his longitude.
Roderigo is a jealous fool, Othello is a
stupid brute, and Iago a most magnificent
knave with brains enough for a barrister.
Gratiano, Lodovico, Montana and the others,
as the clown, the herald, officers, gentlemen,
messengers, musicians, sailors, attendants,
etc., are the mere stuffing of the piece. They
are the sawdust in which the more precious
articles are packed to preserve them from
fracture. They are of value while the play
is in t~ransitu, but become mere debris at the
end.
1t remains to speak of the play as a whole;
to point out its beauties and its blemlshes:
to recognize its power and its weakness. |
do not consider it appropriate here to dis
cuss the poetry of Shakespeare. And vet
Shakespeare stands so far above other poets
that he can only be compared with himself.
In Macbeth the theme which gives character
to the poem is overmastering ambition; in
Hamlet it is the slow but certain revenge of
a brooding melancholy; in Romeo and
Juliet it is the power and sweep of a umult-
uous love.
In Othello, however, jealousy is the pas
sion whose workings are to be portrayed; but
in order to comply with the demands of
dramatic art, the poet had to exaegerate the
workings of this passion. Dramatic exag-
g~eration is not a symmetrical increase in
magnitude; it is a genuine anamorphosis.
In the true drama this distortion is only suf-
ficient to emphasize the passion to be pre-
scented and yet not make unnatural. When
then the asymmetry proceeds too far we
reach the region of burlesque. In other
words, n drama must be true to nature and
not to life. The dramatic poet, therefore,
lets mature caper." AS a result, we see the
passion to be portrayed carried to lis full ex-
position without being cut and fashioned to
fit into the narrow groove of real life. Ii
Othello, therefore, the poet has caused every
other passion to abdicate in favor Of jealousy,
and we see this emotion allowed it's full and
free development, and suffered to achieve its
own ends. Roderigo is moved by the ieal-
ousy of a disappointed love, Othello by the
jealousy of a successful love, and Iago by the
jealousy of a thwarted ambition. These are
the three chords from which the whole COM
position takes its pitch and timbre.