The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-06-02
BY s. r. LITTLEWOOD.

Is there--ean there be-a William
absoiute?" 1t Is question being ask
ed every time Shakespeare "Othello''
| Is seen. Even after that tapestricd
four poster in the Carpaccio bedroom
has received its tragic loading" there
still remains the riddle of Iaeo, r"
the play, as such, II does not much
| matter. In the original list of char
acterE in tho first folio he liz plainly
| enough set down as 'Tago. a villaine-
and. TO be sure, so long AS he duly
preseeates his viiiaAns,. the plot tasr
prosper
| But that will hardly satisfy all OF ,is
| IN these days. For good many years
now we have given up believing in
the possibility of sheer. inhuman viii
lainy. even 80 far az real life is con-
cerned. Have we not even rejected as
an unpernissible Pigment the william o.
| the old melodrama, with his twirled
| rnousfachios and his fierce ''Har Ha,"
! Can Shakespeare, who allowed no sin
gle. character. OF all his two thousand
TO he untouched by his own -hur44a nifty
can he really have imagined Iago
| Just az a dramatic convenience with
out life or meaning7
| 1t Is unthinkable. Yet the truth must
must be told. Though some have play
| ed him this may. and some have play
/ ed him that. no single actor seems
ever to have presented an Iago nf
whom all the world might say, "ThIs
was the man" One need not for a
moment discount the brillance of Mr..
Irving study-his mocking. Spielmann
ike. unearly gaiety. It is n fine idea,
but even in our, warmest admiration
few of us could pretend that il Is a
mai one. From Iurid devilry to oily
exuberance, We have had lagos on ,he
siase IN every shape, size. age. PAT
tern and temperament. and not one of
them unchallengeably right.
me critics are equally at logger
heads' Professor Bradley would
whitewash him to some extent-woul3
give MIN real good humor. and credit
MN with distress at Desdeuons's
taxing off. Coleridge, whose knowI-
eoEe or human nature was as negu-
gloIe as his imaginat ton was opulent.
found in him 'the motive huntins ~
a motiveiess malignity" This is a
phiiosophic conception which certainly
answers all obvious difficulties but
leaves us where we were. as Regards
the man. Hazutt looks upo nhim Us
an instance Of diseased intellectual
activity--an Unsuitable craving after
action or the most difficult and dan
serous kind Even sane and schoI-
ar!y student like Professor Herford.
IN MS recent little popular handbook.
oonndes to the million that Iago was
Ia human fiendi"
But all previous critical theories
paie before the latest OF all which
mas peen put forward In a Just pub
lished volume called AN AIIegorv of
Othello." by Charles Creighton, d u
The allegory itself Is. 1t should be
said' hopeiessly fafetched. Its pur-
port IL that tho whole play represents
religious controversy-that BESIDE
mona Is the Blessed Sacrament, that
6ranantio is an archbishop that the
TURKS are the Nonoonformists, and so
on In the midst OF it all we find
that lago il none other than the wis
est brightest meanest OF mankind
our oid friend, Bacon HIMSELF Here
Is a Baconian theory" indeed. In
page upon page DR.. Creighton aral-
lois the actions and speeches of Iago
from the Essays.' and most Ger
tainly, II liego had carried that slim
volume in his pocket and consulted ii
: az the wings 'betw ecn @sserv7 scene. he
could not have followed it's ~pfsoepts
more faithfully.
Now. with all its wild falsity there
is at least this gem to be plucked
from the Bacon scheme-nameiy. the
"'"'PAS OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES OF IARO from
beginning to end. Whatever mystery
may be manufactured about Bacon.
there is assuredly no lurid halo of
diaooiioal inspiration about him a.
say that Iago fulflis Bacons recom>
mendations to the letter - that he
1 keeps a secret heart and q tFansna-
rent oountenance." that he Breaks off
In what he Is about TO say, TO breed
a greater Appetite" that he passes
! over what he intends most, and then
speaks of It as a thing forgot" etc.
etc.---is simply to say that he acts in
accordance with q keen. strong and
logical intelligence, bent upon purely
selfish ends and unworrfed by any
scruples about morality. There Ia
nothing deviiish about 1t. 1t is just
selfishness and brains.
The trouble is. Of course that peo-
pie who are searching for puzzles in
IaRo are confused between the three
motives that occur to him at different
points In the play, There Ia his open
irsE speech. where he states his case
in so many words as having been pass
ed over for tho lieutenancy. as deter
mined TO oust Cassie. and as follow
Ing Othelio merely for his own 'pecu-
liar ends Ther~ In the council
chamber soliloouy. where he suspects
Othello OF An intrigue with Emilia.
Emilia. Lastly. there is his curious
confession to Roderigo that he himself
loves Desdemona. But with oil these
one has only to remember that Shake
speare was adapting the conventional
viva of Cnthio's novel into rea-
sonable. logical being.
Everyone may see for himself that
the ensign" Of tho original story In
the very luridest OF lurid villians-and
that Shakespeare az L. his won't per.
sistently tones him down and human
izes him. Amongst the soldiery~-
| says Clnthio. there WIS an ensign, q
man Of handsome figure, but OF the
most depruved nature In tho world.
He oloaksd the malice lurking In his
hear with proud and valorous speech,
ana with such art that ne was 70 ali
outward show another Hector or
| Achilles" This William OF Cinthio's.
II WIN be remembered. .fen passion.
atsiy In love with Dssdemona,~ and
he It ID. ~that w4eksdsst Of al had
msa.S VINO bsa&p her to deeth n tn
end Win = mmA-haG,
- y.