Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Apology For The Character And Conduct Of Iago.
Other speeches of a similar kind shew that Iago had often acted , by Othello ' s own confession , in such a manner as to deserve his fa- - vour ; yet , over this tried and experienced soldier , of whose prowess . ' His eyes had seen the proof , " At Rhodes and Cyprus , and on other grounds , Christian and Heathen '—
He places one , ' Who never set a squadron in the field , Nor the division of a battle knew More than a spinster . ' Must not this have been a justifiable cause for resentment , if any can be so , to a brave and enterprizingsoldier ? Some critic styles him
' a false , dissembling , ungrateful rascal . ' Nothing , however , can be more unjust than the last epithet . Othello was unkind and ungenerous ; Iago not ungrateful . The strongest reason for his resentment to the Moor is yet to be told . He suspected that he had been injured by him in the most tender point ; that he had seduced his iEmiliaa suspicion which does not appear destitute of foundation .
, The discourse she holds with Desdemona amply demonstrates that she was very far from entertaining any rigid notions of conjugal fidelity . ( Act iv . sc . 13 . ) She tells her mistress , that she would not carry on an intrigue ' for a joint ring , for measures of lawn , nor for gowns , petticoats , nor caps , nor any petty exhibition . But for all the whole world ! ( alluding to what Desdemona had said ) why , who
would not make her husband a cuckold to make him a monarch ?' After , again professing that she , and an infinity of other women , would break their matrimonial vow for some signal advantage , she adds , ' I do think it is their husbands'faults If wives dotal ) . Say , that they slack their duties , Or out treasures into foreign laps ;
pour Or else break out in peevish jealousies , Throwing restraint upon us ; or say they strike us , Or scant our former havings in despight : Why we have galls : and though we have some grace , Yet have we some revenp-e . '
iEmilia here seems to allude to her own situation . Iago was of a jealous temper , not always continent of his hand toward her ; was reduced to a state of indigence , and could not consequently support her in hfjr usual stile of living— ' her former havings . ' In some subsequent scenes she follows up her arguments with equal spirit and energy ; but the lines quoted are sufficient to shew that Iago was by no means fortunate in his matrimonial connexion . Warburton
supposes , that , when he informs Rodevigo , in the first scene , of Cassio ' spromotion over his head , he afterwards alludes in an abrupt manner to some former sarcasm from Othello , relative to the levity of iEmilia . ¦ ' A Florentine ' s * A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife . '
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Apology For The Character And Conduct Of Iago.
Other speeches of a similar kind shew that Iago had often acted , by Othello ' s own confession , in such a manner as to deserve his fa- - vour ; yet , over this tried and experienced soldier , of whose prowess . ' His eyes had seen the proof , " At Rhodes and Cyprus , and on other grounds , Christian and Heathen '—
He places one , ' Who never set a squadron in the field , Nor the division of a battle knew More than a spinster . ' Must not this have been a justifiable cause for resentment , if any can be so , to a brave and enterprizingsoldier ? Some critic styles him
' a false , dissembling , ungrateful rascal . ' Nothing , however , can be more unjust than the last epithet . Othello was unkind and ungenerous ; Iago not ungrateful . The strongest reason for his resentment to the Moor is yet to be told . He suspected that he had been injured by him in the most tender point ; that he had seduced his iEmiliaa suspicion which does not appear destitute of foundation .
, The discourse she holds with Desdemona amply demonstrates that she was very far from entertaining any rigid notions of conjugal fidelity . ( Act iv . sc . 13 . ) She tells her mistress , that she would not carry on an intrigue ' for a joint ring , for measures of lawn , nor for gowns , petticoats , nor caps , nor any petty exhibition . But for all the whole world ! ( alluding to what Desdemona had said ) why , who
would not make her husband a cuckold to make him a monarch ?' After , again professing that she , and an infinity of other women , would break their matrimonial vow for some signal advantage , she adds , ' I do think it is their husbands'faults If wives dotal ) . Say , that they slack their duties , Or out treasures into foreign laps ;
pour Or else break out in peevish jealousies , Throwing restraint upon us ; or say they strike us , Or scant our former havings in despight : Why we have galls : and though we have some grace , Yet have we some revenp-e . '
iEmilia here seems to allude to her own situation . Iago was of a jealous temper , not always continent of his hand toward her ; was reduced to a state of indigence , and could not consequently support her in hfjr usual stile of living— ' her former havings . ' In some subsequent scenes she follows up her arguments with equal spirit and energy ; but the lines quoted are sufficient to shew that Iago was by no means fortunate in his matrimonial connexion . Warburton
supposes , that , when he informs Rodevigo , in the first scene , of Cassio ' spromotion over his head , he afterwards alludes in an abrupt manner to some former sarcasm from Othello , relative to the levity of iEmilia . ¦ ' A Florentine ' s * A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife . '