Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Apology For The Character And Conduct Of Iago.
occur . The proclivity natural to error is too well known to be insisted upon . Not the death of Cassio , but the depriving him of his office , was lago ' s orig inal design . Had he succeeded to the command he so justly claimed , we may conclude , reasoning from probabilities and the common course of events , that he would neither have betrayed Othello , defrauded Roderigo , nor acted unkindly to Cassio , but have continued ' honest , honest Iago , ' to the end of the
chapter . The last charge , and the severest , is his cruelty to the innocent Desdemona . This is generally considered as the very acme of villainy , and it admits indeed of less excuse than the former accusations , for she had never wronged him . Iago , however , does not behold her in the same point of view as a reader or a spectator of the tragedy . He is by no means convinced of her virtue and purity of heart , -
as appears from his observations on the first interview between her and Cassio ( act ii . sc . $ . ) from his subsequent discourse with Roderigo , and the soliloquy which follows ; m ' That Cassio loves her , I do well believe it ; That she loves him , 'tis apt and of great credit . ' Other similar passages mig ht be adduced , and it is not unreasonable to suppose , that his suspicions of his wife had soured his temper , and excited in him a general aversion to the female sex . It appears , indeed , to have been of so violent a nature as even to have overcome
his policy . In the first scene between him and Desdemona at Cyprus ( act ii . sc . 5 . ) he betrays a moroseness unsuitable to his situation and designs ; for had Othello been led to suppose that he disliked his wife , or was on unfriendly terms with her , any testimony of his to her . discredit must have been weakened in proportion to that idea . This mode of behaviourthereforebetrays an irritabilityand in some respect an
, , , . imbecility of character in Iago , rather than hardened villainy : that , I apprehend , is never accompanied with acute sensibility and an unguarded warmth of temper . On the whole , his conduct to Roderigo , concerning which no accusation has been preferred , appears to be the least excusable . To him he was indebted for pecuniary obligations , but for none of any
. kind to either of the . other characters . On the contrary , from the first of them he had , most decidedly and mcontrovertibiy , received injuries of the severest kind . He had no trivial cause for his aversion to Cassio . Desdemona , as being a woman , was not an object of his regard ; as the friend of Cassio . and iEmilia she appeared to him in a' disgusting lihtand more soprobablyconsidered as the wife of
g , , , Othello . In order to distress him , however , not to gratify any aversion towards Desdemona , he contrives her death : she is merely an instrument to effectuate his vengeance ; and if vengeance can be vindicated bv an accumulation of injuries , lago ' s , though exorbitant ,
was just . It appears , therefore , notwithstanding the general opinion , that his conduct admits him of much palliation ; this 1 contended for—and , I rust , that if you still think him a villain , you consider him one of the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Apology For The Character And Conduct Of Iago.
occur . The proclivity natural to error is too well known to be insisted upon . Not the death of Cassio , but the depriving him of his office , was lago ' s orig inal design . Had he succeeded to the command he so justly claimed , we may conclude , reasoning from probabilities and the common course of events , that he would neither have betrayed Othello , defrauded Roderigo , nor acted unkindly to Cassio , but have continued ' honest , honest Iago , ' to the end of the
chapter . The last charge , and the severest , is his cruelty to the innocent Desdemona . This is generally considered as the very acme of villainy , and it admits indeed of less excuse than the former accusations , for she had never wronged him . Iago , however , does not behold her in the same point of view as a reader or a spectator of the tragedy . He is by no means convinced of her virtue and purity of heart , -
as appears from his observations on the first interview between her and Cassio ( act ii . sc . $ . ) from his subsequent discourse with Roderigo , and the soliloquy which follows ; m ' That Cassio loves her , I do well believe it ; That she loves him , 'tis apt and of great credit . ' Other similar passages mig ht be adduced , and it is not unreasonable to suppose , that his suspicions of his wife had soured his temper , and excited in him a general aversion to the female sex . It appears , indeed , to have been of so violent a nature as even to have overcome
his policy . In the first scene between him and Desdemona at Cyprus ( act ii . sc . 5 . ) he betrays a moroseness unsuitable to his situation and designs ; for had Othello been led to suppose that he disliked his wife , or was on unfriendly terms with her , any testimony of his to her . discredit must have been weakened in proportion to that idea . This mode of behaviourthereforebetrays an irritabilityand in some respect an
, , , . imbecility of character in Iago , rather than hardened villainy : that , I apprehend , is never accompanied with acute sensibility and an unguarded warmth of temper . On the whole , his conduct to Roderigo , concerning which no accusation has been preferred , appears to be the least excusable . To him he was indebted for pecuniary obligations , but for none of any
. kind to either of the . other characters . On the contrary , from the first of them he had , most decidedly and mcontrovertibiy , received injuries of the severest kind . He had no trivial cause for his aversion to Cassio . Desdemona , as being a woman , was not an object of his regard ; as the friend of Cassio . and iEmilia she appeared to him in a' disgusting lihtand more soprobablyconsidered as the wife of
g , , , Othello . In order to distress him , however , not to gratify any aversion towards Desdemona , he contrives her death : she is merely an instrument to effectuate his vengeance ; and if vengeance can be vindicated bv an accumulation of injuries , lago ' s , though exorbitant ,
was just . It appears , therefore , notwithstanding the general opinion , that his conduct admits him of much palliation ; this 1 contended for—and , I rust , that if you still think him a villain , you consider him one of the