308 Notes for the Month. [Nor. 



look coolly at the scenes between Joseph Surface and Lady Teazle, in 

 The School for Scandal. 



But, besides this objection as it so happens for the ruin of our instructor 

 all the matter in Othello, connected with the existence of Bianca, is so 

 wretchedly bad and clumsy, as to make it almost difficult to conceive that 

 it could have been written by Shakspeare ! The critic of the Globe says 

 " On n'a pas manque deja de relever 1'invraisemblance du mouchoir 

 perdu ; raais on ne dit pas quo Shakspeare avait ecrit une outre scene 

 qu'on ne joue pas, ou les soupgons du Maure se changent en certitude 

 par letemoignage de se:s oreilles et de ses yeux." This " certitude" (as 

 we understand it), is rather a strong epithet to describe a scene by, in 

 which Othello is merely made the dupe of an artifice, and a very poor 

 and flimsy one. lago proposes to the Moor to conceal himself in a 

 closet, whence he shall hear and see him (lago) get an admission from 

 Cassio of his intimacy with Desdemona. He then leads Cassia (who 

 enters at the time) into a discourse about his (the latter's) mistress, the 

 courtesan Bianca; and Othello being made to hear only portions of the 

 conversation, believes that all which is said applies to the conduct of his 

 wife. Now such a device is something farcelike, and the having to 

 stand as the dupe of it does not much raise the dignity of the character 

 of Othello: but, besides this, the scene or scenes alluded to are more than 

 weakly written. In the beginning of one, for instance, where Othello, in 

 his rage, falls in a trance at the feet of lago, the latter, when he comes to 

 hiraselfj inquires " If he has hurt his head!" This is literally the fact. 

 The words are raising Othello " Have you not hurt your head ?" to 

 which the latter replies, naturally enough" What a question !" Again, 

 in the place where Othello listens to the supposed confession of Cassio, 

 his exclamations, (t aside," are such as these u What, have you scored 

 me !" " Oh, I see that nose of yours but not the dog I shall give 

 it to /" &c. And afterwards, when he speaks of the seducing attributes 

 of Desdemona, he says " So delicate with her needle !" And for music 

 "Oh, she will sing the savageness out of a bear I" &c. &c. And 

 these are by no means singular blots upon a great mass of that which is 

 excellent as very constantly occurs with Shakespeare and the dramatists 

 of his day: but there is nothing contained in the scenes of any dramatic 

 or poetic value they would not do both from their length and from other 

 circumstances for us to extract ; but those who are at the trouble of a 

 reference to Johnson's edition, will not find that we cannot be at all dam- 

 nified in losing them. 



As we go on, the entanglement gets still deeper. The Globe complains, 

 for instance, of the modern practice of Othello's " stabbing" Desdemona 

 with the dagger, after stifling her with the pillow. He says " Shak- 

 speare does not direct this le texte de Shakspeare n'indique pas cela. 

 Othello exclaims Je ne veux pas te laissef languir I would not have 

 thee linger in thy pain. But at that moment Emilia knocks, and inter- 

 cepts him ; and he opens the door." And the writer adds, " Ces deux 

 coups de poignard augmentent sans necessite Vhorreur du denouement, et 

 rendent peu vraisemblables les mots si touchants " Nobody! I myself," 

 &c. (in answer to Emilias inquiry, " Who has done this dee'd?") -"which 

 Desdemona has to pronounce some five minutes afterwards. Now this seems 

 to be the very acme of wilfulness, or of nonsense. As regards the " horreur 

 augmented without necessity" this outcry comes very oddly from the 

 same writer, who, not half a page back, and in this very article we are 



