This is thy work : the object poisons sight;- lord governor, Remains the censure of this hellish villain; The time, the place, the torture,-0 enforce it ! Myself will straight aboard ; and, to the state, This heavy act with heavy heart relate. [Exeunt.' 9 the censure-] i. e. the sentence. The beauties of this play impress themselves so strongly upon the attention of the reader, that they can draw no aid from critical illustration. The fiery openness of Othello, magnanimous, artless, and credulous, boundless in his confidence, ardent in his affection, inflexible in his resolution, and obdurate in his revenge ; the cool malignity of Iago, silent in his resentment, subtle in his designs, and studious at once of his interest and his vengeance; the soft simplicity of Desdemona, confident of merit, and conscious of innocence, her artless perseverance in her suit, and her slowness to suspect that she can be suspected, are such proofs of Shakspeare's skill in human nature, as, I suppose, it is vain to seek in any modern writer. The gradual progress which Iago makes in the Moor's conviction, and the circumstances which he employs to enflame him, are so artfully natural, that, though it will perhaps not be said of him as he says of himself, that he is a man not easily jealous, yet we cannot but pity him, when at last we find him perplexed in the extreme. There is always danger, lest wickedness, conjoined with abilities, should steal upon esteem, though it misses of approbation; but the character of Iago is so conducted, that he is from the first scene to the last hated and despised. Even the inferior characters of this play would be very conspicuous in any other piece, not only for their justness, but their strength. Cassio is brave, benevolent, and honest, ruined only by his want of stubbornness to resist an insidious invitation. Ro. derigo's suspicious credulity, and impatient submission to the cheats which he sees practised upon him, and which by persuasion he suffers to be repeated, exhibit a strong picture of a weak mind betrayed by unlawful desires to a false friend; and the virtue of Emilia is such as we often find, worn loosely, but not cast off, easy to commit small crimes, but quickened and alarmed at atrocious villainies. The scenes from the beginning to the end are busy, varied by happy interchanges, and regularly promoting the progression of the story; and the narrative in the end, though it tells but what is known already, yet is necessary to produce the death of Othello. Had the scene opened in Cyprus, and the preceding incidents been occasionally related, there had been little wanting to a drama of the most exact and scrupulous regularity. JOHNSON. GLOSSARIAL INDEX. A Abate, vi. 261 adornings, vii. 377 advance, vii. 24 advantage, v. 386 advantages, v. 214 adversaries, iii. 362 adversity, vi. 497 advertising, ii. 198 advice, i. 145; ii. 201 ; iii. 85, 270, 347; v. 161; viii. 12 advise, viii. 376 advised, iii. 25; iv. 68, 312, 5, 486; ix. 302 afeard, i. 66 affeered, iv. 161 affect, ii. 409 affection, iii. 445, 541 ; v. 93 ; ix. 185 affectioned, ii. 35 affied, iii. 412 affin'd, vi. 412; ix, 293, 340 affront, iii. 535; viii, 101, 111; ix. 192 affronted, vi. 459 affy, v. 450 agate, v. 15 aglet-baby, iii. 355 agnize, ix. 313 a-hold, i. 7 aiery, iv. 278; vi. 150 approbation, ii. 110; iii. 465; 212; vii. 255; ix. 237, 304 approve, iii. 55; ix. 273 approves, vii. 346 approv'd, i. 193; ix. 340. approvers, viii. 46 April, vii. 66 aquavitæ, ii. 48 arbitrate, iv. 178 arch, viii. 377 argier, i. 21 argument, ii. 249, 352; ii. 146; iv. 436; v. 178; vii. 37 arm, viii. 100 armed staves, v. 77 aroint, iv. 87 a-row, iv. 66 articulate, vii. 135 articulated, iv. 501 artificial, ii. 351; vii. 7 as, iii. 550 Asher-house, vi. 340 aspect, iv. 20 aspersion, i. 75 assay, ix. 171, 305 assinego, vi. 427 assistance, vii. 210 assurance, iii, 402; ix, 260 assured, iv. 38, 224 astonished, v. 242 Até, ii. 231 at friend, iii. 537 at hand, iv. 430 atomies, iii. 155; ix. 26 atone, iv. 302; vii. 98, 212; viii. 18; ix. 385 attasked, vii. 372 attended, vi. 90; vii. 137 attorney, vi. 248 attorneyship, v. 365 amen, i. 52 ape, ix. 35 attribute, ix. 152 aukward, viii. 321. aunt, iii. 497 authentick, iï. 245 awful, i. 171; v. 78 awless, vi. 177 aye, i. 46 aye-remaining, viii. 284 B bavin, iv. 473 bawcock, iii. 444 bay, ii. 124 bays, viii. 314 bay-windows, ii. 77 beak, i. 18 beam, vi. 515 bear him, v. 297 beard, iv. 485; v. 193; ix. 184 bearded, iii. 143 bearing-cloth, iii. 492 beat, v. 398 beating, i. 101 beavers, v. 77 ; ix. 144 beck, vii. 27 becomed, ix. 94 becomings, vii. 358 bedlam beggars, viii. 387 beetle, v. 22; ix. 154 behave, vii. 53 behaviour, iv. 193 behest, i. 58 being, viii. 25 bell-wether, iii. 149 belongings, ii. 102 bemoiled, iii. 392 bend, ix. 139 bends, vii. 377 benefit, v. 362 bent, ii. 272; ix. 169 benumbed, vi. 437 bergomask, ii. 384 |
