TIME--_After Breakfast._
NORTH--TALBOYS--SEWARD--BULLER.
NORTH.
NOW FOR THE GRAND INQUIRY.
How long, think you, was Othello Governor of Cyprus, and Desdemona the
General's wife?
TALBOYS.
How long? Why, some weeks, or some months; quarter of a year, half a
year, a year.
NORTH.
A most satisfactory answer indeed to a simple question. How long have I
been Commander of the Forces at Cladich?
TALBOYS.
Tents pitched on the 14th May 1849--This is the 24th of June Ditto.
You, like Michael Cassio, are "a great arithmetician"--and can
calculate the Days.
NORTH.
That's precise. Let's have some small attempt at precision with respect
to the time at Cyprus.
TALBOYS.
Well then--a Month--TWO MONTHS.
NORTH.
And you are a Student--a Scholar--in Shakspeare!
TALBOYS.
What the ace do you mean?
NORTH.
JUST TWO DAYS.
TALBOYS.
What the deuce do you mean? THE MAN has lost his Senses.
NORTH.
Who? Shakspeare?
TALBOYS.
Really, sir, you are getting daily more and more paradoxical--and I
begin to tremble for your wits.
NORTH.
See that your own have not gone wool-gathering, Talboys. Two Months!
For two Months read two Days--I insist on it.
TALBOYS.
Gentlemen, the case seems serious. What would you propose?
SEWARD.
Let's hear the Sage.
NORTH.
Open Shakspeares. Act II.--Scene I.
BULLER.
All ready, sir.
NORTH.
A Sea-port Town in Cyprus--not Nicosia, the capital of the Island,
which is inland--thirty miles from the Sea--but Famagusta.
TALBOYS.
So says in a note Malone--what's that to the purpose?
NORTH.
I wish to be precise. Ship ahoy!
TALBOYS.
"The ship is here put in,
A Veronese; Michael Cassio,
Lieutenant to the warlike Moor, Othello,
Is come on shore"--
NORTH.
"A sail--a sail--a sail!
My hopes do shape him for the Governor."
BULLER.
"'Tis one Iago, Ancient to the General."
TALBOYS.
"The riches of the ship is come on shore!"
BULLER.
"Ye men of Cyprus, let her have your knees.
NORTH.
The Moor! I know his trumpet."
There's the power of poetry for you--I do pity poor prose. The
sea-beach--town--fortifications--all crowded with people on the
gaze-out--_for hours_. For ships on the stormy sea. But not a ship
to be seen. Obedient to the passion of the people, one ship after
another appears in the offing--salutes and is saluted--is within the
Bay--inside the Breakwater--drops anchor--the divine Desdemona has
landed--Othello has her in his arms--
"O my soul's joy!
If after every tempest comes such calms,
May the winds blow till they have waken'd death!
And let the labouring bark climb hills of seas
Olympus-high; and duck again as low
As hell's from heaven!"
all _in five minutes_--in three minutes--in one minute--in
no time--in less than no time.
TALBOYS.
What's your drift?
NORTH.
Handle Shakspeares! Scene II.--A Street--On the day of Othello's
arrival--the Proclamation is issued "that there is full liberty of
feasting for this present hour of _Five_, till the bell has told
Eleven"--for besides the mere perdition of the Turkish Fleet, it is the
"celebration _of his nuptials_."
TALBOYS.
We all know that--go on.
SEWARD.
His nuptials! Why, I thought he had been married at Venice!
NORTH.
Who cares what you think? Scene III.--a Hall in the Castle--and enter
Othello, Desdemona, Cassio, and attendants. Othello says--
"Good Michael, look you to the guard to-night:
Let's teach ourselves that honourable stop,
Not to outsport discretion."
And before retiring for the night with Desdemona, he says--
"Michael, good night: _To-morrow, with our earliest,
Let me have speech with you._"
TALBOYS.
Why lay you such emphasis on these unimportant words?
NORTH.
They are not unimportant. Then comes the Night Brawl--as schemed by
Iago. Othello, on the spot, cashiers Cassio--and at that very moment,
Desdemona entering disturbed, with attendants, he says--
"Look if my gentle love is not rais'd up.--
Come, Desdemona; 'tis the soldiers' life,
To have their balmy slumbers wak'd with strife."
Iago advises the unfortunate Cassio to "confess himself
freely" to Desdemona--who will help to put him in his place again--and
Cassio replies--"_betimes in the morning I will beseech the virtuous
Desdemona to undertake for me_: I am desperate of _my fortunes, if
they check me here_;"--and the Scene concludes with these words of
Iago's--
"Two things are to be done,--
My wife must move for Cassio to her mistress;
I'll set her on;
Myself, the while, _to draw the Moor apart,
And bring him jump when he may Cassio find
Soliciting his wife; Ay, that's the way;
Dull not device by coldness and delay_."
"By the mass, 'tis morning," quoth Iago--and Act II.
closes with the dawn of the Second Day at Cyprus. You don't deny that?
TALBOYS.
Nobody denies it--nobody ever denied it--nobody ever will deny it.
NORTH.
Act Third. Now for ACT III.
TALBOYS.
Our six eyes--and our six ears are all wide awake, sir.
NORTH.
It opens before the Castle--as the _same morning_ is pretty well
advanced--and Cassio is ordering some Musicians to play "Good-morrow,
General."
TALBOYS.
On the same morning? I am not so sure of that, sir.
NORTH.
Nobody denies it--nobody ever did deny it--nobody ever will deny it.
TALBOYS.
Not so fast, sir.
NORTH.
Why, you slow Coach! Cassio says to the Clown, who is with the
Musicians, "There's a poor piece of gold for thee: if the Gentlewoman
that attends the General's wife be stirring, tell her, there's one
Cassio entreats her a little favour of speech;"--and as the Clown goes
off, Iago enters--and says to Cassio--
"_You have not been a-bed, then?_
And Cassio answers--
Why, no; _the day had broke
Before we parted_. I have made bold, Iago,
To send in to your wife. My suit to her
Is, that she will to virtuous Desdemona
Procure me some access.
_Iago._ I'll send her to you presently;
And I'll devise a mean to draw the Moor
Out of the way, that your converse and business
May be more free."
Emilia then enters, and tells Cassio that all will soon be
well--"the General and his Wife are talking of it--and she speaks for
you stoutly."--
TALBOYS.
All this does not positively imply that the preceding night was
the night of the Brawl. Cassio, though originally intending it, on
reflection may have thought it too precipitate to apply to Desdemona
the very next day; and there is nothing improbable in his having been
with Iago till daybreak on some subsequent night. It is not quite
clear, then, that the Third Act commences on the morning after Cassio's
dismissal.
NORTH.
O rash and inconsiderate man!
TALBOYS.
Who is?
NORTH.
You. It is not quite clear! I say 'tis clear as mud or amber. Iago
has with such hellish haste conceived and executed his machinations,
that Cassio has been cashiered some few hours after landing in Cyprus.
In the pride of success, he urges on Cassio to apply without delay
to Desdemona in the morning. We see the demi-devil determined to
destroy--"By the mass, 'tis morning--pleasure and action make the
hours seem short." Iago may have gone to bed for a few hours--Cassio
had not--"You have not been a-bed, then."--"Why, no; the day had
broke before we parted." The Time of the end of Second Act, and of
the beginning of Third Act, are thus connected as firmly as words and
deeds can connect. You say there is nothing improbable in Cassio's
having been with Iago till daybreak on some subsequent night! Why, who
the devil cares to know that Cassio had not been to bed on some other
night? His not having been to bed on _this_ night is an indication
of _his_ anxiety, and Iago's question is a manifestation of _his_
malevolence cloaked with an appearance of concern. In each case an
appropriate trait of character is brought before us; but the main
purpose of the words is to fix the time, which they do without the
possibility of a doubt. They _demonstrate_ that the Third Act opens on
the morning immediately subsequent to the night on which Act Second
closes. This morning dovetails into that night with an exactness which
nothing could improve.
TALBOYS.
Why so fierce, my good sir?
NORTH.
Fierce! I may well be fierce. What! Cassio's desire to see Desdemona
cool before morning--Iago's desire to drive him on to his destruction
cool too--and both walk away without further heed--and when next seen,
after an interval of some weeks or months, talking about not having
been in bed during some other night on which nothing particular has
happened! Bah!
TALBOYS.
Sir, I do not like to see you so much excited. You mistake me--I was
merely, at your bidding, assisting you in your expiscation of the
Time--we are at one about it--
NORTH.
My dear Talboys, forgive me--my irascibility is a disease--
TALBOYS.
Health--health--exuberant health of mind and body--May you live a
thousand years.
NORTH.
The Third Act, then, you allow, opens on the morning of the day
following the night on which the Second Act closes?
TALBOYS.
I not only allow, my dear Sir, I insist on it. Let me hear any man deny
it, and I will knock the breath out of his body! Proceed, Sir.
NORTH.
Obstinate? I never called you obstinate, my dear Talboys. Well--let me
proceed, with you for an ally. In this same scene, First of Act Third,
Cassio says to Emilia,
"Yet, I beseech you,
If you think fit, or that it may be done,
Give me advantage of some brief discourse
With Desdemona alone."
And Emilia says to him,
"Pray you, come in;
_I will bestow you where you shall have time
To speak your bosom freely_.
_Cassio._ I am much bound to you."
And off they go to sue to the gentle Desdemona.
TALBOYS.
Alas! somewhat too gentle.
NORTH.
Then follows Scene II. of Act III.--a very short one--let me read it
aloud.
"_A Room in the Castle._
_Enter_ OTHELLO, IAGO, _and Gentlemen_.
_Othello._ These letters give, Iago, to the pilot;
And, by him, do my duties to the State;
That done, I will be walking on the works;
Repair there to me.
_Iago._ Well, my good Lord, I'll do't.
_Othello._ This fortification, gentlemen,--shall we see't?
_Gent._ We'll wait upon your lordship. [_Exeunt._"
That this Scene is on the same day as Scene Second--and
with little intermission of time--is too plain to require proof.
Othello here sends off his first dispatches to Venice by the pilot who
had brought him safely to Cyprus, and then goes out to inspect the
fortification. That is in the natural course of things--such a scene at
any subsequent time would be altogether without meaning.
TALBOYS.
I cannot see that, sir.
NORTH.
None so blind as they who will not see.
TALBOYS.
There again.
NORTH.
What do you want, Talboys?
TALBOYS.
Have the goodness, my dear sir, to pause a moment--and go back to the
close of the Scene preceding this short one. Then and there, Cassio, as
we saw, goes into the Castle with Emilia, "_to be bestowed_" that he
may have an opportunity of asking Desdemona to intercede for him with
Othello. But "to be bestowed" may mean to have apartments there--and he
may have been living in the Castle for several days, with or without
Othello's knowledge, before that short Scene which you have just now
quoted.
NORTH.
Living in the Castle for several days! With or without Othello's
knowledge! Prodigious! All that Cassio asked was, "the advantage of
some _brief discourse_;" and, that he might have that advantage, Emilia
gave him apartments in the Castle! And there we may suppose him living
at rack and manger, lying _perdu_ in the Governor's House! Emilia was a
queer customer enough, but she could hardly have taken upon herself the
responsibility of secreting a man under the same roof with Desdemona,
without the sanction of her Mistress--and if with her sanction, what
must we think of the "gentle Lady married to the Moor?" Talboys, you
are quizzing the old Gentleman.
TALBOYS.
I give it up.
NORTH.
The short Scene I quoted, then, _immediately_ follows the preceding--in
time; and that short Scene is manifestly introduced by Shakspeare,
merely to get Othello out on the ramparts with Iago, _that_ Iago may
bring the Moor "plump on Cassio soliciting his wife." SCENE THIRD
OF ACT III.! Unfurl.
TALBOYS.
Ay, ay, sir. _Scene Third of Act III._ That is the Scene of Scenes.
NORTH.
Scene Third of Act III., accordingly, shows us Desdemona, Cassio,
and Emilia before the Castle--and while Cassio is "soliciting his
wife"--"enter Othello and Iago at a distance."
"_Emilia._ Madam, here comes
My Lord.
_Cassio._ Madam, I'll take my leave.
_Desdemona._ Why stay,
And hear me speak.
_Cassio._ Madam, _not now; I am very ill at ease_--
Unfit for mine own purposes.
_Desdemona._ Well--well--
Do your discretion. [_Exit_ CASSIO."
Down to this exit of Cassio, we are on the morning or
forenoon of the Second Day at Cyprus. Every word said proves we are.
Cassio's parting words prove it. "Madam, _not now_--I'm very ill at
ease--unfit for my own purposes." He had been up all night--had been
drunk--cashiered. He sees Othello coming--his heart sinks--and he
retreats in shame and fear--"unfit for his own purposes."
TALBOYS.
Eh?
NORTH.
In Scene First of Act III., Emilia tells Cassio that she will do a
particular thing--do it of course--_quam primum_--as a thing that
requires no delay, and demands haste--and in Scene III. she appears
having done it. In Scene First she tells Cassio that she will bring
him to speak with Desdemona about his replacement--and in Scene Third,
before the Castle, we find that she has done this. The opportunity came
immediately--it was made to her hand--all that was necessary was that
Othello should not be present--and he was not present. He had gone
out on business. Now was just the nick of time for Cassio to bespeak
Desdemona's intercession, and now was just the nick of time on which
that intercession was by him bespoken. Nothing could be more nicely
critical or opportune.
TALBOYS.
Between us, sir, we have tied down Scene III. of Act Third to the
Forenoon of the Second Day at Cyprus.
NORTH.
We have tied down Shakspeare thus far to SHORT TIME AT
CYPRUS--and to Short Time we shall tie him down till the
Catastrophe. OTHELLO MURDERED DESDEMONA THAT VERY NIGHT.
TALBOYS.
No--no--no. Impossible.
NORTH.
Inevitably--and of a dead certainty.
TALBOYS.
How--how, sir?
NORTH.
Why will an Eagle be an Owl?
TALBOYS.
A compliment and a banter--
NORTH.
Why, you Owl! we have just seen Cassio slink away--all is plain sailing
now--Talboys--for Iago by four words seals her doom.
"_Ha! I like not that!_
_Othello._ What dost thou say?
_Iago._ Nothing, my lord: or if--I know not what.
_Othello._ Was not that Cassio parted from my wife?
_Iago._ Cassio, my Lord? No, sure; I cannot think it,
That he would steal away so _guilty-like
Seeing you coming_."
Mark what follows--there is not a moment of intermission
in the Action down to end of this Scene Third of Act Third, which you
well call the Scene of Scenes, by which time Othello has been convinced
of Desdemona's guilt, and has resolved on her Death and Cassio's.
TALBOYS.
Not a moment of intermission! Let's look to it--if it indeed be so--
NORTH.
See--hear Desdemona pleading for Cassio--see, hear Othello saying--"Not
now, sweet Desdemona;" and then again--"Prythee, no more: let him come
when he will--I will deny thee nothing." And again--
"I will deny thee nothing;
Whereon, I do beseech thee, grant me this,
To leave me but a little to myself.
_Des._ Shall I deny you? no: Farewell, my lord.
[_Exit with Emilia._"
Turn over leaf after leaf--without allowing yourself to
read that dreadful colloquy between the Victim and his Destroyer--but
letting it glimmer luridly by--till Desdemona comes back--and Othello,
under the power of the Angel Innocence, exclaims--
"If she be false, O, then heaven mocks itself!--
I'll not believe it."
TALBOYS.
I behold her! I hear her voice--"gentle and low, an excellent thing in
woman."
"Why is your speech so faint? are you not well?
_Oth._ I have a pain upon my forehead here."
She drops that fatal handkerchief--
"I am very sorry that you are not well."
What touching words! They go out together--ignorant she
that her husband hath heartache, worse than any headache--
NORTH.
Both to be effectually cured _that night_ by--bleeding.
TALBOYS.
By bleeding?
NORTH.
You Owl--yea.
TALBOYS.
A sudden thought strikes me, Sir. Desdemona has said to Othello--
"Your dinner, and the generous Islanders
By you invited, do attend your presence."
How's this? This looks like long time--
NORTH.
It may look like what it chooses--but we have _proved_ that we are now
on the forenoon of the Second Day at Cyprus.
TALBOYS.
Would it not have been treating them too unceremoniously to have sent
round the cards of invitation only the night before? As far as I have
been able to learn, they have long been in the habit of giving not less
than a week's invitation to dinner at Cyprus. In Glasgow it is commonly
three weeks. And why "_generous_?" Because they, the Islanders, have
given a series of splendid entertainments to Othello and his Bride.
NORTH.
No nonsense, sir. Othello had done what you or I would have done, had
either of us been Governor of Cyprus. He had invited the "generous
Islanders," immediately on his landing, to dine at the Castle "next
day." Had he not done so, he had been a hunks. "Generous," you know,
as well as I do, means high-born--men of birth--not generous of
entertainments.
TALBOYS.
True, too. But how comes it to be the dinner hour?
NORTH.
People dined in those days, all England over, about eleven
A.M.--probably they dined still earlier in the unfashionable
region of Cyprus. You are still hankering after the heresy of long
time--but no more of that _now_--let us keep to our demonstration of
short time--by-and-by you shall see the Gentleman with the Scythe--the
Scythian at full swing--as long as yourself.
TALBOYS.
I sit corrected. Go on.
NORTH.
Othello and Desdemona have just gone out--to do the honours at the
Dinner Table to the generous Islanders. He must have been a strange
Chairman--for though not yet absolutely mad, his soul was sorely
changed. Perhaps he made some apology, and was not at that Dinner at
all--perhaps it was never eaten--but we lose sight of him for a little
while; and Emilia, who remains behind, picks up the fatal handkerchief,
and, with a strange wilfulness, or worse, says--
"I'll have the work ta'en out.
And give't Iago."
Iago snatches it from her--and in soliloquy says--
"I will in Cassio's lodgings lose this napkin,
And let him find it."
"This may do something,--
The Moor already changes with the poison:
Dangerous conceits are, in their natures, poisons,
Which at the first, are scarce found to distaste;
But, with a little, act upon the blood,
Burn like the mines of sulphur.--I did say so:--
_Enter_ OTHELLO.
Look! where he comes! Not poppy, nor mandragora,
Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world,
Shall ever medicine _thee to that sweet sleep
Which thou ow'dst yesterday_."
Then follows, without break, all the rest of this dreadful
Third Scene. The first dose of the poison--the second, and third, and
fourth--are all given on one and the same day. The mineral has gnawed
through all the coats of the stomach--and _He has sworn to murder
Her_--all in one day. We have Iago's word for it. _Yesterday_ his
sleep was sweet--how happy he was then we can imagine--how miserable
he is _now_ we see--"what a difference to _him_," and in him, between
Saturday and Sunday!
"O, blood! Iago, blood!
* * * * *
Now by yond' marble heaven,
In the due reverence of a sacred vow,
I here engage my words.
_Iago._ Do not rise yet. [_Kneels._
Witness, you ever-burning lights above!
You elements, that clip us round about!
Witness, that here Iago doth give up,
The execution of his wit, hands, heart,
To wrong'd Othello's service! Let him command,
And to obey shall be in me remorse,
What bloody work soever."
TALBOYS.
Thou Great original Short-Timeist! Unanswerable art Thou. But let us
look at the close of this dreadful Third Act.
_Othello._ I greet thy love,
Not with vain thanks, but with acceptance bounteous,
And will upon the instant put thee to't:
Within _these three days_ let me hear thee say,
That Cassio's not alive.
_Iago._ My friend is dead; 'tis done at your request:
But let _her_ live.
_Othello._ Damn her, lewd minx! O, damn her!
Come, go with me apart; I will withdraw,
To furnish me with some swift means of death
To the fair devil. Now art thou my lieutenant.
_Iago._ I am your own for ever.
In three days--at the longest--for Cassio;--but Iago
understood, and did it that very night. And swift means of death for
the fair devil were in Othello's own _hands_--ay--he smothered her that
night to a dead certainty--a dead certainty at last--though his hands
seem to have faltered.
NORTH.
In the next Scene--Scene IV.--we find Desdemona anxious about the loss
of the handkerchief, but still totally unapprehensive of the Moor's
jealousy--
"Who--he? I think the sun, where he was born,
Drew all such humours from him."
Othello enters, saying, "Well, my good Lady,"--and mutters
aside, "Oh! hardness to dissemble"--and very ill he does dissemble,
for he leaves Desdemona and Emilia amazed at his mad deportment, the
latter exclaiming--"Is not this man jealous?" Iago had told Othello of
Cassio's possessing the handkerchief in the previous Scene, and Othello
takes the first opportunity, _that same afternoon_, to ascertain for
himself whether she had parted with it. Would he have let an hour
elapse before making the inquiry? Can it be for a moment imagined
that he passed days and nights with Desdemona without attempting to
sound her regarding this most pregnant proof of her guilt? This Scene
concludes the Third Act--_and the time is not long after dinner_.
TALBOYS.
All this being _proved_, it is unnecessary to scrutinise the
consecution of the Scenes of Acts Fourth and Fifth--_Iago's work is
done--one day_ has sufficed--and what folly to bring in long time after
this--when his presence would have been unsupportable--had it not been
impossible. Death must follow doom.
NORTH.
_Death must follow doom._ In these four words you have settled the
question of time. Long time seemed necessary to change Othello into a
murderer--and all the world but you and I believe that long time there
was; but you and I know better--and have demonstrated short time--for
at the end of the "dreadful Third Act" Othello is a murderer--and what
matters it now _when_ he really seized the pillow to smother her, or
unsheathed the knife?
TALBOYS.
It matters not a jot. But he did the deed that same night--or he had
not been Othello.
NORTH.
There again--_or he "had not been Othello."_ In these four words, you
have settled the question of time--now and for ever.
TALBOYS.
It would be a waste of words, sir, to seek to prove by the consecution
of the Scenes in Acts Fourth and Fifth--though nothing could be
easier--that he _did_ murder her that very night.
NORTH.
Very few will suffice. Act IV. begins a little before supper-time.
Bianca enters in Scene I. inviting Cassio to supper--"An you'll come
to supper to-night, you may." If anything were wanting to connect
the closing Scene of Act III. with this opening Scene of Act IV. it
is fully supplied by Bianca, who at the end of Act III. gets the
handkerchief, in order that she may copy it, and in the scene of this
IVth Act, comes back in a fury. "Let the devil and his dam haunt
you--what did you mean by that same handkerchief you gave me _even
now_? I was a fine fool to take it." Cassio had given it to her a
little after dinner, and Bianca, inviting him to supper, says he had
given it to her EVEN NOW. This Scene I. of Act IV. ends with
Othello's invitation to the newly arrived Lodovico--"I do entreat that
we may sup together." Scene II. comprehends the interview between
Othello and Emilia; Othello and Desdemona--Desdemona, Emilia and Iago.
The whole do not occupy an hour of time--they follow one another
naturally, and the action is continuous. Scene III. shows Lodovico and
the Noble Venetians still at the Castle--but now it is _after_ supper.
Lodovico is departing--
"I do beseech you, sir, trouble yourself no farther.
_Othello._ O pardon me; 'twill do me good to walk.
O Desdemona!
_Desdemona._ My Lord?
_Othello. Get you to bed on the instant, I will
be returned forthwith._"
Desdemona, obeys--the bed-scene follows--and _she is
murdered_. What say you, Seward?
SEWARD.
"I say ditto to Mr Burke."
NORTH.
Buller?
BULLER.
I say ditto to Mr North.
NORTH.
Why have both of you been so silent?
SEWARD.
I knew it all before.
TALBOYS.
What a bouncer!
BULLER.
I never speak when I am busking Flies. There's a Professor
for you--(six red and six black)--pretty full in the
body--long-winged--liker eagle than insect--sharper than needle--and
with, barb "inextricable as the gored Lion's bite." Lunch-gong. To the
Deeside.
NORTH.
Verdict: DESDEMONA MURDERED BY OTHELLO ON THE SECOND NIGHT IN
CYPRUS.