I kissed thee ere I killed thee. No way but this,
Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.
[He] dies.
CASSIO
This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon;
For he was great of heart.
LODOVICO [To Iago] O Spartan dog,
More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea!
Look on the tragic loading of this bed. 341 unlucky unfortunate 342 extenuate soft-pedal (literally, "thin out") 345 wrought worked up, worked on 346 Perplexed desperate, bewildered 347 base Judean (perhaps Judas Iscariot, betrayer of Christ, or Herod, who impulsively killed his wife; Q reads "Indian") 348 subdued conquered, overcome with grief 351 gum i.e., myrrh 354 traduced betrayed 357 period ending 361 Spartan dog (bloodhound known for silence) 362 fell merciless, inhuman
This is thy work. The object poisons sight;
Let it be hid. Gratiano, keep the house,
And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor,
For they succeed on you. To you, lord governor,
Remains the censure of this hellish villain,
The time, the place, the torture. O, enforce it!
Myself will straight aboard, and to the state
This heavy act with heavy heart relate. Exeunt.
365 Let it be hid i.e., draw the bed curtains; keep guard 366 seize upon take legal control of 367 succeed on pass to you (as Desdemona's uncle) by inheritance 368 censure judgment, passing sentence
FOR THE BEST IN PAPERBACKS, LOOK FOR THE
The distinguished Pelican Shakespeare series, newly revised to be the premier choice for students, professors, and general readers well into the 21st century
All's Well That Ends Well
ISBN 0-14-071460-X
Antony and Cleopatra
ISBN 0-14-071452-9
As You Like It
ISBN 0-14-071471-5
The Comedy of Errors
ISBN 0-14-071474-X
ISBN 0-14-071473-1
Cymbeline
ISBN 0-14-071472-3
Hamlet
ISBN 0-14-071454-5
Henry IV, Part I
ISBN 0-14-071456-1
Henry IV, Part 2
ISBN 0-14-071457-X
Henry V
ISBN 0-14-071458-8
Henry VI, Part 1
ISBN 0-14-071465-0
Henry VI, Part 2
ISBN 0-14-071466-9
Henry VI, Part 3
ISBN 0-14-071467-7
Henry VIII
ISBN 0-14-071475-8
Julius Caesar
ISBN 0-14-071468-5
King John
ISBN 0-14-071459-6
King Lear
ISBN 0-14-071476-6
King Lear
(The Quarto and Folio Texts)
Love's Labor's Lost
ISBN 0-14-071477-4
Macbeth
ISBN 0-14-071478-2
FOR THE BEST IN PAPERBACKS, LOOK FOR THE
Measure for Measure
ISBN 0-14-071479-0
The Merchant of Venice
ISBN 0-14-071462-6
The Merry Wives of Windsor
ISBN 0-14-071464-2
A Midsummer Night's Dream
ISBN 0-14-071455-3
Much Ado About Nothing
ISBN 0-14-071480-4
The Narrative Poems
ISBN 0-14-071481-2
Othello
ISBN 0-14-071463-4
Pericles
ISBN 0-14-071469-3
Richard II
ISBN 0-14-071482-0
Richard III
ISBN 0-14-071483-9
Romeo and Juliet
ISBN 0-14-071484-7
ISBN 0-14-071453-7
The Taming of the Shrew
ISBN 0-14-071451-0
The Tempest
ISBN 0-14-071485-5
Timon of Athens
ISBN 0-14-071487-1
Titus Andronicus
ISBN 0-14-071491-X
Troilus and Cressida
ISBN 0-14-071486-3
Twelfth Night
ISBN 0-14-071489-8
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
ISBN 0-14-071461-8
The Winter's Tale
ISBN 0-14-071488-X
1 "The Noble Moor," Proceedings of the British Academy, 41 (1955): 201.
2 This is the title of G. Wilson Knight's chapter on the play in The Wheel of Fire (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1930).
3 Letter to Countess Clarina Maffei, October 20, 1876, quoted in Julian Budden, The Operas of Verdi, vol. 3 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981), p. 317.
4 The Works of Samuel Johnson, ed. Arthur Sherbo (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968), vol. 8, p. 1045.
5 This list, except for bracketed material, is printed at the end of the folio text.