The Moor of Venice
Last night I had the distinct pleasure of experiencing for the first time since High School, a performance of a Shakespeare play. I enjoyed Othello the first time I studied it, but perhaps being free of the regimented scholastic requirements for English study is mostly the cause of my renewed interest this time around. I delighted in the piercing insight into human condition, the rolling meter of the poetic verses, the colourful, tangible metaphors and the powerful portrayal of the actors on stage.
So many of astute and cunning quips rang in my ears as I watched and listened, that I just had to follow a few of them up and reproduce them here. Of course, gone is the magic of the stage and emotion of the narrative, but I hope the relevance and insight lingers.
Brabantio, not happy with his daughter's taste in men, lays the nasties on thick to Othello:
"[Desdemonda]
Would ever have, to incur a general mock,
Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom
Of such a thing as thou, to fear, not to delight.
Judge me the world, if 'tis not gross in sense
That thou hast practised on her with foul charms,
Abused her delicate youth with drugs or minerals
That weaken motion: I'll have't disputed on;
'Tis probable and palpable to thinking.
I therefore apprehend and do attach thee
For an abuser of the world, a practiser
Of arts inhibited and out of warrant.
Lay hold upon him: if he do resist,
Subdue him at his peril."
To which Othello responds with the Shakespeare version of "don't get your knickers in a knot":
"Were it my cue to fight, I should have known it
Without a prompter."
On grog:
"O God, that men should put an enemy in
their mouths to steal away their brains!"
On jealousy:
"[jealousy] is the green-eyed monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on."
"Trifles light as air are to the jealous confirmations
strong as proofs of holy writ"
On vices and virtues:
"How poor are they that have not patience"
"Poor and content is rich and rich enough."
Desdemonda is rather perplexed at Othello's rage:
"I understand a fury in your words
But not the words."
The Duke says let's forgive and forget, and warns of holding grudges:
"When remedies are past, the griefs are ended
By seeing the worst, which late on hopes depended
To mourn a mischief that is past and gone
Is the next day to draw new mischief on"
Some seriously tasty morsels of literary wit, with a generous sprinkling of sagacious aphorisms. Yum, yum.