QUOTES FROM THE BARD

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Iago
CONTEXT:

IAGO
Despise me
If I do not. Three great ones of the city
(In personal suit to make me his lieutenant)
Off-capped to him, and by the faith of man
I know my price, I am worth no worse a place.
But he (as loving his own pride and purposes)
Evades them with a bombast circumstance
Horribly stuffed with epithets of war,
And in conclusion
Nonsuits my mediators. For “Certes,” says he,
“I have already chose my officer.”
And what was he?
Forsooth, a great arithmetician,
One Michael Cassio, a Florentine
(A fellow almost damned in a fair wife)
That never set a squadron in the field,
Nor the division of a battle knows
More than a spinster—unless the bookish theoric,
Wherein the toged consuls can propose
As masterly as he. Mere prattle without practice
Is all his soldiership. But he, sir, had th’ election
And I, of whom his eyes had seen the proof
At Rhodes, at Cyprus, and on other grounds
Christian and heathen, must be belee’d and calmed
By debitor and creditor. This counter-caster
He (in good time) must his lieutenant be
And I, bless the mark, his Moorship’s ancient.
RODERIGO
By heaven, I rather would have been his hangman.
IAGO
Why, there’s no remedy. ‘Tis the curse of service.
Preferment goes by letter and affection,
And not by old gradation, where each second
Stood heir to th’ first. Now sir, be judge yourself,
Whether I in any just term am affined
To love the Moor.

DUTCH:
Daar helpt niets aan; die vloek rust op den dienst;
Bevord’ring gaat bij gunst en aanbeveling,
Niet als voorheen naar diensttijd, waarbij ieder
Zijn voorman opvolgt

MORE:

Off-capped=Doffed caps
Suit=Petition
Bombast circumstance=Inflated rhetoric, circumlocution
Bombast=Cotton used to stuff out garments (hence ‘stuffed with epithets’)
Non-suit=Rejection of petition, causing withdrawal of petition
Preferment=Advancement, promotion
Letter and affection=Influence and favouritism
Gradation=Regular advance from step to step
Affined=Bound
Just=Conforming to the laws and principles of justice, equitable
Term=Expression, word
Beleeed=To place on the lee, in a positoin unfavourable to the wind
Ancient=The next in command under the lieutenant
Compleat:
Gradation=Een trafspreuk, opklimming in eene reede
To come to preferment=Bevorderd worden
Preferment=Verhooging, voortrekking, bevordering tot Staat
Bombast=Bombazyne of kattoene voering; fustian
Bombast=Hoogdraavende wartaal, ydel gezwets
To bumbast=Met bombazyn voeren
Bumbast: Bombazyn als ook Brommende woorden

Burgersdijk notes:
Een groote cijfermeester, Een Michel Cassio, een Florentijner. Florence was niet, zooals Venetië, telkens in oorlogen gewikkeld; hoe zou Cassio daar de krijgskunst geleerd hebben? Ontvangsten en uitgaven, winsten en verliezen te berekenen, ja. dit kon men zich daar eigen maken. – Het volgende „verslingerd op een schoone vrouw,” heet in het Engelsch : almost damned in a fair wife „bijna verdoemd”. Het gerucht liep, dat Cassio van plan was de schoone Bianca, met wie hij verkeer had, te trouwen Door zulk een huwelijk zou hij zich, naar Jago’s opvatting , in de verdoemenis storten.

Topics: corruption, loyalty, relationship, skill/talent, age/experience