Othello (37 page)

¹⁰⁰
Perdition
destruction/ damnation catch seize

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aught
anything

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of…Of
in my confidence during

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purse
furrow, knit

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conceit
imagining/idea

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for
because

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stops
hesitations/abrupt pauses

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false
treacherous

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custom
habit

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close dilations
secret delays/hidden accusations

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rule
control, restrain

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seem none
not be men/not seem to be anything at all, not convince in the slightest

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that…free
the thing that even slaves are not bound to do (i.e. speak their thoughts)

¹⁵⁸
uncleanly
morally impure

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leets
courts held by some manorial lords law-days days on which courts of law meet sessions sittings of the law court

¹⁶⁰
With
together with

¹⁶¹
thy friend
i.e. Othello

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vicious
wicked/faulty/blameworthy

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jealousy
suspicious nature/anxious vigilance

¹⁶⁹
conceits
conjectures, imagines

¹⁷¹
scattering
wild/random/disordered observance observations/dutiful care

¹⁷⁷
immediate
closest

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if
even if

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mock…on
taunts the victim (the jealous man) that gives it life mock torment/delude/ ridicule

¹⁸⁹
cuckold
man with an unfaithful wife

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wronger
i.e. his wife

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tells
counts

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fineless
limitless

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follow…suspicions
imitate the waxing moon by growing in suspicion/like a madman, respond to each new phase of the moon with new suspicions

²⁰³
goat
proverbially lecherous animal

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exsufflicate
puffed-up blowed blown-up/whispered/flyblown (i.e. putrid, full of flies’ eggs)

²⁰⁶
inference
conclusion/ implication

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merits
qualities/worth

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revolt
disobedience, infidelity

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secure
free from doubt/overconfident

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self-bounty
inherent generosity/good nature

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country
contains a pun on “cunt” (a similar quibble on “con” may lie within
conscience
)

²²⁵
pranks
sexual mischief

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undone
plays on sense of “not copulated with”

²³³
go to
expression of dismissive contempt

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seel
sew (as a young hawk’s eyes are for training purposes) oak a closely grained wood

²³⁹
bound
indebted (plays on sense of “tied, shackled”)

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your love
love for you

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grosser
larger/more lewd issues conclusions larger broader/coarser reach “stretch, aim” (verb) or “scope, range” (noun)

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suspicion
mere conjecture

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success
outcome

²⁵⁴
honest
chaste/virtuous

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affect
like, prefer

²⁵⁹
clime…degree
country, race, and rank

²⁶¹
will
inclination/willfulness/sexual appetite rank rebellious/corrupt/rancid, foul-smelling/lascivious

²⁶²
Foul
abhorrent/morally impure/dirty, blackened/choked with foreign matter disproportions deformities/lack of symmetry

²⁶³
in position
in this assertion

²⁶⁴
Distinctly
specifically

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fall…forms
come to compare you with men of her own nationality (conceivably
country
puns on “cunt”)

²⁶⁷
happily
perhaps/with pleasure

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scan
examine

²⁷⁶
place
official position (though
fills it up
generates a vaginal sense)

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means
methods/intentions

²⁸⁰
strain his entertainment
urge his reinstatement

²⁸³
busy
overzealous/interfering

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hold her free
consider her innocent, plays on negative sense of “sexually available”

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government
self-control

²⁸⁹
quantities
dimensions, aspects

²⁹⁰
dealings
behavior/interaction/sexual dealings haggard wild (a haggard is an untamed female hawk)

²⁹¹
jesses
straps fastened around the legs of a hawk to help keep it attached to the falconer

²⁹²
whistle…wind
set her free (a falconer dismissed a hawk with a whistle; unwanted hawks were released in the same direction as the wind was blowing)

²⁹³
prey at fortune
fend for herself, hunt randomly Haply, for perhaps, because

²⁹⁴
soft…conversation
pleasing sociable accomplishments

²⁹⁵
chamberers
fashionable men who frequent ladies’ chambers

²⁹⁷
abused
wronged/deceived

²⁹⁹
delicate
charming/pleasure-seeking

³⁰²
corner
nook/vagina

³⁰³
uses
sexual employment

³⁰⁴
Prerogatived
privileged, advantaged

³⁰⁶
forkèd plague
horned affliction (cuckolds were traditionally supposed to grow horns)

³⁰⁷
do quicken
are conceived

³⁰⁸
mocked
deceived/flouted/parodied

³¹¹
generous
noble

³¹²
attend
await

³¹⁶
pain…forehead
suggestive of the cuckold’s horns

³¹⁷
watching
not sleeping

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napkin
handkerchief

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remembrance
love token

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Wooed
entreated, enticed

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conjured her
entreated her/made her swear

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reserves
keeps

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work ta’en out
embroidery copied

³³²
I nothing
I am nothing to him/I know nothing fantasy whim/desire

³³⁵
common
unremarkable/vulgar/open to use by all thing plays on the sense of “vagina”

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to th’advantage
opportunely, taking the advantage

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lack
miss/need

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Be…on’t
do not admit that you know anything about it

³⁶⁰
holy writ
scripture

³⁶²
conceits
ideas/imaginings

³⁶³
distaste
be distasteful

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act
action

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poppy
opium mandragora sedative made from the root of the mandragora, or mandrake, plant

³⁶⁹
owed’st
owned

³⁷²
Avaunt
get away rack torture device that stretched the limbs

³⁷⁸
free
unconstrained, untroubled

³⁸⁰
wanting
missing

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Pioneers
footsoldiers, the lowest kind of soldier

³⁸⁵
So
as long as

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plumèd
wearing helmets adorned with feathers

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trump
trumpet

³⁹⁰
fife
flute-like instrument, often used in military music

³⁹¹
quality
essential nature

³⁹²
Pride
glory/proud magnificence pomp and circumstance splendid display and ceremony

³⁹³
mortal engines
deadly machines (i.e. cannon) rude rough, raucous

³⁹⁴
Jove’s dread clamours
i.e. thunder, Jove’s weapon

⁴⁰⁴
probation
proof

⁴⁰⁸
remorse
pity/penitence

⁴¹⁰
amazed
full of terror and consternation

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God b’wi’you
God be with you, i.e. good-bye O wretched fool Iago addresses himself

⁴¹⁹
profit
profitable lesson

⁴²⁰
sith
since offence hurt (to me)/antagonism (in my
friend
)

⁴²¹
shouldst be
seem to be

⁴²²
should be
ought to be

⁴²³
that
that which

⁴²⁸
Dian
i.e. Diana, Roman goddess of chastity and the moon

⁴²⁹
cords…streams
i.e. means of committing suicide, or perhaps murder

⁴³⁷
supervision
sight that you are gazing down on grossly blatantly/coarsely

⁴³⁸
topped
mounted sexually

⁴⁴¹
prospect
point from which they might be viewed

⁴⁴²
bolster
share a bed/have sex

⁴⁴³
More
other own i.e. own eyes

⁴⁴⁴
satisfaction
proof/freedom from doubt (plays on the sense of “sexual fulfillment”)

⁴⁴⁶
prime
lecherous hot sexually excited

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salt
lustfu wolves reputed to be libidinous, especially females in pride in heat fools idiots/lewd people gross great/coarse

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imputation…circumstances
attribution and convincing circumstantial details

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Pricked
spurred

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lay
shared a bed

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sigh
Iago moves into the present tense to give his account an air of horrible immediacy

⁴⁷¹
foregone conclusion
event that had already occurred

⁴⁷²
shrewd doubt
grievous suspicion

⁴⁷⁶
yet we
as yet we

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slave
villain

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fond
foolish/doting/infatuated

⁴⁹³
hearted
fixed in the heart

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fraught
burden

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aspics
asps (venomous snakes)

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Pontic sea
Black Sea

⁵⁰⁰
compulsive
onward-flowing, driven

⁵⁰²
Propontic
Sea of Marmora (situated between the Aegean and the Black Sea) Hellespont the Dardanelles (the strait between the Aegean and the Sea of Marmora)

⁵⁰⁵
capable
capacious

⁵⁰⁶
marble
i.e. dappled with clouds/hard and indifferent

⁵⁰⁸
engage
pledge, commit