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“Ocular Proof” in Othello and its Source

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Maurianne S. Adams
Maurianne S. Adams*
Affiliation:
Indiana University Bloomington
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Extract

Shakespeare's selectivity in adapting a novella from Giraldi Cinthio's De Gli Hecatommithi into his own Othello has long been apparent; students of Shakespeare's play have stressed his transformation of the source by speeding up the action, condensing the plot, reassessing the characterization, and transfiguring the commonplace attitudes toward an interracial marriage presented in the source into a tragedy of love. But no one has demonstrated how a close comparison of single words and phrases in Othello and in the novella can help us to understand how the transformation took place, how words and phrases such as vedere cogl' occhi, vendetta, satio, and la giustizia divina are translated imaginatively into the thematic imagery of ocular proof, the configuration of revenge, satisfaction, and satiation, and the movement from justice to mercy which Desdemona offers to Othello. Clearly, such a comparison of the play and its source affords a critical perspective upon the verbal drama especially. But studies of the imagery in Othello neglect its source entirely, and source studies, merely footnoting the verbal parallels as they appear, seem to maintain the critical view that marvels how Shakespeare could have created so much out of so little. It is as if Shakespeare's characteristic ingredient, the poetic interplay of words and images in the verbal fund of his drama, had no parallel in the verbal fund of his source.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 79 , Issue 3 , June 1964 , pp. 234 - 241
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1964

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References

1 Most scholars agree that the seventh novella of the third deca of De Gli Hecatommithi is the source; see, e.g., W. L. Bullock, “The Sources of Othello,” MLN, xl (1925), 226–228; Kenneth Muir, Shakespeare's Sources (London, 1957), pp. 122–140; and H. B. Charlton, Shakespearian Tragedy (Cambridge, Eng., 1961), pp. 113–140. The novella can be read in the Italian as well as in translation in A New Variorium Edition of Shakespeare, ed. H. H. Furness (27 vols., Philadelphia, 1871–1955), vi, 377–389; M. R. Ridley has appended a summary of the novella with partial translation in his edition of Othello for the Arden Shakespeare (London, 1958), where parallels to the play are noted. My quotations from Othello are taken from the Arden Shakespeare, for which M. R. Ridley has edited the First Quarto of 1622 rather than the more usual First Folio of 1623. The edition of the Hecatommithi I use is in the Lilly Library at Indiana University: De Gli Hecatommithi Di M. Giovanbattista Gyraldi Cinthio (4 vols., appresso Lionardo Torrentino, 1565), ii, 571–586.

2 Ned B. Allen argues for the French translation by Gabriel Chappuys, Premier Volume des cent excellentes nouvelles de M. Jean Baptiste Giraldy Cinthien (Paris, 1584), which Allen reprints in Delaware Notes, xxi (1948), 71–96; I quote from his edition.

3 Werner Wokatsch, “Zur Quelle des Othello und zu Shakespeares Kenntnis des Italienischen,” Archiv, clxii (1932), 118–119, and Charlton, Shakespearian Tragedy, p. 115, n. 1.

4 M. R. Ridley's arguments against Shakespeare's indebtedness to the Italian at 1.368 showthe danger of assuming that Shakespeare translated directly from his source rather than assimilating its verbal possibilities. Ridley compares 11. 368–369 with “che meglio per te sarebbe, che tu fossi nato

mutolo,“ notes that Cinthio writes ”mutolo“ where Othello speaks of ”a dog,“ and concludes that ”if Shakespeare had been following Cinthio at all closely, one would, I think, have expected, at this forcible moment, a closer correspondence—unless indeed it can be shown that dogs were so commonly proverbial a symbol of dumbness that ‘a dog’ is in effect a translation of mutolo“ (Othello in Arden Shakespeare, p. 241, n. 2). A close analysis of Shakespeare's passage, however, shows (1) the change from mutolo to a dog is in keeping with Othello's use of bestial epithets from iii.iii on, (2) the line ”I had rather ha' this tongue cut out from my mouth“ (ii.iii.212) establishes a close verbal parallel of the kind for which Ridley was searching, and (3) Iago is imaginatively identified as a dog in v.ii: ”I took by the throat the circumcised dog“ (1.356) and ”O Spartan dog, / More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea“ (11. 362–363). In this instance, Shakespeare transposed Cinthio's phrasing to a new context (ii.iii.212) and, in place of mutolo in the immediate context (iii.iii.365–369), he substituted a dog with negative connotations to be found elsewhere in his plays, e.g., ”take heed of yonder dog! / Look when he fawns, he bites, and when he bites, / His venom tooth will rankle to the death“ (Richard III i.iii.289–291). A volume of natural philosophy, Batman vppon Bartholome, his Booke De Proprietatibus Rerum (London, 1582), provides a gloss upon the aptness of dog to Iago: ”an hound is wrathfull and malicious . . . guilefull and deceivable . . . fawneth with his tayle on men that passeth by the waye, as though he were a friende, and biteth them sore, if they take no heede backwarde. . . . Also the hound is envious“ (p. 355). Similarly, since ”cynical“ is derived from the Greek meaning ”dog-like“ or ”currish,“ the two terms were used synonymously, as in Heywood's ”Peace Cinicke, barke not dogge“ (see OED for this and other examples).

5 The evidence that Shakespeare drew upon Epitia is presented by R. H. Ball, “Cinthio's Epitia and Measure for Measure,” Elizabethan Studies and Other Essays in Honor of George F. Reynolds (Boulder, Colo., 1945), 132–147; F. E. Budd, “Material for a Study of the Sources of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure,” Revue de littérature comparée, xi (1931), 722–726; Muir, Shakespeare's Sources, pp. 101–103. Geoffrey Bullough, Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare, 4 vols. (London, 1957–62), ii, 406, 430–442, agrees that Shakespeare knew Epitia and prints a summary with quotations. P. R. Horne, Tragedies of Giambattista Cinthio Giraldi (Oxford, 1962), pp. 112–113, adds another parallel between Epitia and Measure for Measure, although he believes that conjectures concerning an Italian source are necessarily inconclusive.

6 Concerning Italian tragedy in England, see H. B. Charlton's introduction to The Poetical Works of Sir William Alexander, ed. L. E. Kastner and H. B. Charlton, 2 vols. (Edinburgh, 1921–29), and M. T. Herrick, Tragicomedy: Its Origin and Development in Italy, France, and England (Urbana, Ill., 1955), pp. 63–93; for Italian popular comedy in England, consult Winifred Smith, The Commedia Dell' Arte (New York, 1912), pp. 170–199, and K. M. Lea, Italian Popular Comedy, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1934), ii, 339–349.

7 S. Guttman, Foreign Sources of Shakespeare's Works

(New York, 1947), p. xi; F. A. Yates, John Florio (Cambridge, Eng., 1934), passim; T. W. Baldwin, William Shakespeare's Small Latine and Lesse Greeke, 2 vols. (Urbana, Ill., 1944), passim.

8 “Ma voi Mori sete di natura tanto caldi, ch' ogni poco di cosa vi move ad ira, & à vendetta. A queste parole più irato rispose il Moro, tale lo potrebbee probare, che non sel crede. Vedrò tal vendetta delle ingiurie, che mi son fatte, che ne resterò satio” (Hecatommithi, ii, 576).

9 Confronting Disdemona before murdering her, the Moor declares, “Sceleratissima Donna, la mercede hai della tua dishonestà” (ii, 583) and subsequently, the Moor's death at the hands of Disdemona's family is “com' egli meritava” (ii, 585). Italics throughout are mine.

10 Iago speaks of revenge in order to rationalize his motives: “partly led to diet my revenge, / For that I do suspect the lustful Moor” (ii.i.289–290); Othello speaks of revenge only after he is committed to Iago's viewpoint (iii.iii.449–450, 454,466; v.ii.116–117). In these instances, revenge is counterpoised with suspicion and false evidence; never does Shakespeare juxtapose it with his ironic treatment of justice.

11 The identification of satisfaction with sexual appetite appears in several passages: Othello wants Desdemona with him at Cyprus “not / To please the palate of my appetite, / Nor to comply with heat. . . and proper satisfaction”

(i.iii.262–264), and by iii. iii, Othello is “eaten up with passion” and “would be satisfied”; yet Iago, whose calculations are based on his supposition of other men's appetites, will diet his revenge (ii.i.289, but see full context ll. 286–297). Clearly, the sexual implications of satisfaction are exploited as well as its other meanings.

12 ROD. If she will return me my jewels, I will give over my suit, and repent my unlawful solicitation, if not, assure yourself, I'll seek satisfaction of you (iv.ii.199–201).

ROD. I will hear further reason for this.

IAGO. And you shall be satisfied.

(iv.ii.243–244)

ROD. And yet he has given me satisfying reasons.

(v.i.9)

13 Desdemona's “I have not deserv'd this” (iv.i.236) and Cassio's “I did never give you cause” (v.ii.300) appear to be further echoes; for an enlightening analysis of the Elizabethan meanings of cause, see W. M. T. Nowottny, “Justice and Love in Othello,” UTQ, xxi (1952), 340–341.

14 Charlton, Shakespearian Tragedy, p. 130, says that Shakespeare “makes a dynamic scene out of a situation which Cinthio recorded inertly in a line or two.” Othello's miscarriage of justice is balanced, briefly, against another representative of the Venetian council, Lodovico, who like the Duke hesitates to believe what he sees: “My lord, this would not be believ'd in Venice, / Though I should swear I saw't” (iv.i.237–238); cf. Othello's characteristic neglect of such guide-lines in his hastily concluded investigation of the brawl: “My blood begins my safer guides to rule, / And passion having my best judgement collied / Assays to lead the way” (ii.iii. 196–198).

15 The identification of Turk with Iago is first suggested when Desdemona calls Iago a slanderer for censuring women; such slander “is true,” he retorts, “or else I am a Turk” (ii.i.114). But Desdemona's character proves Iago wrong and therefore he is a Turk; see H. C. Goddard, The Meaning of Shakespeare, 2 vols. (Chicago, 1951), ii, 80–81, for further analysis of the Iago-Turk metaphor.

16 The Ensign tells the Moor that Disdemona is comforting herself with the captain out of disgust for the Moor's blackness, “come colei, à cui già è venuta a noia questa vostra nerezza. Queste parole passarono il core al Moro insino alle radici” (Hecatommithi, ii, 577).

17 “Ma, se terrete aperti gli occhi, voi stesso vi vedrete . . . la Donna, col mostrar di amarvi, vi hà così appannati gli occhi, che non habbiate veduto quel, che veder devevate, non è mica per ciò, che iò non vi dica vero ... Se non mi fai, disse, vedere cogl' occhi quello, che detto mi hai, viviti sicuro, che ti farò conoscere, che meglio per te sarebbe, che tu fossi nato mutolo” (Hecatommithi, ii, 575, 577).

18 Cinthio presents the Moor's love for Disdemona as part of his sense of being, as in “partendomi da te, mi partirei dalla mia vita” (ii, 573) and “sua Donna, tutto il dolce della vita, & anco se medesimo” (ii, 584). Othello similarly identifies himself with his beloved, as in “O my soul's joy” (ii.i. 184), “and when I love thee not, / Chaos is come again” (iii.iii. 92–93), and “in my sense 'tis happiness to die” (v.ii.291). Although not verbal parallels strictly speaking, the lines from Othello show how quasi-figurative language from the novella is transformed into the fund of metaphor in the play.

19 Miss Nowottny, p. 336, reads iii.iii.451–457 as Othello's gesture toward a choice requiring the total reorientation of his personality; he commands that change to take place by evoking the terrible images of 11. 454–457, just as earlier he demands that he be satisfied. This reading can be extended to 11. 467–476, where Othello's renunciation of Desdemona's love takes the extreme form of reenacting his wedding vows, this time with Iago. As the two kneel, Othello “engages” his words “by yond marble heaven, / In the due reverence of a sacred vow” (11. 467–468) and Iago calls the elements to witness how he “doth give up / The excellency of his wit, hand, heart, / To wrong'd Othello's service: let him command, / And to obey shall be in me remorse” (11. 472–475). Command and obey! Othello greets Iago's love (1. 476) and Iago pledges, “I am your own for ever” (1. 486).

20 R. B. Heilman, Magic in the Web (Lexington, Ky., 1956), p. 86. I am more often and more deeply indebted to Heilman's analysis of the language and action in Othello than I could possibly footnote; it is frequently difficult to separate Heilman's critical insights from the insights his book stimulates his readers to make for themselves.

21 In play and novella alike, Iago plants his first innuendo about Desdemona's guilt after Othello has complained about his wife's tiresome intercession for Cassio; in both, Cassio's knock at the door further arouses the Moor's suspicions, the Ensign protests too much about his duty and love for the Moor, and Desdemona argues that Cassio's punishment outweighs his crime. Notice also the verbal resemblances between iv.i.82–83 and “mostrando di maravigliarsi, facea di molti atti, e col capo, e colle mani, come, che udisse cose maravagliose,” between iv.i.25, 28–29 and “Come quegli, cui non pareva in sua felicita compiuta, se non ne faceva alcuno altro consapevole,” and between Othello's “Oh, hardness to dissemble” (iii.iv.30) and the Moor's elaborate but unsuccessful attempts to conceal his agitation from Disdemona. The handkerchief incident, however, is an example of how Shakespeare borrowed only to transform. In the source, the Ensign steals the handkerchief and Disdemona, preoccupied with other thoughts, does not notice its loss for some time; in the play, Othello is directly responsible for the loss of the handkerchief which he thrusts out of Desdemona's hands (iii.iii.291–292) and Desdemona is too preoccupied with her concern for Othello's health to notice its loss (11. 289–291, 293) —note how reference to ocular proof, discussed above on p. 283, is here fused with an allusion to the growth of Othello's imagined cuckold horns:

OTH. I have a pain upon my forehead here.

DES. Faith, that's with watching.

22 Cinthio's Ensign characteristically awaits his opportunities (mise ad aspettare, che il tempo and pigliatosi commodo tempo), whereas Iago is more than an opportunist. While preaching opportunism to others, he actually manipulates time and circumstance, whenever possible, to suit his plan. “Leave it to time,” Iago tells Othello (iii.iii.249); “Do you find some occasion to anger Cassio . . . which the time shall more favourably minister,” he advises Roderigo (ii.i.262–265) and adds, “Thou knowest we work by wit, and not by witchcraft, / And wit depends on dilatory time” (ii.iii.362–363). But in soliloquy, Iago's advice to himself is to “Dull not device by coldness and delay” (ii.iii.378).