Page:The Moor of Venice.djvu/24

13 he was now become dangerous,—the villainy had spun its last thread, and the web must break: one service more remained,—to kill Cassio, and thus to relieve Iago of this dangerous deed, and at the same time to furnish him a pretext to slay Roderigo.

A word or two, in conclusion, on the much-vexed question among critics and actors respecting the colour and nationality of the Moor. "It is very probable," well observes Mr. Knight, "that the popular notion of a Moor was somewhat confused in Shakspere's time, and that the descendants of the proud Arabs, who had borne sovereign sway in Europe ('men of royal siege'), and, what is more, had filled an age of comparative darkness with the light of their poetry and their science, were confounded with the uncivilized African, the despised slave." This probable confusion prevalent in that age is quite sufficient to explain the fact of Shakspere's having placed a negro's head upon the shoulders of "one of the most noble and accomplished of the proud children of Ommiades and the Abassides." At the same time I observe, that this is no legitimate subject for dramatic criticism: in this point of view we have merely to deal with the poet's own conception of the character, and to take this as the standard by which to judge its delineation: the drama, as a work of art, is simply amenable to the rules of art. And this is an instructive instance of the fact, that artistic truth may consist with accidental errors which lie