And, lastly, this supposition corresponds with our natural
impression, which is that the temptation and what follows it take place
some little while after the marriage, but occupy, themselves, a very
short time.
Now, of course, the supposition just described is no fact. As the play
stands, it is quite certain that there is no space of three weeks, or
anything like it, either between the arrival in Cyprus and the brawl, or
between the brawl and the temptation. And I draw attention to the
supposition chiefly to show that quite a small change would remove the
difficulties, and to insist that there is nothing wrong at all in regard
to the time from the temptation onward. How to account for the existing
contradictions I do not at all profess to know, and I will merely
mention two possibilities.
Possibly, as Mr. Daniel observes, the play has been tampered with. We
have no text earlier than 1622, six years after Shakespeare's death. It
may be suggested, then, that in the play, as Shakespeare wrote it, there
was a gap of some weeks between the arrival in Cyprus and Cassio's
brawl, or (less probably) between the brawl and the temptation. Perhaps
there was a scene indicating the lapse of time. Perhaps it was dull, or
the play was a little too long, or devotees of the unity of time made
sport of a second breach of that unity coming just after the breach
caused by the voyage.
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