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Othello
also: Отелло
Shakespeare's tragedy of the Moorish general destroyed by jealousy; Svetlovidov recites Othello's farewell-to-arms speech ("Farewell the plumed troop") as one of his last displays of vanished theatrical glory before the curtain falls.
Reading notes
- Swan Song (Calchas) §90 from "Othello"
Svetlovidov recites Othello's farewell-to-arms speech from Act III, Scene 3 of Shakespeare's tragedy ("Farewell the plumed troop..."), spoken by the general at the moment he believes his life's purpose -- love, honor, military glory -- has been destroyed. It is the monologue's final and most explicitly elegiac recitation, a formal farewell that doubles as Svetlovidov's own leave-taking from the stage, immediately followed by the play's title line delivered a second and third time ("the song is sung") and the closing quotation from Griboyedov.
- To Ye. M. Lintvareva, 9 October 1888. Moscow. §11 Forgive me, my neighing steed,
Sections 11-18 render Chekhov's Russian verse quotation adapted from Othello's Act III, Scene 3 farewell-to-arms speech ("Farewell the neighing steed..."). This passage was translated fresh from Chekhov's own Russian wording, not reproduced from any published English Shakespeare text -- Chekhov is quoting/adapting the speech in Russian translation, and the English here follows his Russian phrasing (e.g. "деадly engines of war" for the cannon, "immortal Zeus" rather than Shakespeare's "Jove") rather than restoring the original English lines, so that a reader sees exactly what Chekhov wrote rather than the Shakespeare he was echoing.