Honest Othello: The Handkerchief Once More

13 Pages·2012·0.93 MB·English

Rice University
Honest Othello: The Handkerchief Once More
Author(s): Michael C. Andrews
Source: Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, Vol. 13, No. 2, Elizabethan and Jacobean
Drama (Spring, 1973), pp. 273-284
Published by: Rice University
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HonestO thello:
The HandkerchiOenf ce More
MICHAEL C. ANDREWS
There are two accounts of the handkerchiefin Othello. In the firstO, thello warns
Desdemona that it is a love-charmw ith "magic in the web," givent o his motherb y
an Egyptian;i n the second, he tells Gratiano it was "an antique token/M y father
gave my mother."C ontraryt o currento pinion,t he firstv ersionc arriesc onviction.A s
with Othello's suicide speech, Shakespeareg ives his protagonists uch hypnotice lo-
quence that an actor would haveg reatd ifficultym akingt he audiencer ealizeO thello
is not tellingt he truth.T here is no indicationt hat Othello is lying,n or is he else-
wherec haracterizeda s an able dissemblerU. nwillingnestso believe thatS hakespeare
could have conceivedo f Othelloa s genuinelys uperstitioums ayr eflectt he same racial
self-consciousnestsh at has on occasion led to a denial of the importanceo f Othello's
racial background.A close examinationo f the text suggestst hatO thellod oes indeed
imputem agicalp ropertiest o the handkerchiefT. he firstv ersioni s not discreditedb y
the second; the differencems ay be explainedo n the basis of the dramaticc ontext,o r
as a carelesse rroro n the parto f Shakespeare.
The fact that Othellog ivest wo differenvte r-
sions of the historyo f the fatalh andkerchiehfa s, predictably,
not passed unnoticed.1I n his firsta nd more elaboratea ccount
(III.iv.53ff.),O thellot ellsD esdemonat hatt heh andkerchieifs a
love-controlintga lismanh is motherr eceivedf roma n Egyptian
"charmer":
she told her,w hiles he kepti t
'Twould makeh era miable,a nd subduem yf ather
Entirelyt o herl ove: but if she lost it,
Or made a presento f it,m yf ather'se ye
Shouldh old herl oathly,a nd his spiritss houldh unt
Aftern ew fancies:s he dyingg, avei t me,
And bid me, whenm yf atew ouldh avem e wive
1See VariorumO thello, 2nd ed. (1886), p. 317. The interpretationosf feredh ere,a nd
those of subsequentw ritersw, ill be dealt withl ateri n thisp aper.
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274 HONEST OTHELLO
To givei t her;I did so, and takeh eed on't,
Make it a darlingl,i key ourp reciouse ye,
To lose, or give'ta way,w eres uchp erdition
As nothinge lse could match.
(11.55-66)2
Desdemona, shocked and at least momentarilyin credulous,3
asks" Isn't possible?"O thellot henc ontinues:
'Tis true,t here'sm agici n thew eb of it:
A sibyl,t hath ad number'di n the world
The sun to maket wo hundredc ompasses,
In herp ropheticf urys ew'd thew ork;
The wormsw ereh allow'dt hatd id breedt he silk,
And it was dyedi n mummyw, hicht he skilful
Conserveo f maiden'sh earts.
(11.67-73)
At the end of the play, however,w henO thello is pathetically
attemptingto justifyD esdemona'sm urderh, e merelyr eferst o
the proofo f guilta ffordedb y Cassio's possessiono f "the recog-
nizancea nd pledgeo f love,! WhichI firstg aveh er;I saw it in his
hand,/I t was a handkerchiefa;n antiquet oken/M y fatherg ave
mym other"( V.ii.215-218).4
Although critics have offered ingenious interpretations
wherebyt he substitutionof Othello'sf atherf ort he "Egyptian"
and the omissiono f any mentiono f the magicalp ropertieso f
the handkerchiebfe come fraughtw iths ignificanceit, seemst o
me thata ll attemptst o explainO thello's wordst o Desdemona
as prevaricationar e liable to thes ame criticismN evillC oghills o
devastinglyle vels at T. S. Eliot's readingo f Othello's suicide
speech.T o Eliot, of course,O thello'sf inals peechi s an "expo-
sure of human weakness" rathert han an expressiono f "the
greatnessin defeato f a noble but erringn ature."A fterq uoting
All referencesa re to the Arden Othello, ed. M. R. Ridley (1958, rpt. with minor
3corrections1, 962).
Desdemona asks a second time if the storyi s true; being assured that it is "most
veritable"s he declares: "Then would to God that I had nevers een it!" (III.iv.75).
After Othello departs in a jealous rage she appears perplexed but unconvinced:
"Sure there'ss ome wonderi n thish andkerchief. . ." (1.99).
There are otherb riefr eferencest o the handkerchiefin the play, none mentioning
magic.T oo much,I think,h as been made of this.
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MICHAEL C. ANDREWS 275
the speech (V.ii.339-357), Eliot offersh is influentiaaln alysis:
WhatO thello seemst o be doingi n makingt hiss peechi s
cheeringh imselfu p. He is endeavouringto escape real-
ity, he has ceased to thinka bout Desdemona,a nd is
thinkinga bout himself... Othello succeeds in turning
himselfi nto a patheticf igureb, y adoptinga n aesthetic
rather than a moral attitude, dramatizingh imself
againsth is enrivonmentH. e takes in the spectator,b ut
theh umanm otivei s primarilyto takei n himself.
"I do not believe," Eliot concludes," that any writerh as ever
exposed this bovarysmet, he human will to see thingsa s they
are not, more clearly than Shakespeare."5T o this Professor
Coghillr eplies,w ithI thinku nassailablel ogic,t hatE liot's inter-
pretationi s unworkablei n the theater:" Whatt ones of voice,
what move or gesture,c an an actor use to suggesta Bovarist
cheeringh imselfu p?" And how is the audience supposed to
determine" whetherO thello is cheeringh imselfu p forb eings o
grossa fool and a failureo, r whetherh e is cheeringh is audience
up by showingo nce again,a nd at the last momenta, truef lash
of thatn obilityf orw hicht heyh ad firsth onouredh im?"M ore-
over,a s ProfessorC oghillp ointso ut, Eliot's Shakespearew ould
have to be considereda remarkablcyl umsyd ramatist:
For if Shakespeareh ad wishedt o conveyt he "terrible
exposure of human weakness" that Eliot sees in
Othello's speech, he could verye asily have made this
singlep urposep lain, unless he was a bunglero, r quite
indifferentto thee ffecth e was creatingF. or ifM r. Eliot
is right,t he bettert hiss peechi s spokena nd acted, the
morei t mustd eceivet he audience;a nd thisi s, in effect,
5"Shakespeare and the Stoicism of Seneca" (1927), Selected Essays (New York,
1950), pp. 110-11 1. See also F. R. Leavis," Diabolic Intellecta nd the Noble Hero,"
Scrutiny,I V (1937), reprintedi n The CommonP ursuit( New York, 1952); D. A.
TraversiA, n Approach to Shakespeare2 nd ed. (AnchorB ooks, 1956), pp. 148-149;
Leo Kirschbaum," The Modern Othello," ELH, II (1944), 287, 295; Robert B.
Heilman,M agic in the Web (Lexington,K y., 1956), pp. 164-68; Paul A. Jorgensen,
"'Perplex'd in the Extreme': The Role of Thoughti n Othello," Shakespeare4 00,
ed. JamesG . McManaway( New York, 1964), p. 275.
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276 HONEST OTHELLO
conceded by Mr. Eliot, who says Othello "takes in the
spectator."6
The handkerchiesfp eech seemst o me an analogousi nstance.
How are we to know that Othello is fictionalizing?7F or
whethero ne says that Othello is speakings ymbolicallyan d is
really" askingD esdemona to restoret o him the sacrednesso f
love," 8 or simplyt rying" to cover up the real reason for his
disproportionatpea ssion over such a trifle,"9t he lines are de-
signed,i n Eliot's phrase,t o take us in. To adopt ProfessorC og-
hill's argument",t he bettert hiss peechi s spokena nd acted,t he
morei t mustd eceivet hea udience";10t hem ore,i n short,w e are
willingt o acceptt heh andkerchieafs an authentice lementf rom
Othello'se xotica nd fabulousp ast.
To say thatO thello is concoctinga horrifipc rimitivlee gend
is symptomatico f modern skepticismw ith regard to the
heroic,11an d is perhapsm orer evealingo f our age thana pposite.
6Shakespeare'sP rofessionalS kills (London, 1964), pp. xiv-xv.C f. Dover Wilson,
Introductiont o the New CambridgeO thello (1957), pp. li-liii.
"O hardness to dissemble!" (Othello's aside at III.iv. 30) calls attentiont o how
difficulti t is for Othello to pretendn othingi s the matter.I ndeed, his early re-
sponses show that he dissemblesv ery badly. Nor-for reasons to be mentioned
later-should Desdemona's apparents kepticismb e construeda s Shakespeare'sw ay
of alertingu s to the "truth."
WinifredM . T. Nowottny," Justicea nd Love in Othello," UTQ, XXI (1951-1952),
337. Cf. Heilman,M agic in the Web,p p. 208-218. I have no quarrelw iths ymbolic
readingso f the handkerchiefI; merelyw ish such readingsw ould begin with the
literalm eaning,a nd build outward,r athert han treatingit as pure metaphor.
Eldred Jones,O thello's Countrymen(L ondon, 1965), p. 102. Cf. Variorum,p . 317,
for the opinions of Cowden-Clarka nd Steevens. Steevens' view-Othello is "pur-
posely ostentatiousi,n ordert o alarmh is wifet he more" (laterh e tells the truth)-is
endorsedb y ChristopherR icks,E IC, X (1960), 117; cf. Moody E. Prior,M P, XLIV
(1946-47), 231-232; Mark Van Doren, Shakespeare( Anchor Books, 1953), p. 197.
Tucker Brooke and Laurence Mason declare that "Othello is inventingm arvels. . .
to try his wife's conscience" (Yale Othello [New Haven 1948], p. 163. See also
Laurence Lerner," The Machiavela nd the Moor," EIC, IX (1959), 358.
10Coghill,p . xv. ProfessorC oghill'sc onclusion is also relevanth ere: "It follows. ..
that what begins as an attack on Othello's charactert urnso ut as undermining
1S hakespeare'sc raftsmmanship."
See Helen Gardner, "e Noble Moor," BritishA cademy Shakespeare Lecture
(1955), in ShakespeareC riticism1 935-1960, ed. Anne Ridler( London, 1963), pp.
348-370. See also PeterA lexander," 'Under WhichK ing,B ezonian?' " Elizabethan
and Jacobean Studies Presented to Frank Percy Wilson (Oxford, 1959), pp.
167-172. In Shakespeare Survey, 21 (Cambridge, 1968), p. 7, Helen Gardner
shrewdlys uggestst hat Eliot is really attacking" Shakespeare's inadequate [to
Eliot] view of lifea nd deathr athert hanO thello's . . .".
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MICHAEL C. ANDREWS 277
Once on this road, it is easy to push onward-to suggestf, or
example,t hat Othello is also lyingw henh e assurest he senate
thatp hysicald esirep lays no parti n his eagers upporto f Desde-
mona's request that she be allowed to accompanyh im to
Cyprus( I.iii). And this,o f course,h as happened.O thello,w e
are told, knows Moors are consideredl ustful,a nd consciously
attemptst o "side-step"s uch an imputation:" But the fact is
thatO thello is not nearlys o indifferentto thep hysicala spects
of love as he makes out. In Cyprus,w heret he strainso f his
positiona re morer elaxed,h is behaviouris perfectlyn aturala nd
warm".1 2 This seductivelyp lausiblep sychologizingis perhaps
inevitablet oday, since we tend to forgett hat Shakespearei s
neithera novelistn or,a ftera ll, our contemporaryF.r om a less
modernp oint of view it should be obvioust hat Shakespearei s
effectivel(yif not "realistically"e) mphasizingO thello'sl ack of
self-knowledglea,t era n essentiala specto f thep lay.O ne thinks,
fore xample,o f the differencbe etweenO thello'sc onceptiono f
Desdemona's death as a "sacrifice"a nd his actual conducti n
V.ii. SurelyO thello is not lyingt o us when he speaks of the
abstractj ustice of his "cause." As a generalp rincipleo f his
dramaturgyS,h akespearei s at considerablep ains to alertu s to
thed eceptivenesosf thosew ho "lie like truth."
The reductio ad absurdum of skepticismc oncerningt he
credibilityof Othelloi s easy enought o imaginea, nd is in factt o
be found in that John the Baptist of the debunkingc ritics,
BernardS haw, whose Hesione Hushabyei s not only confident
Othello fabricateda portiono f his romanticp ast, but suspects
thath e killedD esdemonat o preventh er discoveringth ats ome
of his fine-soundinsgto riesw erel ies.1 3
It is interestinhgo w few criticsh ave attemptedt o arguet hat
Othello's firsta ccount of the handkerchiesfh ould be takena s
the literal truth1. 4 There is some piquancy in the fact that,
12Jones,p . 96. Cf. his assertiont hat Othello,i n the murders cene," shows an enthu-
siasm forD esdemona'sb ody whichh e had deliberatelyc oncealed fromt he senate"
(p. 97).
'3HeartbreaHko use,A ct. I.
14Criticsg ivingt heirr easonsf or acceptingt hiss peech includeG . R. Elliott,F laming
Minister(D urham, N.C., 1953), pp. 145-148; John Wain, The LivingW orldo f
Shakespear(eP elican Books, 1966), p. 147; and Fernand Baldensperger", Was
Othello an Ethiopian?,"H arvardSt udiesa nd Notesi nP hilogyan dL iteraturXe,X
(1938), 3-14. Baldenspergerw ho providesa n invaluablef und of informationco n-
cerningE lizabethana ttitudest owardsa mulets,c onsiderst he handkerchief"o ne of
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278 HONEST OTHELLO
startingf romo pposite directionsm, odem skepticsa nd ideal-
izingt raditionalistbsa ck intoe ach other,a nd findt hemselveisn
agreementT. he traditionavl iew, as expressedi n the Variorum,
is presumablyb ased on thea ssumptiont hatO thellos implyc an-
not harbors uch primitiven otions: he mustr emaina civilized
European gentlemani f he is to be worthyo f our regard.O ne
thinkso f the artlessc onfessiono f the immortaMl iss Preston:
"In studyingt he play of Othello,I have always imaginedi ts
hero a whitem an. It is truet hed ramatispt aintsh imb lack,b ut
this shade does not suit the man. . . Othello was a white
man."1 5O n a somewhath igherl evel,t he Prestonianr efusalt o
accept what the play givesu s is stillt o be encounteredW. e see
Othello'sv isagei n our minds,a nd if it is not whitei t is (despite
Roderigo's "thick lips" I.i.66) at least un-NegroidD. iscussing
what he calls the "confusiono f colour and contour,"M . R.
Ridley speaks of the kind of black man the role requires:
One of the finesth eads I have evers een on any human
being was that of a negro conductoro f an American
Pullmanc ar. He had lips slightlyt hickert han an ordin-
ary European's,a nd he had somewhatc urlyh air;f ort he
rest he had a long head, a magnificenft orehead,a
keenlyc hiselledn ose, rathers unkenc heeks,a nd his ex-
pressionw as grave,d ignifieda, nd a triflem elancholy.
He was coal-black,b ut he mighth ave sat to a sculptor
for a statue of Caesar, or, so far as appearancew ent,
havep layeda superbO thello.( p. li)
Ridley is correctingM iss Preston,s o the unconsciousi ronyo f
this passage is particularlyde lightfulo: ne is especiallyg rateful
for the "keenly chiselledn ose." Surely the contrastb etween
Othello's appearance( by the standardso f the play, not only
unlikely to inspirel ove but even frighteninga)n d his inner
worthi s one of Shakespeare'sb asic points.A ppearanceb elies
those powerfulE thiopiant alismans. . . which any specialisti n superstitionrsa nks
to-daya mong the most efficiento f all the magich elperso f a creduloush umanity"
(p. 13). R. B. Heilman does not mentionB aldensperger'ess say,b ut quotes froma
personall etter:O thello is "an inbornf etichist,"f orw hom the handkerchieifs "an
amulet without equal" (Magic in the Web, p. 283, n. 83). See also JamesA . S.
McPeek, "The Arts Inhibited' and the Meaning of Othello," BUSE, I. (1955),
129-147; and W. H. Auden,n . 22 below.
SVariorum,p . 395; quoted by Ridley,A rdenO thello,p . li.
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MICHAEL C. ANDREWS 279
reality:l ago, aftera ll, is the sort of man who inspiresc onfi-
dence. I do not go so fara s LaurenceL erner,w ho inferst hat
"Shakespeares ufferedf romc olourp rejudice,"a nd sumsu p the
play as "the story of a barbarianw ho (the pity of it) re-
lapses." 16B ut I am certaint hat Othello's personala nd racial
backgrounda re vital to the play. Paul Robeson insistst hat
Othello's "color is essentiallys econdary-excepta s it empha-
sizes the differencien culture."1 7Butt hisi s onlyp artiallyt rue.
lago's temptationo f Othello dependsu pon the kind of naivete
Robeson has in mind;b ut his impassionedb ehaviorw henl ago's
"medicine" works (e.g., his speech at IV.i.31ff.a nd passion-
induced trance)r eflectsS hakespeare'sa cceptanceo f the popu-
lar notion that blacks are more passionatelyem otionalt han
whites.T his does not seem to me to be the same thinga s
prejudice,p rovidedt hatt he view is not dramatizedw ithp reju-
dicial intent.I n Othello it is not; and the protagonist'sm ore
than European capacityf or violente motiono nce his defenses
are down is an exampleo f the same attentiont o decorum-to
cite an oppositee xtreme-whichle d Shakespearet o characterize
Brutus as a Stoic. Othello is a type; he is also an individual,
whose terribles ufferinSgh akespearep resentsw ithi maginative
sympathyan d absolutelyn o condescension.
I see, then,n o reason to doubt that Shakespearei ntended
Othello to have some beliefsi n keepingw ithh is background.
But I also see no reason why beliefi n the efficacyo f magic
should,i n itself,r enderO thello any the less noble or imposing
as a tragic hero. But we still do not fancy a supersitious
Othello-superstitiobne ingf oru s (thoughn ot forS hakespeare's
audience) farl ess acceptablet hanu ntruthfulness-antdh e tend-
encyi s to givec redencet o the speechw ithoutt akinga ccounto f
its implications1,8 or to rejecti t and availo urselveso f whatever
16'The Machiavel and the Moor," pp. 359, 360. Lerneri s effectivelyan sweredb y
Eldred Jones,E IC, X (1960), 238: "Othello is a complex storyo f how a noble
and uprightm an is subjected to temptationi n the area of his being whereh e is
most vulnerable-hisd ifferencein race." See also G. K. Hunter," Othello and
Colour Prejudice,"P BA, LIII (1967), 139-63; K. W. Evans," The Racial Factor in
17Othello,"S haKs., V(1969), 124-140.
Quoted in MarvinR osenberg,T he Masks of Othello (Universityo f CaliforniaP ress,
181961), p. 195.
Heilman,M agic in the Web,p . 213; HarryL evin, CentennialR eview VIII (1964),
13. Othere xamplesi ncludeT heodore Spencer,S hakespearea nd theN atureo f Man
(Collier Books, 1966), p. 128; G. Wilson Knight, The Wheel of Fire, 5th ed.
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280 HONEST OTHELLO
evidencet hisd ebunkingf urnishetsh atO thelloi s really" one of
us." 19
The speech cannotm ean what it appearst o mean; therefore
it must mean somethinge lse. But must it? Settinga side the
matterso f dramaticr epresentationan d dramaticc onvention,
one may attemptt o answert he skepticalc riticso n theiro wn
groundsW. hate videnced oes a close readingo f the textp rovide
that Othello reallyr egardst he handkerchieafs a potentl ove-
charm?
The firstp hase of the temptations cene (III.iii) ends when
Desdemona's appearance momentarilyco unteractst he poison
of lago's words: "If she be false,0 , thenh eavenm ocksi tself,/
I'll not believei t" (11.282-283).A lmosti mmediatelyaf tert his
Desdemona drops the handkerchiefE; milia, remarkingt hat
Othello "conjur'd [Desdemona] she shoulde verk eep it," gives
it to lago. (At thisp oint Othello'sg reatc oncernt hath is wife
keep the handkerchiewf ith her strikeso ne as surprisingf:i rst
giftsh ave theirs entimentavla lue,b ut Othellos eemst o be over-
doing it.) The next phase-whichi s decisive-followsO. thello's
occupation's gone-but he still demands" the occular proof'
(1.366). lago promisest o lead him to "the door of truth";
Cassio's dream,a nd the handkerchiefa,r e his two means of
clinchingh is case. To the dream( in whichC assio is said to have
embracedl ago, bemoaning" Cursedf ate,t hatg ave thee to the
Moor!") Othello reacts with untrammeledf erocity:" I'll tear
her all to pieces" (1.438). But it is theg ifto f theh andkerchief
thati s directlya ssociated,i n Othello'sm ind,w itht hep erdition
of love:
(MeridianB ooks, 1957), p. 109n. See also GeorgeL yman KittredgeS, ixteenP lays
19(1946), p. 1298.
E.g., Jones, Othello's Countrymen,p p. 101-103. Jones retains the belief that
Othello is essentiallyn oble; one imaginesw hat someone less charitable-sayD r.
Leavis-would have done with this readingo f the speech. A thirdp ossibilityr e-
mains: to take the passage,a s Elliottd oes, as "an indirectc onfessiont hatf romt he
very beginningO thello was predisposedt o mistrusth is wife and, far more fate-
fully,t o hide that mistrust"(F lamingM inisterp, . 145). McPeek arguesf ora more
sinisterv ariationo f thisp osition,f indingO thello guiltyo f necromancy", the origi-
nal sin of his mother"-thoughh e raises the possibilityt hatO thello is dissembling
("The 'Arts Inhibited' and the Meaningo f Othello," pp. 143-144). Both Elliott
and McPeek proceed on the assumptiont hat the handkerchieifs supposed to keep
Desdemona faithfuls;e e n. 21 below.
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MICHAEL C. ANDREWS 281
Iago. Nay, but be wise,y et we see nothingd one,
She mayb e honesty et; tellm e but this,
Have you not sometimesse en a handkerchief,
Spotted with strawberrie2s0 , i n your wife'sh and?
0th. I gaveh ers ucha one, 'twasm yf irstg ift.
Iago. I known ot that,b ut sucha handkerchief-
I am surei t was yourw ife's-didI to-day
See Cassio wipeh is beardw ith.
Oth. If t be that,-
Now do I see 'tis true;l ook here,l ago,
All myf ondl ove thusd o I blow to heaven,. . .
'Tis gone.
Arise,b lackv engeancef, romt hyh ollowc ell,
Yield up, 0 love, thyc rown,a nd heartedt hrone,
To tyrannouhs ate....
(11.339-3464; 51-456)
The sacredv ow of vengeancef ollows.
It is in thisc ontext,t hen,t hatO thello speaks,r evealingf or
the firstt ime( and too late) thef ulls ignificancoef theh andker-
chief,w hose loss directlys ymbolizest he loss of love.21H e is
addressingD esdemona,b y whom the amuletm ustb e guarded.
For him to have givenh er such a charmd oes not mean that
Brabantiow as righti n suspectingth atO thellow on his daughter
throughw itchcrafti;t is plain enought hatO thellor egardst he
handkerchieafs ensuringt he continuanceo f his love forD esde-
20See LaurenceJ . Ross," The Meaningof Strawberriiens S hakespeareS,"R en,V II
(1960), 225-240.D avidK aula,t o whomI am indebtedf ort hisr eferencne,o tes
thatt he two iconographmic eaningosf thes trawberry-righteouasnndes hsy poc-
risy-ared eftlye xploited": The formemr eaninigs appropriatteo Desdemonaas
sher eallyis , thel attert o Desdemonaas lago is makinhg era ppear.. .". "Othello
PossessedN: oteso n ShakespeareU'ss e of Magica nd SuperstitutionS.h"a Ks. II
(1966). 123. See also P. G. Mudford",O thelloa nd the' Tragedyo f Situation,'"
EnglishX, X (1971), 4-5. Mudfordw, hoses tudya ppearedaf term yo wne ssayh ad
beenc ompletedv,i ewst heh andkerchiaesf O thello'"ss acred"l ove-charmhe; notes
that" Thyb ed,l ust-stain'sdh, allw ithl ust'sb loodb e spotted"(V .i.36)e choest he
descriptioonf t heh andkerchief.
21Cf.E vans,p p. 134-136.E vansi s uncertaiwn hethetro accepto r rejectO thello's
accounto f the handkerchiebfu, t arguest hatO thello's" mindr evert.s. . to a
magicawl orldi n whichh e has alwaysf aintlbye lievedd,e spiteh isp rofesseCdh ris-
tianityH. e comest o acceptt hat only magicm adeh is extraordinarmya rriage
possible. . ." (p. 134).
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