"She [Desdemona] saw, as the truly valuable Part of the Sex do, Othello's Visage in his Mind; she was too innocent and resigned to be guarded against the Wiles of envious and designing Men; and thus, while basking in the Sunshine of Love, and sporting in the Splendor of its divine Emanations, she was blind to and unguarded against, that dark Side which clouds and balances all human Lustre; and when acting superior, like a rude Storm, bears down all before it, renders the Soul black as Erebus, and works the Passions into a kind of Chaos; yet, is there nothing out of Nature, Truth, and common Experience, in all this; and is a Point so well understood, nay, and encouraged too among the Spanish Ladies, that, however it may appear to affect the Moral of this fine Play, they insist that this Jealousy, this Jaundice of the Mind, this Hurricane of the Spirits, is one of the richest Joys they taste in the Society of Men; and would rather die by the Poniard, than not have their Husbands jealous of them."
— Horsley, William (attrib.)
Metaphor
"She [Desdemona] saw, as the truly valuable Part of the Sex do, Othello's Visage in his Mind; she was too innocent and resigned to be guarded against the Wiles of envious and designing Men; and thus, while basking in the Sunshine of Love, and sporting in the Splendor of its divine Emanations, she was blind to and unguarded against, that dark Side which clouds and balances all human Lustre; and when acting superior, like a rude Storm, bears down all before it, renders the Soul black as Erebus, and works the Passions into a kind of Chaos; yet, is there nothing out of Nature, Truth, and common Experience, in all this; and is a Point so well understood, nay, and encouraged too among the Spanish Ladies, that, however it may appear to affect the Moral of this fine Play, they insist that this Jealousy, this Jaundice of the Mind, this Hurricane of the Spirits, is one of the richest Joys they taste in the Society of Men; and would rather die by the Poniard, than not have their Husbands jealous of them."
Metaphor in Context
There is nothing Platonic in all this; Nature dictates some kind of Sensuality, but that only consequentially; the principal Motive was a brighter Fire, pure and unsullied, as the Vestal Flame; she saw, as the truly valuable Part of the Sex do, Othello's Visage in his Mind; she was too innocent and resigned to be guarded against the Wiles of envious and designing Men; and thus, while basking in the Sunshine of Love, and sporting in the Splendor of its divine Emanations, she was blind to and unguarded against, that dark Side which clouds and balances all human Lustre; and when acting superior, like a rude Storm, bears down all before it, renders the Soul black as Erebus, and works the Passions into a kind of Chaos; yet, is there nothing out of Nature, Truth, and common Experience, in all this; and is a Point so well understood, nay, and encouraged too among the Spanish Ladies, that, however it may appear to affect the Moral of this fine Play, they insist that this Jealousy, this Jaundice of the Mind, this Hurricane of the Spirits, is one of the richest Joys they taste in the Society of Men; and would rather die by the Poniard, than not have their Husbands jealous of them.
(pp. 313-4)
