.

* * * * *

Thus (1) one set of time-indications clearly shows that Othello murdered
his wife within a few days, probably a day and a half, of his arrival in
Cyprus and the consummation of his marriage; (2) another set of
time-indications implies quite as clearly that some little time must
have elapsed, probably a few weeks; and this last is certainly the
impression of a reader who has not closely examined the play.

It is impossible to escape this result. The suggestion that the imputed
intrigue of Cassio and Desdemona took place at Venice before the
marriage, not at Cyprus after it, is quite futile. There is no positive
evidence whatever for it; if the reader will merely refer to the
difficulties mentioned under B above, he will see that it leaves almost
all of them absolutely untouched; and Iago's accusation is uniformly one
of adultery.

How then is this extraordinary contradiction to be explained? It can
hardly be one of the casual inconsistencies, due to forgetfulness, which
are found in Shakespeare's other tragedies; for the scheme of time
indicated under A seems deliberate and self-consistent, and the scheme
indicated under B seems, if less deliberate, equally self-consistent.
This does not look as if a single scheme had been so vaguely imagined
that inconsistencies arose in working it out; it points to some other
source of contradiction.

'Christopher North,' who dealt very fully with the question, elaborated
a doctrine of Double Time, Short and Long. To do justice to this theory
in a few words is impossible, but its essence is the notion that
Shakespeare, consciously or unconsciously, wanted to produce on the
spectator (for he did not aim at readers) two impressions. He wanted the
spectator to feel a passionate and vehement haste in the action; but he
also wanted him to feel that the action was fairly probable. Consciously
or unconsciously he used Short Time (the scheme of A) for the first
purpose, and Long Time (the scheme of B) for the second. The spectator
is affected in the required manner by both, though without distinctly
noticing the indications of the two schemes.

The notion underlying this theory is probably true, but the theory
itself can hardly stand. Passing minor matters by, I would ask the
reader to consider the following remarks. (_a_) If, as seems to be
maintained, the spectator does not notice the indications of 'Short
Time' at all, how can they possibl