Untill now the partsongs were dealing with true love. But, as the summaries\u00a0confirm, this is by definition not the subject of the covered story that should be there. And as\u00a0the first trace of a cryptic message is found in the centre of\u00a0Sweet Day<\/i>, its\u00a0key is the centre part of the overall song.<\/p>\n
It is music that does not exist<\/i><\/p>\n
Whatever Desdemona may think of it; willows never sing.\u00a0The Song of Willow<\/i>\u00a0is therefore irrelevant; only the spoken word counts here. And Shakespeare aptly inserts quite a lot of them. Beginning halfway:<\/p>\n
\u2018Othello; the Moor of Venice\u2019 – Act IV; iii<\/p>\n
… fell from her, and soften\u2019d the stones; At first sight this is an instruction to roommaid Emilia, but a more carefull\u00a0look in the New Webster\u2019s Dictionary reveals that this says in old English\u00a0something like: \u2018Song in itself\u2019. Desdemona resumes singing, and the audience therefore hasn’t heard enough allready to call it a song. To people taking a\u00a0singing willow for granted, the effect is that Shakespeare apparently claims\u00a0this stage song to be nothing but some incidental music. Which produces a\u00a0contradiction to the obvious fact that this song is purposedly inserted as a dramatic turn\u00a0of the screw that will unavoidably squeeze Desdemona to death. And so\u00a0there can be little doubt that the interruption in fact to announce that the\u00a0real song is not in the singing, but in the inserted prose. Then, within\u00a0seconds, follows: <\/i>…willow, willow, In modern English this says: \u2018Please go, he will come at once. And \u2018to come\u2019\u00a0is in daily use just a word, so there should be absolutely no reason\u00a0whatsoever to suppose that Desdemona refers to sex. The word only\u00a0shifts to crude language in close connection with \u2018to lay\u2019 anyway.<\/p>\n But who is \u2018he\u2019? Not husband Othello, only turning up in the dead of night\u00a0to strangle her. Her long waiting for him to join her between the very sheets\u00a0that were in use during their first wedded night, is therefore nothing\u00a0compared to human life. So she indeed announces her untimely end; it is\u00a0Death who comes to her at once. And he comes in raging passion: a strangulation involves very close body contact and strong sexual feelings.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/i>…Sing all a green willow must be my garland.<\/i><\/span> Again; her words might have nothing to do with making a baby – Death\u00a0himself is at her door – but Emilia\u2019s answer certainly has: one can imagine\u00a0lots of sounds produced by the wind in the willows, but knocking ones..?<\/p>\n —<\/span><\/p>\n —<\/span><\/p>\n go to next chapter<\/a>\u00a0– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/span>\u00a0back to the previous chapter<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Untill now the partsongs were dealing with true love. But, as the summaries\u00a0confirm, this is by definition not the subject of the covered story that should be there. And as\u00a0the first trace of a cryptic message is found in the … Continue reading
\nSing, willow…
\n<\/span><\/i>\u2018Lay by these.\u2019<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/i>\u2018Prithee, hie thee: he\u2019ll come anon\u2019,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n
A \u2018ladykiller\u2019 is known to make lots of women \u2018die\u2019 in passion. The sexually deranged literal version is almost by definition a strangler. Domestic violence may result in a\u00a0severely battered lady, but repulsive as it is, this kind of abuse is only applied to\u00a0control her and therefore never kills on purpose.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/h6>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nLet nobody blame him, his scorn I approve.<\/i>
\n\u2018No, that is not next.\u00a0 Harke, who is\u2019t that knocks?\u2019<\/em>
\n<\/i>Emilia:\u00a0It is the wind.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n