![]() The few who explain their choice make clear that it has little to do with the texts, much to do with an estimate of Desdemona’s character. Until about 1985, editors unanimously abandoned F’s “kisses” (I, iii, 158 TLN 504) and adopted Q’s “sighes” since then, they have divided on retaining or replacing F. In some notable cases, decisions to emend F to Q involve aesthetic or ethical considerations, but the emendations, although they affect meaning, have limited effects on an interpretation of the play as a whole. By contrast, recent editors consider or contest other pairs of substantive differences between F and Q. So this emendation is both strange and revealing-strange because unanimous, and revealing because silent. All select F as their copy text, all emend F to Q, but none explains this emendation. ![]() ![]() To see the world in a grain of sand is, in editing Shakespeare, to inspect the implications of different pronouns at III, iii, 96-7 (TLN 1696-7), in the two earliest texts of Othello: “Did Michael Cassio / When woo’d my Lady, know of your love?” The 1622 quarto reads “you” the 1623 folio reads “he.” What is unusual about this difference is its treatment by recent editors of the play. ![]()
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