And when I love thee not
There are many instances when I am grateful to be reading the Folger editions of Shakespeare's plays, such as when I have no idea what a word or phrase means, and the side notes kindly help me understand what in the world I just read. I am particularly grateful for these side notes when they help me understand a beautiful phrase which I wouldn't have appreciated otherwise. When I came across Othello's declaration (speaking of Desdemona) that, "And when I love thee not, chaos is come again," (3.3.101-02) I somewhat understood it the first time. I understood this to mean that Othello's life would be chaotic and wrong if Desdemona was not in it. However, reading the side note was what made me truly fall in love with this phrase. The side note explains that "in classical mythology, only love prevents the universe from falling back into primordial chaos." With this new understanding, I realized the depth of what Othello is saying here; his expression of l...