Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances,
Of moving accidents by flood and field,
Of hair-breadth ‘scapes i’ the imminent deadly breach,
Of being taken by the insolent foe
And sold to slavery, of my redemption thence
And portance in my travels’ history.
– William Shakespeare
Othello, Act 1, Scene 3. For a man who claims to be not a good speaker, Othello’s strong rhetoric is in full flow when he defends himself before the Duke and council. A man with the gift of storytelling, he reveals how he recounted to Desdemona and her father the exotic details of his adventurous life, including daring escapes and how he was sold into slavery and got his freedom back.