Please help with these questions about Shakespeare's Othello.1. What does the Duke mean by "Men do their broken weapons rather use/Than their bare...

Though you are technically only allowed one question per
submission, I have only edited out one of the three that you proposed, as the two above
relate to the Duke and his point of view on the elopement of Desdemona and Othello. 
Please re-submit as individual questions any other questions you have about the Duke and
Brabantio.

These quotes are from Act I, scene iii, and
relate to Brabantio's claim that Othello has "stolen" his daughter Desdemona, making her
elope with him.

The first quote you cite comes in this line
of the Duke:

I
think this tale would win my daughter too.

Good
Brabantio,

Take up this mangled matter at the
best;

Men do their broken weapons rather
use

Than their bare
hands.

First,
it must be noted that these lines are in direct response to one of the most famous
speeches in all of Shakespeare -- Othello's recounting of how he, as a welcomed guest in
Brabantio's house, wooed and won the heart of Desdemona with his tales of his
adventures.  This speech reveals the poetic, eloquent and noble nature of Othello, and
casts Brabantio's harping and false accusations in a very poor
light.

In the line cited above, the Duke remarks upon this,
suggesting that the situation might be a "mess," but that Brabantio should cut his
losses, since his accusations or "weapons" have been "broken" by Othello's speech.  His
line ends with a veiled caution that Brabantio probably does not want to tangle further
with Othello in bare "hand to hand" combat.

Once Desdemona
has confirmed her free choice of Othello, Brabantio reluctantly gives up ("I have done,
my lord.") and the Duke has a few final thoughts about the matter for
Brabantio:

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To mourn a mischief that is past
and gone,

Is the next way to
draw more mischief on. . . .

The robb'd that
smiles, steals something from the thief,

He robs himself
that spends a bootless
grief.

Clearly, though
Brabantio says that he is "done" he seems headed towards harboring a grudge against
Othello and his daughter.  The Duke, in the lines above, cautions him to let bygones be
bygones, because clinging to "mischief" from the past will surely bring more "mischief"
or misery.  He creates an image of robbery that calls upon the Christian notion of
turning the  other cheek, proposing that Brabantio, though he feels he has been "robbed"
of his daughter, "smile" anyway and save himself from causing his own future misery by
hanging on to a pointless ("bootless") grief.

For more on
this scene, please follow the links below.