OTHELLO.Why, why is this?Think’st thou I’d make a life of jealousy,To follow still the changes of the moonWith fresh suspicions? No. To be once in doubtIs once to be resolv’d: exchange me for a goatWhen I shall turn the business of my soulTo such exsufflicate and blown surmises,Matching thy inference. ’Tis not to make me jealous,To say my wife is fair, feeds well, loves company,Is free of speech, sings, plays, and dances well;Where virtue is, these are more virtuous:Nor from mine own weak merits will I drawThe smallest fear or doubt of her revolt,For she had eyes, and chose me. No, Iago,I’ll see before I doubt; when I doubt, prove;And on the proof, there is no more but this:Away at once with love or jealousy!
IAGO.I am glad of it, for now I shall have reasonTo show the love and duty that I bear youWith franker spirit: therefore, as I am bound,Receive it from me. I speak not yet of proof.Look to your wife; observe her well with Cassio;Wear your eye thus, not jealous nor secure.I would not have your free and noble nature,Out of self-bounty, be abus’d. Look to’t.I know our country disposition well;In Venice they do let heaven see the pranksThey dare not show their husbands. Their best conscienceIs not to leave undone, but keep unknown.
OTHELLO.Dost thou say so?
IAGO.She did deceive her father, marrying you;And when she seem’d to shake and fear your looks,She loved them most.
OTHELLO.And so she did.
IAGO.Why, go to then.She that so young could give out such a seeming,To seal her father’s eyes up close as oak,He thought ’twas witchcraft. But I am much to blame.I humbly do beseech you of your pardonFor too much loving you.
OTHELLO.I am bound to thee for ever.
IAGO.I see this hath a little dash’d your spirits.
OTHELLO.Not a jot, not a jot.
IAGO.Trust me, I fear it has.I hope you will consider what is spokeComes from my love. But I do see you’re mov’d.I am to pray you not to strain my speechTo grosser issues nor to larger reachThan to suspicion.
OTHELLO.I will not.
IAGO.Should you do so, my lord,My speech should fall into such vile successWhich my thoughts aim’d not. Cassio’s my worthy friend.My lord, I see you’re mov’d.
OTHELLO.No, not much mov’d.I do not think but Desdemona’s honest.
IAGO.Long live she so! And long live you to think so!
OTHELLO.And yet, how nature erring from itself—
IAGO.Ay, there’s the point. As, to be bold with you,Not to affect many proposed matches,Of her own clime, complexion, and degree,Whereto we see in all things nature tends;Foh! One may smell in such a will most rank,Foul disproportion, thoughts unnatural.But pardon me: I do not in positionDistinctly speak of her, though I may fearHer will, recoiling to her better judgement,May fall to match you with her country forms,And happily repent.
OTHELLO.Farewell, farewell:If more thou dost perceive, let me know more;Set on thy wife to observe. Leave me, Iago.
IAGO.[_Going._] My lord, I take my leave.
OTHELLO.Why did I marry? This honest creature doubtlessSees and knows more, much more, than he unfolds.
IAGO.[_Returning._] My lord, I would I might entreat your honourTo scan this thing no further. Leave it to time:Though it be fit that Cassio have his place,For sure he fills it up with great ability,Yet if you please to hold him off awhile,You shall by that perceive him and his means.Note if your lady strain his entertainmentWith any strong or vehement importunity,Much will be seen in that. In the meantime,Let me be thought too busy in my fears(As worthy cause I have to fear I am)And hold her free, I do beseech your honour.
OTHELLO.Fear not my government.
IAGO.I once more take my leave.
[_Exit._]
OTHELLO.This fellow’s of exceeding honesty,And knows all qualities, with a learned spirit,Of human dealings. If I do prove her haggard,Though that her jesses were my dear heartstrings,I’d whistle her off, and let her down the windTo prey at fortune. Haply, for I am black,And have not those soft parts of conversationThat chamberers have, or for I am declin’dInto the vale of years,—yet that’s not much—She’s gone, I am abus’d, and my reliefMust be to loathe her. O curse of marriage,That we can call these delicate creatures ours,And not their appetites! I had rather be a toad,And live upon the vapour of a dungeon,Than keep a corner in the thing I loveFor others’ uses. Yet, ’tis the plague of great ones,Prerogativ’d are they less than the base,’Tis destiny unshunnable, like death:Even then this forked plague is fated to usWhen we do quicken. Desdemona comes.If she be false, O, then heaven mocks itself!I’ll not believe’t.
Enter Desdemona and Emilia.
DESDEMONA.How now, my dear Othello?Your dinner, and the generous islandersBy you invited, do attend your presence.
OTHELLO.I am to blame.
DESDEMONA.Why do you speak so faintly?Are you not well?
OTHELLO.I have a pain upon my forehead here.
DESDEMONA.Faith, that’s with watching, ’twill away again;Let me but bind it hard, within this hourIt will be well.
OTHELLO.Your napkin is too little;
[_He puts the handkerchief from him, and she drops it._]
Let it alone. Come, I’ll go in with you.
DESDEMONA.I am very sorry that you are not well.
[_Exeunt Othello and Desdemona._]
EMILIA.I am glad I have found this napkin;This was her first remembrance from the Moor.My wayward husband hath a hundred timesWoo’d me to steal it. But she so loves the token,For he conjur’d her she should ever keep it,That she reserves it evermore about herTo kiss and talk to. I’ll have the work ta’en out,And give’t Iago. What he will do with itHeaven knows, not I,I nothing but to please his fantasy.
Enter Iago.
IAGO.How now? What do you here alone?
EMILIA.Do not you chide. I have a thing for you.
IAGO.A thing for me? It is a common thing—
EMILIA.Ha?
IAGO.To have a foolish wife.
EMILIA.O, is that all? What will you give me nowFor that same handkerchief?
IAGO.What handkerchief?
EMILIA.What handkerchief?Why, that the Moor first gave to Desdemona,That which so often you did bid me steal.
IAGO.Hast stol’n it from her?
EMILIA.No, faith, she let it drop by negligence,And, to the advantage, I being here, took ’t up.Look, here it is.
IAGO.A good wench, give it me.
EMILIA.What will you do with’t, that you have been so earnestTo have me filch it?
IAGO.[_Snatching it._] Why, what’s that to you?
EMILIA.If it be not for some purpose of import,Give ’t me again. Poor lady, she’ll run madWhen she shall lack it.
IAGO.Be not acknown on’t, I have use for it.Go, leave me.
[_Exit Emilia._]
I will in Cassio’s lodging lose this napkin,And let him find it. Trifles light as airAre to the jealous confirmations strongAs proofs of holy writ. This may do something.The Moor already changes with my poison:Dangerous conceits are in their natures poisons,Which at the first are scarce found to distaste,But with a little act upon the bloodBurn like the mines of sulphur. I did say so.
Enter Othello.
Look, where he comes. Not poppy, nor mandragora,Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world,Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleepWhich thou ow’dst yesterday.
OTHELLO.Ha! ha! false to me?
IAGO.Why, how now, general? No more of that.
OTHELLO.Avaunt! be gone! Thou hast set me on the rack.I swear ’tis better to be much abus’dThan but to know’t a little.
IAGO.How now, my lord?
OTHELLO.What sense had I of her stol’n hours of lust?I saw’t not, thought it not, it harm’d not me.I slept the next night well, was free and merry;I found not Cassio’s kisses on her lips.He that is robb’d, not wanting what is stol’n,Let him not know’t, and he’s not robb’d at all.
IAGO.I am sorry to hear this.
OTHELLO.I had been happy if the general camp,Pioners and all, had tasted her sweet body,So I had nothing known. O, now, for everFarewell the tranquil mind! Farewell content!Farewell the plumed troops and the big warsThat make ambition virtue! O, farewell,Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump,The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife,The royal banner, and all quality,Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!And, O you mortal engines, whose rude throatsThe immortal Jove’s dread clamours counterfeit,Farewell! Othello’s occupation’s gone!
IAGO.Is’t possible, my lord?
OTHELLO.Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore;Be sure of it. Give me the ocular proof,Or, by the worth of man’s eternal soul,Thou hadst been better have been born a dogThan answer my wak’d wrath.
IAGO.Is’t come to this?
OTHELLO.Make me to see’t, or at the least so prove it,That the probation bear no hinge nor loopTo hang a doubt on, or woe upon thy life!
IAGO.My noble lord,—
OTHELLO.If thou dost slander her and torture me,Never pray more. Abandon all remorse;On horror’s head horrors accumulate;Do deeds to make heaven weep, all earth amaz’d;For nothing canst thou to damnation addGreater than that.
IAGO.O grace! O heaven defend me!Are you a man? Have you a soul or sense?God be wi’ you. Take mine office.—O wretched fool,That liv’st to make thine honesty a vice!O monstrous world! Take note, take note, O world,To be direct and honest is not safe.I thank you for this profit, and from henceI’ll love no friend, sith love breeds such offence.
OTHELLO.Nay, stay. Thou shouldst be honest.
IAGO.I should be wise; for honesty’s a fool,And loses that it works for.
OTHELLO.By the world,I think my wife be honest, and think she is not.I think that thou art just, and think thou art not.I’ll have some proof: her name, that was as freshAs Dian’s visage, is now begrim’d and blackAs mine own face. If there be cords or knives,Poison or fire, or suffocating streams,I’ll not endure ’t. Would I were satisfied!
IAGO.I see, sir, you are eaten up with passion.I do repent me that I put it to you.You would be satisfied?
OTHELLO.Would? Nay, I will.
IAGO.And may; but how? How satisfied, my lord?Would you, the supervisor, grossly gape on,Behold her topp’d?
OTHELLO.Death and damnation! O!
IAGO.It were a tedious difficulty, I think,To bring them to that prospect. Damn them then,If ever mortal eyes do see them bolsterMore than their own! What then? How then?What shall I say? Where’s satisfaction?It is impossible you should see this,Were they as prime as goats, as hot as monkeys,As salt as wolves in pride, and fools as grossAs ignorance made drunk. But yet I say,If imputation and strong circumstances,Which lead directly to the door of truth,Will give you satisfaction, you may have’t.
OTHELLO.Give me a living reason she’s disloyal.
IAGO.I do not like the office,But sith I am enter’d in this cause so far,Prick’d to ’t by foolish honesty and love,I will go on. I lay with Cassio lately,And being troubled with a raging tooth,I could not sleep.There are a kind of men so loose of soul,That in their sleeps will mutter their affairs.One of this kind is Cassio:In sleep I heard him say, “Sweet Desdemona,Let us be wary, let us hide our loves;”And then, sir, would he gripe and wring my hand,Cry “O sweet creature!” and then kiss me hard,As if he pluck’d up kisses by the roots,That grew upon my lips, then laid his legOver my thigh, and sigh’d and kiss’d, and thenCried “Cursed fate that gave thee to the Moor!”
OTHELLO.O monstrous! monstrous!
IAGO.Nay, this was but his dream.
OTHELLO.But this denoted a foregone conclusion.’Tis a shrewd doubt, though it be but a dream.
IAGO.And this may help to thicken other proofsThat do demonstrate thinly.
OTHELLO.I’ll tear her all to pieces.
IAGO.Nay, but be wise. Yet we see nothing done,She may be honest yet. Tell me but this,Have you not sometimes seen a handkerchiefSpotted with strawberries in your wife’s hand?
OTHELLO.I gave her such a one, ’twas my first gift.
IAGO.I know not that: but such a handkerchief(I am sure it was your wife’s) did I todaySee Cassio wipe his beard with.
OTHELLO.If it be that,—
IAGO.If it be that, or any that was hers,It speaks against her with the other proofs.
OTHELLO.O, that the slave had forty thousand lives!One is too poor, too weak for my revenge!Now do I see ’tis true. Look here, Iago;All my fond love thus do I blow to heaven.’Tis gone.Arise, black vengeance, from thy hollow hell!Yield up, O love, thy crown and hearted throneTo tyrannous hate! Swell, bosom, with thy fraught,For ’tis of aspics’ tongues!
IAGO.Yet be content.
OTHELLO.O, blood, Iago, blood!
IAGO.Patience, I say. Your mind perhaps may change.
OTHELLO.Never, Iago. Like to the Pontic Sea,Whose icy current and compulsive courseNe’er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due onTo the Propontic and the Hellespont;Even so my bloody thoughts, with violent paceShall ne’er look back, ne’er ebb to humble love,Till that a capable and wide revengeSwallow them up. Now by yond marble heaven,In the due reverence of a sacred vow [_Kneels._]I here engage my words.
IAGO.Do not rise yet. [_Kneels._]Witness, you ever-burning lights above,You elements that clip us round about,Witness that here Iago doth give upThe execution of his wit, hands, heart,To wrong’d Othello’s service! Let him command,And to obey shall be in me remorse,What bloody business ever.
[_They rise._]
OTHELLO.I greet thy love,Not with vain thanks, but with acceptance bounteous,And will upon the instant put thee to ’t.Within these three days let me hear thee sayThat Cassio’s not alive.
IAGO.My friend is dead. ’Tis done at your request.But let her live.
OTHELLO.Damn her, lewd minx! O, damn her, damn her!Come, go with me apart, I will withdrawTo furnish me with some swift means of deathFor the fair devil. Now art thou my lieutenant.
IAGO.I am your own for ever.
[_Exeunt._]
SCENE IV. Cyprus. Before the Castle.
Enter Desdemona, Emilia and Clown.
DESDEMONA.Do you know, sirrah, where Lieutenant Cassio lies?
CLOWN.I dare not say he lies anywhere.
DESDEMONA.Why, man?
CLOWN.He’s a soldier; and for one to say a soldier lies is stabbing.
DESDEMONA.Go to. Where lodges he?
CLOWN.To tell you where he lodges is to tell you where I lie.
DESDEMONA.Can anything be made of this?
CLOWN.I know not where he lodges; and for me to devise a lodging, and say helies here, or he lies there, were to lie in mine own throat.
DESDEMONA.Can you inquire him out, and be edified by report?
CLOWN.I will catechize the world for him, that is, make questions and by themanswer.
DESDEMONA.Seek him, bid him come hither. Tell him I have moved my lord on hisbehalf, and hope all will be well.
CLOWN.To do this is within the compass of man’s wit, and therefore I willattempt the doing it.
[_Exit._]
DESDEMONA.Where should I lose that handkerchief, Emilia?
EMILIA.I know not, madam.
DESDEMONA.Believe me, I had rather have lost my purseFull of crusadoes. And but my noble MoorIs true of mind and made of no such basenessAs jealous creatures are, it were enoughTo put him to ill thinking.
EMILIA.Is he not jealous?
DESDEMONA.Who, he? I think the sun where he was bornDrew all such humours from him.
EMILIA.Look, where he comes.
Enter Othello.
DESDEMONA.I will not leave him now till CassioBe call’d to him. How is’t with you, my lord?
OTHELLO.Well, my good lady. [_Aside._] O, hardness to dissemble!How do you, Desdemona?
DESDEMONA.Well, my good lord.
OTHELLO.Give me your hand. This hand is moist, my lady.
DESDEMONA.It yet hath felt no age nor known no sorrow.
OTHELLO.This argues fruitfulness and liberal heart.Hot, hot, and moist. This hand of yours requiresA sequester from liberty, fasting and prayer,Much castigation, exercise devout;For here’s a young and sweating devil hereThat commonly rebels. ’Tis a good hand,A frank one.
DESDEMONA.You may indeed say so,For ’twas that hand that gave away my heart.
OTHELLO.A liberal hand. The hearts of old gave hands,But our new heraldry is hands, not hearts.
DESDEMONA.I cannot speak of this. Come now, your promise.
OTHELLO.What promise, chuck?
DESDEMONA.I have sent to bid Cassio come speak with you.
OTHELLO.I have a salt and sorry rheum offends me.Lend me thy handkerchief.
DESDEMONA.Here, my lord.
OTHELLO.That which I gave you.
DESDEMONA.I have it not about me.
OTHELLO.Not?
DESDEMONA.No, faith, my lord.
OTHELLO.That is a fault. That handkerchiefDid an Egyptian to my mother give.She was a charmer, and could almost readThe thoughts of people. She told her, while she kept it,’Twould make her amiable and subdue my fatherEntirely to her love. But if she lost it,Or made a gift of it, my father’s eyeShould hold her loathed, and his spirits should huntAfter new fancies: she, dying, gave it me,And bid me, when my fate would have me wive,To give it her. I did so; and take heed on’t,Make it a darling like your precious eye.To lose’t or give’t away were such perditionAs nothing else could match.
DESDEMONA.Is’t possible?
OTHELLO.’Tis true. There’s magic in the web of it.A sibyl, that had number’d in the worldThe sun to course two hundred compasses,In her prophetic fury sew’d the work;The worms were hallow’d that did breed the silk,And it was dyed in mummy, which the skillfulConserv’d of maiden’s hearts.
DESDEMONA.Indeed? Is’t true?
OTHELLO.Most veritable, therefore look to ’t well.
DESDEMONA.Then would to God that I had never seen ’t!
OTHELLO.Ha? wherefore?
DESDEMONA.Why do you speak so startingly and rash?
OTHELLO.Is’t lost? is’t gone? speak, is it out of the way?
DESDEMONA.Heaven bless us!
OTHELLO.Say you?
DESDEMONA.It is not lost, but what and if it were?
OTHELLO.How?
DESDEMONA.I say it is not lost.
OTHELLO.Fetch’t, let me see ’t.
DESDEMONA.Why, so I can, sir, but I will not now.This is a trick to put me from my suit.Pray you, let Cassio be receiv’d again.
OTHELLO.Fetch me the handkerchief! My mind misgives.
DESDEMONA.Come, come.You’ll never meet a more sufficient man.
OTHELLO.The handkerchief!
DESDEMONA.I pray, talk me of Cassio.
OTHELLO.The handkerchief!
DESDEMONA.A man that all his timeHath founded his good fortunes on your love,Shar’d dangers with you,—
OTHELLO.The handkerchief!
DESDEMONA.In sooth, you are to blame.
OTHELLO.Away!
[_Exit._]
EMILIA.Is not this man jealous?
DESDEMONA.I ne’er saw this before.Sure there’s some wonder in this handkerchief,I am most unhappy in the loss of it.
EMILIA.’Tis not a year or two shows us a man:They are all but stomachs and we all but food;They eat us hungerly, and when they are full,They belch us.
Enter Cassio and Iago.
Look you, Cassio and my husband.
IAGO.There is no other way; ’tis she must do ’t,And, lo, the happiness! Go and importune her.
DESDEMONA.How now, good Cassio, what’s the news with you?
CASSIO.Madam, my former suit: I do beseech youThat by your virtuous means I may againExist, and be a member of his love,Whom I, with all the office of my heart,Entirely honour. I would not be delay’d.If my offence be of such mortal kindThat nor my service past, nor present sorrows,Nor purpos’d merit in futurity,Can ransom me into his love again,But to know so must be my benefit;So shall I clothe me in a forc’d content,And shut myself up in some other courseTo fortune’s alms.
DESDEMONA.Alas, thrice-gentle Cassio,My advocation is not now in tune;My lord is not my lord; nor should I know himWere he in favour as in humour alter’d.So help me every spirit sanctified,As I have spoken for you all my best,And stood within the blank of his displeasureFor my free speech! You must awhile be patient.What I can do I will; and more I willThan for myself I dare. Let that suffice you.
IAGO.Is my lord angry?
EMILIA.He went hence but now,And certainly in strange unquietness.
IAGO.Can he be angry? I have seen the cannon,When it hath blown his ranks into the airAnd, like the devil, from his very armPuff’d his own brother, and can he be angry?Something of moment then. I will go meet him.There’s matter in’t indeed if he be angry.
DESDEMONA.I prithee do so.
[_Exit Iago._]
Something sure of state,Either from Venice, or some unhatch’d practiceMade demonstrable here in Cyprus to him,Hath puddled his clear spirit, and in such casesMen’s natures wrangle with inferior things,Though great ones are their object. ’Tis even so.For let our finger ache, and it induesOur other healthful members even to that senseOf pain. Nay, we must think men are not gods,Nor of them look for such observancyAs fits the bridal. Beshrew me much, Emilia,I was (unhandsome warrior as I am)Arraigning his unkindness with my soul;But now I find I had suborn’d the witness,And he’s indicted falsely.
EMILIA.Pray heaven it be state matters, as you think,And no conception nor no jealous toyConcerning you.
DESDEMONA.Alas the day, I never gave him cause!
EMILIA.But jealous souls will not be answer’d so;They are not ever jealous for the cause,But jealous for they are jealous: ’tis a monsterBegot upon itself, born on itself.
DESDEMONA.Heaven keep that monster from Othello’s mind!
EMILIA.Lady, amen.
DESDEMONA.I will go seek him. Cassio, walk hereabout:If I do find him fit, I’ll move your suit,And seek to effect it to my uttermost.
CASSIO.I humbly thank your ladyship.
[_Exeunt Desdemona and Emilia._]
Enter Bianca.
BIANCA.Save you, friend Cassio!
CASSIO.What make you from home?How is it with you, my most fair Bianca?I’ faith, sweet love, I was coming to your house.
BIANCA.And I was going to your lodging, Cassio.What, keep a week away? Seven days and nights?Eight score eight hours, and lovers’ absent hours,More tedious than the dial eight score times?O weary reckoning!
CASSIO.Pardon me, Bianca.I have this while with leaden thoughts been press’d,But I shall in a more continuate timeStrike off this score of absence. Sweet Bianca,
[_Giving her Desdemona’s handkerchief._]
Take me this work out.
BIANCA.O Cassio, whence came this?This is some token from a newer friend.To the felt absence now I feel a cause.Is’t come to this? Well, well.
CASSIO.Go to, woman!Throw your vile guesses in the devil’s teeth,From whence you have them. You are jealous nowThat this is from some mistress, some remembrance.No, in good troth, Bianca.
BIANCA.Why, whose is it?
CASSIO.I know not neither. I found it in my chamber.I like the work well. Ere it be demanded,As like enough it will, I’d have it copied.Take it, and do ’t, and leave me for this time.
BIANCA.Leave you, wherefore?
CASSIO.I do attend here on the general,And think it no addition, nor my wish,To have him see me woman’d.
BIANCA.Why, I pray you?
CASSIO.Not that I love you not.
BIANCA.But that you do not love me.I pray you bring me on the way a little,And say if I shall see you soon at night.
CASSIO.’Tis but a little way that I can bring you,For I attend here. But I’ll see you soon.
BIANCA.’Tis very good; I must be circumstanc’d.
[_Exeunt._]
ACT IV
SCENE I. Cyprus. Before the Castle.
Enter Othello and Iago.
IAGO.Will you think so?
OTHELLO.Think so, Iago?
IAGO.What,To kiss in private?
OTHELLO.An unauthoriz’d kiss.
IAGO.Or to be naked with her friend in bedAn hour or more, not meaning any harm?
OTHELLO.Naked in bed, Iago, and not mean harm?It is hypocrisy against the devil:They that mean virtuously and yet do so,The devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heaven.
IAGO.So they do nothing, ’tis a venial slip.But if I give my wife a handkerchief—
OTHELLO.What then?
IAGO.Why then, ’tis hers, my lord, and being hers,She may, I think, bestow’t on any man.
OTHELLO.She is protectress of her honour too.May she give that?
IAGO.Her honour is an essence that’s not seen;They have it very oft that have it not:But for the handkerchief—
OTHELLO.By heaven, I would most gladly have forgot it.Thou said’st (O, it comes o’er my memory,As doth the raven o’er the infected house,Boding to all) he had my handkerchief.
IAGO.Ay, what of that?
OTHELLO.That’s not so good now.
IAGO.WhatIf I had said I had seen him do you wrong?Or heard him say (as knaves be such abroad,Who having, by their own importunate suit,Or voluntary dotage of some mistress,Convinced or supplied them, cannot chooseBut they must blab.)
OTHELLO.Hath he said anything?
IAGO.He hath, my lord, but be you well assur’d,No more than he’ll unswear.
OTHELLO.What hath he said?
IAGO.Faith, that he did—I know not what he did.
OTHELLO.What? What?
IAGO.Lie.
OTHELLO.With her?
IAGO.With her, on her, what you will.
OTHELLO.Lie with her! lie on her!—We say lie on her when they belie her.—Liewith her! that’s fulsome. Handkerchief—confessions—handkerchief! Toconfess, and be hanged for his labour. First, to be hanged, and then toconfess. I tremble at it. Nature would not invest herself in suchshadowing passion without some instruction. It is not words that shakeme thus. Pish! Noses, ears, and lips. Is’tpossible?—Confess?—handkerchief?—O devil!—
[_Falls in a trance._]
IAGO.Work on,My medicine, work! Thus credulous fools are caught,And many worthy and chaste dames even thus,All guiltless, meet reproach. What, ho! my lord!My lord, I say! Othello!
Enter Cassio.
How now, Cassio!
CASSIO.What’s the matter?
IAGO.My lord is fallen into an epilepsy.This is his second fit. He had one yesterday.
CASSIO.Rub him about the temples.
IAGO.No, forbear;The lethargy must have his quiet course.If not, he foams at mouth, and by and byBreaks out to savage madness. Look, he stirs:Do you withdraw yourself a little while,He will recover straight. When he is gone,I would on great occasion speak with you.
[_Exit Cassio._]
How is it, general? Have you not hurt your head?
OTHELLO.Dost thou mock me?
IAGO.I mock you? No, by heaven.Would you would bear your fortune like a man!
OTHELLO.A horned man’s a monster and a beast.
IAGO.There’s many a beast, then, in a populous city,And many a civil monster.
OTHELLO.Did he confess it?
IAGO.Good sir, be a man.Think every bearded fellow that’s but yok’dMay draw with you. There’s millions now aliveThat nightly lie in those unproper bedsWhich they dare swear peculiar: your case is better.O, ’tis the spite of hell, the fiend’s arch-mock,To lip a wanton in a secure couch,And to suppose her chaste! No, let me know,And knowing what I am, I know what she shall be.
OTHELLO.O, thou art wise, ’tis certain.
IAGO.Stand you awhile apart,Confine yourself but in a patient list.Whilst you were here o’erwhelmed with your grief,(A passion most unsuiting such a man)Cassio came hither. I shifted him away,And laid good ’scuse upon your ecstasy,Bade him anon return, and here speak with me,The which he promis’d. Do but encave yourself,And mark the fleers, the gibes, and notable scorns,That dwell in every region of his face;For I will make him tell the tale anew,Where, how, how oft, how long ago, and whenHe hath, and is again to cope your wife:I say, but mark his gesture. Marry, patience,Or I shall say you are all in all in spleen,And nothing of a man.
OTHELLO.Dost thou hear, Iago?I will be found most cunning in my patience;But,—dost thou hear?—most bloody.
IAGO.That’s not amiss.But yet keep time in all. Will you withdraw?
[_Othello withdraws._]
Now will I question Cassio of Bianca,A housewife that by selling her desiresBuys herself bread and clothes: it is a creatureThat dotes on Cassio, (as ’tis the strumpet’s plagueTo beguile many and be beguil’d by one.)He, when he hears of her, cannot refrainFrom the excess of laughter. Here he comes.
Enter Cassio.
As he shall smile Othello shall go mad,And his unbookish jealousy must construePoor Cassio’s smiles, gestures, and light behaviourQuite in the wrong. How do you now, lieutenant?
CASSIO.The worser that you give me the additionWhose want even kills me.
IAGO.Ply Desdemona well, and you are sure on’t.[_Speaking lower._] Now, if this suit lay in Bianca’s power,How quickly should you speed!
CASSIO.Alas, poor caitiff!
OTHELLO.[_Aside._] Look how he laughs already!
IAGO.I never knew a woman love man so.
CASSIO.Alas, poor rogue! I think, i’ faith, she loves me.
OTHELLO.[_Aside._] Now he denies it faintly and laughs it out.
IAGO.Do you hear, Cassio?
OTHELLO.Now he importunes himTo tell it o’er. Go to, well said, well said.
IAGO.She gives it out that you shall marry her.Do you intend it?
CASSIO.Ha, ha, ha!
OTHELLO.Do you triumph, Roman? Do you triumph?
CASSIO.I marry her? What? A customer? I prithee, bear some charity to my wit,do not think it so unwholesome. Ha, ha, ha!
OTHELLO.So, so, so, so. They laugh that wins.
IAGO.Faith, the cry goes that you shall marry her.
CASSIO.Prithee say true.
IAGO.I am a very villain else.
OTHELLO.Have you scored me? Well.
CASSIO.This is the monkey’s own giving out. She is persuaded I will marry her,out of her own love and flattery, not out of my promise.
OTHELLO.Iago beckons me. Now he begins the story.
CASSIO.She was here even now. She haunts me in every place. I was the otherday talking on the sea-bank with certain Venetians, and thither comesthe bauble, and falls thus about my neck.
OTHELLO.Crying, “O dear Cassio!” as it were: his gesture imports it.
CASSIO.So hangs, and lolls, and weeps upon me; so hales and pulls me. Ha, ha,ha!
OTHELLO.Now he tells how she plucked him to my chamber. O, I see that nose ofyours, but not that dog I shall throw it to.
CASSIO.Well, I must leave her company.
IAGO.Before me! look where she comes.
Enter Bianca.
CASSIO.’Tis such another fitchew! Marry, a perfum’d one.What do you mean by this haunting of me?
BIANCA.Let the devil and his dam haunt you! What did you mean by that samehandkerchief you gave me even now? I was a fine fool to take it. I musttake out the work? A likely piece of work, that you should find it inyour chamber and not know who left it there! This is some minx’s token,and I must take out the work? There, give it your hobby-horse.Wheresoever you had it, I’ll take out no work on’t.
CASSIO.How now, my sweet Bianca? How now, how now?
OTHELLO.By heaven, that should be my handkerchief!
BIANCA.If you’ll come to supper tonight, you may. If you will not, come whenyou are next prepared for.
[_Exit._]
IAGO.After her, after her.
CASSIO.Faith, I must; she’ll rail in the street else.
IAGO.Will you sup there?
CASSIO.Faith, I intend so.
IAGO.Well, I may chance to see you, for I would very fain speak with you.
CASSIO.Prithee come, will you?
IAGO.Go to; say no more.
[_Exit Cassio._]
OTHELLO.[_Coming forward._] How shall I murder him, Iago?
IAGO.Did you perceive how he laughed at his vice?
OTHELLO.O Iago!
IAGO.And did you see the handkerchief?
OTHELLO.Was that mine?
IAGO.Yours, by this hand: and to see how he prizes the foolish woman yourwife! she gave it him, and he hath given it his whore.
OTHELLO.I would have him nine years a-killing. A fine woman, a fair woman, asweet woman!
IAGO.Nay, you must forget that.
OTHELLO.Ay, let her rot, and perish, and be damned tonight, for she shall notlive. No, my heart is turned to stone; I strike it, and it hurts myhand. O, the world hath not a sweeter creature. She might lie by anemperor’s side, and command him tasks.
IAGO.Nay, that’s not your way.
OTHELLO.Hang her, I do but say what she is. So delicate with her needle, anadmirable musician! O, she will sing the savageness out of a bear! Ofso high and plenteous wit and invention!
IAGO.She’s the worse for all this.
OTHELLO.O, a thousand, a thousand times: and then of so gentle a condition!
IAGO.Ay, too gentle.
OTHELLO.Nay, that’s certain. But yet the pity of it, Iago! O Iago, the pity ofit, Iago!
IAGO.If you are so fond over her iniquity, give her patent to offend, for ifit touch not you, it comes near nobody.
OTHELLO.I will chop her into messes. Cuckold me!
IAGO.O, ’tis foul in her.
OTHELLO.With mine officer!
IAGO.That’s fouler.
OTHELLO.Get me some poison, Iago; this night. I’ll not expostulate with her,lest her body and beauty unprovide my mind again. This night, Iago.
IAGO.Do it not with poison, strangle her in her bed, even the bed she hathcontaminated.
OTHELLO.Good, good. The justice of it pleases. Very good.
IAGO.And for Cassio, let me be his undertaker. You shall hear more bymidnight.
OTHELLO.Excellent good. [_A trumpet within._] What trumpet is that same?
Enter Lodovico, Desdemona and Attendant.
IAGO.Something from Venice, sure. ’Tis LodovicoCome from the duke. See, your wife is with him.
LODOVICO.Save you, worthy general!
OTHELLO.With all my heart, sir.
LODOVICO.The duke and senators of Venice greet you.
[_Gives him a packet._]
OTHELLO.I kiss the instrument of their pleasures.
[_Opens the packet and reads._]
DESDEMONA.And what’s the news, good cousin Lodovico?
IAGO.I am very glad to see you, signior.Welcome to Cyprus.
LODOVICO.I thank you. How does Lieutenant Cassio?
IAGO.Lives, sir.
DESDEMONA.Cousin, there’s fall’n between him and my lordAn unkind breach, but you shall make all well.
OTHELLO.Are you sure of that?
DESDEMONA.My lord?
OTHELLO.[_Reads._] “This fail you not to do, as you will—”
LODOVICO.He did not call; he’s busy in the paper.Is there division ’twixt my lord and Cassio?
DESDEMONA.A most unhappy one. I would do muchTo atone them, for the love I bear to Cassio.
OTHELLO.Fire and brimstone!
DESDEMONA.My lord?
OTHELLO.Are you wise?
DESDEMONA.What, is he angry?
LODOVICO.May be the letter mov’d him;For, as I think, they do command him home,Deputing Cassio in his government.
DESDEMONA.Trust me, I am glad on’t.
OTHELLO.Indeed!
DESDEMONA.My lord?
OTHELLO.I am glad to see you mad.
DESDEMONA.Why, sweet Othello?
OTHELLO.Devil!
[_Striking her._]
DESDEMONA.I have not deserv’d this.
LODOVICO.My lord, this would not be believ’d in Venice,Though I should swear I saw’t: ’tis very much.Make her amends. She weeps.
OTHELLO.O devil, devil!If that the earth could teem with woman’s tears,Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile.Out of my sight!
DESDEMONA.I will not stay to offend you.
[_Going._]
LODOVICO.Truly, an obedient lady.I do beseech your lordship, call her back.
OTHELLO.Mistress!
DESDEMONA.My lord?
OTHELLO.What would you with her, sir?
LODOVICO.Who, I, my lord?
OTHELLO.Ay, you did wish that I would make her turn.Sir, she can turn, and turn, and yet go on,And turn again. And she can weep, sir, weep;And she’s obedient, as you say, obedient,Very obedient. Proceed you in your tears.Concerning this, sir,—O well-painted passion!I am commanded home.—Get you away;I’ll send for you anon.—Sir, I obey the mandate,And will return to Venice.—Hence, avaunt!
[_Exit Desdemona._]
Cassio shall have my place. And, sir, tonight,I do entreat that we may sup together.You are welcome, sir, to Cyprus. Goats and monkeys!
[_Exit._]
LODOVICO.Is this the noble Moor, whom our full senateCall all in all sufficient? Is this the natureWhom passion could not shake? whose solid virtueThe shot of accident nor dart of chanceCould neither graze nor pierce?
IAGO.He is much chang’d.
LODOVICO.Are his wits safe? Is he not light of brain?
IAGO.He’s that he is. I may not breathe my censureWhat he might be. If what he might he is not,I would to heaven he were!
LODOVICO.What, strike his wife?
IAGO.Faith, that was not so well; yet would I knewThat stroke would prove the worst!
LODOVICO.Is it his use?Or did the letters work upon his blood,And new-create this fault?
IAGO.Alas, alas!It is not honesty in me to speakWhat I have seen and known. You shall observe him,And his own courses will denote him soThat I may save my speech: do but go after,And mark how he continues.
LODOVICO.I am sorry that I am deceiv’d in him.
[_Exeunt._]
SCENE II. Cyprus. A Room in the Castle.
Enter Othello and Emilia.
OTHELLO.You have seen nothing, then?
EMILIA.Nor ever heard, nor ever did suspect.
OTHELLO.Yes, you have seen Cassio and she together.
EMILIA.But then I saw no harm, and then I heardEach syllable that breath made up between them.
OTHELLO.What, did they never whisper?
EMILIA.Never, my lord.
OTHELLO.Nor send you out o’ the way?
EMILIA.Never.
OTHELLO.To fetch her fan, her gloves, her mask, nor nothing?
EMILIA.Never, my lord.
OTHELLO.That’s strange.
EMILIA.I durst, my lord, to wager she is honest,Lay down my soul at stake: if you think other,Remove your thought, it doth abuse your bosom.If any wretch have put this in your head,Let heaven requite it with the serpent’s curse,For if she be not honest, chaste, and true,There’s no man happy. The purest of their wivesIs foul as slander.
OTHELLO.Bid her come hither. Go.
[_Exit Emilia._]
She says enough. Yet she’s a simple bawdThat cannot say as much. This is a subtle whore,A closet lock and key of villainous secrets.And yet she’ll kneel and pray. I have seen her do ’t.
Enter Desdemona and Emilia.
DESDEMONA.My lord, what is your will?
OTHELLO.Pray, chuck, come hither.
DESDEMONA.What is your pleasure?
OTHELLO.Let me see your eyes.Look in my face.
DESDEMONA.What horrible fancy’s this?
OTHELLO.[_To Emilia._] Some of your function, mistress,Leave procreants alone, and shut the door.Cough, or cry hem, if anybody come.Your mystery, your mystery. Nay, dispatch.
[_Exit Emilia._]
DESDEMONA.Upon my knees, what doth your speech import?I understand a fury in your words,But not the words.
OTHELLO.Why, what art thou?
DESDEMONA.Your wife, my lord, your true and loyal wife.
OTHELLO.Come, swear it, damn thyself,Lest, being like one of heaven, the devils themselvesShould fear to seize thee. Therefore be double-damn’d.Swear thou art honest.
DESDEMONA.Heaven doth truly know it.
OTHELLO.Heaven truly knows that thou art false as hell.
DESDEMONA.To whom, my lord? With whom? How am I false?
OTHELLO.O Desdemona, away! away! away!