DESDEMONA.Alas the heavy day, why do you weep?Am I the motive of these tears, my lord?If haply you my father do suspectAn instrument of this your calling back,Lay not your blame on me. If you have lost him,Why, I have lost him too.
OTHELLO.Had it pleas’d heavenTo try me with affliction, had they rain’dAll kinds of sores and shames on my bare head,Steep’d me in poverty to the very lips,Given to captivity me and my utmost hopes,I should have found in some place of my soulA drop of patience. But, alas, to make meA fixed figure for the time of scornTo point his slow unmoving finger at.Yet could I bear that too, well, very well:But there, where I have garner’d up my heart,Where either I must live or bear no life,The fountain from the which my current runs,Or else dries up, to be discarded thence,Or keep it as a cistern for foul toadsTo knot and gender in!—turn thy complexion there,Patience, thou young and rose-lipp’d cherubin,Ay, there, look grim as hell!
DESDEMONA.I hope my noble lord esteems me honest.
OTHELLO.O, ay, as summer flies are in the shambles,That quicken even with blowing. O thou weed,Who art so lovely fair, and smell’st so sweet,That the sense aches at thee,Would thou hadst ne’er been born!
DESDEMONA.Alas, what ignorant sin have I committed?
OTHELLO.Was this fair paper, this most goodly book,Made to write “whore” upon? What committed?Committed! O thou public commoner!I should make very forges of my cheeks,That would to cinders burn up modesty,Did I but speak thy deeds. What committed!Heaven stops the nose at it, and the moon winks;The bawdy wind, that kisses all it meets,Is hush’d within the hollow mine of earth,And will not hear it. What committed!Impudent strumpet!
DESDEMONA.By heaven, you do me wrong.
OTHELLO.Are not you a strumpet?
DESDEMONA.No, as I am a Christian:If to preserve this vessel for my lordFrom any other foul unlawful touchBe not to be a strumpet, I am none.
OTHELLO.What, not a whore?
DESDEMONA.No, as I shall be sav’d.
OTHELLO.Is’t possible?
DESDEMONA.O, heaven forgive us!
OTHELLO.I cry you mercy then.I took you for that cunning whore of VeniceThat married with Othello.—You, mistress,
Enter Emilia.
That have the office opposite to Saint Peter,And keeps the gate of hell. You, you, ay, you!We have done our course; there’s money for your pains.I pray you turn the key, and keep our counsel.
[_Exit._]
EMILIA.Alas, what does this gentleman conceive?How do you, madam? How do you, my good lady?
DESDEMONA.Faith, half asleep.
EMILIA.Good madam, what’s the matter with my lord?
DESDEMONA.With who?
EMILIA.Why, with my lord, madam.
DESDEMONA.Who is thy lord?
EMILIA.He that is yours, sweet lady.
DESDEMONA.I have none. Do not talk to me, Emilia,I cannot weep, nor answer have I noneBut what should go by water. Prithee, tonightLay on my bed my wedding sheets, remember,And call thy husband hither.
EMILIA.Here’s a change indeed!
[_Exit._]
DESDEMONA.’Tis meet I should be us’d so, very meet.How have I been behav’d, that he might stickThe small’st opinion on my least misuse?
Enter Iago and Emilia.
IAGO.What is your pleasure, madam? How is’t with you?
DESDEMONA.I cannot tell. Those that do teach young babesDo it with gentle means and easy tasks.He might have chid me so, for, in good faith,I am a child to chiding.
IAGO.What’s the matter, lady?
EMILIA.Alas, Iago, my lord hath so bewhor’d her,Thrown such despite and heavy terms upon her,As true hearts cannot bear.
DESDEMONA.Am I that name, Iago?
IAGO.What name, fair lady?
DESDEMONA.Such as she says my lord did say I was.
EMILIA.He call’d her whore: a beggar in his drinkCould not have laid such terms upon his callet.
IAGO.Why did he so?
DESDEMONA.I do not know. I am sure I am none such.
IAGO.Do not weep, do not weep: alas the day!
EMILIA.Hath she forsook so many noble matches,Her father, and her country, and her friends,To be call’d whore? would it not make one weep?
DESDEMONA.It is my wretched fortune.
IAGO.Beshrew him for’t!How comes this trick upon him?
DESDEMONA.Nay, heaven doth know.
EMILIA.I will be hang’d, if some eternal villain,Some busy and insinuating rogue,Some cogging, cozening slave, to get some office,Have not devis’d this slander. I’ll be hang’d else.
IAGO.Fie, there is no such man. It is impossible.
DESDEMONA.If any such there be, heaven pardon him!
EMILIA.A halter pardon him, and hell gnaw his bones!Why should he call her whore? who keeps her company?What place? what time? what form? what likelihood?The Moor’s abused by some most villainous knave,Some base notorious knave, some scurvy fellow.O heaven, that such companions thou’dst unfold,And put in every honest hand a whipTo lash the rascals naked through the worldEven from the east to the west!
IAGO.Speak within door.
EMILIA.O, fie upon them! Some such squire he wasThat turn’d your wit the seamy side without,And made you to suspect me with the Moor.
IAGO.You are a fool. Go to.
DESDEMONA.Alas, Iago,What shall I do to win my lord again?Good friend, go to him. For by this light of heaven,I know not how I lost him. Here I kneel.If e’er my will did trespass ’gainst his love,Either in discourse of thought or actual deed,Or that mine eyes, mine ears, or any sense,Delighted them in any other form,Or that I do not yet, and ever did,And ever will, (though he do shake me offTo beggarly divorcement) love him dearly,Comfort forswear me! Unkindness may do much;And his unkindness may defeat my life,But never taint my love. I cannot say “whore,”It does abhor me now I speak the word;To do the act that might the addition earnNot the world’s mass of vanity could make me.
IAGO.I pray you, be content. ’Tis but his humour.The business of the state does him offence,And he does chide with you.
DESDEMONA.If ’twere no other,—
IAGO.’Tis but so, I warrant.
[_Trumpets within._]
Hark, how these instruments summon to supper.The messengers of Venice stay the meat.Go in, and weep not. All things shall be well.
[_Exeunt Desdemona and Emilia._]
Enter Roderigo.
How now, Roderigo?
RODERIGO.I do not find that thou dealest justly with me.
IAGO.What in the contrary?
RODERIGO.Every day thou daffest me with some device, Iago, and rather, as itseems to me now, keepest from me all conveniency than suppliest me withthe least advantage of hope. I will indeed no longer endure it. Nor amI yet persuaded to put up in peace what already I have foolishlysuffered.
IAGO.Will you hear me, Roderigo?
RODERIGO.Faith, I have heard too much, for your words and performances are nokin together.
IAGO.You charge me most unjustly.
RODERIGO.With naught but truth. I have wasted myself out of my means. The jewelsyou have had from me to deliver to Desdemona would half have corrupteda votarist: you have told me she hath received them, and returned meexpectations and comforts of sudden respect and acquaintance, but Ifind none.
IAGO.Well, go to, very well.
RODERIGO.Very well, go to, I cannot go to, man, nor ’tis not very well. Nay, Isay ’tis very scurvy, and begin to find myself fopped in it.
IAGO.Very well.
RODERIGO.I tell you ’tis not very well. I will make myself known to Desdemona.If she will return me my jewels, I will give over my suit and repent myunlawful solicitation. If not, assure yourself I will seek satisfactionof you.
IAGO.You have said now.
RODERIGO.Ay, and said nothing but what I protest intendment of doing.
IAGO.Why, now I see there’s mettle in thee, and even from this instant dobuild on thee a better opinion than ever before. Give me thy hand,Roderigo. Thou hast taken against me a most just exception, but yet Iprotest, I have dealt most directly in thy affair.
RODERIGO.It hath not appeared.
IAGO.I grant indeed it hath not appeared, and your suspicion is not withoutwit and judgement. But, Roderigo, if thou hast that in thee indeed,which I have greater reason to believe now than ever,—I mean purpose,courage, and valour,—this night show it. If thou the next nightfollowing enjoy not Desdemona, take me from this world with treacheryand devise engines for my life.
RODERIGO.Well, what is it? Is it within reason and compass?
IAGO.Sir, there is especial commission come from Venice to depute Cassio inOthello’s place.
RODERIGO.Is that true? Why then Othello and Desdemona return again to Venice.
IAGO.O, no; he goes into Mauritania, and takes away with him the fairDesdemona, unless his abode be lingered here by some accident: whereinnone can be so determinate as the removing of Cassio.
RODERIGO.How do you mean “removing” of him?
IAGO.Why, by making him uncapable of Othello’s place: knocking out hisbrains.
RODERIGO.And that you would have me to do?
IAGO.Ay, if you dare do yourself a profit and a right. He sups tonight witha harlotry, and thither will I go to him. He knows not yet of hishonourable fortune. If you will watch his going thence, which I willfashion to fall out between twelve and one, you may take him at yourpleasure: I will be near to second your attempt, and he shall fallbetween us. Come, stand not amazed at it, but go along with me. I willshow you such a necessity in his death that you shall think yourselfbound to put it on him. It is now high supper-time, and the night growsto waste. About it.
RODERIGO.I will hear further reason for this.
IAGO.And you shall be satisfied.
[_Exeunt._]
SCENE III. Cyprus. Another Room in the Castle.
Enter Othello, Lodovico, Desdemona, Emilia and Attendants.
LODOVICO.I do beseech you, sir, trouble yourself no further.
OTHELLO.O, pardon me; ’twill do me good to walk.
LODOVICO.Madam, good night. I humbly thank your ladyship.
DESDEMONA.Your honour is most welcome.
OTHELLO.Will you walk, sir?—O, Desdemona,—
DESDEMONA.My lord?
OTHELLO.Get you to bed on th’ instant, I will be return’d forthwith. Dismissyour attendant there. Look ’t be done.
DESDEMONA.I will, my lord.
[_Exeunt Othello, Lodovico and Attendants._]
EMILIA.How goes it now? He looks gentler than he did.
DESDEMONA.He says he will return incontinent,He hath commanded me to go to bed,And bade me to dismiss you.
EMILIA.Dismiss me?
DESDEMONA.It was his bidding. Therefore, good Emilia,Give me my nightly wearing, and adieu.We must not now displease him.
EMILIA.I would you had never seen him!
DESDEMONA.So would not I. My love doth so approve him,That even his stubbornness, his checks, his frowns,—Prithee, unpin me,—have grace and favour in them.
EMILIA.I have laid those sheets you bade me on the bed.
DESDEMONA.All’s one. Good faith, how foolish are our minds!If I do die before thee, prithee, shroud meIn one of those same sheets.
EMILIA.Come, come, you talk.
DESDEMONA.My mother had a maid call’d Barbary,She was in love, and he she lov’d prov’d madAnd did forsake her. She had a song of “willow”,An old thing ’twas, but it express’d her fortune,And she died singing it. That song tonightWill not go from my mind. I have much to doBut to go hang my head all at one sideAnd sing it like poor Barbary. Prithee dispatch.
EMILIA.Shall I go fetch your night-gown?
DESDEMONA.No, unpin me here.This Lodovico is a proper man.
EMILIA.A very handsome man.
DESDEMONA.He speaks well.
EMILIA.I know a lady in Venice would have walked barefoot to Palestine for atouch of his nether lip.
DESDEMONA.[_Singing._]_The poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore tree,Sing all a green willow.Her hand on her bosom, her head on her knee,Sing willow, willow, willow.The fresh streams ran by her, and murmur’d her moans,Sing willow, willow, willow;Her salt tears fell from her, and soften’d the stones;—_
Lay by these:—
[_Sings._]_Sing willow, willow, willow._
Prithee hie thee. He’ll come anon.
[_Sings._]_Sing all a green willow must be my garland.Let nobody blame him, his scorn I approve,—_
Nay, that’s not next. Hark! who is’t that knocks?
EMILIA.It’s the wind.
DESDEMONA.[_Sings._]_I call’d my love false love; but what said he then?Sing willow, willow, willow:If I court mo women, you’ll couch with mo men._
So get thee gone; good night. Mine eyes do itch;Doth that bode weeping?
EMILIA.’Tis neither here nor there.
DESDEMONA.I have heard it said so. O, these men, these men!Dost thou in conscience think,—tell me, Emilia,—That there be women do abuse their husbandsIn such gross kind?
EMILIA.There be some such, no question.
DESDEMONA.Wouldst thou do such a deed for all the world?
EMILIA.Why, would not you?
DESDEMONA.No, by this heavenly light!
EMILIA.Nor I neither by this heavenly light,I might do’t as well i’ the dark.
DESDEMONA.Wouldst thou do such a deed for all the world?
EMILIA.The world’s a huge thing. It is a great priceFor a small vice.
DESDEMONA.In troth, I think thou wouldst not.
EMILIA.In troth, I think I should, and undo’t when I had done. Marry, I wouldnot do such a thing for a joint-ring, nor for measures of lawn, nor forgowns, petticoats, nor caps, nor any petty exhibition; but, for thewhole world—why, who would not make her husband a cuckold to make him amonarch? I should venture purgatory for ’t.
DESDEMONA.Beshrew me, if I would do such a wrong for the whole world.
EMILIA.Why, the wrong is but a wrong i’ the world; and having the world foryour labour, ’tis a wrong in your own world, and you might quickly makeit right.
DESDEMONA.I do not think there is any such woman.
EMILIA.Yes, a dozen; and as many to the vantage as would store the world theyplayed for.But I do think it is their husbands’ faultsIf wives do fall: say that they slack their duties,And pour our treasures into foreign laps;Or else break out in peevish jealousies,Throwing restraint upon us. Or say they strike us,Or scant our former having in despite.Why, we have galls; and though we have some grace,Yet have we some revenge. Let husbands knowTheir wives have sense like them: they see, and smellAnd have their palates both for sweet and sour,As husbands have. What is it that they doWhen they change us for others? Is it sport?I think it is. And doth affection breed it?I think it doth. Is’t frailty that thus errs?It is so too. And have not we affections,Desires for sport, and frailty, as men have?Then let them use us well: else let them know,The ills we do, their ills instruct us so.
DESDEMONA.Good night, good night. Heaven me such usage send,Not to pick bad from bad, but by bad mend!
[_Exeunt._]
ACT V
SCENE I. Cyprus. A Street.
Enter Iago and Roderigo.
IAGO.Here, stand behind this bulk. Straight will he come.Wear thy good rapier bare, and put it home.Quick, quick, fear nothing; I’ll be at thy elbow.It makes us, or it mars us, think on that,And fix most firm thy resolution.
RODERIGO.Be near at hand, I may miscarry in ’t.
IAGO.Here, at thy hand. Be bold, and take thy stand.
[_Retires to a little distance._]
RODERIGO.I have no great devotion to the deed;And yet he hath given me satisfying reasons.’Tis but a man gone. Forth, my sword; he dies.
[_Goes to his stand._]
IAGO.I have rubb’d this young quat almost to the sense,And he grows angry. Now, whether he kill Cassio,Or Cassio him, or each do kill the other,Every way makes my gain. Live Roderigo,He calls me to a restitution largeOf gold and jewels that I bobb’d from him,As gifts to Desdemona.It must not be. If Cassio do remain,He hath a daily beauty in his lifeThat makes me ugly. And besides, the MoorMay unfold me to him; there stand I in much peril.No, he must die. But so, I hear him coming.
Enter Cassio.
RODERIGO.I know his gait; ’tis he. Villain, thou diest!
[_Rushes out, and makes a pass at Cassio._]
CASSIO.That thrust had been mine enemy indeed,But that my coat is better than thou know’st.I will make proof of thine.
[_Draws, and wounds Roderigo._]
RODERIGO.O, I am slain!
[_Iago rushes from his post, cuts Cassio behind in the leg, and exit._]
CASSIO.I am maim’d forever. Help, ho! murder, murder!
[_Falls._]
Enter Othello.
OTHELLO.The voice of Cassio. Iago keeps his word.
RODERIGO.O, villain that I am!
OTHELLO.It is even so.
CASSIO.O, help, ho! light! a surgeon!
OTHELLO.’Tis he. O brave Iago, honest and just,That hast such noble sense of thy friend’s wrong!Thou teachest me,—minion, your dear lies dead,And your unbless’d fate hies. Strumpet, I come!Forth of my heart those charms, thine eyes, are blotted;Thy bed, lust-stain’d, shall with lust’s blood be spotted.
[_Exit._]
Enter Lodovico and Gratiano.
CASSIO.What, ho! No watch? No passage? murder, murder!
GRATIANO.’Tis some mischance; the cry is very direful.
CASSIO.O, help!
LODOVICO.Hark!
RODERIGO.O wretched villain!
LODOVICO.Two or three groan. It is a heavy night.These may be counterfeits. Let’s think’t unsafeTo come in to the cry without more help.
RODERIGO.Nobody come? Then shall I bleed to death.
Enter Iago with a light.
LODOVICO.Hark!
GRATIANO.Here’s one comes in his shirt, with light and weapons.
IAGO.Who’s there? Whose noise is this that cries on murder?
LODOVICO.We do not know.
IAGO.Did not you hear a cry?
CASSIO.Here, here! for heaven’s sake, help me!
IAGO.What’s the matter?
GRATIANO.This is Othello’s ancient, as I take it.
LODOVICO.The same indeed, a very valiant fellow.
IAGO.What are you here that cry so grievously?
CASSIO.Iago? O, I am spoil’d, undone by villains!Give me some help.
IAGO.O me, lieutenant! What villains have done this?
CASSIO.I think that one of them is hereabout,And cannot make away.
IAGO.O treacherous villains![_To Lodovico and Gratiano._] What are you there?Come in and give some help.
RODERIGO.O, help me here!
CASSIO.That’s one of them.
IAGO.O murderous slave! O villain!
[_Stabs Roderigo._]
RODERIGO.O damn’d Iago! O inhuman dog!
IAGO.Kill men i’ the dark! Where be these bloody thieves?How silent is this town! Ho! murder! murder!What may you be? Are you of good or evil?
LODOVICO.As you shall prove us, praise us.
IAGO.Signior Lodovico?
LODOVICO.He, sir.
IAGO.I cry you mercy. Here’s Cassio hurt by villains.
GRATIANO.Cassio!
IAGO.How is’t, brother?
CASSIO.My leg is cut in two.
IAGO.Marry, heaven forbid!Light, gentlemen, I’ll bind it with my shirt.
Enter Bianca.
BIANCA.What is the matter, ho? Who is’t that cried?
IAGO.Who is’t that cried?
BIANCA.O my dear Cassio, my sweet Cassio! O Cassio, Cassio, Cassio!
IAGO.O notable strumpet! Cassio, may you suspectWho they should be that have thus mangled you?
CASSIO.No.
GRATIANO.I am sorry to find you thus; I have been to seek you.
IAGO.Lend me a garter. So.—O, for a chair,To bear him easily hence!
BIANCA.Alas, he faints! O Cassio, Cassio, Cassio!
IAGO.Gentlemen all, I do suspect this trashTo be a party in this injury.Patience awhile, good Cassio. Come, come;Lend me a light. Know we this face or no?Alas, my friend and my dear countrymanRoderigo? No. Yes, sure; O heaven! Roderigo.
GRATIANO.What, of Venice?
IAGO.Even he, sir. Did you know him?
GRATIANO.Know him? Ay.
IAGO.Signior Gratiano? I cry you gentle pardon.These bloody accidents must excuse my manners,That so neglected you.
GRATIANO.I am glad to see you.
IAGO.How do you, Cassio? O, a chair, a chair!
GRATIANO.Roderigo!
IAGO.He, he, ’tis he.
[_A chair brought in._]
O, that’s well said; the chair.Some good man bear him carefully from hence,I’ll fetch the general’s surgeon. [_To Bianca_] For you, mistress,Save you your labour. He that lies slain here, Cassio,Was my dear friend. What malice was between you?
CASSIO.None in the world. Nor do I know the man.
IAGO.[_To Bianca._] What, look you pale?—O, bear him out o’ the air.
[_Cassio and Roderigo are borne off._]
Stay you, good gentlemen.—Look you pale, mistress?Do you perceive the gastness of her eye?Nay, if you stare, we shall hear more anon.Behold her well. I pray you, look upon her.Do you see, gentlemen? Nay, guiltiness will speakThough tongues were out of use.
Enter Emilia.
EMILIA.’Las, what’s the matter? What’s the matter, husband?
IAGO.Cassio hath here been set on in the darkBy Roderigo, and fellows that are ’scap’d.He’s almost slain, and Roderigo dead.
EMILIA.Alas, good gentleman! alas, good Cassio!
IAGO.This is the fruit of whoring. Prithee, Emilia,Go know of Cassio where he supp’d tonight.What, do you shake at that?
BIANCA.He supp’d at my house, but I therefore shake not.
IAGO.O, did he so? I charge you go with me.
EMILIA.Fie, fie upon thee, strumpet!
BIANCA.I am no strumpet, but of life as honestAs you that thus abuse me.
EMILIA.As I? Foh! fie upon thee!
IAGO.Kind gentlemen, let’s go see poor Cassio dress’d.Come, mistress, you must tell’s another tale.Emilia, run you to the citadel,And tell my lord and lady what hath happ’d.Will you go on afore? [_Aside._] This is the nightThat either makes me or fordoes me quite.
[_Exeunt._]
SCENE II. Cyprus. A Bedchamber in the castle.
Desdemona in bed asleep; a light burning.
Enter Othello.
OTHELLO.It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul,Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars!It is the cause. Yet I’ll not shed her blood,Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow,And smooth as monumental alabaster.Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men.Put out the light, and then put out the light:If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,I can again thy former light restore,Should I repent me. But once put out thy light,Thou cunning’st pattern of excelling nature,I know not where is that Promethean heatThat can thy light relume. When I have pluck’d thy rose,I cannot give it vital growth again,It must needs wither. I’ll smell it on the tree.
[_Kissing her._]
O, balmy breath, that dost almost persuadeJustice to break her sword! One more, one more.Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee,And love thee after. One more, and this the last.So sweet was ne’er so fatal. I must weep,But they are cruel tears. This sorrow’s heavenly,It strikes where it doth love. She wakes.
DESDEMONA.Who’s there? Othello?
OTHELLO.Ay, Desdemona.
DESDEMONA.Will you come to bed, my lord?
OTHELLO.Have you pray’d tonight, Desdemona?
DESDEMONA.Ay, my lord.
OTHELLO.If you bethink yourself of any crimeUnreconcil’d as yet to heaven and grace,Solicit for it straight.
DESDEMONA.Alack, my lord, what may you mean by that?
OTHELLO.Well, do it, and be brief, I will walk by.I would not kill thy unprepared spirit,No, heaven forfend! I would not kill thy soul.
DESDEMONA.Talk you of killing?
OTHELLO.Ay, I do.
DESDEMONA.Then heaven have mercy on me!
OTHELLO.Amen, with all my heart!
DESDEMONA.If you say so, I hope you will not kill me.
OTHELLO.Hum!
DESDEMONA.And yet I fear you, for you are fatal thenWhen your eyes roll so: why I should fear I know not,Since guiltiness I know not, but yet I feel I fear.
OTHELLO.Think on thy sins.
DESDEMONA.They are loves I bear to you.
OTHELLO.Ay, and for that thou diest.
DESDEMONA.That death’s unnatural that kills for loving.Alas, why gnaw you so your nether lip?Some bloody passion shakes your very frame.These are portents; but yet I hope, I hope,They do not point on me.
OTHELLO.Peace, and be still!
DESDEMONA.I will so. What’s the matter?
OTHELLO.That handkerchief which I so loved and gave thee,Thou gav’st to Cassio.
DESDEMONA.No, by my life and soul!Send for the man and ask him.
OTHELLO.Sweet soul, take heed, take heed of perjury,Thou’rt on thy death-bed.
DESDEMONA.Ay, but not yet to die.
OTHELLO.Yes, presently:Therefore confess thee freely of thy sin.For to deny each article with oathCannot remove nor choke the strong conceptionThat I do groan withal. Thou art to die.
DESDEMONA.Then, Lord have mercy on me!
OTHELLO.I say, amen.
DESDEMONA.And have you mercy too! I never didOffend you in my life, never lov’d CassioBut with such general warranty of heavenAs I might love. I never gave him token.
OTHELLO.By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in ’s hand.O perjur’d woman, thou dost stone my heart,And mak’st me call what I intend to doA murder, which I thought a sacrifice.I saw the handkerchief.
DESDEMONA.He found it then.I never gave it him. Send for him hither.Let him confess a truth.
OTHELLO.He hath confess’d.
DESDEMONA.What, my lord?
OTHELLO.That he hath us’d thee.
DESDEMONA.How? Unlawfully?
OTHELLO.Ay.
DESDEMONA.He will not say so.
OTHELLO.No, his mouth is stopp’d.Honest Iago hath ta’en order for ’t.
DESDEMONA.O, my fear interprets! What, is he dead?
OTHELLO.Had all his hairs been lives, my great revengeHad stomach for them all.
DESDEMONA.Alas, he is betray’d, and I undone!
OTHELLO.Out, strumpet! Weep’st thou for him to my face?
DESDEMONA.O, banish me, my lord, but kill me not!
OTHELLO.Down, strumpet!
DESDEMONA.Kill me tomorrow, let me live tonight!
OTHELLO.Nay, if you strive,—
DESDEMONA.But half an hour!
OTHELLO.Being done, there is no pause.
DESDEMONA.But while I say one prayer!
OTHELLO.It is too late.
[_Smothers her._]
EMILIA.[_Within._] My lord, my lord! what, ho! my lord, my lord!
OTHELLO.What noise is this? Not dead? Not yet quite dead?I that am cruel am yet merciful,I would not have thee linger in thy pain.So, so.
EMILIA.[_Within._] What, ho! my lord, my lord!
OTHELLO.Who’s there?
EMILIA.[_Within._] O, good my lord, I would speak a word with you!
OTHELLO.Yes. ’Tis Emilia, by and by. She’s dead.’Tis like she comes to speak of Cassio’s death;The noise was high.—Ha! no more moving?Still as the grave. Shall she come in? Were’t good?I think she stirs again; no. What’s best to do?If she come in, she’ll sure speak to my wife.My wife! my wife! what wife? I have no wife.O, insupportable! O heavy hour!Methinks it should be now a huge eclipseOf sun and moon, and that the affrighted globeShould yawn at alteration.
EMILIA.[_Within._] I do beseech youThat I may speak with you, O, good my lord!
OTHELLO.I had forgot thee: O, come in, Emilia.Soft, by and by; let me the curtains draw.Where art thou?
[_Unlocks the door._]
Enter Emilia.
What’s the matter with thee now?
EMILIA.O, my good lord, yonder’s foul murders done!
OTHELLO.What, now?
EMILIA.But now, my lord.
OTHELLO.It is the very error of the moon,She comes more nearer earth than she was wontAnd makes men mad.
EMILIA.Cassio, my lord, hath kill’d a young VenetianCall’d Roderigo.
OTHELLO.Roderigo kill’d?And Cassio kill’d?
EMILIA.No, Cassio is not kill’d.
OTHELLO.Not Cassio kill’d! Then murder’s out of tune,And sweet revenge grows harsh.
DESDEMONA.O, falsely, falsely murder’d!
EMILIA.Alas, what cry is that?
OTHELLO.That? What?
EMILIA.Out, and alas! That was my lady’s voice.Help! help, ho! help! O lady, speak again,Sweet Desdemona! O sweet mistress, speak!
DESDEMONA.A guiltless death I die.
EMILIA.O, who hath done this deed?
DESDEMONA.Nobody; I myself. Farewell.Commend me to my kind lord. O, farewell!
[_She dies._]
OTHELLO.Why, how should she be murder’d?
EMILIA.Alas, who knows?
OTHELLO.You heard her say herself, it was not I.
EMILIA.She said so. I must needs report the truth.
OTHELLO.She’s like a liar, gone to burning hell.’Twas I that kill’d her.
EMILIA.O, the more angel she,And you the blacker devil!
OTHELLO.She turn’d to folly, and she was a whore.
EMILIA.Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil.
OTHELLO.She was false as water.
EMILIA.Thou art rash as fire, to sayThat she was false: O, she was heavenly true!
OTHELLO.Cassio did top her; ask thy husband else.O, I were damn’d beneath all depth in hell,But that I did proceed upon just groundsTo this extremity. Thy husband knew it all.
EMILIA.My husband?
OTHELLO.Thy husband.
EMILIA.That she was false to wedlock?
OTHELLO.Ay, with Cassio. Nay, had she been true,If heaven would make me such another worldOf one entire and perfect chrysolite,I’d not have sold her for it.
EMILIA.My husband?
OTHELLO.Ay, ’twas he that told me first.An honest man he is, and hates the slimeThat sticks on filthy deeds.
EMILIA.My husband?
OTHELLO.What needs this iterance, woman? I say thy husband.
EMILIA.O mistress, villainy hath made mocks with love!My husband say that she was false?
OTHELLO.He, woman;I say thy husband: dost understand the word?My friend, thy husband, honest, honest Iago.
EMILIA.If he say so, may his pernicious soulRot half a grain a day! he lies to the heart.She was too fond of her most filthy bargain.
OTHELLO.Ha!
EMILIA.Do thy worst:This deed of thine is no more worthy heavenThan thou wast worthy her.
OTHELLO.Peace, you were best.
EMILIA.Thou hast not half that power to do me harmAs I have to be hurt. O gull! O dolt!As ignorant as dirt! Thou hast done a deed(I care not for thy sword) I’ll make thee known,Though I lost twenty lives. Help! help, ho! help!The Moor hath kill’d my mistress! Murder, murder!
Enter Montano, Gratiano and Iago.
MONTANO.What is the matter? How now, general?
EMILIA.O, are you come, Iago? You have done well,That men must lay their murders on your neck.
GRATIANO.What is the matter?
EMILIA.Disprove this villain, if thou be’st a man.He says thou told’st him that his wife was false.I know thou didst not, thou’rt not such a villain.Speak, for my heart is full.
IAGO.I told him what I thought, and told no moreThan what he found himself was apt and true.
EMILIA.But did you ever tell him she was false?
IAGO.I did.
EMILIA.You told a lie, an odious, damned lie;Upon my soul, a lie; a wicked lie.She false with Cassio? Did you say with Cassio?
IAGO.With Cassio, mistress. Go to, charm your tongue.
EMILIA.I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to speak.My mistress here lies murder’d in her bed.
ALL.O heavens forfend!
EMILIA.And your reports have set the murder on.
OTHELLO.Nay, stare not, masters, it is true indeed.
GRATIANO.’Tis a strange truth.
MONTANO.O monstrous act!
EMILIA.Villany, villany, villany!I think upon’t, I think I smell’t; O villany!I thought so then. I’ll kill myself for grief.O villany, villany!
IAGO.What, are you mad? I charge you, get you home.
EMILIA.Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak.’Tis proper I obey him, but not now.Perchance, Iago, I will ne’er go home.
OTHELLO.O! O! O!
[_Hanging over his wife._]
EMILIA.Nay, lay thee down and roar;For thou hast kill’d the sweetest innocentThat e’er did lift up eye.
OTHELLO.[_Rising._] O, she was foul!I scarce did know you, uncle, there lies your niece,Whose breath indeed these hands have newly stopp’d.I know this act shows horrible and grim.
GRATIANO.Poor Desdemona! I am glad thy father’s dead.Thy match was mortal to him, and pure griefShore his old thread in twain: did he live now,This sight would make him do a desperate turn,Yea, curse his better angel from his side,And fall to reprobance.
OTHELLO.’Tis pitiful. But yet Iago knowsThat she with Cassio hath the act of shameA thousand times committed; Cassio confess’d it,And she did gratify his amorous worksWith that recognizance and pledge of loveWhich I first gave her; I saw it in his hand.It was a handkerchief, an antique tokenMy father gave my mother.
EMILIA.O heaven! O heavenly powers!
IAGO.Come, hold your peace.
EMILIA.’Twill out, ’twill out. I peace?No, I will speak as liberal as the north.Let heaven and men and devils, let them all,All, all, cry shame against me, yet I’ll speak.
IAGO.Be wise, and get you home.
EMILIA.I will not.
[_Iago offers to stab his wife._]
GRATIANO.Fie!Your sword upon a woman?
EMILIA.O thou dull Moor, that handkerchief thou speak’st ofI found by fortune and did give my husband;For often with a solemn earnestness,More than indeed belong’d to such a trifle,He begg’d of me to steal it.
IAGO.Villanous whore!
EMILIA.She give it Cassio! no, alas, I found it,And I did give’t my husband.
IAGO.Filth, thou liest!
EMILIA.By heaven, I do not, I do not, gentlemen.O murderous coxcomb! What should such a foolDo with so good a wife?
OTHELLOAre there not stones in heavenBut what serve for thunder? Precious villain!
[_Iago stabs Emilia and then runs out._]
GRATIANO.The woman falls. Sure, he hath kill’d his wife.
EMILIA.Ay, ay. O, lay me by my mistress’ side.
GRATIANO.He’s gone, but his wife’s kill’d.
MONTANO.’Tis a notorious villain. Take you this weapon,Which I have here recover’d from the Moor.Come, guard the door without, let him not pass,But kill him rather. I’ll after that same villain,For ’tis a damned slave.
[_Exit Montano and Gratiano._]
OTHELLO.I am not valiant neither,But every puny whipster gets my sword.But why should honour outlive honesty?Let it go all.
EMILIA.What did thy song bode, lady?Hark, canst thou hear me? I will play the swan,And die in music.[_Sings._] _Willow, willow, willow._Moor, she was chaste. She lov’d thee, cruel Moor,So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true;So speaking as I think, I die, I die.
[_She dies._]
OTHELLO.I have another weapon in this chamber,It is a sword of Spain, the ice-brook’s temper.O, here it is. Uncle, I must come forth.
GRATIANO.[_Within._] If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear;Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer.
OTHELLO.Look in upon me then, and speak with me,Or, naked as I am, I will assault thee.
Enter Gratiano.
GRATIANO.What is the matter?
OTHELLO.Behold, I have a weapon.A better never did itself sustainUpon a soldier’s thigh: I have seen the dayThat with this little arm and this good swordI have made my way through more impedimentsThan twenty times your stop. But, O vain boast!Who can control his fate? ’Tis not so now.Be not afraid, though you do see me weapon’d.Here is my journey’s end, here is my butt,And very sea-mark of my utmost sail.Do you go back dismay’d? ’Tis a lost fear.Man but a rush against Othello’s breast,And he retires. Where should Othello go?Now, how dost thou look now? O ill-starr’d wench,Pale as thy smock, when we shall meet at compt,This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven,And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl!Even like thy chastity.O cursed, cursed slave! Whip me, ye devils,From the possession of this heavenly sight!Blow me about in winds, roast me in sulphur,Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!O Desdemon! Dead, Desdemon! dead! Oh, oh!
Enter Lodovico, Montano, Cassio carried in a chair, and Officers withIago prisoner.
LODOVICO.Where is this rash and most unfortunate man?
OTHELLO.That’s he that was Othello. Here I am.
LODOVICO.Where is that viper? Bring the villain forth.
OTHELLO.I look down towards his feet; but that’s a fable.If that thou be’st a devil, I cannot kill thee.
[_Wounds Iago._]
LODOVICO.Wrench his sword from him.
IAGO.I bleed, sir, but not kill’d.
OTHELLO.I am not sorry neither. I’d have thee live,For in my sense ’tis happiness to die.
LODOVICO.O thou Othello, that wert once so good,Fall’n in the practice of a damned slave,What shall be said to thee?
OTHELLO.Why, anything;An honourable murderer, if you will.For naught did I in hate, but all in honour.
LODOVICO.This wretch hath part confess’d his villany.Did you and he consent in Cassio’s death?
OTHELLO.Ay.
CASSIO.Dear general, I never gave you cause.
OTHELLO.I do believe it, and I ask your pardon.Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devilWhy he hath thus ensnar’d my soul and body?
IAGO.Demand me nothing. What you know, you know.From this time forth I never will speak word.
LODOVICO.What, not to pray?
GRATIANO.Torments will ope your lips.
OTHELLO.Well, thou dost best.
LODOVICO.Sir, you shall understand what hath befall’n,Which, as I think, you know not. Here is a letterFound in the pocket of the slain Roderigo,And here another. The one of them importsThe death of Cassio, to be undertookBy Roderigo.
OTHELLO.O villain!
CASSIO.Most heathenish and most gross!
LODOVICO.Now here’s another discontented paper,Found in his pocket too; and this, it seems,Roderigo meant to have sent this damned villain,But that, belike, Iago in the interimCame in and satisfied him.
OTHELLO.O the pernicious caitiff!How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchiefThat was my wife’s?
CASSIO.I found it in my chamber.And he himself confess’d but even now,That there he dropp’d it for a special purposeWhich wrought to his desire.
OTHELLO.O fool! fool! fool!
CASSIO.There is besides in Roderigo’s letter,How he upbraids Iago, that he made himBrave me upon the watch, whereon it cameThat I was cast. And even but now he spake,After long seeming dead, Iago hurt him,Iago set him on.
LODOVICO.You must forsake this room, and go with us.Your power and your command is taken off,And Cassio rules in Cyprus. For this slave,If there be any cunning crueltyThat can torment him much and hold him long,It shall be his. You shall close prisoner rest,Till that the nature of your fault be knownTo the Venetian state. Come, bring away.
OTHELLO.Soft you; a word or two before you go.I have done the state some service, and they know’t.No more of that. I pray you, in your letters,When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,Speak of me as I am. Nothing extenuate,Nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speakOf one that loved not wisely, but too well;Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought,Perplex’d in the extreme; of one whose hand,Like the base Judean, threw a pearl awayRicher than all his tribe; of one whose subdu’d eyes,Albeit unused to the melting mood,Drop tears as fast as the Arabian treesTheir medicinal gum. Set you down this.And say besides, that in Aleppo once,Where a malignant and a turban’d TurkBeat a Venetian and traduc’d the state,I took by the throat the circumcised dog,And smote him, thus.
[_Stabs himself._]
LODOVICO.O bloody period!
GRATIANO.All that’s spoke is marr’d.
OTHELLO.I kiss’d thee ere I kill’d thee. No way but this,Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.
[_Falling upon Desdemona._]
CASSIO.This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon,For he was great of heart.
LODOVICO.[_To Iago._] O Spartan dog,More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea,Look on the tragic loading of this bed.This is thy work. The object poisons sight,Let it be hid. Gratiano, keep the house,And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor,For they succeed on you. To you, lord governor,Remains the censure of this hellish villain.The time, the place, the torture, O, enforce it!Myself will straight aboard, and to the stateThis heavy act with heavy heart relate.
[_Exeunt._]