Othello (12 page)

IAGO
   Why, what is that to you?

Snatches it

EMILIA
   If it be not for some purpose of import,
     Give’t me again: poor lady, she’ll run mad
     When she shall
lack
³⁵⁴
it.

IAGO
  
Be not acknown on’t
³⁵⁵
: I have use for it.
     Go, leave me.

Exit Emilia

     I will in Cassio’s lodging loose this napkin
     And let him find it. Trifles light as air
     Are to the jealous confirmations strong
     As proofs of
holy writ
³⁶⁰
: this may do something.
     The Moor already changes with my poison:
     Dangerous
conceits
³⁶²
are in their natures poisons,
     Which at the first are scarce found to
distaste
³⁶³
,
     But with a little
act
³⁶⁴
upon the blood,
     Burn like the mines of sulphur. I did say so:

Enter Othello

At a distance

     Look, where he comes! Not
poppy
³⁶⁶
, nor mandragora,
     Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world
     Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep
     Which thou
owed’st
³⁶⁹
yesterday.

OTHELLO
   Ha, ha, false to me?

IAGO
   Why how now, general? No more of that.

OTHELLO
  
Avaunt
³⁷²
, be gone! Thou hast set me on the rack:
     I swear ’tis better to be much abused
     Than but to know’t a little.

IAGO
   How now, my lord?

OTHELLO
   What sense had I in her stol’n hours of lust?
     I saw’t not, thought it not, it harmed not me:
     I slept the next night well, fed well, was
free
³⁷⁸
and merry:
     I found not Cassio’s kisses on her lips.
     He that is robbed, not
wanting
³⁸⁰
what is stol’n,
     Let him not know’t and he’s not robbed at all.

IAGO
   I am sorry to hear this.

OTHELLO
   I had been happy, if the general camp,
     
Pioneers
³⁸⁴
and all, had tasted her sweet body,
     
So
³⁸⁵
I had nothing known. O, now, for ever
     Farewell the tranquil mind; farewell content;
     Farewell the
plumèd
³⁸⁷
troops and the big wars
     That makes ambition virtue! O, farewell!
     Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill
trump
³⁸⁹
,
     The spirit-stirring drum, th’ear-piercing
fife
³⁹⁰
,
     The royal banner, and all
quality
³⁹¹
,
     
Pride
³⁹²
, pomp and circumstance of glorious war!
     And, O, you
mortal engines
³⁹³
, whose rude throats
     Th’immortal
Jove’s dread clamours
³⁹⁴
counterfeit,
     Farewell! Othello’s occupation’s gone.

IAGO
   Is’t possible, my lord?

OTHELLO
   Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore;

Grabs him

     Be sure of it: give me the ocular proof,
     Or by the worth of mine eternal soul,
     Thou hadst been better have been born a dog
     Than answer my waked wrath!

IAGO
   Is’t come to this?

OTHELLO
   Make me to see’t, or at the least so prove it
     That the
probation
⁴⁰⁴
bear no hinge nor loop
     To 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
⁴⁰⁸
,
     On horror’s head horrors accumulate,
     Do deeds to make heaven weep, all earth
amazed
⁴¹⁰
,
     For nothing canst thou to damnation add
     Greater than that.

IAGO
   O grace! O heaven forgive me!
     Are you a man? Have you a soul? Or sense?
     
God b’wi’you
⁴¹⁵
, take mine office. O wretched fool,
     That lov’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
⁴¹⁹
, and from hence
     I’ll love no friend,
sith
⁴²⁰
love breeds such offence.

OTHELLO
   Nay, stay: thou
shouldst be
⁴²¹
honest.

IAGO
   I
should be
⁴²²
wise, for honesty’s a fool
     And loses
that
⁴²³
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. My name, that was as fresh
     As
Dian
⁴²⁸
’s visage, is now begrimed and black
     As mine own face. If there be
cords, or knives,
⁴²⁹
     Poison, or fire, or suffocating streams
,
     I’ll not endure it. Would I were satisfied!

IAGO
   I see you are eaten up with passion:
     I do repent me that I put it to you.
     You would be satisfied?

OTHELLO
   Would? Nay, and I will.

IAGO
   And may: but, how? How satisfied, my lord?
     Would you the
supervision
⁴³⁷
grossly gape on?
     Behold her
topped
⁴³⁸
?

OTHELLO
   Death and damnation! O!

IAGO
   It were a tedious difficulty, I think,
     To bring them to that
prospect
⁴⁴¹
: damn them then,
     If ever mortal eyes do see them
bolster
⁴⁴²
     
More
⁴⁴³
than their own. What then? How then?
     What shall I say? Where’s
satisfaction
⁴⁴⁴
?
     It is impossible you should see this,
     Were they as
prime
⁴⁴⁶
as goats, as hot as monkeys,
     As
salt
⁴⁴⁷
as wolves in pride, and fools as gross
     As ignorance made drunk. But yet, I say,
     If
imputation and strong circumstances
⁴⁴⁹
     Which lead directly to the door of truth
     Will give you satisfaction, you might have’t.

OTHELLO
   Give me a living reason she’s disloyal.

IAGO
   I do not like the office,
     But sith I am entered in this cause so far —
     
Pricked
⁴⁵⁵
to’t by foolish honesty and love —
     I will go on. I
lay
⁴⁵⁶
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 grip and wring my hand,
     Cry ‘O sweet creature!’ then kiss me hard,
     As if he plucked up kisses by the roots
     That grew upon my lips, laid his leg
     O’er my thigh, and
sigh
⁴⁶⁷
, and kiss, and then
     Cry, ‘Cursèd 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
⁴⁷¹
:
     ’Tis a
shrewd doubt
⁴⁷²
, though it be but a dream.

IAGO
   And this may help to thicken other proofs
     That do demonstrate thinly.

OTHELLO
   I’ll tear her all to pieces.

IAGO
   Nay, yet be wise:
yet we
⁴⁷⁶
see nothing done,
     She may be honest yet. Tell me but this:
     Have you not sometimes seen a handkerchief
     Spotted 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 today
     See Cassio wipe his beard with.

OTHELLO
   If it be that—

IAGO
   If it be that, or any it was hers,
     It speaks against her with the other proofs.

OTHELLO
   O, that the
slave
⁴⁸⁷
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
⁴⁹⁰
love thus do I blow to heaven.
     ’Tis gone.
     Arise, black vengeance, from thy hollow hell!
     Yield up, O love, thy crown and
hearted
⁴⁹³
throne
     To tyrannous hate! Swell, bosom, with thy
fraught
⁴⁹⁴
,
     For ’tis of
aspics
⁴⁹⁵
’ tongues!

IAGO
   Yet be content.

OTHELLO
   O, blood, blood, blood!

IAGO
   Patience, I say: your mind may change.

OTHELLO
   Never, Iago. Like to the
Pontic sea
⁴⁹⁹
,
     Whose icy current and
compulsive
⁵⁰⁰
course
     Ne’er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on
     To the
Propontic
⁵⁰²
and the Hellespont,
     Even so my bloody thoughts with violent pace
     Shall ne’er look back, ne’er ebb to humble love,
     Till that a
capable
⁵⁰⁵
and wide revenge
     Swallow them up. Now, by yond
marble
⁵⁰⁶
heaven,

Kneels

     In the due reverence of a sacred vow
     I here
engage
⁵⁰⁸
my words.

Attempts to rise

IAGO
   Do not rise yet.

Kneels

     Witness, you ever-burning lights above,
     You elements that
clip
⁵¹¹
us round about,
     Witness that here Iago doth give up
     The
execution
⁵¹³
of his wit, hands, heart,
     To wronged Othello’s service! Let him command,
     And to obey shall be in me
remorse
⁵¹⁵
,
     
What bloody business ever
⁵¹⁶
.

They rise

OTHELLO
   I greet thy love,
     Not with vain thanks, but with acceptance bounteous,
     And will upon the instant put thee
to’t
⁵¹⁹
:
     Within these three days let me hear thee say
     That Cassio’s not alive.

IAGO
   My friend is dead:
     ’Tis done at your request. But let her live.

OTHELLO
   Damn her, lewd
minx
⁵²⁴
! O, damn her, damn her!
     Come, go with me apart: I will withdraw
     To furnish me with some swift means of death
     For the fair devil. Now art thou my lieutenant.

IAGO
   I am your own for ever.

Exeunt

Location: Cyprus (presumably outside the citadel)

Enter Desdemona, Emilia and Clown

DESDEMONA
  Do you know,
sirrah
¹
, where Lieutenant Cassio lies?

CLOWN
   I dare not say he
lies
²
anywhere.

DESDEMONA
   Why, man?

CLOWN
   He’s a soldier, and for me to say a soldier lies, ’tis
  
stabbing
⁵
.

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 he
lies here or he lies there, were to lie
¹⁰
     in mine own throat
.

DESDEMONA
   Can you inquire him out, and be
edified
¹²
by report?

CLOWN
   I will
catechize
¹³
the world for him, that is, make questions,
     and by them answer.

DESDEMONA
   Seek him, bid him come hither: tell him I have
     
moved
¹⁶
my lord on his behalf and hope all will be well.

CLOWN
   To do this is within the compass of man’s wit, and
     therefore I will attempt the doing it.

Exit Clown

DESDEMONA
   Where should I lose the handkerchief, Emilia?

EMILIA
   I know not, madam.

DESDEMONA
   Believe me, I had rather have lost my purse
     Full of
crusadoes
²²
: and but my noble Moor
     Is true of mind and made of no such baseness
     As jealous creatures are, it were enough
     To put him to ill thinking.

EMILIA
   Is he not jealous?

DESDEMONA
   Who, he? I think the
sun where he was born
²⁷
     Drew all such
humours
²⁸
from him.