Authors: William Shakespeare
EMILIA
Look where he comes.
Enter Othello
DESDEMONA
I will not leave him now till Cassio
Be called to him.— How is’t with you, my lord?
OTHELLO
Well, my good lady.— O, hardness to
Aside
dissemble
32
!—
How do you, Desdemona?
DESDEMONA
Well, my good lord.
OTHELLO
Give me your hand. This hand is moist, my lady.
DESDEMONA
It hath felt no age nor known no sorrow.
OTHELLO
This argues
fruitfulness
37
and liberal
Partially aside?
heart:
Hot, hot, and moist. This hand of yours requires
A
sequester
39
from liberty, fasting and prayer,
Much
castigation
40
, exercise devout,
For here’s a young and sweating devil here
That commonly rebels. ’Tis a good hand,
A
frank
43
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
46
,
But our new heraldry is hands, not hearts.
DESDEMONA
I cannot speak of this. Come now, your promise.
OTHELLO
What promise,
chuck
49
?
DESDEMONA
I have sent to bid Cassio come speak with you.
OTHELLO
I have a
salt and sorry rheum
51
offends me:
Lend me thy handkerchief.
DESDEMONA
Here, my lord.
Offers him a handkerchief
OTHELLO
That which I gave you.
DESDEMONA
I have it not about me.
OTHELLO
Not?
DESDEMONA
No, indeed, my lord.
OTHELLO
That’s a fault. That handkerchief
Did an Egyptian to my mother give:
She was a charmer, and could almost read
The thoughts of people: she told her, while she kept it,
’Twould make her
amiable
62
and subdue my father
Entirely to her love, but if she lost it
Or made a gift of it, my father’s eye
Should hold her loathèd and his spirits should hunt
After new
fancies
66
: she, dying, gave it me,
And bid me, when my fate would have me wived,
To give it
her
68
: 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 perdition
As nothing else could match.
DESDEMONA
Is’t possible?
OTHELLO
’Tis true. There’s magic in the
web
73
of it:
A
sibyl
74
, that had numbered in the world
The sun to course two hundred
compasses
75
,
In her
prophetic fury
76
sewed the work:
The worms were
hallowed
77
that did breed the silk,
And it was dyed in
mummy
78
which the skilful
Conserved of
79
maidens’ hearts.
DESDEMONA
Indeed? Is’t true?
OTHELLO
Most veritable: therefore look to’t well.
DESDEMONA
Then would to heaven that I had never seen’t!
OTHELLO
Ha? Wherefore?
DESDEMONA
Why do you speak so
startingly and rash
84
?
OTHELLO
Is’t lost? Is’t gone? Speak, is’t
out o’th’way
85
?
DESDEMONA
Bless us!
OTHELLO
Say you?
DESDEMONA
It is not lost, but what
an if
88
it were?
OTHELLO
How?
89
DESDEMONA
I say it is not lost.
OTHELLO
Fetch’t, let me see’t.
DESDEMONA
Why, so I can, but I will not now.
This is a trick to put me from my suit:
Pray you let Cassio be received again.
OTHELLO
Fetch me the handkerchief: my mind
misgives
95
.
DESDEMONA
Come, come,
You’ll never meet a more
sufficient
97
man.
OTHELLO
The handkerchief.
DESDEMONA
A man that all his time
Hath founded his good fortunes on your love,
Shared dangers with you—
OTHELLO
The handkerchief.
DESDEMONA
In sooth
103
, you are to blame.
OTHELLO
Away!
Exit Othello
EMILIA
Is not this man jealous?
DESDEMONA
I ne’er saw this before.
Sure, there’s some
wonder
107
in this handkerchief:
I am most
unhappy
108
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
111
, and when they are full
They
belch
112
us.
Enter Iago and Cassio
Look you, Cassio and my husband.
IAGO
There is no other way: ’tis she must do’t.
And, lo, the
happiness
115
! Go and importune her.
DESDEMONA
How now, good Cassio, what’s the news with you?
CASSIO
Madam, my former suit: I do beseech you
That by your
virtuous
118
means I may again
Exist, and be a member of his love
Whom I with all the
office
120
of my heart
Entirely honour. I would not be delayed.
If my offence be of such
mortal
122
kind
That
nor
123
my service past, nor present sorrows,
Nor
purposed merit in futurity
124
,
Can ransom me into his love again,
But
126
to know so must be my benefit:
So shall I clothe me in a forced content,
And
shut myself up in
128
some other course,
To fortune’s alms
129
.
DESDEMONA
Alas, thrice-gentle Cassio,
My
advocation
131
is not now in tune;
My lord is not my lord; nor should I know him,
Were he in
favour
133
as in humour altered.
So help me every spirit sanctified
As I have spoken for you all my best
And stood
within the blank
136
of his displeasure
For my free speech! You must awhile be patient:
What I can do I will, and more I will
Than for myself I dare: let that
suffice
139
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
144
into the air,
And like the devil from his very arm
Puffed his own
brother
146
: and is he angry?
Something of
moment
147
then. I will go meet him:
There’s matter in’t indeed, if he be angry.
Exit
DESDEMONA
I prithee do so. Something, sure,
of state
149
,
Either from Venice, or some unhatched
practice
150
Made demonstrable here in Cyprus to him,
Hath
puddled
152
his clear spirit: and in such cases
Men’s natures wrangle with inferior things,
Though great ones are their object. ’Tis even so,
For let our finger ache, and it
indues
155
Our other healthful
members
156
even to a sense
Of pain. Nay, we must think men are not gods,
Nor of them look for such
observancy
158
As fits the bridal
.
Beshrew
159
me much, Emilia,
I was —
unhandsome
160
warrior as I am —
Arraigning
161
his unkindness with my soul,
But now I find I had
suborned the witness
162
,
And he’s indicted falsely.
EMILIA
Pray heaven it be state matters, as you think,
And no conception nor no jealous
toy
165
Concerning you.
DESDEMONA
Alas the day! I never gave him cause.
EMILIA
But jealous souls will not be answered so;
They are not ever jealous for the cause,
But jealous for they’re jealous: it is a monster
Begot upon
171
itself, born on itself.
DESDEMONA
Heaven keep the 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.
Exeunt
[
Desdemona and Emilia
]
CASSIO
I humbly thank your ladyship.
Enter Bianca
BIANCA
Save
178
you, friend Cassio!
CASSIO
What
make you
179
from home?
How is’t with you, my most fair Bianca?
Indeed, 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
184
hours? And lovers’ absent hours
More tedious than the
dial
185
eight score times?
O weary
reck’ning
186
!
CASSIO
Pardon me, Bianca:
I have this while with leaden thoughts been pressed:
But I shall, in a more
continuate
189
time,
Strike off this score
190
of absence. Sweet Bianca,
Gives her
Desdemona’s handkerchief
BIANCA
O Cassio, whence came this?
This is some token from a newer
friend
193
:
To the felt absence now I feel a cause
194
.
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 now
That 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
203
—
As like enough it will — I would 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
womaned
209
.
BIANCA
Why, I pray you?
CASSIO
Not that I love you not.
BIANCA
But that you do not love me.
I pray you
bring
213
me on the way a little,
And say if I shall see you
soon at night
214
.
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
circumstanced
217
.
Exeunt
Enter Othello and Iago
IAGO
Will you think so?
OTHELLO
Think so, Iago?
IAGO
What, to kiss in private?
OTHELLO
An unauthorized kiss!
IAGO
Or to be naked with her friend in bed
An hour or more, not meaning any harm?
OTHELLO
Naked in bed, Iago, and not mean harm?
It is
hypocrisy against the devil
8
:
They that mean virtuously, and yet do so,
The devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heaven.
IAGO
If they do nothing, ’tis a
venial
11
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
19
.
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
23
o’er the infectious house,
Boding
24
to all — he had my handkerchief.
IAGO
Ay, what of that?
OTHELLO
That’s not so good now.
IAGO
What if I had said I had seen him do you wrong?
Or heard him say — as knaves be such
abroad
28
,
Who having by their own
importunate
29
suit,
Or
voluntary dotage
30
of some mistress,
Convincèd
31
or supplied them, cannot choose
But they must blab—
OTHELLO
Hath he said anything?
IAGO
He hath, my lord, but be you well assured,
No more than he’ll unswear.
OTHELLO
What hath he said?
IAGO
Why, that he
did
37
: 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
42
? We say ‘Lie on her’ when
they
belie
43
her. Lie with her! That’s fulsome: handkerchief —
confessions — handkerchief! To confess and be hanged for
his labour: first to be hanged and then to confess: I tremble at
it.
Nature would not invest herself in such shadowing
passion without some instruction
46
. It is not words that shakes
me thus. Pish!
Noses
48
, ears and lips. Is’t possible? Confess?
Handkerchief? O devil!
Falls in a trance
IAGO
Work on,
My
medicine
51
works! Thus credulous fools are caught,
And many worthy and chaste dames even thus,
All guiltless, meet
reproach
53
.— What, ho? My lord?
My lord, I say! Othello!—
Enter Cassio
How now, Cassio?
CASSIO
What’s the matter?
IAGO
My lord is fall’n into an epilepsy.
This is his second fit: he had one yesterday.
CASSIO
Rub him about the temples.
IAGO
The
lethargy
59
must have his quiet course:
If not, he foams at mouth and by and by
Breaks 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
64
speak with you.
[
Exit Cassio
]
How is it, general? Have you not hurt your head?
OTHELLO
Dost thou mock me
66
?
IAGO
I mock you not, by heaven.
Would you would bear your fortune like a man!
OTHELLO
A
hornèd
69
man’s a monster and a beast.
IAGO
There’s many a beast then in a populous city,
And many a
civil
71
monster.
OTHELLO
Did he confess it?
IAGO
Good sir, be a man.
Think every
bearded
74
fellow that’s but yoked
May
draw
75
with you: there’s millions now alive
That nightly lie in those
unproper
76
beds
Which they dare swear
peculiar
77
: your case is better.
O, ’tis the spite of hell, the fiend’s arch-mock,
To
lip
79
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
84
.
Whilst you were here o’erwhelmèd with your grief —
A passion most unsuiting such a man —
Cassio came hither: I
shifted him away
87
,
And
laid good ’scuses upon your ecstasy
88
,
Bade him
anon
89
return and here speak with me,
The which he promised. Do but
encave
90
yourself
And mark the
fleers
91
, 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 when
He hath and is again to
cope
95
your wife.
I say, but mark his gesture. Marry, patience,
Or I shall say you’re all in
all in spleen
97
,
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
103
in all. Will you withdraw?
Othello withdraws
Now will I question Cassio of Bianca,
A
housewife
105
that by selling her desires
Buys herself bread and cloth: it is a creature
That dotes on Cassio — as ’tis the
strumpet
107
’s plague
To
beguile
108
many and be beguiled by one.
He, when he hears of her, cannot
restrain
109
From the excess of laughter. Here he comes.
Enter Cassio
As he shall smile, Othello shall go mad,
And his
unbookish
112
jealousy must conster
Poor Cassio’s smiles, gestures and
light
113
behaviours
Quite in the wrong.— How do you, lieutenant?
CASSIO
The worser that you give me the
addition
115
Whose want
116
even kills me.
IAGO
Ply Desdemona well, and you are
Lowers his voice
sure
on’t
117
.
Now, if this suit lay in Bianca’s power,
How quickly should you
speed
119
!
CASSIO
Alas, poor
caitiff
120
!
He laughs
OTHELLO
Look how he laughs already!
IAGO
I never knew woman love man so.
CASSIO
Alas, poor rogue, I think, indeed, she loves me.
OTHELLO
Now he denies it
faintly
124
, and laughs it out.
IAGO
Do you hear, Cassio?
OTHELLO
Now he importunes him
To tell it o’er: go to, well
said
127
, well said.
IAGO
She gives it out that you shall marry her:
Do you intend it?
CASSIO
Ha, ha, ha!
OTHELLO
Do ye
triumph
131
, Roman? Do you triumph?
CASSIO
I marry? What?
A customer?
132
Prithee bear some
charity to my wit: do not think it so
unwholesome
133
. Ha,
ha, ha!
OTHELLO
So, so, so, so: they laugh that wins.
IAGO
Why, the
cry
136
goes that you marry her.
CASSIO
Prithee say true.
IAGO
I am a very villain
else
138
.
OTHELLO
Have you
scored me
139
? Well.
CASSIO
This is the monkey’s own giving out: she is
persuaded I will marry her, out of her own
love and flattery
141
,
not out of my promise.
OTHELLO
Iago beckons me: now he begins the story.
CASSIO
She was here even now: she
haunts
144
me in every
place. I was the other day talking on the
sea-bank
145
with
certain Venetians, and thither comes the
bauble
146
, and falls
me thus about my neck—
Embraces him
OTHELLO
Crying, ‘O dear Cassio!’ as it were: his gesture
imports
149
it.
CASSIO
So hangs and lolls and weeps upon me, so shakes
and pulls me. Ha, ha, ha!
OTHELLO
Now he tells how she
plucked
152
him to my chamber.
O, I see that
nose
153
of yours, 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
156
fitchew! Marry, a perfumed
one!— What do you mean by this haunting of me?
BIANCA
Let the devil and his
dam
158
haunt you! What did you
mean by that same handkerchief you gave me even now? I
was a fine fool to take it. I must take out the work? A likely
piece of work
161
, that you should find it in your chamber and
know not who left it there. This is some
minx
162
’s token, and I
must take out the work? There, give it your
hobby-horse
163
:
wheresoever you had it, I’ll take out no work
on’t.
She gives him
the handkerchief
CASSIO
How now, my sweet Bianca? How now? How now?
OTHELLO
By heaven, that
should
167
be my handkerchief!
BIANCA
If you’ll come to
supper
168
tonight, you may: if you
will not, come when you are next prepared for.
Exit
IAGO
After her, after her.
CASSIO
I must: she’ll
rail
171
in the streets else.
IAGO
Will you sup there?
CASSIO
Yes, 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
How shall I murder him, Iago?
Comes forward
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
184
woman your wife! She gave it him, and he hath giv’n
it his whore.
OTHELLO
I would have him nine years a-killing. A fine
woman! A fair woman! A sweet woman!
IAGO
Nay, you must forget that.
OTHELLO
Ay, let her rot and perish, and be damned tonight,
for she shall not live. No, my heart is turned to stone: I strike
it, and it hurts my hand. O, the world hath not a sweeter
creature: she might lie by an emperor’s side and command
him tasks.
IAGO
Nay, that’s not
your way
194
.
OTHELLO
Hang her! I do but say what she is: so delicate with
her needle, an admirable musician. O, she will sing the
savageness out of a bear. Of so high and plenteous wit and
invention
198
!