Authors: William Shakespeare
DESDEMONA
Then heaven have mercy on me!
OTHELLO
Amen, with all my heart!
DESDEMONA
If you
say
39
, I hope you will not kill me.
OTHELLO
Hum!
DESDEMONA
And yet I fear you, for you’re fatal then
When 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
45
.
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 art on thy death-bed.
DESDEMONA
Ay, but not yet to die.
OTHELLO
Presently
61
:
Therefore confess thee freely of thy sin,
For to deny each
article
63
with oath
Cannot remove nor choke the strong
conception
64
That I
do groan withal
65
. Thou art to die.
DESDEMONA
O, heaven have mercy on me!
OTHELLO
I say, amen.
DESDEMONA
And have you mercy too! I never did
Offend
69
you in my life, never loved Cassio
But with such general
warranty
70
of heaven
As I might love: I never gave him token.
OTHELLO
By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in’s hand.
O perjured woman, thou dost
stone
73
my heart,
And makes me call what I intend to do
A 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 confessed.
DESDEMONA
What, my lord?
OTHELLO
That he hath
used
82
thee.
DESDEMONA
How? Unlawfully?
OTHELLO
Ay.
DESDEMONA
He will not say so.
OTHELLO
No, his mouth is stopped:
Honest Iago hath
ta’en order
87
for’t.
DESDEMONA
O, my fear interprets! What, is he dead?
OTHELLO
Had all his hairs been lives, my great revenge
Had
stomach
90
for them all.
DESDEMONA
Alas, he is betrayed 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
96
—
DESDEMONA
But half an hour!
OTHELLO
Being done
98
, there is no pause.
DESDEMONA
But while I say one prayer!
OTHELLO
It is too late.
Smothers her
Emilia at the door
EMILIA
My lord, my lord! What, ho! My lord, my lord!
Within
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
What, ho? My lord, my lord!
Within
OTHELLO
Who’s there?
EMILIA
O, good my lord, I would speak a word with you!
Within
OTHELLO
Yes.— ’Tis Emilia.—
By and by
108
.— She’s dead.
’Tis
like
109
she comes to speak of Cassio’s death.—
The
noise
110
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 eclipse
Of sun and moon, and that th’affrighted globe
Did
yawn at alteration
118
.
EMILIA
I do beseech you
Within
That I may speak with you, O, good my lord!
OTHELLO
I had forgot thee.— O, come in, Emilia.—
Soft
122
, by and by: let me the curtains draw.—
Draws the bed curtains and unlocks the door
Where art thou? What’s the matter with thee now?
Enter Emilia
EMILIA
O, my good lord, yonder’s foul murders done!
OTHELLO
What? Now?
EMILIA
But now, my lord.
OTHELLO
It is the very
error
127
of the moon:
She comes more nearer earth than she was
wont
128
,
And makes men mad.
EMILIA
Cassio, my lord, hath killed a young Venetian
Called Rodorigo.
OTHELLO
Rodorigo killed? And Cassio killed?
EMILIA
No, Cassio is not killed.
OTHELLO
Not Cassio killed? Then murder’s out of tune,
And sweet revenge grows
harsh
135
.
DESDEMONA
O,
falsely
136
, falsely murdered!
EMILIA
Alas! What cry is that?
OTHELLO
That? What?
EMILIA
Out, and alas!
139
That was my lady’s voice.
Help, help, ho, help! O lady, speak again!
Opens the bed curtains
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!
Dies
OTHELLO
Why, how should she be murdered?
EMILIA
Alas, who knows?
OTHELLO
You hear 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 killed her.
EMILIA
O, the more angel she, and you the blacker devil!
OTHELLO
She turned to
folly
153
, and she was a whore.
EMILIA
Thou dost
belie
154
her, and thou art a devil.
OTHELLO
She was false as water.
EMILIA
Thou art rash as fire, to say
That she was false: O, she was heavenly true!
OTHELLO
Cassio did
top
158
her: ask thy husband else.
O, I were damned beneath all depth in hell,
But
160
that I did proceed upon just grounds
To this extremity. Thy husband knew it all.
EMILIA
My husband?
OTHELLO
Thy husband.
EMILIA
That she was false to wedlock?
OTHELLO
Ay, with Cassio. Had she been true,
If heaven would make me such another world
Of one entire and perfect
chrysolite
167
,
I’d not have sold her for it.
EMILIA
My husband?
OTHELLO
Ay, ’twas he that told me
on
170
her first:
An honest man he is, and hates the
slime
171
That sticks on
filthy deeds
172
.
EMILIA
My husband?
OTHELLO
What needs this
iterance
174
, woman? I say thy husband.
EMILIA
O mistress, villainy hath
made mocks with
175
love.
My husband say 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
180
soul
Rot half a grain a day! He lies to th’heart:
She was too fond of her most
filthy bargain
182
.
OTHELLO
Ha?
EMILIA
Do thy worst:
This deed of thine is no more worthy heaven
Than thou wast worthy her.
OTHELLO
Peace, you were best
187
—
EMILIA
Thou hast not half that power to do me harm
As I have to
be hurt
189
. O gull, O dolt,
As ignorant as dirt! Thou hast done a deed —
I care not for thy sword — I’ll
make thee known
191
,
Though I lost twenty lives.— Help, help, ho, help!
The Moor hath killed 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:
To Iago
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 more
Than what he found himself was
apt
203
and true.
EMILIA
But did you ever tell him she was false?
IAGO
I did.
EMILIA
You told a lie, an odious, damnèd 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
209
your tongue.
EMILIA
I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to speak:
My mistress here lies murdered 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
Villainy, villainy, villainy!
I think upon’t, I think: I smell’t: O villainy!
I thought so then. I’ll kill myself for grief.
O villainy! Villainy!
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!
He falls on the bed
EMILIA
Nay, lay thee down and roar,
For thou hast killed the sweetest innocent
That e’er did
lift up eye
228
.
OTHELLO
O, she was
foul
229
!
Rises
I scarce did know you,
uncle
230
: there lies your niece,
Whose breath, indeed, these hands have newly stopped:
I know this act shows horrible and
grim
232
.
GRATIANO
Poor Desdemon! I am glad thy father’s dead:
Thy match was
mortal
234
to him, and pure grief
Shore his old thread
235
in twain. Did he live now,
This sight would make him
do a desperate turn
236
,
Yea, curse his better angel from his side,
And fall to
reprobance
238
.
OTHELLO
’Tis pitiful, but yet Iago knows
That she with Cassio hath the act of shame
A thousand times committed: Cassio confessed it,
And she did gratify his amorous
works
242
With that
recognizance
243
and pledge of love
Which I first gave her: I saw it in his hand:
It was a handkerchief, an
antique
245
token
My father gave my mother.