Othello, the Moor of Venice

                                               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 dy'd 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 an 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. – Look you, – Cassio and my husband.

[Enter Cassio and Iago.]

IAGO

There is no other way; 'tis she must do't:And, lo, the happiness! go and impórtune 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 course,To 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 pr'ythee, 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

                                                                     What,If 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,Convincèd 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. – 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. It is not words that shake me thus: – pish! – noses, ears, and lips. – Is't possible? – 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 hornèd 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 desires,Buys 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: —As he shall smile Othello shall go mad;And his unbookish jealousy must construePoor Cassio's smiles, gestures, and light behaviorQuite in the wrong.

[Re-enter Cassio.]

                                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 impórtunes 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 pr'ythee, bear some charity to my wit; do not think it so unwholesome: – ha, ha, ha!

OTHELLO

So, so, so, so: they laugh that win.

IAGO

Faith, the cry goes that you shall marry her.

CASSIO

Pr'ythee, 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 other day talking on the sea bank with certain Venetians, and thither comes the 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 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.

CASSIO

'Tis such another fitchew! marry, a perfumed one.

[Enter Bianca.]

What do you mean by this haunting of me?

BIANCA

Let the devil and his dam 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 that you should find it in your 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

An you'll come to supper to-night, you may; an you will not, come when you 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

Pr'ythee, 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 your wife! 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! a sweet woman!

IAGO

Nay, you must forget that.

OTHELLO

Ay, let her rot, and perish, and be damned to-night; 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.

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! —

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 of it, Iago!

IAGO

If you are so fond over her iniquity, give her patent to offend; for, if it 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 hath contaminated.

OTHELLO

Good, good: the justice of it pleases: very good.

IAGO

And for Cassio, – let me be his undertaker: – you shall hear more by midnight.

OTHELLO

Excellent good. [A trumpet within.]  What trumpet is that same?

IAGO

Something from Venice, sure. 'Tis LodovicoCome from the duke: and, see, your wife is with him.

[Enter Lodovico, Desdemona, and Attendants.]

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, to-night,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 Emilia with Desdemona.]

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, despatch.

[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!

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 fixèd figure for the time, for 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