Othello

you come in:

     I will bestow you where you shall have time

     To speak your bosom⁵⁷ freely.CASSIO   I am much bound to you.[Exeunt]

Act 3 Scene 2running scene 7 continues

Enter Othello, Iago and GentlemenOTHELLO   These letters give, Iago, to the pilot,Gives him letters

     And by him do my duties² to the senate:

     That done, I will be walking on the works³.

     Repair⁴ there to me.IAGO   Well, my good lord, I’ll do’t.OTHELLO   This fortification, gentlemen, shall we see’t?GENTLEMEN   We’ll wait upon your lordship.Exeunt

Act 3 Scene 3running scene 7 continues

Enter Desdemona, Cassio and EmiliaDESDEMONA   Be thou assured, good Cassio, I will do

     All my abilities in thy behalf.EMILIA   Good madam, do: I warrant³ it grieves my husband

     As if the cause were his.DESDEMONA   O, that’s an honest fellow. Do not doubt, Cassio,

     But I will have my lord and you again

     As friendly as you were.CASSIO   Bounteous madam,

     Whatever shall become of Michael Cassio,

     He’s never anything but your true servant.DESDEMONA   I know’t: I thank you. You do love my lord:

     You have known him long, and be you well assured

     He shall in strangeness¹³ stand no further off

     Than in a politic¹⁴ distance.CASSIO   Ay, but, lady,

     That policy may either last so long,

     Or feed upon such nice and waterish¹⁷ diet,

     Or breed itself so out of circumstances¹⁸,

     That I being absent and my place supplied¹⁹,

     My general will forget my love and service.DESDEMONA   Do not doubt²¹ that: before Emilia here

     I give thee warrant²² of thy place. Assure thee,

     If I do vow a friendship, I’ll perform it

     To the last article: my lord shall never rest,

     I’ll watch him tame²⁵ and talk him out of patience;

     His bed shall seem a school, his board a shrift²⁶:

     I’ll intermingle everything he does

     With Cassio’s suit. Therefore be merry, Cassio,

     For thy solicitor²⁹ shall rather die

     Than give thy cause away³⁰.

Enter Othello and IagoEMILIA   Madam, here comes my lord.CASSIO   Madam, I’ll take my leave.DESDEMONA   Why, stay and hear me speak.CASSIO   Madam, not now: I am very ill at ease,

     Unfit for mine own purposes.DESDEMONA   Well, do your discretion³⁶.Exit Cassio

IAGO   Ha? I like not that.OTHELLO   What dost thou say?IAGO   Nothing, my lord; or if — I know not what.OTHELLO   Was not that Cassio parted from my wife?IAGO   Cassio, my lord? No, sure, I cannot think it,

     That he would steal away so guilty-like,

     Seeing your coming.OTHELLO   I do believe ’twas he.DESDEMONA   How now, my lord?

     I have been talking with a suitor⁴⁶ here,

     A man that languishes in your displeasure.OTHELLO   Who is’t you mean?DESDEMONA   Why, your lieutenant, Cassio. Good my lord,

     If I have any grace⁵⁰ or power to move you,

     His present reconciliation take⁵¹,

     For if he be not one that truly loves you,

     That errs in ignorance and not in cunning⁵³,

     I have no judgement in an honest face.

     I prithee call him back.OTHELLO   Went he hence now?DESDEMONA   Ay, sooth⁵⁷; so humbled

     That he hath left part of his grief with me

     To suffer with him. Good love, call him back.OTHELLO   Not now, sweet Desdemon: some other time.DESDEMONA   But shall’t be shortly?OTHELLO   The sooner, sweet, for you.DESDEMONA   Shall’t be tonight at supper?OTHELLO   No, not tonight.DESDEMONA   Tomorrow dinner⁶⁵, then?OTHELLO   I shall not dine at home:

     I meet the captains at the citadel.DESDEMONA   Why then, tomorrow night, on Tuesday morn,

     On Tuesday noon, or night; on Wednesday morn:

     I prithee name the time, but let it not

     Exceed three days. In faith, he’s penitent:

     And yet his trespass⁷², in our common reason —

     Save that they say the wars must make example

     Out of her best⁷⁴ — is not almost a fault

     T’incur a private check⁷⁵. When shall he come?

     Tell me, Othello: I wonder in my soul

     What you would ask me that I should deny,

     Or stand so mamm’ring⁷⁸ on. What? Michael Cassio,

     That came a-wooing with you, and so many a time —

     When I have spoke of you dispraisingly —

     Hath ta’en your part: to have so much to do

     To brin⁸²g him in! Trust me, I could do much—OTHELLO   Prithee, no more: let him come when he will:

     I will deny thee nothing.DESDEMONA   Why, this is not a boon⁸⁵:

     ’Tis as I should entreat you wear your gloves,

     Or feed on nourishing dishes, or keep you warm,

     Or sue to you to do a peculiar⁸⁸ profit

     To your own person: nay, when I have a suit

     Wherein I mean to touch⁹⁰ your love indeed,

     It shall be full of poise⁹¹ and difficult weight,

     And fearful to be granted.OTHELLO   I will deny thee nothing:

     Whereon⁹⁴, I do beseech thee, grant me this,

     To leave me but a little to myself.DESDEMONA   Shall I deny you? No. Farewell, my lord.OTHELLO   Farewell, my Desdemona, I’ll come to thee straight⁹⁷.DESDEMONA   Emilia, come.— Be as your fancies⁹⁸ teach you:

     Whate’er you be, I am obedient.Exeunt [Desdemona and Emilia]

OTHELLO   Excellent wretch! Perdition¹⁰⁰ catch my soul,

     But I do love thee! And when I love thee not,

     Chaos is come again.IAGO   My noble lord—OTHELLO   What dost thou say, Iago?IAGO   Did Michael Cassio, when you wooed my lady,

     Know of your love?OTHELLO   He did, from first to last: why dost thou ask?IAGO   But for a satisfaction of my thought,

     No further harm.OTHELLO   Why of thy thought, Iago?IAGO   I did not think he had been acquainted with her.OTHELLO   O, yes, and went between us very oft.IAGO   Indeed?OTHELLO   Indeed? Ay, indeed. Discern’st thou aught¹¹⁴ in that?

     Is he not honest?IAGO   Honest, my lord?OTHELLO   Honest, ay, honest.IAGO   My lord, for aught I know.OTHELLO   What dost thou think?IAGO   Think, my lord? OTHELLO   ‘Think, my lord?’ Alas, thou echo’st me,

     As if there were some monster in thy thought

     Too hideous to be shown. Thou dost mean something.

     I heard thee say even now, thou lik’st not that,

     When Cassio left my wife: what didst not like?

     And when I told thee he was of my counsel¹²⁶

     Of my whole course of wooing, thou cried’st ‘Indeed?’

     And didst contract and purse¹²⁸ thy brow together

     As if thou then hadst shut up in thy brain

     Some horrible conceit¹³⁰: if thou dost love me,

     Show me thy thought.IAGO   My lord, you know I love you.OTHELLO   I think thou dost,

     And for¹³⁴ I know thou’rt full of love and honesty,

     And weigh’st thy words before thou giv’st them breath,

     Therefore these stops¹³⁶ of thine fright me the more,

     For such things in a false¹³⁷ disloyal knave

     Are tricks of custom¹³⁸, but in a man that’s just

     They’re close dilations¹³⁹, working from the heart

     That passion cannot rule¹⁴⁰.IAGO   For Michael Cassio,

     I dare be sworn I think that he is honest.OTHELLO   I think so too.IAGO   Men should be what they seem,

     Or those that be not, would they might seem none¹⁴⁵.OTHELLO   Certain, men should be what they seem.IAGO   Why then, I think Cassio’s an honest man.OTHELLO   Nay, yet there’s more in this!

     I