Othello

ignorance made drunk. But yet, I say,

     If imputation and strong circumstances⁴⁴⁹

     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 —

     Pricked⁴⁵⁵ to’t by foolish honesty and love —

     I will go on. I lay⁴⁵⁶ 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 sigh⁴⁶⁷, and kiss, and then

     Cry, ‘Cursed fate that gave thee to the Moor!’OTHELLO   O monstrous! Monstrous!IAGO   Nay, this was but his dream.OTHELLO   But this denoted a foregone conclusion⁴⁷¹:

     ’Tis a shrewd doubt⁴⁷², 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 we⁴⁷⁶ 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 slave⁴⁸⁷ had forty thousand lives:

     One is too poor, too weak for my revenge.

     Now do I see ’tis true. Look here, Iago,

     All my fond⁴⁹⁰ love thus do I blow to heaven.

     ’Tis gone.

     Arise, black vengeance, from thy hollow hell!

     Yield up, O love, thy crown and hearted⁴⁹³ throne

     To tyrannous hate! Swell, bosom, with thy fraught⁴⁹⁴,

     For ’tis of aspics⁴⁹⁵’ 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 sea⁴⁹⁹,

     Whose icy current and compulsive⁵⁰⁰ course

     Ne’er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on

     To the Propontic⁵⁰² 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 capable⁵⁰⁵ and wide revenge

     Swallow them up. Now, by yond marble⁵⁰⁶ heaven,Kneels

     In the due reverence of a sacred vow

     I here engage⁵⁰⁸ my words.Attempts to rise

IAGO   Do not rise yet.Kneels

     Witness, you ever-burning lights above,

     You elements that clip⁵¹¹ us round about,

     Witness that here Iago doth give up

     The execution⁵¹³ of his wit, hands, heart,

     To wronged Othello’s service! Let him command,

     And to obey shall be in me remorse⁵¹⁵,

     What bloody business ever⁵¹⁶.They rise

OTHELLO   I greet thy love,

     Not with vain thanks, but with acceptance bounteous,

     And will upon the instant put thee to’t⁵¹⁹:

     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 minx⁵²⁴! 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

Act 3 Scene 4running scene 8

Location: Cyprus (presumably outside the citadel)

Enter Desdemona, Emilia and ClownDESDEMONA  Do you know, sirrah¹, where Lieutenant Cassio lies?CLOWN   I dare not say he lies² anywhere.DESDEMONA   Why, man?CLOWN   He’s a soldier, and for me to say a soldier lies, ’tis

  stabbing⁵.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 lie¹⁰

     in mine own throat.DESDEMONA   Can you inquire him out, and be edified¹² by report?CLOWN   I will catechize¹³ the world for him, that is, make questions,

     and by them answer.DESDEMONA   Seek him, bid him come hither: tell him I have

     moved¹⁶ 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 crusadoes²²: 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 born²⁷

     Drew all such humours²⁸ from him.EMILIA   Look where he comes.

Enter OthelloDESDEMONA   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 toAside

dissemble³²!—

     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 fruitfulness³⁷ and liberalPartially aside?heart:

     Hot, hot, and moist. This hand of yours requires

     A sequester³⁹ from liberty, fasting and prayer,

     Much castigation⁴⁰, exercise devout,

     For here’s a young and sweating devil here

     That commonly rebels. ’Tis a good hand,

     A frank⁴³ 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 hands⁴⁶,

     But our new heraldry is hands, not hearts.DESDEMONA   I cannot speak of this. Come now, your promise.OTHELLO   What promise, chuck⁴⁹?DESDEMONA   I have sent to bid Cassio come speak with you.OTHELLO   I have a salt and sorry rheum⁵¹ 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 amiable⁶² 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 loathed and his spirits should hunt

     After new fancies⁶⁶: she, dying, gave it me,

     And bid me, when my fate would have me wived,

     To give it her⁶⁸: 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