Othello

dear Cassio! My sweet Cassio! O Cassio,

     Cassio, Cassio!IAGO   O notable strumpet! Cassio, may you suspect⁸⁵

     Who they should be that have thus mangled you?CASSIO   No.GRATIANO   I am sorry to find you thus: I have been to seek you.IAGO   Lend me a garter⁸⁹. So.— O, for a chair

     To bear him easily hence!BIANCA   Alas, he faints! O Cassio, Cassio, Cassio!IAGO   Gentlemen all, I do suspect this trash⁹²

     To be a party in this injury.—

     Patience awhile, good Cassio.— Come, come;

     Lend me a light.Shines light on Rodorigo

     Know we this face or no?

     Alas, my friend and my dear countryman

     Rodorigo? No. Yes, sure: yes, ’tis Rodorigo.GRATIANO   What, of Venice? IAGO   Even he, sir: did you know him?GRATIANO   Know him? Ay.IAGO   Signior Gratiano? I cry your gentle pardon:

     These bloody accidents¹⁰² must excuse my manners

     That so neglected you.GRATIANO   I am glad to see you.IAGO   How do you, Cassio?— O, a chair, a chair!GRATIANO   Rodorigo?IAGO   He, he ’tis he.—

     O, that’s well said¹⁰⁸: the chair!Attendants bring in a chair

     Some good man bear him carefully from hence:

     I’ll fetch the general’s surgeon.—

     For¹¹¹ you, mistress,To Bianca

Save you your labour¹¹².— He that lies slain here, Cassio,

     Was my dear friend: what malice was between you?CASSIO   None in the world, nor do I know the man!IAGO   What, look you pale?— O, bear him out o’th’air.To Bianca

     Stay you, good gentlemen.— Look you pale, mistress?—Attendants bear off Cassio and Rodorigo

     Do you perceive the gastness of her eye¹¹⁷?—

     Nay, if you stare¹¹⁸, we shall hear more anon.—

     Behold her well: I pray you look upon her:

     Do you see, gentlemen? Nay, guiltiness will speak,

     Though tongues were out of use.

[Enter Emilia] EMILIA   Alas, what is the matter? What is the matter,

     husband?IAGO   Cassio hath here been set on in the dark

     By Rodorigo and fellows that are scaped:

     He’s almost slain, and Rodorigo quite dead.EMILIA   Alas, good gentleman! Alas, good Cassio!IAGO   This is the fruits of whoring. Prithee, Emilia,

     Go know of Cassio where he supped tonight.—To Bianca

     What, do you shake at that?BIANCA   He supped at my house, but I therefore shake not.IAGO   O, did he so? I charge you go with me.EMILIA   O, fie upon thee, strumpet!BIANCA   I am no strumpet, but of life as honest¹³³

     As you that thus abuse me.EMILIA   As I? Fie upon thee! IAGO   Kind gentlemen, let’s go see poor Cassio dressed¹³⁶.—

     Come, mistress, you must tell’s another tale.

     Emilia, run you to the citadel

     And tell my lord and lady what hath happed.—

     Will you go on afore?— This is the nightAside

     That either makes me or fordoes me quite¹⁴¹.Exeunt

Act 5 Scene 2running scene 11

Location: Cyprus (citadel/governor’s bedroom)

Enter Othello and Desdemona in her bedOthello with a light

OTHELLO   It is the cause¹, it is the cause, my soul:

     Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars:

     It is the cause. Yet I’ll not shed her blood,

     Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow,

     And smooth as monumental alabaster⁵:

     Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men.

     Put out the light⁷, and then put out the light.

     If I quench thee, thou flaming minister⁸,

     I can again thy former light restore,

     Should I repent me: but once put out thy light,

     Thou cunning’st pattern¹² of excelling nature,

     I know not where is that Promethean¹³ heat

     That can thy light relume¹⁴. When I have plucked thy rose,

     I cannot give it vital¹⁵ growth again:

     It needs must wither. I’ll smell thee on the tree.Kisses her

     O balmy breath, that dost almost persuade

     Justice¹⁷ to break her sword! One more, one more.

     Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee

     And love thee after. One more, and that’s the last.Kisses her

     So sweet was ne’er so fatal²⁰. I must weep,

     But they are cruel tears: this sorrow’s heavenly,

     It strikes²² where it doth love. She wakes.DESDEMONA   Who’s there? Othello?OTHELLO   Ay, Desdemona.DESDEMONA   Will you come to bed, my lord?OTHELLO   Have you prayed tonight, Desdemon?DESDEMONA   Ay²⁷, my lord.OTHELLO   If you bethink yourself of any crime

     Unreconciled as yet to heaven and grace,

     Solicit³⁰ for it straight.DESDEMONA   Alack, my lord, what may you mean by that? OTHELLO   Well, do it, and be brief: I will walk by³².

     I would not kill thy unprepared spirit,

     No, heavens forfend³⁴! I would not kill thy soul.DESDEMONA   Talk you of killing?OTHELLO   Ay, I do.DESDEMONA   Then heaven have mercy on me! OTHELLO   Amen, with all my heart!DESDEMONA   If you say³⁹, 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 you⁴⁵.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   Presently⁶¹:

     Therefore confess thee freely of thy sin,

     For to deny each article⁶³ with oath

     Cannot remove nor choke the strong conception⁶⁴

     That I do groan withal⁶⁵. Thou art to die.DESDEMONA   O, heaven have mercy on me!OTHELLO   I say, amen.DESDEMONA   And have you mercy too! I never did

     Offend⁶⁹ you in my life, never loved Cassio

     But with such general warranty⁷⁰ 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 stone⁷³ 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 used⁸² thee.DESDEMONA   How? Unlawfully?OTHELLO   Ay.DESDEMONA   He will not say so.OTHELLO   No, his mouth is stopped:

     Honest Iago hath ta’en order⁸⁷ for’t.DESDEMONA   O, my fear interprets! What, is he dead?OTHELLO   Had all his hairs been lives, my great revenge

     Had stomach⁹⁰ 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 strive⁹⁶—DESDEMONA   But half an hour!OTHELLO   Being done⁹⁸, there is no pause.DESDEMONA   But while I say one prayer!OTHELLO   It is too late.Smothers her

Emilia at the doorEMILIA   My lord, my lord! What, ho! My lord, my lord!