Othello

coxcomb²⁶⁶! What should such a fool

     Do with so good a wife?OTHELLO   Are there no stones²⁶⁸ in heaven

     But what serves for the thunder?— Precious²⁶⁹    villain!He runs at Iago but is disarmed; Iago stabs Emilia

GRATIANO   The woman falls: sure, he hath killed his wife.[Exit Iago]

EMILIA   Ay, ay! O, lay me by my mistress’ side.GRATIANO   He’s gone, but his wife’s killed.MONTANO   ’Tis a notorious²⁷³ villain. Take you this weapon

     Which I have recovered²⁷⁴ from the Moor:

     Come, guard the door without²⁷⁵: let him not pass,

     But kill him rather. I’ll after that same villain,

     For ’tis a damned slave.[Exeunt Montano and Gratiano]

OTHELLO   I am not valiant neither,

     But every puny whipster²⁷⁹ gets my sword:

     But why should honour²⁸⁰ outlive honesty?

     Let it go all.EMILIA   What did thy song bode, lady?

     Hark, canst thou hear me? I will play the swan²⁸³,

     And die in music²⁸³:— Willow, willow, willow—Sings

     Moor, she was chaste: she loved thee, cruel Moor.

     So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true,

     So speaking as I think, alas, I die.Dies

OTHELLO   I have another weapon in this chamber:

     It was a sword of Spain, the ice-brook’s temper²⁸⁹:

     O, here it is. Uncle, I must come forth.Finds sword

GRATIANO   If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear:Within

     Thou hast no weapon, and perforce²⁹² must suffer.OTHELLO   Look in upon me then and speak with me,

     Or, naked²⁹⁴ as I am, I will assault thee.

[Enter Gratiano]GRATIANO   What is the matter?OTHELLO   Behold, I have a weapon:

     A better never did itself sustain²⁹⁷

     Upon a soldier’s thigh. I have seen the day

     That, with this little arm and this good sword,

     I have made my way through more impediments

     Than twenty times your stop³⁰¹: but — O vain boast! —

     Who can control his fate? ’Tis not so now.

     Be not afraid, though you do see me weaponed:

     Here³⁰⁴ is my journey’s end, here is my butt

     And very sea-mark³⁰⁵ of my utmost sail.

     Do you go back dismayed? ’Tis a lost³⁰⁶ fear:

     Man but a rush³⁰⁷ against Othello’s breast

     And he retires. Where should Othello go?

     Now, how dost thou look now? O ill-starred³⁰⁹ wench,

     Pale as thy smock³¹⁰, when we shall meet at compt,

     This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven,

     And fiends will snatch at it! Cold, cold, my girl?

     Even like thy chastity. O cursed, cursed slave³¹³!

     Whip me, ye devils,

     From the possession of this heavenly sight,

     Blow me about in winds, roast me in sulphur,

     Wash me in steep-down³¹⁷ gulfs of liquid fire!

     O Desdemon! Dead, Desdemon! Dead! O, O!

Enter Lodovico, Cassio [carried in a chair], Montano and Iago [prisoner] with OfficersLODOVICO   Where is this rash and most unfortunate man?OTHELLO   That’s he that was Othello: here I am.LODOVICO   Where is that viper? Bring the villain forth.OTHELLO   I look down towards his feet³²², but that’s a fable:

     If that thou be’st a devil, I cannot kill thee.Wounds Iago

LODOVICO   Wrench his sword from him.IAGO   I bleed, sir, but not killed.OTHELLO   I am not sorry neither: I’d have thee live,

     For in my sense³²⁷ ’tis happiness to die.LODOVICO   O thou Othello, thou was once so good,

     Fall’n in the practice³²⁹ of a cursed slave,

     What shall be said to thee?OTHELLO   Why, anything:

     An honourable murderer, if you will,

     For nought I did in hate, but all in honour.LODOVICO   This wretch hath part confessed his villainy.

     Did you and he consent in Cassio’s death?OTHELLO   Ay.CASSIO   Dear general, I never gave you cause.OTHELLO   I do believe it, and I ask your pardon.

     Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil

     Why he hath thus ensnared my soul and body?IAGO   Demand me nothing: what you know, you know:

     From this time forth I never will speak word.LODOVICO   What? Not to pray?GRATIANO   Torments³⁴⁴ will ope your lips.OTHELLO   Well, thou dost best.LODOVICO   Sir, you shall understand what hath befall’n —

     Which, as I think, you know not. Here is a letter

     Found in the pocket of the slain Rodorigo,

     And here another: the one of them imports³⁴⁹

     The death of Cassio to be undertook

     By Rodorigo.OTHELLO   O villain!CASSIO   Most heathenish and most gross³⁵³! LODOVICO   Now here’s another discontented³⁵⁴ paper

     Found in his pocket too: and this, it seems,

     Rodorigo meant t’have sent this damned villain,

     But that belike³⁵⁷ Iago in the interim

     Came in and satisfied him³⁵⁸.OTHELLO   O thou pernicious caitiff³⁵⁹!—

     How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief

     That was my wife’s?CASSIO   I found it in my chamber,

     And he himself confessed it but even now

     That there he dropped it for a special purpose

     Which wrought to his desire³⁶⁵.OTHELLO   O fool, fool, fool!CASSIO   There is besides in Rodorigo’s letter

     How he upbraids Iago, that he made him

     Brave³⁶⁹ me upon the watch, whereon it came

     That I was cast³⁷⁰: and even but now he spake —

     After long seeming dead — Iago hurt him,

     Iago set him on.LODOVICO   You must forsake this room and go with us:To Othello

     Your power and your command is taken off,

     And Cassio rules in Cyprus. For this slave,

     If there be any cunning cruelty

     That can torment him much and hold him long³⁷⁷,

     It shall be his. You shall close³⁷⁸ prisoner rest

     Till that the nature of your fault be known

     To the Venetian state.— Come, bring away.OTHELLO   Soft you; a word or two before you go.

     I have done the state some service, and they know’t —

     No more of that. I pray you, in your letters,

     When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,

     Speak of me as I am: nothing extenuate³⁸⁵,

     Nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speak

     Of one that loved not wisely but too well:

     Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought³⁸⁸,

     Perplexed³⁸⁹ in the extreme: of one whose hand,

     Like the base³⁹⁰ Judean, threw a pearl away

     Richer than all his tribe: of one whose subdued³⁹¹ eyes,

     Albeit unused to the melting mood,

     Drops tears as fast as the Arabian trees³⁹³

     Their medicinable³⁹⁴ gum. Set you down this,

     And say besides, that in Aleppo³⁹⁵ once,

     Where a malignant and a turbaned Turk

     Beat a Venetian and traduced³⁹⁷ the state,

     I took by th’throat the circumcised dog

     And smote him, thus.Stabs himself

LODOVICO   O bloody period⁴⁰⁰!GRATIANO   All that is spoke is marred.OTHELLO   I kissed thee ere I killed thee⁴⁰²: no way but this,     Killing myself, to die⁴⁰³ upon a kiss.Kisses Desdemona

Dies

CASSIO   This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon,

     For he was great of heart.LODOVICO   O Spartan dog⁴⁰⁶,To Iago

     More fell⁴⁰⁷ than anguish, hunger, or the sea!

     Look on the tragic loading of this bed:

     This is thy work.— The object poisons