Othello

most imperfect

     That will confess perfection so could err

     Against all rules of nature, and must be driven

     To find out practices¹¹³ of cunning hell

     Why this should be. I therefore vouch¹¹⁴ again

     That with some mixtures¹¹⁵ pow’rful o’er the blood,

     Or with some dram¹¹⁶, conjured to this effect,

     He wrought¹¹⁷ upon her.DUKE   To vouch this is no proof,

     Without more wider and more overt test¹¹⁹

     Than these thin habits¹²⁰ and poor likelihoods

     Of modern seeming¹²¹ do prefer against him.FIRST SENATOR   But, Othello, speak:

     Did you by indirect¹²³ and forced courses

     Subdue and poison this young maid’s affections?

     Or came it by request and such fair question¹²⁵

     As soul to soul affordeth¹²⁶?OTHELLO   I do beseech you,

     Send for the lady to the Sagittary

     And let her speak of me before her father:

     If you do find me foul in her report,

     The trust, the office¹³¹ I do hold of you

     Not only take away, but let your sentence

     Even fall upon my life.DUKE   Fetch Desdemona hither.OTHELLO   Ancient, conduct them: you best knowTo Iago

     the place.—[Exeunt Iago and Attendants]

     And, till she come, as truly as to heaven

     I do confess the vices of my blood¹³⁷,

     So justly¹³⁸ to your grave ears I’ll present

     How I did thrive in this fair lady’s love,

     And she in mine.DUKE   Say it, Othello.OTHELLO   Her father loved me, oft invited me,

     Still¹⁴³ questioned me the story of my life

     From year to year: the battle, sieges, fortune,

     That I have passed¹⁴⁵.

     I ran it through, even from my boyish days

     To th’very moment that he bade me tell it,

     Wherein I spoke of most disastrous¹⁴⁸ chances,

     Of moving¹⁴⁹ accidents by flood and field,

     Of hair-breadth scapes¹⁵⁰ i’th’imminent deadly breach,

     Of being taken by the insolent¹⁵¹ foe

     And sold to slavery, of my redemption thence,

     And portance¹⁵³ in my traveller’s history,

     Wherein of antres¹⁵⁴ vast and deserts idle,

     Rough quarries, rocks, hills whose head touch heaven,

     It was my hint¹⁵⁶ to speak: such was my process.

     And of the cannibals that each other eat,

     The Anthropophagi¹⁵⁸ and men whose heads

     Grew beneath their shoulders: these things to hear

     Would Desdemona seriously¹⁶⁰ incline,

     But still the house-affairs would draw her thence,

     Which ever as she could with haste dispatch,

     She’d come again, and with a greedy ear

     Devour up my discourse: which I observing,

     Took once a pliant¹⁶⁵ hour, and found good means

     To draw from her a prayer of earnest heart

     That I would all my pilgrimage¹⁶⁷ dilate,

     Whereof by parcels¹⁶⁸ she had something heard,

     But not intentively¹⁶⁹. I did consent,

     And often did beguile her of¹⁷⁰ her tears,

     When I did speak of some distressful stroke¹⁷¹

     That my youth suffered. My story being done,

     She gave me for my pains a world of kisses¹⁷³:

     She swore, ‘In faith ’twas strange, ’twas passing¹⁷⁴ strange,

     ’Twas pitiful, ’twas wondrous pitiful!’

     She wished she had not heard it, yet she wished

     That heaven had made her¹⁷⁷ such a man. She thanked me,

     And bade me, if I had a friend that loved her,

     I should but teach him how to tell my story,

     And that would woo her. Upon this hint¹⁸⁰ I spake:

     She loved me for the dangers I had passed,

     And I loved her that she did pity them.

     This only is the witchcraft I have used.

     Here comes the lady: let her witness¹⁸⁴ it.

Enter Desdemona, Iago, AttendantsDUKE   I think this tale would win my daughter too.

     Good Brabantio,

     Take up this mangled matter at the best¹⁸⁷:

     Men do their broken weapons rather use

     Than their bare hands.BRABANTIO   I pray you hear her speak:

     If she confess that she was half the wooer,

     Destruction on my head if my bad¹⁹² blame

     Light on the man!— Come hither, gentleTo Desdemona     mistress.

     Do you perceive in all this noble company

     Where most you owe obedience?DESDEMONA   My noble father,

     I do perceive here a divided duty.

     To you I am bound for life and education¹⁹⁸:

     My life and education both do learn¹⁹⁹ me

     How to respect you. You are the lord of duty,

     I am hitherto²⁰¹ your daughter. But here’s my husband,

     And so much duty as my mother showed

     To you, preferring²⁰³ you before her father,

     So much I challenge²⁰⁴ that I may profess

     Due to the Moor my lord.BRABANTIO   God be with you! I have done.

     Please it²⁰⁷ your grace, on to the state affairs.

     I had rather to adopt a child than get²⁰⁸ it.

     Come hither, Moor:

     I here do give thee that with all my heart

     Which but²¹¹ thou hast already, with all my heart

     I would keep from thee.— For your sake²¹², jewel,To Desdemona     I am glad at soul I have no other child,

     For thy escape²¹⁴ would teach me tyranny,To the Duke     To hang clogs²¹⁵ on them.— I have done, my lord.DUKE   Let me speak like yourself²¹⁶, and lay a sentence

     Which, as a grise²¹⁷ or step, may help these lovers.

     When remedies are past²¹⁸, the griefs are ended

     By seeing the worst, which late²¹⁹ on hopes depended.

     To mourn a mischief²²⁰ that is past and gone

     Is the next²²¹ way to draw new mischief on.

     What cannot be preserved when fortune takes²²²,

     Patience her injury a mock’ry makes²²³.

     The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief:

     He robs himself that spends²²⁵ a bootless grief.BRABANTIO   So let the Turk of Cyprus us beguile²²⁶,

     We lose it not, so long as we can smile.

     He bears the sentence well that nothing bears²²⁸

     But the free²²⁹ comfort which from thence he hears:

     But he bears both the sentence and the sorrow

     That, to pay grief, must of poor patience borrow²³¹.

     These sentences, to sugar or to gall,²³²

     Being strong on both sides, are equivocal.

     But words are words: I never yet did hear

     That the bruised²³⁵ heart was pierced through the ears.

     I humbly beseech you proceed to th’affairs of state.DUKE   The Turk with a most mighty preparation makes for

     Cyprus. Othello, the fortitude²³⁸ of the place is best known to

     you, and though we have there a substitute of most allowed²³⁹

     sufficiency, yet opinion²⁴⁰, a more sovereign mistress of effects,

     throws a more safer voice on you²⁴¹: you must therefore be

     content to slubber²⁴² the gloss of your new fortunes with this

     more stubborn²⁴³ and boisterous expedition.OTHELLO   The tyrant custom, most grave senators,

     Hath made the flinty²⁴⁵ and steel couch of war