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Othello -Synopsis:
In the dark streets of Cyprus, Roderigo attacks Cassio, who, uninjured, stabs Roderigo. Iago then wounds Cassio in the leg. Othello, hearing Cassio cry out, thinks that Iago has killed him, and departs to murder Desdemona. Iago then kills the wounded Roderigo. While Iago, Lodovico, and Gratiano tend to Cassio, Bianca arrives. Iago accuses her of being a whore and of engineering the plot against Cassio that led to his injury.
Enter Iago and Roderigo.IAGO
3096 Here, stand behind this ⟨bulk.⟩ Straight will he
3097 come.
3098 Wear thy good rapier bare, and put it home.
3099 Quick, quick! Fear nothing. I’ll be at thy elbow.
3100 5 It makes us or it mars us—think on that,
3101 And fix most firm thy resolution.
RODERIGO
3102 Be near at hand. I may miscarry in ’t.
IAGO
3103 Here, at thy hand. Be bold and take thy stand.
⌜He moves aside.⌝
RODERIGO
3104 I have no great devotion to the deed,
3105 10 And yet he hath given me satisfying reasons.
3106 ’Tis but a man gone. Forth, my sword! He dies.
⌜He draws his sword.⌝
IAGO, ⌜aside⌝
3107 I have rubbed this young quat almost to the sense,
3108 And he grows angry. Now, whether he kill Cassio,
3109 Or Cassio him, or each do kill the other,
3110 15 Every way makes my gain. Live Roderigo,
3111 He calls me to a restitution large
3112 Of gold and jewels that I bobbed from him
3114 It must not be. If Cassio do remain,
3115 20 He hath a daily beauty in his life
3116 That makes me ugly. And besides, the Moor
3117 May unfold me to him. There stand I in much peril.
3118 No, he must die. ⟨Be ’t⟩ so. I ⟨hear⟩ him coming.
Enter Cassio.
RODERIGO
3119 I know his gait. ’Tis he!—Villain, thou diest!
⌜He thrusts at Cassio.⌝
CASSIO
3120 25 That thrust had been mine enemy indeed
3121 But that my coat is better than thou know’st.
3122 I will make proof of thine.
⌜He draws, and stabs Roderigo.⌝
RODERIGO 3123 O, I am slain!
⌜Roderigo falls.
Iago stabs Cassio in the leg, and exits.⌝
CASSIO
3124 I am maimed forever! Help, ho! Murder, murder!
Enter Othello.
OTHELLO
3125 30 The voice of Cassio! Iago keeps his word.
RODERIGO 3126 O, villain that I am!
OTHELLO, ⌜aside⌝ 3127 It is even so.
CASSIO 3128 O, help ho! Light! A surgeon!
OTHELLO, ⌜aside⌝
3129 ’Tis he! O brave Iago, honest and just,
3130 35 That hast such noble sense of thy friend’s wrong!
3131 Thou teachest me.—Minion, your dear lies dead,
3132 And your unblest fate hies. Strumpet, I come.
3133 ⟨Forth⟩ of my heart those charms, thine eyes, are
3134 blotted.
3136 spotted.Othello exits.
Enter Lodovico and Gratiano.
CASSIO
3137 What ho! No watch? No passage? Murder, murder!
GRATIANO
3138 ’Tis some mischance. The voice is very direful.
CASSIO 3139 O, help!
LODOVICO 3140 45Hark!
RODERIGO 3141 O wretched villain!
LODOVICO
3142 Two or three groan. ’Tis heavy night.
3143 These may be counterfeits. Let’s think ’t unsafe
3144 To come in to the cry without more help.
RODERIGO
3145 50 Nobody come? Then shall I bleed to death.
Enter Iago ⟨with a light.⟩
LODOVICO 3146 Hark!
GRATIANO
3147 Here’s one comes in his shirt, with light and
3148 weapons.
IAGO
3149 Who’s there? Whose noise is this that cries on
3150 55 murder?
LODOVICO
3151 We do not know.
IAGO 3152 ⟨Did⟩ not you hear a cry?
CASSIO
3153 Here, here! For ⟨heaven’s⟩ sake, help me!
IAGO 3154 What’s the matter?
GRATIANO, ⌜to Lodovico⌝
3155 60 This is Othello’s ancient, as I take it.
LODOVICO
3156 The same indeed, a very valiant fellow.
IAGO, ⌜to Cassio⌝
3157 What are you here that cry so grievously?
3158 Iago? O, I am spoiled, undone by villains.
3159 Give me some help!
IAGO
3160 65 O me, lieutenant! What villains have done this?
CASSIO
3161 I think that one of them is hereabout
3162 And cannot make away.
IAGO 3163 O treacherous villains!
3164 ⌜To Lodovico and Gratiano.⌝ What are you there?
3165 70 Come in, and give some help.
RODERIGO 3166 O, help me ⟨here!⟩
CASSIO
3167 That’s one of them.
IAGO, ⌜to Roderigo⌝ 3168 O murd’rous slave! O villain!
⌜He stabs Roderigo.⌝
RODERIGO
3169 O damned Iago! O inhuman dog!
IAGO
3170 75 Kill men i’ th’ dark?—Where be these bloody
3171 thieves?
3172 How silent is this town! Ho, murder, murder!—
3173 What may you be? Are you of good or evil?
LODOVICO
3174 As you shall prove us, praise us.
IAGO 3175 80 Signior Lodovico?
LODOVICO 3176 He, sir.
IAGO
3177 I cry you mercy. Here’s Cassio hurt by villains.
GRATIANO 3178 Cassio?
IAGO
3179 How is ’t, brother?
CASSIO 3180 85 My leg is cut in two.
IAGO 3181 Marry, heaven forbid!
3182 Light, gentlemen. I’ll bind it with my shirt.
BIANCA
3183 What is the matter, ho? Who is ’t that cried?
IAGO
3184 Who is ’t that cried?
BIANCA 3185 90 O, my dear Cassio,
3186 My sweet Cassio! O Cassio, Cassio, Cassio!
IAGO
3187 O notable strumpet! Cassio, may you suspect
3188 Who they should be that have thus mangled you?
CASSIO 3189 No.
GRATIANO
3190 95 I am sorry to find you thus; I have been to seek you.
[IAGO
3191 Lend me a garter. So.—O for a chair
3192 To bear him easily hence!]
BIANCA
3193 Alas, he faints. O, Cassio, Cassio, Cassio!
IAGO
3194 Gentlemen all, I do suspect this trash
3195 100 To be a party in this injury.—
3196 Patience awhile, good Cassio.—Come, come;
3197 Lend me a light. ⌜Peering at Roderigo.⌝ Know we this
3198 face or no?
3199 Alas, my friend and my dear countryman
3200 105 Roderigo? No! Yes, sure. ⟨O heaven,⟩ Roderigo!
GRATIANO 3201 What, of Venice?
IAGO 3202 Even he, sir. Did you know him?
GRATIANO 3203 Know him? Ay.
IAGO
3204 Signior Gratiano? I cry your gentle pardon.
3205 110 These bloody accidents must excuse my manners
3206 That so neglected you.
GRATIANO 3207 I am glad to see you.
IAGO
3208 How do you, Cassio?—O, a chair, a chair!
IAGO
3210 115 He, he, ’tis he! ⌜A chair is brought in.⌝ O, that’s well
3211 said; the chair.—
3212 Some good man bear him carefully from hence.
3213 I’ll fetch the General’s surgeon.— For you, mistress,
3214 Save you your labor.—He that lies slain here,
3215 120 Cassio,
3216 Was my dear friend. What malice was between you?
CASSIO
3217 None in the world. Nor do I know the man.
IAGO, ⌜to Bianca⌝
3218 What, look you pale?—O, bear him ⟨out⟩ o’ th’ air.
⌜Cassio, in the chair, and Roderigo are carried off.⌝
3219 ⌜To Gratiano and Lodovico.⌝ Stay you, good
3220 125 gentlemen.—Look you pale, mistress?—
3221 Do you perceive the gastness of her eye?—
3222 Nay, if you stare, we shall hear more anon.—
3223 Behold her well. I pray you, look upon her.
3224 Do you see, gentlemen? Nay, guiltiness will speak
3225 130 Though tongues were out of use.
⟨Enter Emilia.⟩
EMILIA
3226 Alas, what is the matter? What is the matter,
3227 husband?
IAGO
3228 Cassio hath here been set on in the dark
3229 By Roderigo and fellows that are scaped.
3230 135 He’s almost slain, and Roderigo dead.
EMILIA
3231 Alas, good gentleman! Alas, good Cassio!
IAGO
3232 This is the fruits of whoring. Prithee, Emilia,
3233 Go know of Cassio where he supped tonight.
3234 ⌜To Bianca.⌝ What, do you shake at that?
3235 140 He supped at my house, but I therefore shake not.
IAGO
3236 O, did he so? I charge you go with me.
EMILIA 3237 O fie upon thee, strumpet!
BIANCA
3238 I am no strumpet, but of life as honest
3239 As you that thus abuse me.
EMILIA 3240 145As I? ⟨Faugh!⟩ Fie upon thee!
IAGO
3241 Kind gentlemen, let’s go see poor Cassio dressed.—
3242 Come, mistress, you must tell ’s another tale.—
3243 Emilia, run you to the citadel
3244 And tell my lord and lady what hath happed.—
3245 150 Will you go on afore? ⌜Aside.⌝ This is the night
3246 That either makes me or fordoes me quite.
They exit ⌜in different directions.⌝
Synopsis:
Desdemona is asleep in bed when Othello enters. He kisses her and wakes her and once again charges her with infidelity. Over her protests of innocence, he smothers her. When Emilia comes to tell Othello about the violence in the streets, he acknowledges the killing, telling her that Iago had informed him of Desdemona’s infidelity. Emilia’s cries of “Murder” bring Iago, Montano, and Gratiano. Iago, under pressure, admits accusing Desdemona. When Emilia discloses the truth about the handkerchief, Othello tries, unsuccessfully, to kill Iago, and Iago kills Emilia. Othello, aware of his enormous error in regarding Desdemona as unfaithful, stabs himself, falling dead on the bed beside Emilia and Desdemona. Iago is taken away to be tortured and killed.
Enter Othello ⟨with a light,⟩ and Desdemona in her bed.OTHELLO
3247 It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul.
3248 Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars.
3249 It is the cause. Yet I’ll not shed her blood,
3250 Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow,
3251 5 And smooth as monumental alabaster.
3252 Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men.
3253 Put out the light, and then put out the light.
3254 If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,
3255 I can again thy former light restore
3256 10 Should I repent me. But once put out thy light,
3257 Thou cunning’st pattern of excelling nature,
3258 I know not where is that Promethean heat
3259 That can thy light relume. When I have plucked ⟨the⟩
3260 rose,
3262 It needs must wither. I’ll smell ⟨it⟩ on the tree.
3263 O balmy breath, that dost almost persuade
3264 Justice to break her sword! ⌜He kisses her.⌝ One
3265 more, one more.
3266 20 Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee
3267 And love thee after. One more, and ⟨this⟩ the last.
⟨He kisses her.⟩
3268 So sweet was ne’er so fatal. I must weep,
3269 But they are cruel tears. This sorrow’s heavenly:
3270 It strikes where it doth love. She wakes.
DESDEMONA
3271 25 Who’s there? Othello?
OTHELLO 3272 Ay, Desdemona.
DESDEMONA 3273 Will you come to bed, my lord?
OTHELLO
3274 Have you prayed tonight, Desdemon?
DESDEMONA 3275 Ay, my lord.
OTHELLO
3276 30 If you bethink yourself of any crime
3277 Unreconciled as yet to heaven and grace,
3278 Solicit for it straight.
DESDEMONA 3279 Alack, my lord,
3280 What may you mean by that?
OTHELLO
3281 35 Well, do it, and be brief. I will walk by.
3282 I would not kill thy unpreparèd spirit.
3283 No, ⟨heaven⟩ forfend! I would not kill thy soul.
DESDEMONA 3284 Talk you of killing?
OTHELLO
3285 Ay, I do.
DESDEMONA 3286 40 Then heaven have mercy on me.
OTHELLO 3287 Amen, with all my heart.
DESDEMONA
3288 If you say ⟨so,⟩ I hope you will not kill me.
OTHELLO 3289 Humh.
3290 And yet I fear you, for you’re fatal then
3291 45 When your eyes roll so. Why I should fear I know
3292 not,
3293 Since guiltiness I know not, but yet I feel I fear.
OTHELLO
3294 Think on thy sins.
DESDEMONA 3295 They are loves I bear to you.
OTHELLO 3296 50Ay, and for that thou diest.
DESDEMONA
3297 That death’s unnatural that kills for loving.
3298 Alas, why gnaw you so your nether lip?
3299 Some bloody passion shakes your very frame.
3300 These are portents, but yet I hope, I hope
3301 55 They do not point on me.
OTHELLO 3302 Peace, and be still.
DESDEMONA
3303 I will so. What’s the matter?
OTHELLO 3304 That handkerchief
3305 Which I so loved, and gave thee, thou gav’st to
3306 60 Cassio.
DESDEMONA
3307 No, by my life and soul! Send for the man
3308 And ask him.
OTHELLO
3309 Sweet soul, take heed, take heed of perjury.
3310 Thou art on thy deathbed.
DESDEMONA
3311 65 Ay, but not yet to die.
OTHELLO 3312 ⟨Yes,⟩ presently.
3313 Therefore confess thee freely of thy sin.
3314 For to deny each article with oath
3315 Cannot remove nor choke the strong conception
3316 70 That I do groan withal. Thou art to die.
DESDEMONA
3317 ⟨Then Lord⟩ have mercy on me!
DESDEMONA
3319 And have you mercy, too. I never did
3320 Offend you in my life, never loved Cassio
3321 75 But with such general warranty of heaven
3322 As I might love. I never gave him token.
OTHELLO
3323 By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in ’s hand!
3324 O perjured woman, thou dost stone my heart
3325 And ⟨mak’st⟩ me call what I intend to do
3326 80 A murder, which I thought a sacrifice!
3327 I saw the handkerchief!
DESDEMONA 3328 He found it, then.
3329 I never gave it him. Send for him hither.
3330 Let him confess a truth.
OTHELLO 3331 85 He hath confessed.
DESDEMONA 3332 What, my lord?
OTHELLO
3333 That he hath used thee.
DESDEMONA 3334 How? Unlawfully?
OTHELLO 3335 Ay.
DESDEMONA
3336 90 He will not say so.
OTHELLO 3337 No. His mouth is stopped.
3338 Honest Iago hath ta’en order for ’t.
DESDEMONA
3339 O, my fear interprets. What, is he dead?
OTHELLO
3340 Had all his hairs been lives, my great revenge
3341 95 Had stomach for them all.
DESDEMONA
3342 Alas, he is betrayed, and I undone.⌜She weeps.⌝
OTHELLO
3343 Out, strumpet! Weep’st thou for him to my face?
DESDEMONA
3344 O banish me, my lord, but kill me not!
DESDEMONA
3346 100 Kill me tomorrow, let me live tonight.
OTHELLO 3347 Nay, if you strive—
DESDEMONA
3348 But half an hour!
[OTHELLO 3349 Being done, there is no pause.]
DESDEMONA
3350 But while I say one prayer!
OTHELLO 3351 105 It is too late.
⟨He⟩ smothers her.
EMILIA, ⌜within⌝
3352 My lord, my lord? What ho! My lord, my lord!
OTHELLO
3353 What noise is this?—Not dead? Not yet quite dead?
3354 I that am cruel am yet merciful.
3355 I would not have thee linger in thy pain.
3356 110 So, so.
EMILIA, within 3357 What, ho! My lord, my lord!
OTHELLO 3358 Who’s
3359 there?
EMILIA, ⌜within⌝
3360 O, good my lord, I would speak a word with you.
OTHELLO
3361 115 Yes. ’Tis Emilia.—By and by.—She’s dead.
3362 ’Tis like she comes to speak of Cassio’s death.
3363 The noise was ⟨here.⟩ Ha, no more moving?
3364 Still as the grave. Shall she come in? Were ’t good?
3365 I think she stirs again. No. What’s best to do?
3366 120 If she come in, she’ll sure speak to my wife.
3367 My wife, my wife! What wife? I have no wife.
3368 O insupportable! O heavy hour!
3369 Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse
3370 Of sun and moon, and that th’ affrighted globe
3371 125 ⟨Should⟩ yawn at alteration.
EMILIA, ⌜within⌝ 3372 I do beseech you
3373 That I may speak with you. O, good my lord—
3374 I had forgot thee. O, come in, Emilia.—
3375 Soft, by and by, let me the curtains draw.—
3376 130 Where art thou?
Enter Emilia.
3377 What’s the matter with thee now?
EMILIA
3378 O, my good lord, yonder’s foul murders done.
OTHELLO 3379 What? Now?
EMILIA 3380 But now, my lord.
OTHELLO
3381 135 It is the very error of the moon.
3382 She comes more nearer Earth than she was wont
3383 And makes men mad.
EMILIA 3384 Cassio, my lord, hath killed
3385 A young Venetian called Roderigo.
OTHELLO
3386 140 Roderigo killed? And Cassio killed?
EMILIA 3387 No, Cassio is not killed.
OTHELLO
3388 Not Cassio killed? Then murder’s out of tune,
3389 And sweet revenge grows harsh.
DESDEMONA 3390 O falsely, falsely murdered.
EMILIA
3391 145 ⟨O Lord,⟩ what cry is that?
OTHELLO 3392 That? What?
EMILIA
3393 Out, and alas, that was my lady’s voice!
3394 Help! Help ho! Help! O lady, speak again!
3395 Sweet Desdemona, O sweet mistress, speak!
DESDEMONA 3396 150A guiltless death I die.
EMILIA 3397 O, who hath done this deed?
DESDEMONA 3398 Nobody. I myself. Farewell.
3399 Commend me to my kind lord. O, farewell.
⟨She dies.⟩
3400 Why, how should she be murdered?
EMILIA 3401 155 Alas, who
3402 knows?
OTHELLO
3403 You ⟨heard⟩ her say herself, it was not I.
EMILIA
3404 She said so. I must needs report the truth.
OTHELLO
3405 She’s like a liar gone to burning hell!
3406 160 ’Twas I that killed her.
EMILIA
3407 O, the more angel she, and you the blacker devil!
OTHELLO
3408 She turned to folly, and she was a whore.
EMILIA
3409 Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil!
OTHELLO 3410 She was false as water.
EMILIA 3411 165Thou art rash as fire to say
3412 That she was false. O, she was heavenly true!
OTHELLO
3413 Cassio did top her. Ask thy husband else.
3414 O, I were damned beneath all depth in hell
3415 But that I did proceed upon just grounds
3416 170 To this extremity. Thy husband knew it all.
EMILIA 3417 My husband?
OTHELLO 3418 Thy husband.
EMILIA 3419 That she was false to wedlock?
OTHELLO
3420 Ay, with Cassio. Had she been true,
3421 175 If heaven would make me such another world
3422 Of one entire and perfect chrysolite,
3423 I’d not have sold her for it.
EMILIA 3424 My husband?
OTHELLO
3425 Ay, ’twas he that told me on her first.
3427 That sticks on filthy deeds.
EMILIA 3428 My husband?
OTHELLO
3429 What needs this iterance, woman? I say, thy
3430 husband.
[EMILIA
3431 185 O mistress, villainy hath made mocks with love!—
3432 My husband say she was false?
OTHELLO 3433 He, woman.
3434 I say thy husband. Dost understand the word?
3435 My friend, thy husband; honest, honest Iago.]
EMILIA
3436 190 If he say so, may his pernicious soul
3437 Rot half a grain a day! He lies to th’ heart!
3438 She was too fond of her most filthy bargain.
⌜He draws his sword.⌝
OTHELLO 3439 Hah?
EMILIA 3440 Do thy worst!
3441 195 This deed of thine is no more worthy heaven
3442 Than thou wast worthy her.
OTHELLO 3443 Peace, you were best!
EMILIA
3444 Thou hast not half that power to do me harm
3445 As I have to be hurt. O gull! O dolt,
3446 200 As ignorant as dirt! Thou hast done a deed—
3447 I care not for thy sword. I’ll make thee known,
3448 Though I lost twenty lives. Help! Help, ho! Help!
3449 The Moor hath killed my mistress! Murder, murder!
Enter Montano, Gratiano, and Iago.
MONTANO
3450 What is the matter? How now, general?
EMILIA
3451 205 O, are you come, Iago? You have done well,
3452 That men must lay their murders on your neck.
EMILIA, ⌜to Iago⌝
3454 Disprove this villain, if thou be’st a man.
3455 He says thou told’st him that his wife was false.
3456 210 I know thou didst not. Thou ’rt not such a villain.
3457 Speak, for my heart is full.
IAGO
3458 I told him what I thought, and told no more
3459 Than what he found himself was apt and true.
EMILIA
3460 But did you ever tell him she was false?
IAGO 3461 215I did.
EMILIA
3462 You told a lie, an odious, damnèd lie!
3463 Upon my soul, a lie, a wicked lie!
3464 She false with Cassio? Did you say with Cassio?
IAGO
3465 With Cassio, mistress. Go to! Charm your tongue.
EMILIA
3466 220 I will not charm my tongue. I am bound to speak.
3467 [My mistress here lies murdered in her bed.
ALL 3468 O heavens forfend!
EMILIA, ⌜to Iago⌝
3469 And your reports have set the murder on!
OTHELLO
3470 Nay, stare not, masters; it is true indeed.
GRATIANO 3471 225’Tis a strange truth.
MONTANO
3472 O monstrous act!
EMILIA 3473 Villainy, villainy, villainy!
3474 I think upon ’t, I think! I smell ’t! O villainy!
3475 I thought so then. I’ll kill myself for grief!
3476 230 O villainy! Villainy!]
IAGO
3477 What, are you mad? I charge you get you home.
3478 Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak.
3479 ’Tis proper I obey him, but not now.
3480 Perchance, Iago, I will ne’er go home.
OTHELLO
3481 235 O, O, O!⟨Othello falls on the bed.⟩
EMILIA 3482 Nay, lay thee down, and roar!
3483 For thou hast killed the sweetest innocent
3484 That e’er did lift up eye.
OTHELLO, ⌜standing⌝ 3485 O, she was foul!—
3486 240 I scarce did know you, uncle. There lies your niece,
3487 Whose breath indeed these hands have newly
3488 stopped.
3489 I know this act shows horrible and grim.
GRATIANO
3490 Poor Desdemon, I am glad thy father’s dead.
3491 245 Thy match was mortal to him, and pure grief
3492 Shore his old thread in twain. Did he live now,
3493 This sight would make him do a desperate turn,
3494 Yea, curse his better angel from his side,
3495 And fall to reprobance.
OTHELLO
3496 250 ’Tis pitiful. But yet Iago knows
3497 That she with Cassio hath the act of shame
3498 A thousand times committed. Cassio confessed it,
3499 And she did gratify his amorous works
3500 With that recognizance and pledge of love
3501 255 Which I first gave her. I saw it in his hand.
3502 It was a handkerchief, an antique token
3503 My father gave my mother.
EMILIA 3504 O ⟨God!⟩ O heavenly ⟨God!⟩
IAGO
3505 ⟨Zounds,⟩ hold your peace!
EMILIA 3506 260 ’Twill out, ’twill out. I peace?
3507 No, I will speak as liberal as the north.
3508 Let heaven and men and devils, let them all,
3509 All, all, cry shame against me, yet I’ll speak.
IAGO 3510 Be wise, and get you home.
⌜He draws his sword.⌝
3511 265 I will not.
GRATIANO 3512 Fie, your sword upon a woman!
EMILIA
3513 O thou dull Moor, that handkerchief thou speak’st
3514 of
3515 I found by fortune, and did give my husband—
3516 270 For often, with a solemn earnestness
3517 (More than indeed belonged to such a trifle),
3518 He begged of me to steal ’t.
IAGO 3519 Villainous whore!
EMILIA
3520 She give it Cassio? No, alas, I found it,
3521 275 And I did give ’t my husband.
IAGO 3522 Filth, thou liest!
EMILIA
3523 By heaven, I do not, I do not, gentlemen!
3524 ⌜To Othello.⌝ O murd’rous coxcomb, what should
3525 such a fool
3526 280 Do with so good a wife?
OTHELLO 3527 Are there no stones in heaven
3528 But what serves for the thunder?—Precious villain!
⟨The Moor runs at Iago ⌜but is disarmed.⌝
Iago kills his wife.⟩
GRATIANO
3529 The woman falls! Sure he hath killed his wife.
EMILIA
3530 Ay, ay! O, lay me by my mistress’ side.⟨Iago exits.⟩
GRATIANO 3531 285He’s gone, but his wife’s killed.
MONTANO
3532 ’Tis a notorious villain. Take you this weapon
3533 Which I have ⟨here⟩ recovered from the Moor.
3534 Come, guard the door without. Let him not pass,
3535 But kill him rather. I’ll after that same villain,
3536 290 For ’tis a damnèd slave.
⟨Montano and Gratiano⟩ exit.
OTHELLO 3537 I am not valiant neither,
3539 But why should honor outlive honesty?
3540 Let it go all.
[EMILIA 3541 295 What did thy song bode, lady?
3542 Hark, canst thou hear me? I will play the swan
3543 And die in music.
⌜She sings.⌝ 3544 Willow, willow, willow.]
3545 Moor, she was chaste. She loved thee, cruel Moor.
3546 300 So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true.
3547 So speaking as I think, alas, I die. ⟨She dies.⟩
OTHELLO
3548 I have another weapon in this chamber.
3549 It ⟨is⟩ a sword of Spain, the ice brook’s temper.
3550 O, here it is.—Uncle, I must come forth.
GRATIANO, ⟨within⟩
3551 305 If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear;
3552 Thou hast no weapon and perforce must suffer.
OTHELLO
3553 Look in upon me, then, and speak with me,
3554 Or naked as I am I will assault thee.
⌜Enter Gratiano.⌝
GRATIANO
3555 What is the matter?
OTHELLO 3556 310 Behold, I have a weapon.
3557 A better never did itself sustain
3558 Upon a soldier’s thigh. I have seen the day
3559 That with this little arm and this good sword
3560 I have made my way through more impediments
3561 315 Than twenty times your stop. But—O vain boast!—
3562 Who can control his fate? ’Tis not so now.
3563 [Be not afraid, though you do see me weaponed.
3564 Here is my journey’s end, here is my butt
3565 And very sea-mark of my utmost sail.
3566 320 Do you go back dismayed? ’Tis a lost fear.
3567 Man but a rush against Othello’s breast,
⌜He looks toward the bed.⌝
3569 Now, how dost thou look now? O ill-starred wench,]
3570 Pale as thy smock, when we shall meet at compt,
3571 325 This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven,
3572 And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl?
3573 Even like thy chastity.—O cursèd, cursèd slave!—
3574 Whip me, you devils,
3575 From the possession of this heavenly sight!
3576 330 Blow me about in winds, roast me in sulfur,
3577 Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!
3578 O Desdemon! Dead, Desdemon! Dead! O, O!
Enter Lodovico, Cassio ⟨in a chair,⟩ Montano, and Iago,
with Officers.
LODOVICO
3579 Where is this rash and most unfortunate man?
OTHELLO
3580 That’s he that was Othello. Here I am.
LODOVICO
3581 335 Where is that viper? Bring the villain forth.
⌜Iago is brought forward.⌝
OTHELLO
3582 I look down towards his feet; but that’s a fable.—
3583 If that thou be’st a devil, I cannot kill thee.
⌜He stabs Iago.⌝
LODOVICO
3584 Wrench his sword from him.
⌜Othello is disarmed.⌝
IAGO 3585 I bleed, sir, but not killed.
OTHELLO
3586 340 I am not sorry neither. I’d have thee live,
3587 For in my sense ’tis happiness to die.
LODOVICO
3588 O thou Othello, that ⟨wert⟩ once so good,
3589 Fall’n in the practice of a ⟨damnèd⟩ slave,
3590 What shall be said to thee?
3592 An honorable murderer, if you will,
3593 For naught I did in hate, but all in honor.
LODOVICO
3594 This wretch hath part confessed his villainy.
3595 Did you and he consent in Cassio’s death?
OTHELLO 3596 350Ay.
CASSIO
3597 Dear general, I never gave you cause.
OTHELLO
3598 I do believe it, and I ask your pardon.
3599 Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil
3600 Why he hath thus ensnared my soul and body?
IAGO
3601 355 Demand me nothing. What you know, you know.
3602 From this time forth I never will speak word.
LODOVICO 3603 What? Not to pray?
GRATIANO 3604 Torments will ope your lips.
OTHELLO 3605 Well, thou dost best.
LODOVICO 3606 360Sir,
3607 You shall understand what hath befall’n,
3608 Which, as I think, you know not. Here is a letter
3609 Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigo,
3610 And here another. ⌜He shows papers.⌝ The one of
3611 365 them imports
3612 The death of Cassio, to be undertook
3613 By Roderigo.
OTHELLO
3614 O villain!
CASSIO 3615 Most heathenish and most gross.
LODOVICO
3616 370 Now here’s another discontented paper
3617 Found in his pocket, too; and this it seems
3618 Roderigo meant t’ have sent this damnèd villain,
3619 But that, belike, Iago in the interim
3620 Came in and satisfied him.
OTHELLO 3621 375O, thou pernicious caitiff!—
3623 That was my wife’s?
CASSIO 3624 I found it in my chamber.
3625 And he himself confessed it but even now,
3626 380 That there he dropped it for a special purpose
3627 Which wrought to his desire.
OTHELLO 3628 O fool, fool, fool!
CASSIO
3629 There is besides, in Roderigo’s letter,
3630 How he upbraids Iago, that he made him
3631 385 Brave me upon the watch, whereon it came
3632 That I was cast. And even but now he spake,
3633 After long seeming dead: Iago hurt him,
3634 Iago set him on.
LODOVICO, ⌜to Othello⌝
3635 You must forsake this room and go with us.
3636 390 Your power and your command is taken off,
3637 And Cassio rules in Cyprus. For this slave,
3638 If there be any cunning cruelty
3639 That can torment him much and hold him long,
3640 It shall be his. You shall close prisoner rest,
3641 395 Till that the nature of your fault be known
3642 To the Venetian state.—Come, bring away.
OTHELLO
3643 Soft you. A word or two before you go.
3644 I have done the state some service, and they
3645 know ’t.
3646 400 No more of that. I pray you in your letters,
3647 When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
3648 Speak of me as I am. Nothing extenuate,
3649 Nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speak
3650 Of one that loved not wisely, but too well;
3651 405 Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought,
3652 Perplexed in the extreme; of one whose hand,
3653 Like the base Judean, threw a pearl away
3654 Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued
3655 eyes,
3657 Drops tears as fast as the Arabian trees
3658 Their medicinable gum. Set you down this.
3659 And say besides, that in Aleppo once,
3660 Where a malignant and a turbanned Turk
3661 415 Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,
3662 I took by th’ throat the circumcisèd dog,
3663 And smote him, thus.⟨He stabs himself.⟩
LODOVICO 3664 O bloody period!
GRATIANO 3665 All that is spoke is marred.
OTHELLO, ⌜to Desdemona⌝
3666 420 I kissed thee ere I killed thee. No way but this,
3667 Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.⟨He⟩ dies.
CASSIO
3668 This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon,
3669 For he was great of heart.
LODOVICO, ⌜to Iago⌝ 3670 O Spartan dog,
3671 425 More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea,
3672 Look on the tragic loading of this bed.
3673 This is thy work.—The object poisons sight.
3674 Let it be hid.—Gratiano, keep the house,
3675 And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor,
3676 430 For they succeed on you. ⌜To Cassio.⌝ To you, lord
3677 governor,
3678 Remains the censure of this hellish villain.
3679 The time, the place, the torture, O, enforce it.
3680 Myself will straight aboard, and to the state
3681 435 This heavy act with heavy heart relate.
They exit.