Othello

by Уильям Шекспир

  Of human dealings290. If I do prove her haggard,

  Though that her jesses291 were my dear heartstrings,

  I’d whistle her off and let her down the wind292

  To prey at fortune293. Haply, for I am black

  And have not those soft parts of conversation294

  That chamberers295 have, or for I am declined

  Into the vale of years — yet that’s not much —

  She’s gone. I am abused297, and my relief

  Must be to loathe her. O curse of marriage!

  That we can call these delicate299 creatures ours

  And not their appetites! I had rather be a toad

  And live upon the vapour of a dungeon

  Than keep a corner302 in the thing I love

  For others’ uses303. Yet, ’tis the plague to great ones,

  Prerogatived304 are they less than the base:

  ’Tis destiny unshunnable, like death:

  Even then this forkèd plague306 is fated to us

  When we do quicken307. Look where she comes:

  If she be false, heaven mocked308 itself!

  I’ll not believe’t.

  Enter Desdemona and EmiliaDESDEMONA How now, my dear Othello?

  Your dinner, and the generous311 islanders

  By you invited, do attend312 your presence.OTHELLO I am to blame.DESDEMONA Why do you speak so faintly?

  Are you not well?OTHELLO I have a pain upon my forehead316 here.DESDEMONA Why, that’s with watching317. ’Twill away again:

  Let me but bind it hard, within this hourOffers her handkerchief

  It will be well.OTHELLO Your napkin320 is too little:He pushes away the handkerchief and it drops

  Let it alone. Come, I’ll go in with you.Exit

  DESDEMONA I am very sorry that you are not well.Following him

  EMILIA I am glad I have found this napkin:Picks up the handkerchief

  This was her first remembrance324 from the Moor:

  My wayward husband hath a hundred times

  Wooed326 me to steal it, but she so loves the token —

  For he conjured her327 she should ever keep it —

  That she reserves328 it evermore about her

  To kiss and talk to. I’ll have the work ta’en out329,

  And give’t Iago: what he will do with it

  Heaven knows, not I:

  I nothing332 but to please his fantasy.

  Enter IagoIAGO How now? What do you here alone?EMILIA Do not you chide: I have a thing for you.IAGO You have a thing for me? It is a common335 thing—EMILIA Ha?IAGO To have a foolish wife.EMILIA O, is that all? What will you give me now

  For the same handkerchief?IAGO What handkerchief?EMILIA What handkerchief?

  Why, that the Moor first gave to Desdemona,

  That which so often you did bid me steal.IAGO Hast stol’n it from her?EMILIA No, but she let it drop by negligence.

  And, to th’advantage346, I, being here, took’t up.

  Look, here ’tis.IAGO A good wench: give it me.EMILIA What will you do with’t, that you have been

  So earnest to have me filch it?IAGO Why, what is that to you?Snatches it

  EMILIA If it be not for some purpose of import,

  Give’t me again: poor lady, she’ll run mad

  When she shall lack354 it.IAGO Be not acknown on’t355: I have use for it.

  Go, leave me.Exit Emilia

  I will in Cassio’s lodging loose this napkin

  And let him find it. Trifles light as air

  Are to the jealous confirmations strong

  As proofs of holy writ360: this may do something.

  The Moor already changes with my poison:

  Dangerous conceits362 are in their natures poisons,

  Which at the first are scarce found to distaste363,

  But with a little act364 upon the blood,

  Burn like the mines of sulphur. I did say so:

  Enter Othello At a distance

  Look, where he comes! Not poppy366, nor mandragora,

  Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world

  Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep

  Which thou owed’st369 yesterday.OTHELLO Ha, ha, false to me?IAGO Why how now, general? No more of that.OTHELLO Avaunt372, be gone! Thou hast set me on the rack:

  I swear ’tis better to be much abused

  Than but to know’t a little.IAGO How now, my lord?OTHELLO What sense had I in her stol’n hours of lust?

  I saw’t not, thought it not, it harmed not me:

  I slept the next night well, fed well, was free378 and merry:

  I found not Cassio’s kisses on her lips.

  He that is robbed, not wanting380 what is stol’n,

  Let him not know’t and he’s not robbed at all.IAGO I am sorry to hear this.OTHELLO I had been happy, if the general camp,

  Pioneers384 and all, had tasted her sweet body,

  So385 I had nothing known. O, now, for ever

  Farewell the tranquil mind; farewell content;

  Farewell the plumèd387 troops and the big wars

  That makes ambition virtue! O, farewell!

  Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump389,

  The spirit-stirring drum, th’ear-piercing fife390,

  The royal banner, and all quality391,

  Pride392, pomp and circumstance of glorious war!

  And, O, you mortal engines393, whose rude throats

  Th’immortal Jove’s dread clamours394 counterfeit,

  Farewell! Othello’s occupation’s gone.IAGO Is’t possible, my lord?OTHELLO Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore;Grabs him

  Be sure of it: give me the ocular proof,

  Or by the worth of mine eternal soul,

  Thou hadst been better have been born a dog

  Than answer my waked wrath!IAGO Is’t come to this?OTHELLO Make me to see’t, or at the least so prove it

  That the probation404 bear no hinge nor loop

  To hang a doubt on, or woe upon thy life!IAGO My noble lord—OTHELLO If thou dost slander her and torture me,

  Never pray more: abandon all remorse408,

  On horror’s head horrors accumulate,

  Do deeds to make heaven weep, all earth amazed410,

  For nothing canst thou to damnation add

  Greater than that.IAGO O grace! O heaven forgive me!

  Are you a man? Have you a soul? Or sense?

  God b’wi’you415, take mine office. O wretched fool,

  That lov’st to make thine honesty a vice!

  O monstrous world! Take note, take note, O world,

  To be direct and honest is not safe.

  I thank you for this profit419, and from hence

  I’ll love no friend, sith420 love breeds such offence.OTHELLO Nay, stay: thou shouldst be421 honest.IAGO I should be422 wise, for honesty’s a fool

  And loses that423 it works for.OTHELLO By the world,

  I think my wife be honest and think she is not:

  I think that thou art just and think thou art not.

  I’ll have some proof. My name, that was as fresh

  As Dian428’s visage, is now begrimed and black

  As mine own face. If there be cords, or knives,429

  Poison, or fire, or suffocating streams,

  I’ll not endure it. Would I were satisfied!IAGO I see you are eaten up with passion:

  I do repent me that I put it to you.

  You would be satisfied?OTHELLO Would? Nay, and I will.IAGO And may: but, how? How satisfied, my lord?

  Would you the supervision437 grossly gape on?

  Behold her topped438?OTHELLO Death and damnation! O!IAGO It were a tedious difficulty, I think,

  To bring them to that prospect441: damn them then,

  If ever mortal eyes do see them bolster442

  More443 than their own. What then? How then?

  What shall I say? Where’s satisfaction444?

  It is impossible you should see this,

  Were they as pr
ime446 as goats, as hot as monkeys,

  As salt447 as wolves in pride, and fools as gross

  As 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, ‘Cursèd 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 4 running 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