wheresoever you had it, I’ll take out no work
on’t.She gives him
the handkerchief
CASSIO How now, my sweet Bianca? How now? How now?OTHELLO By heaven, that should167 be my handkerchief!BIANCA If you’ll come to supper168 tonight, you may: if you
will not, come when you are next prepared for.Exit
IAGO After her, after her.CASSIO I must: she’ll rail171 in the streets else.IAGO Will you sup there?CASSIO Yes, I intend so.IAGO Well, I may chance to see you, for I would very fain
speak with you.CASSIO Prithee come. Will you?IAGO Go to: say no more.[Exit Cassio]
OTHELLO How shall I murder him, Iago?Comes forward
IAGO Did you perceive how he laughed at his vice?OTHELLO O, Iago!IAGO And did you see the handkerchief?OTHELLO Was that mine?IAGO Yours by this hand: and to see how he prizes the
foolish184 woman your wife! She gave it him, and he hath giv’n
it his whore.OTHELLO I would have him nine years a-killing. A fine
woman! A fair woman! A sweet woman!IAGO Nay, you must forget that.OTHELLO Ay, let her rot and perish, and be damned tonight,
for she shall not live. No, my heart is turned to stone: I strike
it, and it hurts my hand. O, the world hath not a sweeter
creature: she might lie by an emperor’s side and command
him tasks.IAGO Nay, that’s not your way194.OTHELLO Hang her! I do but say what she is: so delicate with
her needle, an admirable musician. O, she will sing the
savageness out of a bear. Of so high and plenteous wit and
invention198!IAGO She’s the worse for all this.OTHELLO O, a thousand, a thousand times! And then, of so200
gentle a condition!IAGO Ay, too gentle202.OTHELLO Nay, that’s certain. But yet the pity of it, Iago! O,
Iago, the pity of it, Iago!IAGO If you are so fond over her iniquity, give her patent205
to offend, for if it touch206 not you, it comes near nobody.OTHELLO I will chop her into messes207. Cuckold me?IAGO O, ’tis foul in her.OTHELLO With mine officer?IAGO That’s fouler.OTHELLO Get me some poison, Iago, this night: I’ll not
expostulate212 with her, lest her body and beauty unprovide my
mind again: this night, Iago.IAGO Do it not with poison: strangle her in her bed, even
the bed she hath contaminated.OTHELLO Good, good: the justice of it pleases. Very good.IAGO And for Cassio, let me be his undertaker217: you shall
hear more by midnight.Enter Lodovico, Desdemona and AttendantsOTHELLO Excellent good.A trumpet within
What trumpet is that same?IAGO I warrant something from Venice.
’Tis Lodovico: this comes from the duke.
See, your wife’s with him.LODOVICO Save you, worthy general!OTHELLO With all my heart, sir.LODOVICO The duke and the senators of VeniceGives a letter
greet you.OTHELLO I kiss the instrument of their pleasures227.Opens letter
and reads
DESDEMONA And what’s the news, good cousin228
Lodovico?IAGO I am very glad to see you, signior.
Welcome to Cyprus.LODOVICO I thank you. How does Lieutenant Cassio?IAGO Lives, sir.DESDEMONA Cousin, there’s fall’n between him and my lord
An unkind breach234: but you shall make all well.OTHELLO Are you sure of that?DESDEMONA My lord?Reads
OTHELLO ‘This fail you not to do, as you will—’LODOVICO He did not call: he’s busy in the paper.
Is there division ’twixt my lord and Cassio?DESDEMONA A most unhappy one: I would do much
T’atone241 them, for the love I bear to Cassio.OTHELLO Fire and brimstone!DESDEMONA My lord?OTHELLO Are you wise244?DESDEMONA What? Is he angry?LODOVICO Maybe th’letter moved him,
For, as I think, they do command him home,
Deputing Cassio in his government.DESDEMONA Trust me, I am glad on’t249.OTHELLO Indeed?DESDEMONA My lord?OTHELLO I am glad to see you mad252.DESDEMONA Why, sweet Othello?OTHELLO Devil!Strikes her
DESDEMONA I have not deserved this.LODOVICO My lord, this would not be believed in Venice,
Though I should swear I saw’t. ’Tis very much257:
Make her amends, she weeps.OTHELLO O devil, devil!
If that the earth could teem260 with woman’s tears,
Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile261.—
Out of my sight!DESDEMONA I will not stay to offend you.Starts to leave
LODOVICO Truly, an obedient lady:
I do beseech your lordship, call her back.OTHELLO Mistress!DESDEMONA My lord?Returns
OTHELLO What would you with her, sir?LODOVICO Who, I, my lord?OTHELLO Ay, you did wish that I would make her turn:
Sir, she can turn271, and turn, and yet go on
And turn again: and she can weep, sir, weep:
And she’s obedient273, as you say, obedient:
Very obedient.— Proceed you in your tears.—
Concerning this, sir, — O well-painted passion275! —
I am commanded home.— Get you away:
I’ll send for you anon.— Sir, I obey the mandate,
And will return to Venice.— Hence, avaunt![Exit Desdemona]
Cassio shall have my place279. And, sir, tonight
I do entreat that we may sup together:
You are welcome, sir, to Cyprus.— Goats and monkeys281!Exit
LODOVICO Is this the noble Moor whom our full282 senate
Call all in all sufficient283? Is this the nature
Whom passion could not shake? Whose solid virtue
The shot of accident nor dart of chance
Could neither graze nor pierce?IAGO He is much changed.LODOVICO Are his wits safe? Is he not light of brain?IAGO He’s that he is: I may not breathe my censure289
What he might be: if what he might he is not,290
I would to heaven he were!LODOVICO What, strike his wife?IAGO Faith, that was not so well293, yet would I knew
That stroke would prove the worst!LODOVICO Is it his use295?
Or did the letters work upon his blood
And new-create his fault?IAGO Alas, alas!
It is not honesty in me to speak
What I have seen and known. You shall observe him,
And his own courses will denote301 him so
That I may save my speech: do but go after,
And mark how he continues.LODOVICO I am sorry that I am deceived in him.Exeunt
Act 4 Scene 2 running scene 9
Location: Cyprus (within the citadel)
Enter Othello and EmiliaOTHELLO You have seen nothing then?EMILIA Nor ever heard, nor ever did suspect.OTHELLO Yes, you have seen Cassio and she together.EMILIA But then I saw no harm, and then I heard
Each syllable that breath made up between them.OTHELLO What, did they never whisper?EMILIA Never, my lord.OTHELLO Nor send you out o’th’way?EMILIA Never.OTHELLO To fetch her fan, her gloves, her mask, nor nothing?EMILIA Never, my lord.OTHELLO That’s strange.EMILIA I durst13, my lord, to wager she is honest,
Lay down my soul at stake14: if you think other,
Remove your thought, it doth abuse your bosom:
If any wretch have put this in your head,
Let heaven requite it with the serpent’s curse17!
For if she be not honest, chaste and true,
There’s no man happy: the purest of their wives
Is foul as slander.OTHELLO Bid her come hither: go.Exit Emilia
She says enough, yet she’s a simple bawd22
That cannot say as much. This23 is a subtle whore,
A closet lock and key of villainous secrets24:
And yet she’ll kneel and pray, I have seen her do’t.
Enter Desdemona and EmiliaDESDEMONA My lord, what is your will?OTHELLO Pray you, chuck, come hither.DESDEMONA What is your pleasure?OTHELLO Let me see your eyes: look in my face.DESDEMONA What horrible fancy’s this?OTHELLO Some of your function31, mistress:To Emilia
Leave procreants32 alone and shut the door:
Cough or c
ry ‘Hem’ if anybody come.
Your mystery34, your mystery: nay, dispatch.Exit Emilia
DESDEMONA Upon my knee, what doth your speechKneels
import?
I understand a fury in your words.OTHELLO Why, what art thou?DESDEMONA Your wife, my lord, your true and loyal wife.OTHELLO Come, swear it, damn thyself
Lest, being like one of heaven40, the devils themselves
Should fear to seize thee: therefore be double damned:
Swear thou art honest.DESDEMONA Heaven doth truly know it.OTHELLO Heaven truly knows that thou art false as hell.DESDEMONA To whom, my lord? With whom? How am I false?OTHELLO Ah Desdemon! Away, away, away!Weeps
DESDEMONA Alas the heavy47 day! Why do you weep?
Am I the motive of these tears, my lord?
If haply49 you my father do suspect
An instrument of this your calling back,
Lay not your blame on me: if you have lost him,
I have lost him too.OTHELLO Had it pleased heaven
To try me with affliction, had they rained
All kind of sores55 and shames on my bare head,
Steeped56 me in poverty to the very lips,
Given to captivity me and my utmost hopes,
I should have found in some place of my soul
A drop of patience: but, alas, to make me
The fixèd figure60 for the time of scorn
To point his slow and moving finger61 at!
Yet could I bear that too, well, very well,
But there where I have garnered63 up my heart,
Where either I must live, or bear no life,
The fountain65 from the which my current runs
Or else dries up: to be discarded thence!
Or keep it as a cistern67 for foul toads
To knot and gender68 in! Turn thy complexion there,
Patience, thou young and rose-lipped cherubin69:
Ay, here look grim70 as hell!DESDEMONA I hope my noble lord esteems me honest71.OTHELLO O, ay, as summer flies are in the shambles72,
That quicken even with blowing73. O, thou weed,
Who art so lovely fair and smell’st so sweet
That the sense aches at thee, would thou hadst never been born!DESDEMONA Alas, what ignorant76 sin have I committed?OTHELLO Was this fair paper, this most goodly book,
Made to write ‘whore’ upon? What committed78?
Committed? O, thou public commoner79,
I should make very forges of my cheeks,
That would to cinders burn up modesty,
Did I but speak thy deeds. What committed?
Heaven stops83 the nose at it and the moon winks,
The bawdy wind that kisses all it meets
Is hushed within the hollow mine85 of earth
And will not hear’t. What committed?DESDEMONA By heaven, you do me wrong.OTHELLO Are not you a strumpet88?DESDEMONA No, as I am a Christian:
If to preserve this vessel90 for my lord
From any other foul unlawful touch
Be not to be a strumpet, I am none.OTHELLO What, not a whore?DESDEMONA No, as I shall be saved.OTHELLO Is’t possible?DESDEMONA O, heaven forgive us!OTHELLO I cry you mercy97, then:
I took you for that cunning whore of Venice
That married with Othello.— You, mistress,Calls
Enter Emilia That have the office opposite100 to Saint Peter
And keeps the gate of hell101! You, you, ay, you!
We have done our course102: there’s money for your pains.
I pray you turn the key and keep our counsel103.Exit
Gives money
EMILIA Alas, what does this gentleman conceive104?
How do you, madam? How do you, my good lady?DESDEMONA Faith, half asleep106.EMILIA Good madam, what’s the matter with my lord?DESDEMONA With who?EMILIA Why, with my lord, madam.DESDEMONA Who is thy lord?EMILIA He that is yours, sweet lady.DESDEMONA I have none. Do not talk to me, Emilia:
I cannot weep, nor answers have I none
But what should go by water114. Prithee, tonight
Lay on my bed my wedding sheets: remember,
And call thy husband hither.EMILIA Here’s a change indeed!Exit
DESDEMONA ’Tis meet118 I should be used so, very meet.
How have I been behaved, that he might stick
The small’st opinion on my least misuse119?
Enter Iago and EmiliaIAGO What is your pleasure, madam?
How is’t with you?DESDEMONA I cannot tell. Those that do teach young babes
Do it with gentle means and easy tasks:
He might have chid me so, for, in good faith,
I am a child to chiding126.IAGO What’s the matter, lady?EMILIA Alas, Iago, my lord hath so bewhored her128,
Thrown such despite129 and heavy terms upon her,
That true hearts cannot bear it.DESDEMONA Am I that name, Iago?IAGO What name, fair lady?DESDEMONA Such as she said my lord did say I was.EMILIA He called her whore: a beggar in his drink
Could not have laid such terms upon his callet135.IAGO Why did he so?DESDEMONA I do not know: I am sure I am none such.Weeps
IAGO Do not weep, do not weep. Alas the day!EMILIA Hath she forsook139 so many noble matches?
Her father? And her country? And her friends?
To be called whore? Would it not make one weep?DESDEMONA It is my wretched fortune.IAGO Beshrew143 him for’t!
How comes this trick144 upon him?DESDEMONA Nay, heaven doth know.EMILIA I will be hanged if some eternal villain,
Some busy and insinuating rogue,
Some cogging148, cozening slave, to get some office,
Have not devised this slander: I will be hanged else.IAGO Fie, there is no such man: it is impossible.DESDEMONA If any such there be, heaven pardon him!EMILIA A halter152 pardon him! And hell gnaw his bones!
Why should he call her whore? Who keeps her company?
What place? What time? What form154? What likelihood?
The Moor’s abused by some most villainous knave,
Some base notorious knave, some scurvy156 fellow.
O heavens, that such companions157 thou’dst unfold,
And put in every honest hand a whip
To lash the rascals naked through the world
Even from the east to th’west!IAGO Speak within door161.EMILIA O, fie upon them! Some such squire162 he was
That turned your wit the seamy side without163
And made you to suspect me with the Moor.IAGO You are a fool: go to.DESDEMONA Alas, Iago,
What shall I do to win my lord again?
Good friend, go to him, for, by this light of heaven,
I know not how I lost him. Here I kneel:Kneels
If e’er my will did trespass gainst his love,
Either in discourse171 of thought or actual deed,
Or that172 mine eyes, mine ears, or any sense
Delighted them, or any other form,
Or that I do not yet174, and ever did,
And ever will — though he do shake me off
To beggarly divorcement — love him dearly,
Comfort forswear177 me! Unkindness may do much,
And his unkindness may defeat my life,
But never taint my love. I cannot say ‘whore’:
It does abhor180 me now I speak the word:
To do the act that might the addition181 earn
Othello Page 12