Or scant our former having in despite:
Why, we have galls; and though we have some grace,
Yet have we some revenge. Let husbands know
Their wives have sense like them. They see, and smell,
And have their palates both for sweet and sour,
As husbands have. What is it that they do
When they change us for others? Is it sport?
I think it is. And doth affection breed it?
I think it doth. Is’t frailty that thus errs?
It is so, too. And have not we affections,
Desires for sport, and frailty, as men have?
Then let them use us well, else let them know
The ills we do, their ills instruct us so.
DESDEMONA
Good night, good night. God me such uses send
Not to pick bad from bad, but by bad mend! Exeunt
5.1 Enter Iago and Roderigo
IAGO
Here, stand behind this bulk. Straight will he come.
Wear thy good rapier bare, and put it home.
Quick, quick, fear nothing. I’ll be at thy elbow.
It makes us or it mars us. Think on that,
And fix most firm thy resolution.
RODERIGO
Be near at hand. I may miscarry in’t.
IAGO
Here at thy hand. Be bold, and take thy stand.
RODERIGO (aside)
I have no great devotion to the deed,
And yet he hath given me satisfying reasons.
’Tis but a man gone. Forth my sword—he dies!
IAGO (aside)
I have rubbed this young quat almost to the sense,
And he grows angry. Now, whether he kill Cassio
Or Cassio him, or each do kill the other,
Every way makes my gain. live Roderigo,
He calls me to a restitution large
Of gold and jewels that I bobbed from him
As gifts to Desdemona.
It must not be. If Cassio do remain,
He hath a daily beauty in his life
That makes me ugly; and besides, the Moor
May unfold me to him-there stand I in much peril.
No, he must die. But so, I hear him coming.
Enter Cassio
RODERIGO
I know his gait, ’tis he. (Attacking Cassio) Villain, thou
diest.
CASSIO
That thrust had been mine enemy indeed,
But that my coat is better than thou know’st.
I will make proof of thine.
He stabs Roderigo, who falls
RODERIGO O, I am slain!
Iago wounds Cassio in the leg from behind. Exit Iago
CASSIO (falling)
I am maimed for ever. Help, ho, murder, murder!
Enter Othello [above]
OTHELLO
The voice of Cassio. Iago keeps his word.
RODERIGO O, villain that I am!
OTHELLO It is even so.
CASSIO O, help, ho! Light, a surgeon!
OTHELLO
’Tis he. O brave Iago, honest and just,
That hast such noble sense of thy friend’s wrong—
Thou teachest me. Minion, your dear lies dead,
And your unblessed fate hies. Strumpet, I come.
Forth of my heart those charms, thine eyes, are blotted.
Thy bed, lust-stained, shall with lust’s blood be spotted.
Exit
Enter Lodovico and Graziano
CASSIO
What ho, no watch, no passage? Murder, murder!
GRAZIANO
’Tis some mischance. The voice is very direful.
CASSIO O, help!
LODOVICO Hark.
RODERIGO O wretched villain!
LODOVICO
Two or three groan. ’Tis heavy night.
These may be counterfeits. Let’s think’t unsafe
To come into the cry without more help.
RODERIGO
Nobody come? Then shall I bleed to death.
Enter Iago with a light
LODOVICO Hark.
GRAZIANO
Here’s one comes in his shirt, with light and weapons.
IAGO
Who’s there? Whose noise is this that cries on murder?
LODOVICO
We do not know.
IAGO Do not you hear a cry?
CASSIO
Here, here. For heaven’s sake, help me.
IAGO What’s the matter?
GRAZIANO (to Lodovico)
This is Othello’s ensign, as I take it.
LODOVICO
The same indeed, a very valiant fellow.
IAGO (to Cassio)
What are you here that cry so grievously?
CASSIO
Iago—O, I am spoiled, undone by villains.
Give me some help.
IAGO
O me, lieutenant, what villains have done this?
CASSIO
I think that one of them is hereabout
And cannot make away.
IAGO O treacherous villains!
(To Lodovico and Graziano)
What are you there? Come in and give some help.
RODERIGO O, help me there!
CASSIO That’s one of ’em.
IAGO (stabbing Roderigo) O murderous slave! O villain!
RODERIGO
O damned Iago! O inhuman dog!
IAGO
Kill men i’th’ dark? Where be these bloody thieves?
How silent is this town! Ho, murder, murder!
(To Lodovico and Graziano)
What may you be? Are you of good or evil?
LODOVICO
As you shall prove us, praise us.
IAGO Signor Lodovico.
LODOVICO He, sir.
IAGO
I cry you mercy. Here’s Cassio hurt by villains.
GRAZIANO Cassio?
IAGO How is’t, brother?
CASSIO My leg is cut in two.
IAGO Marry, heaven forbid!
Light, gentlemen. I’ll bind it with my shirt.
Enter Bianca
BIANCA
What is the matter, ho? Who is’t that cried?
IAGO
Who is’t that cried?
BIANCA O my dear Cassio,
My sweet Cassio, O, Cassio, Cassio!
IAGO
O notable strumpet! Cassio, may you suspect
Who they should be that have thus mangled you? 80
CASSIO No.
GRAZIANO
I am sorry to find you thus. I have been to seek you.
IAGO
Lend me a garter. So. O for a chair,
To bear him easily hence!
BIANCA
Alas, he faints. O, Cassio, Cassio, Cassio!
IAGO
Gentlemen all, I do suspect this trash
To be a party in this injury.
Patience a while, good Cassio. Come, come,
Lend me a light. (Going to Roderigo) Know we this face
or no?
Alas, my friend, and my dear countryman.
Roderigo? No—yes, sure—O heaven, Roderigo!
GRAZIANO What, of Venice?
IAGO Even he, sir. Did you know him?
GRAZIANO Know him? Ay.
IAGO
Signor Graziano, I cry your gentle pardon.
These bloody accidents must excuse my manners
That so neglected you.
GRAZIANO I am glad to see you.
IAGO
How do you, Cassio? O, a chair, a chair!
GRAZIANO Roderigo.
IAGO
He, he, ’tis he.
Enter attendants with a chair
O, that’s well said, the chair!
Some good man bear him carefully from hence.
I’ll fetch the general’s surgeon. (To Bianca) For you,
mistress,
Save you your lab
our. He that lies slain here, Cassio,
Was my dear friend. What malice was between you?
CASSIO
None in the world, nor do I know the man.
IAGO (to Bianca)
What, look you pale? (To attendants) O, bear him out
o’th’ air.
(To Lodovico and Graziano)
Stay you, good gentlemen.
Exeunt attendants with Cassio in the chair [and with Roderigo’s body]
(To Bianca) Look you pale, mistress?
(To Lodovico and Graziano)
Do you perceive the ghastness of her eye?
(To Bianca) Nay, an you stare we shall hear more
anon.
(To Lodovico and Graziano)
Behold her well; I pray you look upon her.
Do you see, gentlemen? Nay, guiltiness
Will speak, though tongues were out of use.
Enter Emilia
EMILIA
Alas, what is the matter? What is the matter,
husband?
IAGO
Cassio hath here been set on in the dark
By Roderigo and fellows that are scaped.
He’s almost slain, and Roderigo dead.
EMILIA
Alas, good gentleman! Alas, good Cassio!
IAGO
This is the fruits of whoring. Prithee, Emilia,
Go know of Cassio where he supped tonight.
(To Bianca) What, do you shake at that?
BIANCA
He supped at my house, but I therefore shake not.
IAGO
O, did he so? I charge you go with me.
EMILIA (to Bianca) O, fie upon thee, strumpet!
BIANCA
I am no strumpet, but of life as honest
As you that thus abuse me.
EMILIA As I? Fough, fie upon thee!
IAGO
Kind gentlemen, let’s go see poor Cassio dressed.
(To Bianca) Come, mistress, you must tell’s another tale.
Emilia, run you to the citadel
And tell my lord and lady what hath happed.
Will you go on afore?
Exit Emilia
(Aside) This is the night
That either makes me or fordoes me quite. Exeunt
5.2 Enter Othello with a light. ⌈He draws back a curtain, revealing⌉ Desdemona asleep in her bed
OTHELLO
It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul.
Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars.
It is the cause. Yet I’ll not shed her blood,
Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow,
And smooth as monumental alabaster.
Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men.
Put out the light, and then put out the light.
If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,
I can again thy former light restore
Should I repent me; but once put out thy light,
Thou cunning‘st pattern of excelling nature,
I know not where is that Promethean heat
That can thy light relume. When I have plucked thy
rose
I cannot give it vital growth again.
It needs must wither. I’ll smell thee on the tree.
[He kisses her]
O balmy breath, that dost almost persuade
Justice to break her sword! One more, one more.
Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee
And love thee after. One more, and that’s the last.
He kisses her
So sweet was ne’er so fatal. I must weep,
But they are cruel tears. This sorrow’s heavenly,
It strikes where it doth love. She wakes.
DESDEMONA Who’s there? Othello?
OTHELLO Ay, Desdemona.
DESDEMONA Will you come to bed, my lord?
OTHELLOHave you prayed tonight, Desdemon?
DESDEMONA Ay, my lord.
OTHELLO
If you bethink yourself of any crime
Unreconciled as yet to heaven and grace,
Solicit for it straight.
DESDEMONA
Alack, my lord, what may you mean by that?
OTHELLO
Well, do it, and be brief. I will walk by.
I would not kill thy unprepared spirit.
No, heavens forfend! I would not kill thy soul.
DESDEMONA
Talk you of killing?
OTHELLO Ay, I do.
DESDEMONA Then heaven
Have mercy on me.
OTHELLO Amen, with all my heart.
DESDEMONA
If you say so, I hope you will not kill me.
OTHELLO Hum!
DESDEMONA
And yet I fear you, for you’re fatal then
When your eyes roll so. Why I should fear I know not,
Since guiltiness I know not, but yet I feel I fear.
OTHELLO Think on thy sins.
DESDEMONA They are loves I bear to you.
OTHELLO Ay, and for that thou diest.
DESDEMONA
That death’s unnatural that kills for loving.
Alas, why gnaw you so your nether lip?
Some bloody passion shakes your very frame.
These are portents, but yet I hope, I hope
They do not point on me.
OTHELLO Peace, and be still.
DESDEMONA
I will so. What’s the matter?
OTHELLO That handkerchief
Which I so loved and gave thee, thou gav’st to Cassio.
DESDEMONA
No, by my life and soul. Send for the man
And ask him.
OTHELLO
Sweet soul, take heed, take heed of perjury.
Thou art on thy deathbed.
DESDEMONA Ay, but not yet to die.
OTHELLO Presently.
Therefore confess thee freely of thy sin,
For to deny each article with oath
Cannot remove nor choke the strong conception
That I do groan withal. Thou art to die.
DESDEMONA
Then Lord have mercy on me.
OTHELLO I say amen.
DESDEMONA
And have you mercy, too. I never did
Offend you in my life, never loved Cassio
But with such general warranty of heaven
As I might love. I never gave him token.
OTHELLO
By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in’s hand.
O perjured woman! Thou dost stone my heart,
And makes me call what I intend to do
A murder, which I thought a sacrifice.
I saw the handkerchief.
DESDEMONA He found it, then.
I never gave it him. Send for him hither.
Let him confess a truth.
OTHELLO He hath confessed.
DESDEMONA
What, my lord?
OTHELLO That he hath used thee.
DESDEMONA How, unlawfully?
OTHELLO Ay.
DESDEMONA He will not say so.
OTHELLONo, his mouth is stopped.
Honest Iago hath ta’en order for’t.
DESDEMONA
O, my fear interprets! What, is he dead?
OTHELLO
Had all his hairs been lives, my great revenge
Had stomach for em all.
DESDEMONA (weeping)
Alas, he is betrayed, and I undone.
OTHELLO
Out, strumpet! Weep’st thou for him to my face?
DESDEMONA
O, banish me, my lord, but kill me not.
OTHELLO (attacking her) Down, strumpet.
DESDEMONA
Kill me tomorrow; let me live tonight.
OTHELLO Nay, an you strive—
DESDEMONA But half an hour.
OTHELLO Being done, there is no pause.
DESDEMONA But while I say one prayer.
; OTHELLO It is too late.
He smothers her
DESDEMONAO Lord, Lord, Lord!
Emilia at the door
EMILIA (within)
My lord, my lord, what ho, my lord, my lord!
OTHELLO
What noise is this? Not dead? Not yet quite dead?
I that am cruel am yet merciful.
I would not have thee linger in thy pain.
So, so.
EMILIA (within) What ho, my lord, my lord!
OTHELLOWho’s there?
EMILIA (within)
O, good my lord, I would speak a word with you.
OTHELLO (calling)
Yes.—‘Tis Emilia. (Calling) By and by!—She’s dead.
’Tis like she comes to speak of Cassio’s death.
The noise was high. Ha! No more moving.
Still as the grave. Shall she come in? Were’t good?
I think she stirs again. No. What’s best to do?
If she come in, she’ll sure speak to my wife.
My wife, my wife! What wife? I ha’ no wife.
O insupportable, O heavy hour!
Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse
Of sun and moon, and that th’affrighted globe
Should yawn at alteration.
EMILIA (within) I do beseech you
That I may speak with you. O, good my lord!
OTHELLO
I had forgot thee.—O, come in, Emilia.—
Soft, by and by. Let me the curtains draw.
He closes the bed-curtains
Where art thou?
He opens the door. Enter Emilia
What’s the matter with thee now?
EMILIA
O my good lord, yonder’s foul murder’s done.
OTHELLO What, now?
EMILIA But now, my lord.
OTHELLO
It is the very error of the moon,
She comes more nearer earth than she was wont,
And makes men mad.
EMILIA
Cassio, my lord, hath killed a young Venetian
Called Roderigo.
OTHELLO Roderigo killed
And Cassio killed?
EMILIA No, Cassio is not killed.
OTHELLO
Not Cassio killed? Then murder’s out of tune,
And sweet revenge grows harsh.
DESDEMONA O, falsely, falsely murdered!
EMILIA O Lord, what cry is that?
OTHELLO That? What?
EMILIA
Out and alas, that was my lady’s voice!
⌈She opens the bed-curtains
Help, help, ho, help ! O lady, speak again!
Sweet Desdemona, O sweet mistress, speak!
DESDEMONA
A guiltless death I die.
The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works Page 292