The First Web Folio Edition of Shakespeare's Works
A room in the castle. |
[Enter OTHELLO and EMILIA] |
OTHELLO | 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. | 5 |
OTHELLO | What, did they never whisper? |
EMILIA | Never, my lord. |
OTHELLO | Nor send you out o' the way? |
EMILIA | Never. |
OTHELLO | To fetch her fan, her gloves, her mask, nor nothing? | 10 |
EMILIA | Never, my lord. |
OTHELLO | That's strange. |
EMILIA | I durst, my lord, to wager she is honest, | ||
Lay down my soul at stake: if you think other, | |||
Remove your thought; it doth abuse your bosom. | 15 | ||
If any wretch have put this in your head, | |||
Let heaven requite it with the serpent's curse! | |||
For, if she be not honest, chaste, and true, | |||
There's no man happy; the purest of their wives | |||
Is foul as slander. | 20 |
OTHELLO | Bid her come hither: go. | ||
[Exit EMILIA] | |||
She says enough; yet she's a simple bawd | |||
That cannot say as much. This is a subtle whore, | |||
A closet lock and key of villanous secrets | |||
And yet she'll kneel and pray; I have seen her do't. | 25 | ||
[Enter DESDEMONA with EMILIA] |
DESDEMONA | My lord, what is your will? |
OTHELLO | Pray, chuck, come hither. |
DESDEMONA | What is your pleasure? |
OTHELLO | Let me see your eyes; | ||
Look in my face. | 30 |
DESDEMONA | What horrible fancy's this? |
OTHELLO | [To EMILIA] Some of your function, mistress; | ||
Leave procreants alone and shut the door; | |||
Cough, or cry 'hem,' if any body come: | |||
Your mystery, your mystery: nay, dispatch. | |||
[Exit EMILIA] |
DESDEMONA | Upon my knees, what doth your speech import? | 35 | |
I understand a fury in your words. | |||
But not the words. |
OTHELLO | Why, what art thou? |
DESDEMONA | Your wife, my lord; your true | ||
And loyal wife. | 40 |
OTHELLO | Come, swear it, damn thyself | ||
Lest, being like one of heaven, the devils themselves | |||
Should fear to seize thee: therefore be double damn'd: | |||
Swear thou art honest. |
DESDEMONA | Heaven doth truly know it. |
OTHELLO | Heaven truly knows that thou art false as hell. | 45 |
DESDEMONA | To whom, my lord? with whom? how am I false? |
OTHELLO | O Desdemona! away! away! away! |
DESDEMONA | Alas the heavy day! Why do you weep? | ||
Am I the motive of these tears, my lord? | |||
If haply you my father do suspect | 50 | ||
An instrument of this your calling back, | |||
Lay not your blame on me: If you have lost him, | |||
Why, I have lost him too. |
OTHELLO | Had it pleased heaven | ||
To try me with affliction; had they rain'd | 55 | ||
All kinds of sores and shames on my bare head. | |||
Steep'd 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 | 60 | ||
A fixed figure for the time of scorn | |||
To point his slow unmoving finger at! | |||
Yet could I bear that too; well, very well: | |||
But there, where I have garner'd up my heart, | |||
Where either I must live, or bear no life; | 65 | ||
The fountain from the which my current runs, | |||
Or else dries up; to be discarded thence! | |||
Or keep it as a cistern for foul toads | |||
To knot and gender in! Turn thy complexion there, | |||
Patience, thou young and rose-lipp'd cherubin,-- | 70 | ||
Ay, there, look grim as hell! |
DESDEMONA | I hope my noble lord esteems me honest. |
OTHELLO | O, ay; as summer flies are in the shambles, | ||
That quicken even with blowing. O thou weed, | |||
Who art so lovely fair and smell'st so sweet | 75 | ||
That the sense aches at thee, would thou hadst | |||
ne'er been born! |
DESDEMONA | Alas, what ignorant sin have I committed? |
OTHELLO | Was this fair paper, this most goodly book, | ||
Made to write 'whore' upon? What committed! | 80 | ||
Committed! O thou public commoner! | |||
I should make very forges of my cheeks, | |||
That would to cinders burn up modesty, | |||
Did I but speak thy deeds. What committed! | |||
Heaven stops the nose at it and the moon winks, | 85 | ||
The bawdy wind that kisses all it meets | |||
Is hush'd within the hollow mine of earth, | |||
And will not hear it. What committed! | |||
Impudent strumpet! |
DESDEMONA | By heaven, you do me wrong. |
OTHELLO | Are you not a strumpet? | 90 |
DESDEMONA | No, as I am a Christian: | ||
If to preserve this vessel for my lord | |||
From any other foul unlawful touch | |||
Be not to be a strumpet, I am none. |
OTHELLO | What, not a whore? | 95 |
DESDEMONA | No, as I shall be saved. |
OTHELLO | Is't possible? |
DESDEMONA | O, heaven forgive us! |
OTHELLO | I cry you mercy, then: | ||
I took you for that cunning whore of Venice | |||
That married with Othello. | |||
[Raising his voice] | |||
You, mistress, | 100 | ||
That have the office opposite to Saint Peter, | |||
And keep the gate of hell! | |||
[Re-enter EMILIA] | |||
You, you, ay, you! | |||
We have done our course; there's money for your pains: | |||
I pray you, turn the key and keep our counsel. | 105 | ||
[Exit] |
EMILIA | Alas, what does this gentleman conceive? | ||
How do you, madam? how do you, my good lady? |
DESDEMONA | 'Faith, half asleep. |
EMILIA | Good madam, what's the matter with my lord? |
DESDEMONA | With who? | 110 |
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 answer have I none, | |||
But what should go by water. Prithee, tonight | 115 | ||
Lay on my bed my wedding sheets: remember; | |||
And call thy husband hither. |
EMILIA | Here's a change indeed! | ||
[Exit] |
DESDEMONA | 'Tis meet I should be used so, very meet. | ||
How have I been behaved, that he might stick | 120 | ||
The small'st opinion on my least misuse? | |||
[Re-enter EMILIA with IAGO] |
IAGO | 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: | 125 | ||
He might have chid me so; for, in good faith, | |||
I am a child to chiding. |
IAGO | What's the matter, lady? |
EMILIA | Alas, Iago, my lord hath so bewhored her. | ||
Thrown such despite and heavy terms upon her, | 130 | ||
As true hearts cannot bear. |
DESDEMONA | Am I that name, Iago? |
IAGO | What name, fair lady? |
DESDEMONA | Such as she says my lord did say I was. |
EMILIA | He call'd her whore: a beggar in his drink | 135 | |
Could not have laid such terms upon his callat. |
IAGO | Why did he so? |
DESDEMONA | I do not know; I am sure I am none such. |
IAGO | Do not weep, do not weep. Alas the day! |
EMILIA | Hath she forsook so many noble matches, | 140 | |
Her father and her country and her friends, | |||
To be call'd whore? would it not make one weep? |
DESDEMONA | It is my wretched fortune. |
IAGO | Beshrew him for't! | ||
How comes this trick upon him? | 145 |
DESDEMONA | Nay, heaven doth know. |
EMILIA | I will be hang'd, if some eternal villain, | ||
Some busy and insinuating rogue, | |||
Some cogging, cozening slave, to get some office, | |||
Have not devised this slander; I'll be hang'd else. | 150 |
IAGO | Fie, there is no such man; it is impossible. |
DESDEMONA | If any such there be, heaven pardon him! |
EMILIA | A halter pardon him! and hell gnaw his bones! | ||
Why should he call her whore? who keeps her company? | |||
What place? what time? what form? what likelihood? | 155 | ||
The Moor's abused by some most villanous knave, | |||
Some base notorious knave, some scurvy fellow. | |||
O heaven, that such companions thou'ldst unfold, | |||
And put in every honest hand a whip | |||
To lash the rascals naked through the world | 160 | ||
Even from the east to the west! |
IAGO | Speak within door. |
EMILIA | O, fie upon them! Some such squire he was | ||
That turn'd your wit the seamy side without, | |||
And made you to suspect me with the Moor. | 165 |
IAGO | You are a fool; go to. |
DESDEMONA | O good 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: | 170 | ||
If e'er my will did trespass 'gainst his love, | |||
Either in discourse of thought or actual deed, | |||
Or that mine eyes, mine ears, or any sense, | |||
Delighted them in any other form; | |||
Or that I do not yet, and ever did. | 175 | ||
And ever will--though he do shake me off | |||
To beggarly divorcement--love him dearly, | |||
Comfort forswear me! Unkindness may do much; | |||
And his unkindness may defeat my life, | |||
But never taint my love. I cannot say 'whore:' | 180 | ||
It does abhor me now I speak the word; | |||
To do the act that might the addition earn | |||
Not the world's mass of vanity could make me. |
IAGO | I pray you, be content; 'tis but his humour: | ||
The business of the state does him offence, | 185 | ||
And he does chide with you. |
DESDEMONA | If 'twere no other-- |
IAGO | 'Tis but so, I warrant. | ||
[Trumpets within] | |||
Hark, how these instruments summon to supper! | |||
The messengers of Venice stay the meat; | 190 | ||
Go in, and weep not; all things shall be well. | |||
[Exeunt DESDEMONA and EMILIA] | |||
[Enter RODERIGO] | |||
How now, Roderigo! |
RODERIGO | I do not find that thou dealest justly with me. |
IAGO | What in the contrary? |
RODERIGO | Every day thou daffest me with some device, Iago; | 195 | |
and rather, as it seems to me now, keepest from me | |||
all conveniency than suppliest me with the least | |||
advantage of hope. I will indeed no longer endure | |||
it, nor am I yet persuaded to put up in peace what | |||
already I have foolishly suffered. | 200 |
IAGO | Will you hear me, Roderigo? |
RODERIGO | 'Faith, I have heard too much, for your words and | ||
performances are no kin together. |
IAGO | You charge me most unjustly. |
RODERIGO | With nought but truth. I have wasted myself out of | 205 | |
my means. The jewels you have had from me to | |||
deliver to Desdemona would half have corrupted a | |||
votarist: you have told me she hath received them | |||
and returned me expectations and comforts of sudden | |||
respect and acquaintance, but I find none. | 210 |
IAGO | Well; go to; very well. |
RODERIGO | Very well! go to! I cannot go to, man; nor 'tis | ||
not very well: nay, I think it is scurvy, and begin | |||
to find myself fobbed in it. |
IAGO | Very well. | 215 |
RODERIGO | I tell you 'tis not very well. I will make myself | ||
known to Desdemona: if she will return me my | |||
jewels, I will give over my suit and repent my | |||
unlawful solicitation; if not, assure yourself I | |||
will seek satisfaction of you. | 220 |
IAGO | You have said now. |
RODERIGO | Ay, and said nothing but what I protest intendment of doing. |
IAGO | Why, now I see there's mettle in thee, and even from | ||
this instant to build on thee a better opinion than | |||
ever before. Give me thy hand, Roderigo: thou hast | 225 | ||
taken against me a most just exception; but yet, I | |||
protest, I have dealt most directly in thy affair. |
RODERIGO | It hath not appeared. |
IAGO | I grant indeed it hath not appeared, and your | ||
suspicion is not without wit and judgment. But, | 230 | ||
Roderigo, if thou hast that in thee indeed, which I | |||
have greater reason to believe now than ever, I mean | |||
purpose, courage and valour, this night show it: if | |||
thou the next night following enjoy not Desdemona, | |||
take me from this world with treachery and devise | 235 | ||
engines for my life. |
RODERIGO | Well, what is it? is it within reason and compass? |
IAGO | Sir, there is especial commission come from Venice | ||
to depute Cassio in Othello's place. |
RODERIGO | Is that true? why, then Othello and Desdemona | 240 | |
return again to Venice. |
IAGO | O, no; he goes into Mauritania and takes away with | ||
him the fair Desdemona, unless his abode be | |||
lingered here by some accident: wherein none can be | |||
so determinate as the removing of Cassio. | 245 |
RODERIGO | How do you mean, removing of him? |
IAGO | Why, by making him uncapable of Othello's place; | ||
knocking out his brains. |
RODERIGO | And that you would have me to do? |
IAGO | Ay, if you dare do yourself a profit and a right. | 250 | |
He sups to-night with a harlotry, and thither will I | |||
go to him: he knows not yet of his horrorable | |||
fortune. If you will watch his going thence, which | |||
I will fashion to fall out between twelve and one, | |||
you may take him at your pleasure: I will be near | 255 | ||
to second your attempt, and he shall fall between | |||
us. Come, stand not amazed at it, but go along with | |||
me; I will show you such a necessity in his death | |||
that you shall think yourself bound to put it on | |||
him. It is now high suppertime, and the night grows | 260 | ||
to waste: about it. |
RODERIGO | I will hear further reason for this. |
IAGO | And you shall be satisfied. | ||
[Exeunt] |
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