The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works

by William Shakespeare

  IAGO

  Or to be naked with her friend in bed

  An hour or more, not meaning any harm?

  OTHELLO

  Naked in bed, Iago, and not mean harm?

  It is hypocrisy against the devil.

  They that mean virtuously and yet do so,

  The devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heaven.

  IAGO

  If they do nothing, ’tis a venial slip.

  But if I give my wife a handkerchief—

  OTHELLO What then?

  IAGO

  Why then, ’tis hers, my lord, and being hers,

  She may, I think, bestow’t on any man.

  OTHELLO

  She is protectress of her honour, too.

  May she give that?

  IAGO

  Her honour is an essence that’s not seen.

  They have it very oft that have it not.

  But for the handkerchief—

  OTHELLO

  By heaven, I would most gladly have forgot it.

  Thou said‘st—O, it comes o’er my memory

  As doth the raven o’er the infectious house,

  Boding to all!—he had my handkerchief.

  IAGO

  Ay, what of that?

  OTHELLO That’s not so good now.

  IAGO

  What if I had said I had seen him do you wrong,

  Or heard him say—as knaves be such abroad,

  Who having by their own importunate suit

  Or voluntary dotage of some mistress

  Convinced or supplied them, cannot choose

  But they must blab—

  OTHELLO Hath he said anything?

  IAGO

  He hath, my lord. But, be you well assured,

  No more than he’ll unswear.

  OTHELLO What hath he said?

  IAGO

  Faith, that he did—I know not what he did.

  OTHELLO

  What, what?

  IAGO Lie—

  OTHELLO With her?

  IAGO With her, on her, what you will.

  OTHELLO Lie with her? Lie on her? We say ‘lie on her’ when they belie her. Lie with her? ’Swounds, that’s fulsome! Handkerchief—confessions—hankerchief. To confess and be hanged for his labour. First to be hanged and then to confess! I tremble at it. Nature would not invest herself in such shadowing passion without some instruction. It is not words that shakes me thus. Pish! Noses, ears, and lips! Is’t possible? Confess? Handkerchief? O devil!

  He falls down in a trance

  IAGO

  Work on; my medicine works. Thus credulous fools

  are caught,

  And many worthy and chaste dames even thus,

  All guiltless, meet reproach. What ho, my lord!

  My lord, I say. Othello!

  Enter Cassio

  How now, Cassio?

  CASSIO What’s the matter?

  IAGO

  My lord is fall’n into an epilepsy.

  This is his second fit. He had one yesterday.

  CASSIO

  Rub him about the temples.

  IAGO No, forbear.

  The lethargy must have his quiet course.

  If not, he foams at mouth, and by and by

  Breaks out to savage madness. Look, he stirs.

  Do you withdraw yourself a little while,

  He will recover straight. When he is gone

  I would on great occasion speak with you.

  Exit Cassio

  How is it, general? Have you not hurt your head?

  OTHELLO

  Dost thou mock me?

  IAGO I mock you not, by heaven.

  Would you would bear your fortune like a man.

  OTHELLO

  A hornèd man’s a monster and a beast.

  IAGO

  There’s many a beast then in a populous city,

  And many a civil monster.

  OTHELLO Did he confess it?

  IAGO Good sir, be a man.

  Think every bearded fellow that’s but yoked

  May draw with you. There’s millions now alive

  That nightly lie in those unproper beds

  Which they dare swear peculiar. Your case is better.

  O, ’tis the spite of hell, the fiend’s arch-mock,

  To lip a wanton in a secure couch

  And to suppose her chaste! No, let me know,

  And knowing what I am, I know what she shall be.

  OTHELLO

  O, thou art wise, ’tis certain.

  IAGO Stand you a while apart.

  Confine yourself but in a patient list.

  Whilst you were here, o‘erwhelmèd with your grief—

  A passion most unsuiting such a man—

  Cassio came hither. I shifted him away,

  And laid good ’scuse upon your ecstasy,

  Bade him anon return and here speak with me,

  The which he promised. Do but encave yourself,

  And mark the fleers, the gibes and notable scorns

  That dwell in every region of his face.

  For I will make him tell the tale anew,

  Where, how, how oft, how long ago, and when

  He hath and is again to cope your wife.

  I say, but mark his gesture. Marry, patience,

  Or I shall say you’re all-in-all in spleen,

  And nothing of a man.

  OTHELLO Dost thou hear, Iago?

  I will be found most cunning in my patience,

  But—dost thou hear?—most bloody.

  IAGO That’s not amiss,

  But yet keep time in all. Will you withdraw?

  Othello stands apart

  Now will I question Cassio of Bianca,

  A hussy that by selling her desires

  Buys herself bread and cloth. It is a creature

  That dotes on Cassio—as ’tis the strumpet’s plague

  To beguile many and be beguiled by one.

  He, when he hears of her, cannot restrain

  From the excess of laughter.

  Enter Cassio

  Here he comes.

  As he shall smile, Othello shall go mad;

  And his unbookish jealousy must conster

  Poor Cassio’s smiles, gestures, and light behaviours

  Quite in the wrong. How do you now, lieutenant?

  CASSIO

  The worser that you give me the addition

  Whose want even kills me.

  IAGO

  Ply Desdemona well and you are sure on’t.

  Now, if this suit lay in Bianca’s power,

  How quickly should you speed!

  CASSIO (laughing) Alas, poor caitiff!

  OTHELLO (aside) Look how he laughs already.

  IAGO

  I never knew a woman love man so.

  CASSIO

  Alas, poor rogue! I think i’faith she loves me.

  OTHELLO (aside)

  Now he denies it faintly, and laughs it out.

  IAGO

  Do you hear, Cassio?

  OTHELLO (aside) Now he importunes him

  To tell it o’er. Go to, well said, well said.

  IAGO

  She gives it out that you shall marry her.

  Do you intend it?

  CASSIO Ha, ha, ha!

  OTHELLO (aside)

  Do ye triumph, Roman, do you triumph?

  CASSIO I marry! What, a customer? Prithee, bear some charity to my wit—do not think it so unwholesome. Ha, ha, ha!

  OTHELLO (aside) So, so, so, so. They laugh that wins.

  IAGO Faith, the cry goes that you marry her.

  CASSIO Prithee, say true.

  IAGO I am a very villain else.

  OTHELLO (aside) Ha’ you scored me? Well. 125

  CASSIO This is the monkey’s own giving out. She is persuaded I will marry her out of her own love and flattery, not out of my promise.

  OTHELLO (aside) Iago beckons me. Now he begins the story. Othello draws closer

  CASSIO S
he was here even now. She haunts me in every place. I was the other day talking on the sea-bank with certain Venetians, and thither comes the bauble, and falls me thus about my neck.

  OTHELLO (aside) Crying ‘O dear Cassiol’ as it were. His gesture imports it.

  CASSIO So hangs and lolls and weeps upon me, so shakes and pulls me—ha, ha, ha!

  OTHELLO (aside) Now he tells how she plucked him to my chamber. O, I see that nose of yours, but not that dog I shall throw it to!

  CASSIO Well, I must leave her company.

  Enter Bianca

  IAGO Before me, look where she comes.

  CASSIO ’Tis such another fitchew! Marry, a perfumed one. (To Bianca) What do you mean by this haunting of me?

  BIANCA Let the devil and his dam haunt you. What did you mean by that same handkerchief you gave me even now? I was a fine fool to take it. I must take out the whole work—a likely piece of work, that you should find it in your chamber and know not who left it there. This is some minx’s token, and I must take out the work. There, give it your hobby-horse. (Giving Cassio the napkin) Wheresoever you had it, I’ll take out no work on’t.

  CASSIO How now, my sweet Bianca, how now, how now?

  OTHELLO (aside)

  By heaven, that should be my handkerchief.

  BIANCA An you’ll come to supper tonight, you may. An you will not, come when you are next prepared for.

  Exit

  IAGO After her, after her.

  CASSIO Faith, I must, she’ll rail in the streets else.

  IAGO Will you sup there?

  CASSIO Faith, 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?

  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 foolish woman your wife. She gave it him, and he hath given 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 way.

  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 invention.

  IAGO She’s the worse for all this.

  OTHELLO O, a thousand, a thousand times! And then of so gentle a condition.

  IAGO Ay, too gentle.

  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 patent to offend; for if it touch not you, it comes near nobody.

  OTHELLO I will chop her into messes. 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 expostulate 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 undertaker. You shall hear more by midnight.

  OTHELLO Excellent good.

  A trumpet

  What trumpet is that same?

  IAGO I warrant, something from Venice.

  Enter Lodovico, Desdemona, and attendants

  ’Tis Lodovico. This comes from the Duke. See, your wife’s with him.

  LODOVICO God save the worthy general.

  OTHELLO With all my heart, sir.

  LODOVICO (giving Othello a letter) The Duke and the senators of Venice greet you.

  OTHELLO I kiss the instrument of their pleasures.

  He reads the letter

  DESDEMONA

  And what’s the news, good cousin Lodovico?

  IAGO (to Lodovico) I am very glad to see you, signor. 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 breach. But you shall make all well.

  OTHELLO Are you sure of that?

  DESDEMONA My lord.

  OTHELLO (reads) ‘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’atone them, for the love I bear to Cassio.

  OTHELLO

  Fire and brimstone!

  DESDEMONA My lord?

  OTHELLO Are you wise?

  DESDEMONA

  What, is he angry?

  LODOVICO

  Maybe the letter moved him,

  For, as I think, they do command him home,

  Deputing Cassio in his government.

  DESDEMONA By my troth, I am glad on’t.

  OTHELLO Indeed!

  DESDEMONA My lord?

  OTHELLO (to Desdemona) I am glad to see you mad.

  DESDEMONA Why, sweet Othello!

  OTHELLO Devil!

  He 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 much.

  Make her amends, she weeps.

  OTHELLOO, devil, devil!

  If that the earth could teem with woman’s tears,

  Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile.

  Out of my sight!

  DESDEMONA (going) I will not stay to offend you.

  LODOVICO

  Truly, an obedient lady.

  I do beseech your lordship call her back.

  OTHELLO Mistress!

  DESDEMONA (returning) My lord?

  OTHELLO (to Lodovico) 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 turn and turn, and yet go on

  And turn again, and she can weep, sir, weep,

  And she’s obedient, as you say, obedient,

  Very obedient. (To Desdemona) Proceed you in your

  tears.

  (To Lodovico) Concerning this, sir—(To Desdemona) O

  well painted passion!

  (To Lodovico) I am commanded home. (To Desdemona)

  Get you away.

  I’ll send for you anon. (To Lodovico) Sir, I obey the

  mandate,

  And will return to Venice. (To Desdemona) Hence,

  avaunt!

  Exit Desdemona

  (To Lodovico) Cassio shall have my place, and, sir,

  tonight

  I do entreat that we may sup together.

  You are welcome, sir, to Cyprus. Goats and monkeys!

  Exit

  LODOVICO

  Is this the noble Moor whom our full senate

  Call all-in-all sufficient? 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 censure

  What he might be. If what he might he is not,

  I would to heaven he were.

  LODOVICO What, strike his wife!

  IAGO

  Faith, that was not so well. Yet would I knew

  That stroke would prove the worst.

  LODOVICO Is it his use,

  Or did the letters work upon his blood

  And new-create his fault?

  IAGOAlas, alas.

  It is not honesty in me to speak

  What I have seen and known. You shall observe him,

  And his own courses will denote 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

  4.2 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 ’em.

  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 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.

  If any wretch ha’ 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.

  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 villainous secrets,

  And yet she’ll kneel and pray—I ha’ seen her do’t.

  Enter Desdemona and Emilia

  DESDEMONA

  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 (to Emilia) Some of your function, mistress.