A Bedchamber in the Castle. DESDEMONA in bed asleep. A light burning. | |
| |
Enter OTHELLO. | |
| Oth. It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul; | |
| Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars! | 4 |
| 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. | 8 |
| 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, | 12 |
| Thou cunning’st pattern of excelling nature, | |
| I know not where is that Promethean heat | |
| That can thy light relume. When I have pluck’d the rose, | |
| I cannot give it vital growth again, | 16 |
| It needs must wither: I’ll smell it on the tree. [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, | 20 |
| And love thee after. One more, and this the last: | |
| 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. | 24 |
| Des. Who’s there? Othello? | |
| Oth. Ay, Desdemona. | |
| Des. Will you come to bed, my lord? | |
| Oth. Have you pray’d to-night, Desdemona? | 28 |
| Des. Ay, my lord. | |
| Oth. If you bethink yourself of any crime | |
| Unreconcil’d as yet to heaven and grace, | |
| Solicit for it straight. | 32 |
| Des. Alas! my lord, what may you mean by that? | |
| Oth. Well, do it, and be brief; I will walk by: | |
| I would not kill thy unprepared spirit; | |
| No; heaven forfend! I would not kill thy soul. | 36 |
| Des. Talk you of killing? | |
| Oth. Ay, I do. | |
| Des. Then heaven | |
| Have mercy on me! | 40 |
| Oth. Amen! with all my heart. | |
| Des. If you say so, I hope you will not kill me. | |
| Oth. Hum! | |
| Des. And yet I fear you; for you are fatal then | 44 |
| When your eyes roll so. Why I should fear I know not, | |
| Since guiltiness I know not; but yet I feel I fear. | |
| Oth. Think on thy sins. | |
| Des. They are loves I bear to you. | 48 |
| Oth. Ay, and for that thou diest. | |
| Des. That death’s unnatural that kills for loving. | |
| Alas! why gnaw you so your nether lip? | |
| Some bloody passion shakes your very frame; | 52 |
| These are portents, but yet, I hope, I hope | |
| They do not point on me. | |
| Oth. Peace, and be still! | |
| Des. I will so. What’s the matter? | 56 |
| Oth. That handkerchief which I so lov’d and gave thee | |
| Thou gav’st to Cassio. | |
| Des. No, by my life and soul! | |
| Send for the man and ask him. | 60 |
| Oth. Sweet soul, take heed, | |
| Take heed of perjury; thou’rt on thy death-bed. | |
| Des. Ay, but not yet to die. | |
| Oth. Yes, presently; | 64 |
| 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. | 68 |
| Des. Then Lord have mercy on me! | |
| Oth. I say, amen. | |
| Des. And have you mercy too! I never did | |
| Offend you in my life; never lov’d Cassio | 72 |
| But with such general warranty of heaven | |
| As I might love; I never gave him token. | |
| Oth. By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in ’s hand. | |
| O perjur’d woman! thou dost stone my heart, | 76 |
| And mak’st me call what I intend to do | |
| A murder, which I thought a sacrifice: | |
| I saw the handkerchief. | |
| Des. He found it then; | 80 |
| I never gave it him. Send for him hither; | |
| Let him confess a truth. | |
| Oth. He hath confess’d. | |
| Des. What, my lord? | 84 |
| Oth. That he hath us’d thee. | |
| Des. How? unlawfully? | |
| Oth. Ay. | |
| Des. He will not say so. | 88 |
| Oth. No; his mouth is stopp’d: | |
| Honest Iago hath ta’en order for ’t. | |
| Des. O! my fear interprets. What! is he dead? | |
| Oth. Had all his hairs been lives, my great revenge | 92 |
| Had stomach for them all. | |
| Des. Alas! he is betray’d and I undone. | |
| Oth. Out, strumpet! Weep’st thou for him to my face? | |
| Des. O! banish me, my lord, but kill me not! | 96 |
| Oth. Down, strumpet! | |
| Des. Kill me to-morrow; let me live to-night! | |
| Oth. Nay, if you strive,— | |
| Des. But half an hour! | 100 |
| Oth. Being done, there is no pause. | |
| Des. But while I say one prayer! | |
| Oth. It is too late. [He smothers her. | |
| Emil. [Within.] My lord, my lord! what, ho! my lord, my lord! | 104 |
| Oth. 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. | 108 |
| Emil. [Within.] What, ho! my lord, my lord! | |
| Oth. Who’s there? | |
| Emil. [Within.] O! good my lord, I would speak a word with you! | |
| Oth. Yes; ’tis Emilia: by and by. She’s dead. | 112 |
| ’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? | 116 |
| If she come in she’ll sure speak to my wife: | |
| My wife! my wife! what wife? I have no wife: | |
| O, insupportable! O heavy hour! | |
| Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse | 120 |
| Of sun and moon, and that the affrighted globe | |
| Should yawn at alteration. | |
| Emil. [Within.] I do beseech you | |
| That I may speak with you, O! good my lord. | 124 |
| Oth. I had forgot thee: O! come in, Emilia: | |
| Soft, by and by: let me the curtains draw. | |
| Where art thou? [Unlocks the door. | |
| |
Enter EMILIA. | 128 |
| What’s the matter with thee now? | |
| Emil. O! my good lord, yonder’s foul murder done. | |
| Oth. What! now? | |
| Emil. But now, my lord. | 132 |
| Oth. It is the very error of the moon; | |
| She comes more near the earth than she was wont, | |
| And makes men mad. | |
| Emil. Cassio, my lord, has kill’d a young Venetian | 136 |
| Call’d Roderigo. | |
| Oth. Roderigo kill’d! | |
| And Cassio kill’d? | |
| Emil. No, Cassio is not kill’d. | 140 |
| Oth. Not Cassio kill’d! then murder’s out of tune, | |
| And sweet revenge grows harsh. | |
| Des. O! falsely, falsely murder’d. | |
| Emil. Alas! what cry is that? | 144 |
| Oth. That! what? | |
| Emil. Out, and alas! that was my lady’s voice: | |
| Help! Help, ho! help! O lady, speak again! | |
| Sweet Desdemona! O! sweet mistress, speak. | 148 |
| Des. A guiltless death I die. | |
| Emil. O! who hath done this deed? | |
| Des. Nobody; I myself; farewell: | |
| Commend me to my kind lord. O! farewell! [Dies. | 152 |
| Oth. Why, how should she be murder’d? | |
| Emil. Alas! who knows? | |
| Oth. You heard her say herself it was not I. | |
| Emil. She said so; I must needs report the truth. | 156 |
| Oth. She’s like a liar gone to burning hell; | |
| ’Twas I that kill’d her. | |
| Emil. O! the more angel she, | |
| And you the blacker devil. | 160 |
| Oth. She turn’d to folly, and she was a whore. | |
| Emil. Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil. | |
| Oth. She was false as water. | |
| Emil. Thou art rash as fire to say | 164 |
| That she was false: O! she was heavenly true. | |
| Oth. Cassio did tup her; ask thy husband else. | |
| O! I were damn’d beneath all depth in hell | |
| But that I did proceed upon just grounds | 168 |
| To this extremity. Thy husband knew it all. | |
| Emil. My husband! | |
| Oth. Thy husband. | |
| Emil. That she was false to wedlock? | 172 |
| Oth. Ay, with Cassio. Nay, had she been true, | |
| If heaven would make me such another world | |
| Of one entire and perfect chrysolite, | |
| I’d not have sold her for it. | 176 |
| Emil. My husband! | |
| Oth. Ay, ’twas he that told me first: | |
| An honest man he is, and hates the slime | |
| That sticks on filthy deeds. | 180 |
| Emil. My husband! | |
| Oth. What needs this iterance, woman? I say thy husband. | |
| Emil. O mistress! villany hath made mocks with love. | |
| My husband say that she was false! | 184 |
| Oth. He, woman; | |
| I say, thy husband: dost understand the word? | |
| My friend, thy husband, honest, honest Iago. | |
| Emil. If he say so, may his pernicious soul | 188 |
| Rot half a grain a day! he lies to the heart: | |
| She was too fond of her most filthy bargain. | |
| Oth. Ha! | |
| Emil. Do thy worst: | 192 |
| This deed of thine is no more worthy heaven | |
| Than thou wast worthy her. | |
| Oth. Peace! you were best. | |
| Emil. Thou hast not half the power to do me harm | 196 |
| As I have to be hurt. O gull! O dolt! | |
| As ignorant as dirt! thou hast done a deed,— | |
| I care not for thy sword; I’ll make thee known, | |
| Though I lost twenty lives. Help! help, ho! help! | 200 |
| The Moor has kill’d my mistress! Murder! murder! | |
| |
Enter MONTANO, GRATIANO, IAGO, and Others. | |
| Mon. What is the matter? How now, general! | |
| Emil. O! are you come, Iago? you have done well, | 204 |
| That men must lay their murders on your neck. | |
| Gra. What is the matter? | |
| Emil. Disprove this villain if thou be’st a man: | |
| He says thou told’st him that his wife was false. | 208 |
| I know thou didst not, thou’rt not such a villain. | |
| Speak, for my heart is full. | |
| Iago. I told him what I thought, and told no more | |
| Than what he found himself was apt and true. | 212 |
| Emil. But did you ever tell him she was false? | |
| Iago. I did. | |
| Emil. You told a lie, an odious damned lie; | |
| Upon my soul, a lie, a wicked lie. | 216 |
| She false with Cassio! Did you say with Cassio? | |
| Iago. With Cassio, mistress. Go to, charm your tongue. | |
| Emil. I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to speak. | |
| My mistress here lies murder’d in her bed. | 220 |
| All. O heavens forfend! | |
| Emil. And your reports have set the murder on. | |
| Oth. Nay, stare not, masters; it is true, indeed. | |
| Gra. ’Tis a strange truth. | 224 |
| Mon. O monstrous act! | |
| Emil. Villany! villany! villany! | |
| I think upon ’t, I think, I smell ’t; O villany! | |
| I thought so then; I’ll kill myself for grief. | 228 |
| O! villany, villany! | |
| Iago. What! are you mad? I charge you, get you home. | |
| Emil. Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak: | |
| ’Tis proper I obey him, but not now. | 232 |
| Perchance, Iago, I will ne’er go home. | |
| Oth. O! O! O! [Falls on the bed. | |
| Emil. Nay, lay thee down and roar, | |
| For thou hast kill’d the sweetest innocent | 236 |
| That e’er did lift up eye. | |
| Oth. O! she was foul. | |
| I scarce did know you, uncle. There lies your niece, | |
| Whose breath, indeed, these hands have newly stopp’d: | 240 |
| I know this act shows terrible and grim. | |
| Gra. Poor Desdemona! I am glad thy father’s dead. | |
| Thy match was mortal to him, and pure grief | |
| Shore his old thread in twain: did he live now, | 244 |
| This sight would make him do a desperate turn, | |
| Yea, curse his better angel from his side, | |
| And fall to reprobation. | |
| Oth. ’Tis pitiful; but yet Iago knows | 248 |
| That she with Cassio hath the act of shame | |
| A thousand times committed; Cassio confess’d it: | |
| And she did gratify his amorous works | |
| With that recognizance and pledge of love | 252 |
| Which I first gave her. I saw it in his hand: | |
| It was a handkerchief, an antique token | |
| My father gave my mother. | |
| Emil. O heaven! O heavenly powers! | 256 |
| Iago. Come, hold your peace. | |
| Emil. ’Twill out, ’twill out; I hold my peace, sir? no; | |
| No, I will speak as liberal as the north; | |
| Let heaven and men and devils, let them all, | 260 |
| All, all, cry shame against me, yet I’ll speak. | |
| Iago. Be wise, and get you home. | |
| Emil. I will not. [IAGO offers to stab EMILIA. | |
| Gra. Fie! | 264 |
| Your sword upon a woman? | |
| Emil. O thou dull Moor! that handkerchief thou speak’st of | |
| I found by fortune and did give my husband; | |
| For often, with a solemn earnestness, | 268 |
| More than, indeed, belong’d to such a trifle, | |
| He begg’d of me to steal it. | |
| Iago. Villanous whore! | |
| Emil. She give it Cassio! no, alas! I found it, | 272 |
| And I did give ’t my husband. | |
| Iago. Filth, thou liest! | |
| Emil. By heaven, I do not, I do not, gentlemen. | |
| O murderous coxcomb! what should such a fool | 276 |
| Do with so good a wife? | |
| Oth. Are there no stones in heaven | |
| But what serve for the thunder? Precious villain! [He runs at IAGO. IAGO stabs EMILIA, and exit. | |
| Gra. The woman falls: sure, he has kill’d his wife. | 280 |
| Emil. Ay, ay; O! lay me by my mistress’ side. | |
| Gra. He’s gone; but his wife’s kill’d. | |
| Mon. ’Tis a notorious villain. Take you this weapon, | |
| Which I have here recover’d from the Moor. | 284 |
| Come, guard the door without; let him not pass, | |
| But kill him rather. I’ll after that same villain, | |
| For ’tis a damned slave. [Exeunt MONTANO and GRATIANO. | |
| Oth. I am not valiant neither, | 288 |
| But every puny whipster gets my sword. | |
| But why should honour outlive honesty? | |
| Let it go all. | |
| Emil. What did thy song bode, lady? | 292 |
| Hark, canst thou hear me? I will play the swan, | |
| And die in music:— | |
| Moor, she was chaste; she lov’d thee, cruel Moor; | |
| So come my soul to bliss as I speak true; | 296 |
| So speaking as I think, I die, I die. [Dies. | |
| Oth. I have another weapon in this chamber; | |
| It is a sword of Spain, the ice brook’s temper. | |
| O! here it is. Uncle, I must come forth. | 300 |
| Gra. [Within.] If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear: | |
| Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer. | |
| Oth. Look in upon me then, and speak with me, | |
| Or, naked as I am, I will assault thee. | 304 |
| |
Re-enter GRATIANO. | |
| Gra. What is the matter? | |
| Oth. Behold! I have a weapon; | |
| A better never did itself sustain | 308 |
| Upon a soldier’s thigh: I have seen the day, | |
| That with this little arm, and this good sword, | |
| I have made my way through more impediments | |
| Than twenty times your stop: but, O vain boast! | 312 |
| Who can control his fate? ’tis not so now. | |
| Be not afraid, though you do see me weapon’d; | |
| Here is my journey’s end, here is my butt, | |
| And very sea-mark of my utmost sail. | 316 |
| Do you go back dismay’d? ’tis a lost fear; | |
| Man but a rush against Othello’s breast, | |
| And he retires. Where should Othello go? | |
| Now how dost thou look now? O ill-starr’d wench! | 320 |
| Pale as thy smock! when we shall meet at compt, | |
| This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven, | |
| And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl! | |
| Even like thy chastity. | 324 |
| O! cursed, cursed slave. Whip me, ye devils, | |
| From the possession of this heavenly sight! | |
| Blow me about in winds! roast me in sulphur! | |
| Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire! | 328 |
| O Desdemona! Desdemona! dead! | |
| Oh! Oh! Oh! | |
| |
Enter LODOVICO, MONTANO, CASSIO carried in a chair, and Officers with IAGO, prisoner. | |
| Lod. Where is this rash and most unfortunate man? | 332 |
| Oth. That’s he that was Othello; here I am. | |
| Lod. Where is that viper? bring the villain forth. | |
| Oth. I look down towards his feet; but that’s a fable. | |
| If that thou be’st a devil, I cannot kill thee. [Wounds IAGO. | 336 |
| Lod. Wrench his sword from him. | |
| Iago. I bleed, sir; but not kill’d. | |
| Oth. I am not sorry neither; I’d have thee live; | |
| For, in my sense, ’tis happiness to die. | 340 |
| Lod. O thou Othello! that wert once so good, | |
| Fall’n in the practice of a damned slave, | |
| What shall be said to thee? | |
| Oth. Why, any thing: | 344 |
| An honourable murderer, if you will; | |
| For nought did I in hate, but all in honour. | |
| Lod. This wretch hath part confess’d his villany: | |
| Did you and he consent in Cassio’s death? | 348 |
| Oth. Ay. | |
| Cas. Dear general, I never gave you cause. | |
| Oth. I do believe it, and I ask your pardon. | |
| Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil | 352 |
| Why he hath thus ensnar’d my soul and body? | |
| Iago. Demand me nothing: what you know, you know: | |
| From this time forth I never will speak word. | |
| Lod. What! not to pray? | 356 |
| Gra. Torments will ope your lips. | |
| Oth. Well, thou dost best. | |
| Lod. Sir, you shall understand what hath befall’n, | |
| Which, as I think, you know not. Here is a letter | 360 |
| Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigo, | |
| And here another; the one of them imports | |
| The death of Cassio to be undertook | |
| By Roderigo. | 364 |
| Oth. O villain! | |
| Cas. Most heathenish and most gross! | |
| Lod. Now here’s another discontented paper, | |
| Found in his pocket too; and this, it seems, | 368 |
| Roderigo meant to have sent this damned villain, | |
| But that, belike, Iago in the interim | |
| Came in and satisfied him. | |
| Oth. O the pernicious caitiff! | 372 |
| How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief | |
| That was my wife’s? | |
| Cas. I found it in my chamber; | |
| And he himself confess’d but even now | 376 |
| That there he dropp’d it for a special purpose | |
| Which wrought to his desire. | |
| Oth. O fool! fool! fool! | |
| Cas. There is besides in Roderigo’s letter | 380 |
| How he upbraids Iago that he made him | |
| Brave me upon the watch; whereon it came | |
| That I was cast: and even but now he spake, | |
| After long seeming dead, Iago hurt him, | 384 |
| Iago set him on. | |
| Lod. You must forsake this room and go with us; | |
| Your power and your command is taken off, | |
| And Cassio rules in Cyprus. For this slave, | 388 |
| If there be any cunning cruelty | |
| That can torment him much and hold him long, | |
| It shall be his. You shall close prisoner rest. | |
| Till that the nature of your fault be known | 392 |
| To the Venetian state. Come, bring him away. | |
| Oth. Soft you; a word or two before you go. | |
| I have done the state some service, and they know ’t; | |
| No more of that. I pray you, in your letters, | 396 |
| When you shall these unlucky deeds relate, | |
| Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate, | |
| Nor set down aught in malice: then, must you speak | |
| Of one that lov’d not wisely but too well; | 400 |
| Of one not easily jealous, but, being wrought, | |
| Perplex’d in the extreme; of one whose hand, | |
| Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away | |
| Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdu’d eyes | 404 |
| Albeit unused to the melting mood, | |
| Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees | |
| Their med’cinable gum. Set you down this; | |
| And say besides, that in Aleppo once, | 408 |
| Where a malignant and a turban’d Turk | |
| Beat a Venetian and traduc’d the state, | |
| I took by the throat the circumcised dog, | |
| And smote him thus. [Stabs himself. | 412 |
| Lod. O bloody period! | |
| Gra. All that’s spoke is marr’d. | |
| Oth. I kiss’d thee ere I kill’d thee; no way but this, [Falling upon DESDEMONA. | |
| Killing myself to die upon a kiss. [Dies. | 416 |
| Cas. This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon; | |
| For he was great of heart. | |
| Lod. [To IAGO.] O Spartan dog! | |
| More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea. | 420 |
| Look on the tragic loading of this bed; | |
| This is thy work; the object poisons sight; | |
| Let it be hid. Gratiano, keep the house, | |
| And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor, | 424 |
| For they succeed on you. To you, lord governor, | |
| Remains the censure of this hellish villain, | |
| The time, the place, the torture; O! enforce it. | |
| Myself will straight aboard, and to the state | 428 |
| This heavy act with heavy heart relate. [Exeunt. | |
