Reading Help THE TRAGEDY OF OTHELLO, MOOR OF VENICE
That e'er did lift up eye. `
` OTHELLO. [Rises.] O, she was foul! `
` I scarce did know you, uncle; there lies your niece, `
` Whose breath indeed these hands have newly stopp'd. `
` I know this act shows horrible and grim. `
` GRATIANO. Poor Desdemon! 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, `
` This sight would make him do a desperate turn, `
` Yea, curse his better angel from his side, `
` And fall to reprobation. `
` OTHELLO. 'Tis pitiful, but yet Iago knows `
` 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 `
` Which I first gave her. I saw it in his hand, `
` It was a handkerchief, an antique token `
` My father gave my mother. `
` EMILIA. O heaven! O heavenly powers! `
` IAGO. 'Zounds! Hold your peace. `
` EMILIA. 'Twill out, 'twill. I peace? `
` No, I will speak as liberal as the north; `
` Let heaven and men and devils, let them all, `
` All, all, cry shame against me, yet I'll speak. `
` IAGO. Be wise, and get you home. `
` EMILIA. I will not. `
` Iago offers to stab `
` Emilia. `
` GRATIANO. Fie! `
` Your sword upon a woman? `
` EMILIA. 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, `
` More than indeed belong'd to such a trifle, `
` He begg'd of me to steal it. `
` IAGO. Villainous whore! `
` EMILIA. She give it Cassio? No, alas, I found it, `
` And I did give't my husband. `
` IAGO. Filth, thou liest! `
` EMILIA. By heaven, I do not, I do not, gentlemen. `
` O murtherous coxcomb! What should such a fool `
` Do with so good a wife? `
` OTHELLO. Are there not stones in heaven `
` But what serve for thunder? Precious villain! `
` He runs at Iago, but `
` Montano `
` disarms him. Iago stabs `
` Emilia. `
` GRATIANO. The woman falls; sure, he hath kill'd his wife. `
` EMILIA. Ay, ay! O, lay me by my mistress' side. Exit `
` Iago. `
` GRATIANO. He's gone, but his wife's kill'd. `
` MONTANO. 'Tis a notorious villain. Take you this weapon, `
` Which I have here recover'd from the Moor. `
` 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 all but Othello and `
` Emilia. `
` OTHELLO. I am not valiant neither, `
` But every puny whipster gets my sword. `
` But why should honor outlive honesty? `
` Let it go all. `
` EMILIA. What did thy song bode, lady? `
` Hark, canst thou hear me? I will play the swan, `
` And die in music. [Sings.] "Willow, willow, willow." `
` Moor, she was chaste; she loved thee, cruel Moor; `
` So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true; `
` So speaking as I think, I die, I die. `
` Dies. `
` OTHELLO. 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. `
` GRATIANO. [Within.] If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear. `
` Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer. `
` OTHELLO. Look in upon me then, and speak with me, `
` Or, naked as I am, I will assault thee. `
` `
` Re-enter Gratiano. `
` `
` GRATIANO. What is the matter? `
` OTHELLO. Behold, I have a weapon; `
` A better never did itself sustain `
` 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! `
` 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. `
` 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! `
` 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. 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! `
` O Desdemon! dead, Desdemon! dead! `
` O! O! O! `
` `
` Enter Lodovico, Montano, Cassio carried in a chair, `
` and Officers with Iago, prisoner. `
` `
` LODOVICO. Where is this rash and most unfortunate man? `
` OTHELLO. That's he that was Othello. Here I am. `
` LODOVICO. Where is that viper? Bring the villain forth. `
` OTHELLO. I look down towards his feet; but that's a fable. `
` If that thou be'st a devil, I cannot kill thee. Wounds `
` Iago. `
` LODOVICO. Wrench his sword from him. `
` IAGO. I bleed, sir, but not `
` kill'd. `
` OTHELLO. I am not sorry neither. I'ld have thee live, `
` For, in my sense, 'tis happiness to die. `
` LODOVICO. O thou Othello, that wert once so good, `
` Fall'n in the practice of a damned slave, `
` What shall be said to thee? `
` OTHELLO. Why, anything; `
` An honorable murtherer, if you will, `
` For nought did I in hate, but all in honor. `
` LODOVICO. This wretch hath part confess'd his villainy. `
` Did you and he consent in Cassio's death? `
` OTHELLO. Ay. `
` CASSIO. Dear general, I never gave you cause. `
` OTHELLO. I do believe it, and I ask your pardon. `
` Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil `
` Why he hath thus ensnared my soul and body? `
` IAGO. Demand me nothing; what you know, you know. `
` From this time forth I never will speak word. `
` LODOVICO. What, not to pray? `
` GRATIANO. Torments will ope your lips. `
` OTHELLO. Well, thou dost best. `
` LODOVICO. Sir, you shall understand what hath befall'n, `
` Which, as I think, you know not. Here is a letter `
` 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. `
` OTHELLO. O villain! `
` CASSIO. Most heathenish and most gross! `
` LODOVICO. Now here's another discontented paper, `
` Found in his pocket too; and this, it seems, `
` Roderigo meant to have sent this damned villain; `
` But that, belike, Iago in the interim `
` Came in and satisfied him. `
` OTHELLO. O the pernicious caitiff! `
` How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief `
` That was my wife's? `
` CASSIO. I found it in my chamber; `
` And he himself confess'd but even now `
` That there he dropp'd it for a special purpose `
` Which wrought to his desire. `
` OTHELLO. O fool! fool! fool! `
` CASSIO. There is besides in Roderigo's letter, `
` 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, `
` Iago set him on. `
` LODOVICO. 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, `
` 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 `
` To the Venetian state. Come, bring away. `
` OTHELLO. 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, `
` 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 loved not wisely but too well; `
` 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 subdued eyes, `
` Albeit unused to the melting mood, `
` Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees `
` Their medicinal gum. Set you down this; `
` And say besides, that in Aleppo once, `
` Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk `
` Beat a Venetian and traduced the state, `
` I took by the throat the circumcised dog `
` And smote him, thus. Stabs `
` himself. `
` LODOVICO. O bloody period! `
` GRATIANO. All that's spoke is marr'd. `
` OTHELLO. I kiss'd thee ere I kill'd thee. No way but this, `
` Killing myself, to die upon a kiss. `
` Falls on the bed, and `
` dies. `
` CASSIO. This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon; `
` For he was great of heart. `
`
` OTHELLO. [Rises.] O, she was foul! `
` I scarce did know you, uncle; there lies your niece, `
` Whose breath indeed these hands have newly stopp'd. `
` I know this act shows horrible and grim. `
` GRATIANO. Poor Desdemon! 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, `
` This sight would make him do a desperate turn, `
` Yea, curse his better angel from his side, `
` And fall to reprobation. `
` OTHELLO. 'Tis pitiful, but yet Iago knows `
` 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 `
` Which I first gave her. I saw it in his hand, `
` It was a handkerchief, an antique token `
` My father gave my mother. `
` EMILIA. O heaven! O heavenly powers! `
` IAGO. 'Zounds! Hold your peace. `
` EMILIA. 'Twill out, 'twill. I peace? `
` No, I will speak as liberal as the north; `
` Let heaven and men and devils, let them all, `
` All, all, cry shame against me, yet I'll speak. `
` IAGO. Be wise, and get you home. `
` EMILIA. I will not. `
` Iago offers to stab `
` Emilia. `
` GRATIANO. Fie! `
` Your sword upon a woman? `
` EMILIA. 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, `
` More than indeed belong'd to such a trifle, `
` He begg'd of me to steal it. `
` IAGO. Villainous whore! `
` EMILIA. She give it Cassio? No, alas, I found it, `
` And I did give't my husband. `
` IAGO. Filth, thou liest! `
` EMILIA. By heaven, I do not, I do not, gentlemen. `
` O murtherous coxcomb! What should such a fool `
` Do with so good a wife? `
` OTHELLO. Are there not stones in heaven `
` But what serve for thunder? Precious villain! `
` He runs at Iago, but `
` Montano `
` disarms him. Iago stabs `
` Emilia. `
` GRATIANO. The woman falls; sure, he hath kill'd his wife. `
` EMILIA. Ay, ay! O, lay me by my mistress' side. Exit `
` Iago. `
` GRATIANO. He's gone, but his wife's kill'd. `
` MONTANO. 'Tis a notorious villain. Take you this weapon, `
` Which I have here recover'd from the Moor. `
` 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 all but Othello and `
` Emilia. `
` OTHELLO. I am not valiant neither, `
` But every puny whipster gets my sword. `
` But why should honor outlive honesty? `
` Let it go all. `
` EMILIA. What did thy song bode, lady? `
` Hark, canst thou hear me? I will play the swan, `
` And die in music. [Sings.] "Willow, willow, willow." `
` Moor, she was chaste; she loved thee, cruel Moor; `
` So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true; `
` So speaking as I think, I die, I die. `
` Dies. `
` OTHELLO. 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. `
` GRATIANO. [Within.] If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear. `
` Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer. `
` OTHELLO. Look in upon me then, and speak with me, `
` Or, naked as I am, I will assault thee. `
` `
` Re-enter Gratiano. `
` `
` GRATIANO. What is the matter? `
` OTHELLO. Behold, I have a weapon; `
` A better never did itself sustain `
` 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! `
` 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. `
` 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! `
` 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. 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! `
` O Desdemon! dead, Desdemon! dead! `
` O! O! O! `
` `
` Enter Lodovico, Montano, Cassio carried in a chair, `
` and Officers with Iago, prisoner. `
` `
` LODOVICO. Where is this rash and most unfortunate man? `
` OTHELLO. That's he that was Othello. Here I am. `
` LODOVICO. Where is that viper? Bring the villain forth. `
` OTHELLO. I look down towards his feet; but that's a fable. `
` If that thou be'st a devil, I cannot kill thee. Wounds `
` Iago. `
` LODOVICO. Wrench his sword from him. `
` IAGO. I bleed, sir, but not `
` kill'd. `
` OTHELLO. I am not sorry neither. I'ld have thee live, `
` For, in my sense, 'tis happiness to die. `
` LODOVICO. O thou Othello, that wert once so good, `
` Fall'n in the practice of a damned slave, `
` What shall be said to thee? `
` OTHELLO. Why, anything; `
` An honorable murtherer, if you will, `
` For nought did I in hate, but all in honor. `
` LODOVICO. This wretch hath part confess'd his villainy. `
` Did you and he consent in Cassio's death? `
` OTHELLO. Ay. `
` CASSIO. Dear general, I never gave you cause. `
` OTHELLO. I do believe it, and I ask your pardon. `
` Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil `
` Why he hath thus ensnared my soul and body? `
` IAGO. Demand me nothing; what you know, you know. `
` From this time forth I never will speak word. `
` LODOVICO. What, not to pray? `
` GRATIANO. Torments will ope your lips. `
` OTHELLO. Well, thou dost best. `
` LODOVICO. Sir, you shall understand what hath befall'n, `
` Which, as I think, you know not. Here is a letter `
` 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. `
` OTHELLO. O villain! `
` CASSIO. Most heathenish and most gross! `
` LODOVICO. Now here's another discontented paper, `
` Found in his pocket too; and this, it seems, `
` Roderigo meant to have sent this damned villain; `
` But that, belike, Iago in the interim `
` Came in and satisfied him. `
` OTHELLO. O the pernicious caitiff! `
` How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief `
` That was my wife's? `
` CASSIO. I found it in my chamber; `
` And he himself confess'd but even now `
` That there he dropp'd it for a special purpose `
` Which wrought to his desire. `
` OTHELLO. O fool! fool! fool! `
` CASSIO. There is besides in Roderigo's letter, `
` 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, `
` Iago set him on. `
` LODOVICO. 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, `
` 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 `
` To the Venetian state. Come, bring away. `
` OTHELLO. 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, `
` 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 loved not wisely but too well; `
` 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 subdued eyes, `
` Albeit unused to the melting mood, `
` Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees `
` Their medicinal gum. Set you down this; `
` And say besides, that in Aleppo once, `
` Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk `
` Beat a Venetian and traduced the state, `
` I took by the throat the circumcised dog `
` And smote him, thus. Stabs `
` himself. `
` LODOVICO. O bloody period! `
` GRATIANO. All that's spoke is marr'd. `
` OTHELLO. I kiss'd thee ere I kill'd thee. No way but this, `
` Killing myself, to die upon a kiss. `
` Falls on the bed, and `
` dies. `
` CASSIO. This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon; `
` For he was great of heart. `
`