1    Will you think so?

2    Think so, Iago!

3    What,
4    To kiss in private?

5    An unauthorized kiss.

6    Or to be naked with her friend in bed
7    An hour or more, not meaning any harm?

8    Naked in bed, Iago, and not mean harm!
9    It is hypocrisy against the devil:
10   They that mean virtuously, and yet do so,
11   The devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heaven.

12   So they do nothing, 'tis a venial slip:
13   But if I give my wife a handkerchief,--

14   What then?

15   Why, then, 'tis hers, my lord; and, being hers,
16   She may, I think, bestow't on any man.

17   She is protectress of her honour too:
18   May she give that?

19   Her honour is an essence that's not seen;
20   They have it very oft that have it not:
21   But, for the handkerchief,--

22   By heaven, I would most gladly have forgot it.
23   Thou said'st, it comes o'er my memory,
24   As doth the raven o'er the infected house,
25   Boding to all--he had my handkerchief.

26   Ay, what of that?

27   That's not so good now.

28   What,
29   If I had said I had seen him do you wrong?
30   Or heard him say,--as knaves be such abroad,
31   Who having, by their own importunate suit,
32   Or voluntary dotage of some mistress,
33   Convinced or supplied them, cannot choose
34   But they must blab--

35   Hath he said any thing?

36   He hath, my lord; but be you well assured,
37   No more than he'll unswear.

38   What hath he said?

39   'Faith, that he did--I know not what he did.

40   What? what?

41   Lie--

42   With her?

43   With her, on her; what you will.

44   Lie with her! lie on her! We say lie on her, when
45   they belie her. Lie with her! that's fulsome.
46   --Handkerchief--confessions--handkerchief!--To
47   confess, and be hanged for his labour;--first, to be
48   hanged, and then to confess.--I tremble at it.
49   Nature would not invest herself in such shadowing
50   passion without some instruction. It is not words
51   that shake me thus. Pish! Noses, ears, and lips.
52   --Is't possible?--Confess--handkerchief!--O devil!--

53   Work on,
54   My medicine, work! Thus credulous fools are caught;
55   And many worthy and chaste dames even thus,
56   All guiltless, meet reproach. What, ho! my lord!
57   My lord, I say! Othello!
Enter CASSIO
58   How now, Cassio!

59   What's the matter?

60   My lord is fall'n into an epilepsy:
61   This is his second fit; he had one yesterday.

62   Rub him about the temples.

63   No, forbear;
64   The lethargy must have his quiet course:
65   If not, he foams at mouth and by and by
66   Breaks out to savage madness. Look he stirs:
67   Do you withdraw yourself a little while,
68   He will recover straight: when he is gone,
69   I would on great occasion speak with you.
Exit CASSIO
70   How is it, general? have you not hurt your head?

71   Dost thou mock me?

72   I mock you! no, by heaven.
73   Would you would bear your fortune like a man!

74   A horned man's a monster and a beast.

75   There's many a beast then in a populous city,
76   And many a civil monster.

77   Did he confess it?

78   Good sir, be a man;
79   Think every bearded fellow that's but yoked
80   May draw with you: there's millions now alive
81   That nightly lie in those unproper beds
82   Which they dare swear peculiar: your case is better.
83   O, 'tis the spite of hell, the fiend's arch-mock,
84   To lip a wanton in a secure couch,
85   And to suppose her chaste! No, let me know;
86   And knowing what I am, I know what she shall be.

87   O, thou art wise; 'tis certain.

88   Stand you awhile apart;
89   Confine yourself but in a patient list.
90   Whilst you were here o'erwhelmed with your grief--
91   A passion most unsuiting such a man--
92   Cassio came hither: I shifted him away,
93   And laid good 'scuse upon your ecstasy,
94   Bade him anon return and here speak with me;
95   The which he promised. Do but encave yourself,
96   And mark the fleers, the gibes, and notable scorns,
97   That dwell in every region of his face;
98   For I will make him tell the tale anew,
99   Where, how, how oft, how long ago, and when
100  He hath, and is again to cope your wife:
101  I say, but mark his gesture. Marry, patience;
102  Or I shall say you are all in all in spleen,
103  And nothing of a man.

104  Dost thou hear, Iago?
105  I will be found most cunning in my patience;
106  But--dost thou hear?--most bloody.

107  That's not amiss;
108  But yet keep time in all. Will you withdraw?
OTHELLO retires
109  Now will I question Cassio of Bianca,
110  A housewife that by selling her desires
111  Buys herself bread and clothes: it is a creature
112  That dotes on Cassio; as 'tis the strumpet's plague
113  To beguile many and be beguiled by one:
114  He, when he hears of her, cannot refrain
115  From the excess of laughter. Here he comes:
Re-enter CASSIO
116  As he shall smile, Othello shall go mad;
117  And his unbookish jealousy must construe
118  Poor Cassio's smiles, gestures and light behavior,
119  Quite in the wrong. How do you now, lieutenant?

120  The worser that you give me the addition
121  Whose want even kills me.

122  Ply Desdemona well, and you are sure on't.
Speaking lower
123  Now, if this suit lay in Bianco's power,
124  How quickly should you speed!

125  Alas, poor caitiff!

126  Look, how he laughs already!

127  I never knew woman love man so.

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

129  Now he denies it faintly, and laughs it out.

130  Do you hear, Cassio?

131  Now he importunes him
132  To tell it o'er: go to; well said, well said.

133  She gives it out that you shall marry hey:
134  Do you intend it?

135  Ha, ha, ha!

136  Do you triumph, Roman? do you triumph?

137  I marry her! what? a customer! Prithee, bear some
138  charity to my wit: do not think it so unwholesome.
139  Ha, ha, ha!

140  So, so, so, so: they laugh that win.

141  'Faith, the cry goes that you shall marry her.

142  Prithee, say true.

143  I am a very villain else.

144  Have you scored me? Well.

145  This is the monkey's own giving out: she is
146  persuaded I will marry her, out of her own love and
147  flattery, not out of my promise.

148  Iago beckons me; now he begins the story.

149  She was here even now; she haunts me in every place.
150  I was the other day talking on the sea-bank with
151  certain Venetians; and thither comes the bauble,
152  and, by this hand, she falls me thus about my neck--

153  Crying 'O dear Cassio!' as it were: his gesture
154  imports it.

155  So hangs, and lolls, and weeps upon me; so hales,
156  and pulls me: ha, ha, ha!

157  Now he tells how she plucked him to my chamber. O,
158  I see that nose of yours, but not that dog I shall
159  throw it to.

160  Well, I must leave her company.

161  Before me! look, where she comes.

162  'Tis such another fitchew! marry a perfumed one.
Enter BIANCA
163  What do you mean by this haunting of me?

164  Let the devil and his dam haunt you! What did you
165  mean by that same handkerchief you gave me even now?
166  I was a fine fool to take it. I must take out the
167  work?--A likely piece of work, that you should find
168  it in your chamber, and not know who left it there!
169  This is some minx's token, and I must take out the
170  work? There; give it your hobby-horse: wheresoever
171  you had it, I'll take out no work on't.

172  How now, my sweet Bianca! how now! how now!

173  By heaven, that should be my handkerchief!

174  An you'll come to supper to-night, you may; an you
175  will not, come when you are next prepared for.

176  After her, after her.

177  'Faith, I must; she'll rail in the street else.

178  Will you sup there?

179  'Faith, I intend so.

180  Well, I may chance to see you; for I would very fain
181  speak with you.

182  Prithee, come; will you?

183  Go to; say no more.

Advancing
184   How shall I murder him, Iago?

185  Did you perceive how he laughed at his vice?

186  O Iago!

187  And did you see the handkerchief?

188  Was that mine?

189  Yours by this hand: and to see how he prizes the
190  foolish woman your wife! she gave it him, and he
191  hath given it his whore.

192  I would have him nine years a-killing.
193  A fine woman! a fair woman! a sweet woman!

194  Nay, you must forget that.

195  Ay, let her rot, and perish, and be damned to-night;
196  for she shall not live: no, my heart is turned to
197  stone; I strike it, and it hurts my hand. O, the
198  world hath not a sweeter creature: she might lie by
199  an emperor's side and command him tasks.

200  Nay, that's not your way.

201  Hang her! I do but say what she is: so delicate
202  with her needle: an admirable musician: O! she
203  will sing the savageness out of a bear: of so high
204  and plenteous wit and invention:--

205  She's the worse for all this.

206  O, a thousand thousand times: and then, of so
207  gentle a condition!

208  Ay, too gentle.

209  Nay, that's certain: but yet the pity of it, Iago!
210  O Iago, the pity of it, Iago!

211  If you are so fond over her iniquity, give her
212  patent to offend; for, if it touch not you, it comes
213  near nobody.

214  I will chop her into messes: cuckold me!

215  O, 'tis foul in her.

216  With mine officer!

217  That's fouler.

218  Get me some poison, Iago; this night: I'll not
219  expostulate with her, lest her body and beauty
220  unprovide my mind again: this night, Iago.

221  Do it not with poison, strangle her in her bed, even
222  the bed she hath contaminated.

223  Good, good: the justice of it pleases: very good.

224  And for Cassio, let me be his undertaker: you
225  shall hear more by midnight.

226  Excellent good.
A trumpet within
227  What trumpet is that same?

228  Something from Venice, sure. 'Tis Lodovico
229  Come from the duke: and, see, your wife is with him.

230  Save you, worthy general!

231  With all my heart, sir.

232  The duke and senators of Venice greet you.

233  I kiss the instrument of their pleasures.

234  And what's the news, good cousin Lodovico?

235  I am very glad to see you, signior
236  Welcome to Cyprus.

237  I thank you. How does Lieutenant Cassio?

238  Lives, sir.

239  Cousin, there's fall'n between him and my lord
240  An unkind breach: but you shall make all well.

241  Are you sure of that?

242  My lord?

Reads
243   'This fail you not to do, as you will--'

244  He did not call; he's busy in the paper.
245  Is there division 'twixt my lord and Cassio?

246  A most unhappy one: I would do much
247  To atone them, for the love I bear to Cassio.

248  Fire and brimstone!

249  My lord?

250  Are you wise?

251  What, is he angry?

252  May be the letter moved him;
253  For, as I think, they do command him home,
254  Deputing Cassio in his government.

255  Trust me, I am glad on't.

256  Indeed!

257  My lord?

258  I am glad to see you mad.

259  Why, sweet Othello,--

Striking her
260   Devil!

261  I have not deserved this.

262  My lord, this would not be believed in Venice,
263  Though I should swear I saw't: 'tis very much:
264  Make her amends; she weeps.

265  O devil, devil!
266  If that the earth could teem with woman's tears,
267  Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile.
268  Out of my sight!

269  I will not stay to offend you.

270  Truly, an obedient lady:
271  I do beseech your lordship, call her back.

272  Mistress!

273  My lord?

274  What would you with her, sir?

275  Who, I, my lord?

276  Ay; you did wish that I would make her turn:
277  Sir, she can turn, and turn, and yet go on,
278  And turn again; and she can weep, sir, weep;
279  And she's obedient, as you say, obedient,
280  Very obedient. Proceed you in your tears.
281  Concerning this, sir,--O well-painted passion!--
282  I am commanded home. Get you away;
283  I'll send for you anon. Sir, I obey the mandate,
284  And will return to Venice. Hence, avaunt!
Exit DESDEMONA
285  Cassio shall have my place. And, sir, tonight,
286  I do entreat that we may sup together:
287  You are welcome, sir, to Cyprus.--Goats and monkeys!

288  Is this the noble Moor whom our full senate
289  Call all in all sufficient? Is this the nature
290  Whom passion could not shake? whose solid virtue
291  The shot of accident, nor dart of chance,
292  Could neither graze nor pierce?

293  He is much changed.

294  Are his wits safe? is he not light of brain?

295  He's that he is: I may not breathe my censure
296  What he might be: if what he might he is not,
297  I would to heaven he were!

298  What, strike his wife!

299  'Faith, that was not so well; yet would I knew
300  That stroke would prove the worst!

301  Is it his use?
302  Or did the letters work upon his blood,
303  And new-create this fault?

304  Alas, alas!
305  It is not honesty in me to speak
306  What I have seen and known. You shall observe him,
307  And his own courses will denote him so
308  That I may save my speech: do but go after,
309  And mark how he continues.

310  I am sorry that I am deceived in him.