If she be false, O, then heaven mocks itself![5964]
I'll not believe 't.[5965]
Des. How now, my dear Othello!
Your dinner, and the generous islanders[5966]
By you invited, do attend your presence. 285
Oth. I am to blame.
Oth. I have a pain upon my forehead here.[5969]
Des. Faith, that's with watching; 'twill away again:[5970]
Let me but bind it hard, within this hour[5971] 290
It will be well.
Oth. Your napkin is too little;
[He puts the handkerchief from him; and she drops it.[5972]
Let it alone. Come, I'll go in with you.
Des. I am very sorry that you are not well.
[Exeunt Othello and Desdemona.[5973]
Emil. I am glad I have found this napkin:[5974]
This was her first remembrance from the Moor: 295
My wayward husband hath a hundred times
Woo'd me to steal it; but she so loves the token,[5975]
For he conjured her she should ever keep it,
That she reserves it evermore about her
To kiss and talk to. I'll have the work ta'en out,[5976][5977][5978] 300
And give 't Iago: what he will do with it[5976][5978][5979]
Heaven knows, not I;[5976]
I nothing but to please his fantasy.
Re-enter Iago.[5980]
Iago. How now! what do you here alone?
Emil. Do not you chide; I have a thing for you.[5981] 305
Emil. Ha!
Iago. To have a foolish wife.[5983]
Emil. O, is that all? What will you give me now
For that same handkerchief?
Iago. What handkerchief?[5984] 310
Emil. What handkerchief![5984]
Why, that the Moor first gave to Desdemona;
That which so often you did bid me steal.
Iago. Hast stol'n it from her?[5985]
Emil. No, faith; she let it drop by negligence,[5986] 315
And, to the advantage, I being here took 't up.[5987]
Look, here it is.[5988]
Iago. A good wench; give it me.
Emil. What will you do with 't, that you have been so earnest[5989][5990]
To have me filch it?[5989]
Iago. [Snatching it] Why, what's that to you?[5991]
Emil. If 't be not for some purpose of import,[5992] 320
Give 't me again: poor lady, she'll run mad[5993]
When she shall lack it.
Iago. Be not acknown on 't; I have use for it.[5994][5995]
Go, leave me. [Exit Emilia.[5994]
I will in Cassio's lodging lose this napkin,[5996] 325
And let him find it. Trifles light as air
Are to the jealous confirmations strong
As proofs of holy writ: this may do something.[5997]
The Moor already changes with my poison:[5998]
Dangerous conceits are in their natures poisons,[5999] 330
Which at the first are scarce found to distaste,
But with a little act upon the blood[6000]
Burn like the mines of sulphur. I did say so:[6001]
Look, where he comes!
Re-enter Othello.[6002]
Not poppy, nor mandragora,
Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world,[6003] 335
Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep
Which thou owedst yesterday.
Oth. Ha! ha! false to me?[6004]
Iago. Why, how now, general! no more of that.
Oth. Avaunt! be gone! thou hast set me on the rack:[6005]
I swear 'tis better to be much abused 340
Than but to know 't a little.
Oth. What sense had I of her stol'n hours of lust?[6007]
I saw 't not, thought it not, it harm'd not me:[6008]
I slept the next night well, was free and merry;[6009]
I found not Cassio's kisses on her lips: 345
He that is robb'd, not wanting what is stol'n,
Let him not know 't and he's not robb'd at all.
Iago. I am sorry to hear this.
Oth. I had been happy, if the general camp,
Pioners and all, had tasted her sweet body,[6010] 350
So I had nothing known. O, now for ever
Farewell the tranquil mind! farewell content!
Farewell the plumed troop and the big wars[6011]
That make ambition virtue! O, farewell,[6012]
Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump, 355
The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife,[6013]
The royal banner and all quality,
Pride, pomp and circumstance of glorious war!
And, O you mortal engines, whose rude throats[6014]
The immortal Jove's dread clamours counterfeit,[6015] 360
Farewell! Othello's occupation's gone!
Iago. Is't possible, my lord?[6016]
Oth. Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore;[6017]
Be sure of it; give me the ocular proof;[6018]
Or, by the worth of man's eternal soul,[6019] 365
Thou hadst been better have been born a dog[6020]
Than answer my waked wrath![6021]
Iago. Is't come to this?
Oth. Make me to see 't; or at the least so prove it,
That the probation bear no hinge nor loop
To hang a doubt on; or woe upon thy life! 370
Oth. If thou dost slander her and torture me,
Never pray more; abandon all remorse;
On horror's head horrors accumulate;[6023]
Do deeds to make heaven weep, all earth amazed; 375
For nothing canst thou to damnation add[6024]
Greater than that.[6024]
Iago. O grace! O heaven defend me![6025]
Are you a man? have you a soul or sense?
God be wi' you; take mine office. O wretched fool,[6026]
That livest to make thine honesty a vice![6027] 380
O monstrous world! Take note, take note, O world,[6028]
To be direct and honest is not safe.
I thank you for this profit, and from hence
I'll love no friend sith love breeds such offence.[6029]
Oth. Nay, stay: thou shouldst be honest.[6030] 385
Iago. I should be wise; for honesty's a fool,
And loses that it works for.[6031]
Oth. By the world,[6032]
I think my wife be honest, and think she is not;[6032][6033]
I think that thou art just, and think thou art not:[6032]
I'll have some proof. Her name, that was as fresh[6032][6034] 390
As Dian's visage, is now begrimed and black[6032]
As mine own face. If there be cords, or knives,[6032]
Poison, or fire, or suffocating streams,[6032][6035]
I'll not endure it. Would I were satisfied![6032]
Iago. I see, sir, you are eaten up with passion:[6032][6036] 395
I do repent me that I put it to you.
You would be satisfied?
Oth. Would! nay, I will.[6037]
Iago. And may: but, how? how satisfied, my lord?
Would you, the supervisor, grossly gape on?[6038]
Behold her topp'd?[6039]
Oth. Death and damnation! O! 400
Iago. It were a tedious difficulty, I think,
To bring them to that prospect: damn them then,[6040]
If ever mortal eyes do see them bolster[6041]
More than their own! What then? how then?[6042]
What shall I say? Where's satisfaction?[6043] 405
It is impossible you should see this,
Were they as prime as goats, as hot as monkeys,[6044]
As salt as wolves in pride, and fools as gross
As ignorance made drunk. But yet, I say,
If imputation and strong circumstances, 410
Which lead directly to the door of truth,
Will give you satisfaction, you may have 't.[6045]
Oth. Give me a living reason she's disloyal.[6046]
Iago. I do not like the office:
But sith I am enter'd in this cause so far,[5911][6047] 415
Prick'd to 't by foolish honesty and love,
I will go on. I lay with Cassio lately,[6048]
And being troubled with a raging tooth,[6049]
I could not sleep.[6049]
There are a kind of men so loose of soul,[6049] 420
That in their sleeps will mutter their affairs:[6049][6050]
One of this kind is Cassio:[6049]
In sleep I heard him say 'Sweet Desdemona,
Let us be wary, let us hide our loves;'[6051]
And then, sir, would he gripe and wring my hand, 425
Cry 'O sweet creature!' and then kiss me hard,[6052]
As if he pluck'd up kisses by the roots,
That grew upon my lips: then laid his leg[6053][6054]
Over my thigh, and sigh'd and kiss'd, and then[6053][6055]
Cried 'Cursed fate that gave thee to the Moor!'[6053][6055] 430
Oth. O monstrous! monstrous!
Iago. Nay, this was but his dream.[6056]
Oth. But this denoted a foregone conclusion:[6057]
'Tis a shrewd doubt, though it be but a dream.[6058]
Iago. And this may help to thicken other proofs[6058]
That do demonstrate thinly.
Oth. I'll tear her all to pieces. 435
Iago. Nay, but be wise: yet we see nothing done;[6059]
She may be honest yet. Tell me but this;
Have you not sometimes seen a handkerchief[6060]
Spotted with strawberries in your wife's hand?[6061][6062]
Oth. I gave her such a one; 'twas my first gift. 440
Iago. I know not that: but such a handkerchief—[6060]
I am sure it was your wife's—did I to-day[5911][6061]
See Cassio wipe his beard with.
Iago. If it be that, or any that was hers,[6064]
It speaks against her with the other proofs. 445
Oth. O, that the slave had forty thousand lives!
One is too poor, too weak for my revenge.
Now do I see 'tis true. Look here, Iago;[6065]
All my fond love thus do I blow to heaven:
'Tis gone.[6066] 450
Arise, black vengeance, from thy hollow cell![6067]
Yield up, O love, thy crown and hearted throne[6068]
To tyrannous hate! Swell, bosom, with thy fraught,
For 'tis of aspics' tongues!
Oth. O, blood, blood, blood![6070] 455
Iago. Patience, I say; your mind perhaps may change.[6071]
Oth. Never, Iago. Like to the Pontic sea,[6072][6073]
Whose icy current and compulsive course[6072][6074]
Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on[6072][6075]
To the Propontic and the Hellespont;[6072] 460
Even so my bloody thoughts, with violent pace,[6072]
Shall ne'er look back, ne'er ebb to humble love,[6072][6076]
Till that a capable and wide revenge[6072]
Swallow them up. Now, by yond marble heaven,[6072][6077]
In the due reverence of a sacred vow [Kneels.[6078] 465
I here engage my words.
Iago. Do not rise yet. [Kneels.[6079]
Witness, you ever-burning lights above,[6080]
You elements that clip us round about,[6081]
Witness that here Iago doth give up
The execution of his wit, hands, heart,[6082] 470
To wrong'd Othello's service! Let him command,
And to obey shall be in me remorse,[6083][6084]
What bloody business ever. [They rise.[6084][6085]
Oth. I greet thy love,
Not with vain thanks, but with acceptance bounteous,
And will upon the instant put thee to 't: 475
Within these three days let me hear thee say
That Cassio's not alive.
Oth. Damn her, lewd minx! O, damn her![6088]
Come, go with me apart; I will withdraw, 480
To furnish me with some swift means of death
For the fair devil. Now art thou my lieutenant.[6089]
Iago. I am your own for ever. [Exeunt.
Scene IV. Before the castle.
Enter Desdemona, Emilia, and Clown.[6090]
Des. Do you know, sirrah, where Lieutenant Cassio lies?[6091]
Clo. I dare not say he lies any where.
Des. Why, man?
Clo. He's a soldier; and for one to say a soldier lies, is[6092]
stabbing. 5
Des. Go to: where lodges he?[6093]
Clo. To tell you where he lodges, is to tell you where[6094]
I lie.[6094]
Des. Can any thing be made of this?[6094]
Clo. I know not where he lodges; and for me to devise 10
a lodging, and say he lies here or he lies there, were to lie[6095]
in mine own throat.[6096]
Des. Can you inquire him out and be edified by report?[6097]
Clo. I will catechize the world for him; that is, make
questions and by them answer.[6098] 15
Des. Seek him, bid him come hither: tell him I have
moved my lord on his behalf and hope all will be well.[6099]
Clo. To do this is within the compass of man's wit, and[6100]
therefore I will attempt the doing it. [Exit.[6101]
Des. Where should I lose that handkerchief, Emilia?[6102] 20
Emil. I know not, madam.
Des. Believe me, I had rather have lost my purse[6103]
Full of crusadoes: and, but my noble Moor
Is true of mind and made of no such baseness
As jealous creatures are, it were enough[6104] 25
To put him to ill thinking.[6104]
Emil. Is he not jealous?
Des. Who, he? I think the sun where he was born
Drew all such humours from him.
Emil. Look, where he comes.
Des. I will not leave him now till Cassio[6105]
Be call'd to him.[6105]
Enter Othello.[6106]