| ACT IV SCENE II | A room in the castle. | |
| | 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 | 5 |
| | Each syllable that breath made up between them. | |
| OTHELLO | What, did they never whisper? | |
| EMILIA | Never, my lord. | |
| OTHELLO | Nor send you out o' the way? | |
| EMILIA | Never. | 10 |
| 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, | 15 |
| | Remove your thought; it doth abuse your bosom. | |
| | If any wretch have 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 | 20 |
| | 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 villanous secrets | 25 |
| | And yet she'll kneel and pray; I have seen her do't. | |
| | Enter DESDEMONA with EMILIA. | |
| DESDEMONA | My lord, what is your will? | |
| OTHELLO | Pray, chuck, come hither. | |
| DESDEMONA | What is your pleasure? | |
| OTHELLO | Let me see your eyes; | 30 |
| | Look in my face. | |
| DESDEMONA | What horrible fancy's this? | |
| OTHELLO | To EMILIA. | |
| | Leave procreants alone and shut the door; | |
| | Cough, or cry 'hem,' if any body come: | |
| | Your mystery, your mystery: nay, dispatch. | 35 |
| | Exit EMILIA. | |
| DESDEMONA | Upon my knees, what doth your speech import? | |
| | I understand a fury in your words. | |
| | But not the words. | |
| OTHELLO | Why, what art thou? | |
| DESDEMONA | Your wife, my lord; your true | 40 |
| | And loyal wife. | |
| OTHELLO | Come, swear it, damn thyself | |
| | Lest, being like one of heaven, the devils themselves | |
| | Should fear to seize thee: therefore be double damn'd: | |
| | Swear thou art honest. | 45 |
| DESDEMONA | Heaven doth truly know it. | |
| OTHELLO | Heaven truly knows that thou art false as hell. | |
| DESDEMONA | To whom, my lord? with whom? how am I false? | |
| OTHELLO | O Desdemona! away! away! away! | |
| DESDEMONA | Alas the heavy day! Why do you weep? | 50 |
| | Am I the motive of these tears, my lord? | |
| | If haply you my father do suspect | |
| | An instrument of this your calling back, | |
| | Lay not your blame on me: If you have lost him, | |
| | Why, I have lost him too. | 55 |
| OTHELLO | Had it pleased heaven | |
| | To try me with affliction; had they rain'd | |
| | All kinds of sores and shames on my bare head. | |
| | Steep'd me in poverty to the very lips, | |
| | Given to captivity me and my utmost hopes, | 60 |
| | I should have found in some place of my soul | |
| | A drop of patience: but, alas, to make me | |
| |
A fixed figure for the time of scorn | |
| | To point his slow unmoving finger at! | |
| | Yet could I bear that too; well, very well: | 65 |
| | But there, where I have garner'd up my heart, | |
| | Where either I must live, or bear no life; | |
| | The fountain from the which my current runs, | |
| | Or else dries up; to be discarded thence! | |
| | Or keep it as a cistern for foul toads | 70 |
| | To knot and gender in! Turn thy complexion there, | |
| | Patience, thou young and rose-lipp'd cherubin,-- | |
| | Ay, there, look grim as hell! | |
| DESDEMONA | I hope my noble lord esteems me honest. | |
| OTHELLO | O, ay; as summer flies are in the shambles, | 75 |
| | That quicken even with blowing. O thou weed, | |
| | Who art so lovely fair and smell'st so sweet | |
| | That the sense aches at thee, would thou hadst | |
| | ne'er been born! | |
| DESDEMONA | Alas, what ignorant sin have I committed? | 80 |
| OTHELLO | Was this fair paper, this most goodly book, | |
| | Made to write 'whore' upon? What committed! | |
| | Committed! O thou public commoner! | |
| | I should make very forges of my cheeks, | |
| | That would to cinders burn up modesty, | 85 |
| | Did I but speak thy deeds. What committed! | |
| | Heaven stops the nose at it and the moon winks, | |
| | The bawdy wind that kisses all it meets | |
| | Is hush'd within the hollow mine of earth, | |
| | And will not hear it. What committed! | 90 |
| | Impudent strumpet! | |
| DESDEMONA | By heaven, you do me wrong. | |
| OTHELLO | Are you not a strumpet? | |
| DESDEMONA | No, as I am a Christian: | |
| | If to preserve this vessel for my lord | 95 |
| | From any other foul unlawful touch | |
| | Be not to be a strumpet, I am none. | |
| OTHELLO | What, not a whore? | |
| DESDEMONA | No, as I shall be saved. | |
| OTHELLO | Is't possible? | 100 |
| DESDEMONA | O, heaven forgive us! | |
| OTHELLO | I cry you mercy, then: | |
| | I took you for that cunning whore of Venice | |
| | That married with Othello. | |
| | Raising his voice. | |
| | You, mistress, | 105 |
| | That have the office opposite to Saint Peter, | |
| | And keep the gate of hell! | |
| | Re-enter EMILIA. | |
| | You, you, ay, you! | |
| | We have done our course; there's money for your pains: | |
| | I pray you, turn the key and keep our counsel. | 110 |
| | Exit | |
| EMILIA | Alas, what does this gentleman conceive? | |
| | How do you, madam? how do you, my good lady? | |
| DESDEMONA | 'Faith, half asleep. | |
| EMILIA | Good madam, what's the matter with my lord? | |
| DESDEMONA | With who? | 115 |
| EMILIA | Why, with my lord, madam. | |
| DESDEMONA | Who is thy lord? | |
| EMILIA | He that is yours, sweet lady. | |
| DESDEMONA | I have none: do not talk to me, Emilia; | |
| | I cannot weep; nor answer have I none, | 120 |
| | But what should go by water. Prithee, tonight | |
| | Lay on my bed my wedding sheets: remember; | |
| | And call thy husband hither. | |
| EMILIA | Here's a change indeed! | |
| | Exit | |
| DESDEMONA | 'Tis meet I should be used so, very meet. | 125 |
| | How have I been behaved, that he might stick | |
| | The small'st opinion on my least misuse? | |
| | Re-enter EMILIA with IAGO. | |
| IAGO | What is your pleasure, madam? | |
| | How is't with you? | |
| DESDEMONA | I cannot tell. Those that do teach young babes | 130 |
| | Do it with gentle means and easy tasks: | |
| | He might have chid me so; for, in good faith, | |
| | I am a child to chiding. | |
| IAGO | What's the matter, lady? | |
| EMILIA | Alas, Iago, my lord hath so bewhored her. | 135 |
| | Thrown such despite and heavy terms upon her, | |
| | As true hearts cannot bear. | |
| DESDEMONA | Am I that name, Iago? | |
| IAGO | What name, fair lady? | |
| DESDEMONA | Such as she says my lord did say I was. | 140 |
| EMILIA | He call'd her whore: a beggar in his drink | |
| | Could not have laid such terms upon his callet. | |
| IAGO | Why did he so? | |
| DESDEMONA | I do not know; I am sure I am none such. | |
| IAGO | Do not weep, do not weep. Alas the day! | 145 |
| EMILIA | Hath she forsook so many noble matches, | |
| | Her father and her country and her friends, | |
| | To be call'd whore? would it not make one weep? | |
| DESDEMONA | It is my wretched fortune. | |
| IAGO | Beshrew him for't! | 150 |
| | How comes this trick upon him? | |
| DESDEMONA | Nay, heaven doth know. | |
| EMILIA | I will be hang'd, if some eternal villain, | |
| | Some busy and insinuating rogue, | |
| | Some cogging, cozening slave, to get some office, | 155 |
| | Have not devised this slander; I'll be hang'd else. | |
| IAGO | Fie, there is no such man; it is impossible. | |
| DESDEMONA | If any such there be, heaven pardon him! | |
| EMILIA | A halter pardon him! and hell gnaw his bones! | |
| | Why should he call her whore? who keeps her company? | 160 |
| | What place? what time? what form? what likelihood? | |
| | The Moor's abused by some most villanous knave, | |
| | Some base notorious knave, some scurvy fellow. | |
| | O heaven, that such companions thou'ldst unfold, | |
| | And put in every honest hand a whip | 165 |
| | To lash the rascals naked through the world | |
| | Even from the east to the west! | |
| IAGO | Speak within door. | |
| EMILIA | O, fie upon them! Some such squire he was | |
| | That turn'd your wit the seamy side without, | 170 |
| | And made you to suspect me with the Moor. | |
| IAGO | You are a fool; go to. | |
| DESDEMONA | O good Iago, | |
| | What shall I do to win my lord again? | |
| | Good friend, go to him; for, by this light of heaven, | 175 |
| | I know not how I lost him. Here I kneel: | |
| | If e'er my will did trespass 'gainst his love, | |
| | Either in discourse of thought or actual deed, | |
| | Or that mine eyes, mine ears, or any sense, | |
| | Delighted them in any other form; | 180 |
| | Or that I do not yet, and ever did. | |
| | And ever will--though he do shake me off | |
| | To beggarly divorcement--love him dearly, | |
| | Comfort forswear me! Unkindness may do much; | |
| | And his unkindness may defeat my life, | 185 |
| | But never taint my love. I cannot say 'whore:' | |
| | It does abhor me now I speak the word; | |
| | To do the act that might the addition earn | |
| | Not the world's mass of vanity could make me. | |
| IAGO | I pray you, be content; 'tis but his humour: | 190 |
| | The business of the state does him offence, | |
| | And he does chide with you. | |
| DESDEMONA | If 'twere no other-- | |
| IAGO | 'Tis but so, I warrant. | |
| | Trumpets within. | |
| | Hark, how these instruments summon to supper! | 195 |
| | The messengers of Venice stay the meat; | |
| | Go in, and weep not; all things shall be well. | |
| | Exeunt DESDEMONA and EMILIA. | |
| | Enter RODERIGO. | |
| | How now, Roderigo! | |
| RODERIGO | I do not find that thou dealest justly with me. | |
| IAGO | What in the contrary? | 200 |
| RODERIGO | Every day thou daffest me with some device, Iago; | |
| | and rather, as it seems to me now, keepest from me | |
| | all conveniency than suppliest me with the least | |
| | advantage of hope. I will indeed no longer endure | |
| | it, nor am I yet persuaded to put up in peace what | 205 |
| | already I have foolishly suffered. | |
| IAGO | Will you hear me, Roderigo? | |
| RODERIGO | 'Faith, I have heard too much, for your words and | |
| | performances are no kin together. | |
| IAGO | You charge me most unjustly. | 210 |
| RODERIGO | With nought but truth. I have wasted myself out of | |
| | my means. The jewels you have had from me to | |
| | deliver to Desdemona would half have corrupted a | |
| | votarist: you have told me she hath received them | |
| | and returned me expectations and comforts of sudden | 215 |
| | respect and acquaintance, but I find none. | |
| IAGO | Well; go to; very well. | |
| RODERIGO | Very well! go to! I cannot go to, man; nor 'tis | |
| | not very well: nay, I think it is scurvy, and begin | |
| | to find myself fobbed in it. | 220 |
| IAGO | Very well. | |
| RODERIGO | I tell you 'tis not very well. I will make myself | |
| | known to Desdemona: if she will return me my | |
| | jewels, I will give over my suit and repent my | |
| | unlawful solicitation; if not, assure yourself I | 225 |
| | will seek satisfaction of you. | |
| IAGO | You have said now. | |
| RODERIGO | Ay, and said nothing but what I protest intendment of doing. | |
| IAGO | Why, now I see there's mettle in thee, and even from | |
| | this instant to build on thee a better opinion than | 230 |
| | ever before. Give me thy hand, Roderigo: thou hast | |
| | taken against me a most just exception; but yet, I | |
| | protest, I have dealt most directly in thy affair. | |
| RODERIGO | It hath not appeared. | |
| IAGO | I grant indeed it hath not appeared, and your | 235 |
| | suspicion is not without wit and judgment. But, | |
| | Roderigo, if thou hast that in thee indeed, which I | |
| | have greater reason to believe now than ever, I mean | |
| | purpose, courage and valour, this night show it: if | |
| | thou the next night following enjoy not Desdemona, | 240 |
| | take me from this world with treachery and devise | |
| | engines for my life. | |
| RODERIGO | Well, what is it? is it within reason and compass? | |
| IAGO | Sir, there is especial commission come from Venice | |
| | to depute Cassio in Othello's place. | 245 |
| RODERIGO | Is that true? why, then Othello and Desdemona | |
| | return again to Venice. | |
| IAGO | O, no; he goes into Mauritania and takes away with | |
| | him the fair Desdemona, unless his abode be | |
| | lingered here by some accident: wherein none can be | 250 |
| | so determinate as the removing of Cassio. | |
| RODERIGO | How do you mean, removing of him? | |
| IAGO | Why, by making him uncapable of Othello's place; | |
| | knocking out his brains. | |
| RODERIGO | And that you would have me to do? | 255 |
| IAGO | Ay, if you dare do yourself a profit and a right. | |
| | He sups to-night with a harlotry, and thither will I | |
| | go to him: he knows not yet of his horrorable | |
| | fortune. If you will watch his going thence, which | |
| | I will fashion to fall out between twelve and one, | 260 |
| | you may take him at your pleasure: I will be near | |
| | to second your attempt, and he shall fall between | |
| | us. Come, stand not amazed at it, but go along with | |
| | me; I will show you such a necessity in his death | |
| | that you shall think yourself bound to put it on | 265 |
| | him. It is now high suppertime, and the night grows | |
| | to waste: about it. | |
| RODERIGO | I will hear further reason for this. | |
| IAGO | And you shall be satisfied. | |
| | Exeunt | |
