Let it alone. Come, I'll go in with you.
DESDEMONA
I am very sorry that you are not well.
Exit [with Othello].
EMILIA
I am glad I have found this napkin;
This was her first remembrance from the Moor.
My wayward husband hath a hundred times
Wooed me to steal it; but she so loves the token
(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
And give't Iago. What he will do with it
Heaven knows, not I;
I nothing but to please his fantasy.
Enter Iago. 280 generous noble 285 watching staying up late (i.e., sleeplessness) 287 napkin handkerchief 288 Let it alone i.e., never mind about the headache 294 conjured her made her swear (in conjured the accent is on the second syllable) 296 work ta'en out pattern copied 299 I nothing . . . fantasy I do nothing but please his whims
IAGO
How now? What do you here alone?
EMILIA
Do not you chide; I have a thing for you.
IAGO
You have a thing for me? It is a common thing -
EMILIA Ha?
IAGO
To have a foolish wife.
EMILIA
O, is that all? What will you give me now
For that same handkerchief?
IAGO What handkerchief?
EMILIA
What handkerchief!
Why, that the Moor first gave to Desdemona;
That which so often you did bid me steal.
IAGO
Hast stol'n it from her?
EMILIA
No, faith; she let it drop by negligence,
And to th' advantage, I, being here, took't up.
Look, here 'tis.
IAGO A good wench! Give it me.
EMILIA
What will you do with't, that you have been so earnest
To have me filch it?
IAGO Why, what is that to you?
[Snatches it.]
EMILIA
If it be not for some purpose of import,
Give't me again. Poor lady, she'll run mad
When she shall lack it. 301 a thing an object (but with sexual connotations in the following lines) 302 common thing i.e., sexual organ used by everybody 312 to th' advantage opportunely 316 import great importance
IAGO
Be not acknown on't; I have use for it.
Go, leave me. Exit Emilia.
I will in Cassio's lodging lose this napkin
And let him find it. Trifles light as air
Are to the jealous confirmations strong
As proofs of holy writ. This may do something.
The Moor already changes with my poison:
Dangerous conceits are in their natures poisons,
Which at the first are scarce found to distaste,
But with a little act upon the blood
Burn like the mines of sulphur.
Enter Othello. I did say so.
Look where he comes! Not poppy nor mandragora,
Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world,
Shall ever med'cine thee to that sweet sleep
Which thou owedst yesterday.
OTHELLO Ha! ha! false to me?
IAGO
Why, how now, general? No more of that!
OTHELLO
Avaunt! be gone! Thou hast set me on the rack.
I swear 'tis better to be much abused
Than but to know't a little.
IAGO How now, my lord?
OTHELLO
What sense had I in her stol'n hours of lust?
I saw't not, thought it not, it harmed not me;
I slept the next night well, fed well, was free and merry;
I found not Cassio's kisses on her lips. 319 Be . . . on't don't acknowledge it 324 proofs of holy writ biblical truth 326 conceits ideas, conceptions 327 at . . . distaste initially aren't perceived to taste bitter 329 Burn . . . sulphur i.e., are difficult to extinguish 330 mandragora a narcotic 331 drowsy soporific, sleep-inducing 332 med'cine i.e., help by drugs 333 owedst owned, enjoyed 335 Avaunt away (a command to a devil); the rack an instrument of torture 340 free carefree
He that is robbed, not wanting what is stol'n,
Let him not know't, and he's not robbed at all.
IAGO
I am sorry to hear this.
OTHELLO
I had been happy if the general camp,
Pioners and all, had tasted her sweet body,
So I had nothing known. O, now forever
Farewell the tranquil mind! farewell content!
Farewell the plumed troops, and the big wars
That makes ambition virtue! O, farewell!
Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump,
The spirit-stirring drum, th' ear-piercing fife,
The royal banner, and all quality,
Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!
And O you mortal engines whose rude throats
Th' immortal Jove's dread clamors counterfeit,
Farewell! Othello's occupation's gone!
IAGO
Is't possible, my lord?
OTHELLO
Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore!
Be sure of it; give me the ocular proof;
Or, by the worth of mine eternal soul,
Thou hadst been better have been born a dog
Than answer my waked wrath!
IAGO Is't come to this?
OTHELLO
Make me to see't; or at the least so prove it
That the probation bear no hinge nor loop 342 wanting missing 346 Pioners ditchdiggers, laborers 349 plumed troops uniformed (plumed=feathered) soldiers; big wars mighty conflicts 350 makes ambition virtue i.e., that justify the desire for glory 354 circumstance surrounding pageantry 355 mortal engines deadly weapons 355-56 rude . . . counterfeit i.e., noises imitate the thunder (dread clamors) of the heavens 360 ocular visible 365 probation . . . loop i.e., proof allows no loophole
To hang a doubt on - or woe upon thy life!
IAGO
My noble lord -
OTHELLO
If thou dost slander her and torture me,
Never pray more; abandon all remorse;
On horror's head horrors accumulate,
Do deeds to make heaven weep, all earth amazed;
For nothing canst thou to damnation add
Greater than that.
IAGO O grace! O heaven forgive me!
Are you a man? Have you a soul or sense? -
God buy you! take mine office. O wretched fool,
That lov'st to make thine honesty a vice!
O monstrous world! Take note, take note, O world,
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 offense.
OTHELLO
Nay, stay. Thou shouldst be honest.
IAGO
I should be wise; for honesty's a fool
And loses that it works for.
OTHELLO By the world,
I think my wife be honest, and think she is not;
I think that thou art just, and think thou art not.
I'll have some proof. My name, that was as fresh
As Dian's visage, is now begrimed and black
As mine own face. If there be cords, or knives,
Poison, or fire, or suffocating streams, 375 God buy you (abbreviation for "God be with you" - i.e., "good-bye") 376 That lov'st . . . vice i.e., who holds so dearly to his honesty as to make it a liability 379 profit beneficial insight 380 sith since 381 shouldst be (1) ought to be, (2) i.e., all right, I believe you are honest 385 just upright, honorable 386 My name (Q reads "Her name," which is tidier metaphorically) 387 Dian's visage the image of Diana
, goddess of chastity
I'll not endure it. Would I were satisfied!
IAGO
I see you are eaten up with passion:
I do repent me that I put it to you.
You would be satisfied?
OTHELLO Would? Nay, and I will.
IAGO
And may; but how? how satisfied, my lord?
Would you, the supervisor, grossly gape on?
Behold her topped?
OTHELLO Death and damnation! O!
IAGO
It were a tedious difficulty, I think,
To bring them to that prospect. Damn them then,
If ever mortal eyes do see them bolster
More than their own! What then? How then?
What shall I say? Where's satisfaction?
It is impossible you should see this,
Were they as prime as goats, as hot as monkeys,
As salt as wolves in pride, and fools as gross
As ignorance made drunk. But yet, I say,
If imputation and strong circumstances
Which lead directly to the door of truth
Will give you satisfaction, you might have't.
OTHELLO
Give me a living reason she's disloyal.
IAGO
I do not like the office. 390 satisfied absolutely certain (with, in the next four lines, sexual undertones) 392 put it to you proposed it 395 supervisor spectator, one who looks down upon 396 topped (a visual image for sexual intercourse; "top" is perhaps a homophone of "tup" [see tupping in I.1.88]) 398 prospect view, sight to be seen 399 bolster couch (i.e., copulate) 403 prime sexually eager 404 salt as wolves in pride lecherous as wolves in heat; gross indecent, coarse 406 imputation charge, accusation; circumstances circumstantial evidence 410 office task
But sith I am entered in this cause so far,
Pricked to't by foolish honesty and love,
I will go on. I lay with Cassio lately,
And being troubled with a raging tooth,
I could not sleep.
There are a kind of men so loose of soul
That in their sleeps will mutter their affairs.
One of this kind is Cassio.
In sleep I heard him say "Sweet Desdemona,
Let us be wary, let us hide our loves!"
And then, sir, would he gripe and wring my hand,
Cry "O sweet creature!" then kiss me hard,
As if he plucked up kisses by the roots
That grew upon my lips, lay his leg o'er my thigh,
And sigh, and kiss, and then cry "Cursed fate
That gave thee to the Moor."
OTHELLO
O monstrous! monstrous!
IAGO Nay, this was but his dream.
OTHELLO
But this denoted a foregone conclusion:
'Tis a shrewd doubt, though it be but a dream.
IAGO
And this may help to thicken other proofs
That do demonstrate thinly.
OTHELLO I'll tear her all to pieces!
IAGO
Nay, yet be wise. Yet we see nothing done;
She may be honest yet. Tell me but this -
Have you not sometimes seen a handkerchief,
Spotted with strawberries, in your wife's hand? 412 Pricked spurred (but the obscene meaning of "prick" is also audible) 413 lay i.e., shared lodgings (sexual undertones are present here as well) 421 gripe grip 428 foregone conclusion deed already concluded 429 shrewd doubt piercing suspicion 430 thicken give substance to
OTHELLO
I gave her such a one; 'twas my first gift.
IAGO
I know not that; but such a handkerchief -
I am sure it was your wife's - did I today
See Cassio wipe his beard with.
OTHELLO If it be that -
IAGO
If it be that, or any that was hers,
It speaks against her with the other proofs.
OTHELLO
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:
All my fond love thus do I blow to heaven.
'Tis gone.
Arise, black vengeance, from the hollow hell!
Yield up, O love, thy crown and hearted throne
To tyrannous hate! Swell, bosom, with thy fraught,
For 'tis of aspics' tongues!
IAGO Yet be content.
OTHELLO
O, blood, blood, blood!
IAGO
Patience, I say. Your mind may change.
OTHELLO
Never, Iago. Like to the Pontic Sea,
Whose icy current and compulsive course
Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on
To the Propontic and the Hellespont,
Even so my bloody thoughts, with violent pace,
Shall ne'er look back, ne'er ebb to humble love, 442 slave i.e., Cassio (the word here means "villain") 448 hearted throne i.e., love sits royally in the heart 449 fraught burden, freight 450 aspics' tongues fangs of asps, venomous snakes 453 Pontic Sea Black Sea
Till that a capable and wide revenge
Swallow them up.
[He kneels.] Now, by yond marble heaven,
In the due reverence of a sacred vow
I here engage my words.
IAGO Do not rise yet.
[Iago kneels.]
Witness, you ever-burning lights above,
You elements that clip us round about,
Witness that here Iago doth give up
The execution of his wit, hands, heart
To wronged Othello's service! Let him command,
And to obey shall be in me remorse,
What bloody business ever.
[They rise.]
OTHELLO I greet thy love,
Not with vain thanks but with acceptance bounteous,
And will upon the instant put thee to't.
Within these three days let me hear thee say
That Cassio's not alive.
IAGO
My friend is dead; 'tis done at your request.
But let her live.
OTHELLO
Damn her, lewd minx! O, damn her! damn her!
Come, go with me apart. I will withdraw
For the fair devil. Now art thou my lieutenant.
IAGO
I am your own forever. Exeunt. 459 capable all-embracing, capacious 460 marble i.e., shining or perhaps constant 462 engage pledge, guarantee 464 clip clasp, embrace 466 execution employment, action 468-69 to . . . ever i.e., whatever bloody business I'm required to do I'll perform it in pity of Othello 471 put thee to't i.e., to the test
III.4 Enter Desdemona, Emilia, and Clown.
DESDEMONA Do you know, sirrah, where Lieutenant Cassio lies?
CLOWN I dare not say he lies anywhere.
DESDEMONA Why, man?
CLOWN He's a soldier, and for me to say a soldier lies, 'tis stabbing.
DESDEMONA Go to. Where lodges he?
CLOWN To tell you where he lodges is to tell you where I lie.
DESDEMONA Can anything be made of this?
CLOWN I know not where he lodges; and for me to devise a lodging, and say he lies here or he lies there, were to lie in mine own throat.
DESDEMONA Can you inquire him out, and be edified by report?
CLOWN I will catechize the world for him - that is, make questions, and by them answer.
DESDEMONA Seek him, bid him come hither. Tell him I have moved my lord on his behalf and hope all will be well.
CLOWN To do this is within the compass of man's wit, and therefore I will attempt the doing it. Exit Clown.
DESDEMONA
Where should I lose the handkerchief, Emilia?
EMILIA
I know not, madam.
DESDEMONA
Believe me, I had rather have lost my pur
se III.4 An area outside the castle 1 sirrah (a form of "sir" used toward social inferiors or servants) 2 lies lives, stays 5-6 'tis stabbing i.e., it puts me in danger 11-12 devise make up 13 lie . . . throat lie deeply or foully 14— 15 edified by report i.e., instructed (with religious connotations) by what you hear 16 catechize interrogate, search (playing on Desdemona's religious discourse) 19 moved solicited
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
To put him to ill thinking.
EMILIA Is he not jealous?
DESDEMONA
Who? he? I think the sun where he was born
Drew all such humors from him.
Enter Othello.
EMILIA Look where he comes.
DESDEMONA
I will not leave him now till Cassio
Be called to him. - How is't with you, my lord?
OTHELLO
Well, my good lady. [Aside] O, hardness to dissemble! -
How do you, Desdemona?
DESDEMONA Well, my good lord.
OTHELLO
Give me your hand. This hand is moist, my lady.
DESDEMONA
It hath felt no age nor known no sorrow.
OTHELLO
This argues fruitfulness and liberal heart.
Hot, hot, and moist. This hand of yours requires
A sequester from liberty; fasting and prayer,
Much castigation, exercise devout;
For here's a young and sweating devil here
That commonly rebels. 'Tis a good hand,
A frank one.
DESDEMONA You may, indeed, say so;
For 'twas that hand that gave away my heart. 26 crusadoes gold coins (with a figure of the cross, crux); And but i.e., if it were not that 31 humors bodily fluids governing temperament 38 argues . . . heart signifies fecundity, sexual abundance, and licentiousness 40 sequester separation 41 castigation holy correction 44 frank free, open (with sexual sense)
OTHELLO
A liberal hand! The hearts of old gave hands,
But our new heraldry is hands, not hearts.
DESDEMONA
I cannot speak of this. Come now, your promise!
OTHELLO
What promise, chuck?
DESDEMONA
I have sent to bid Cassio come speak with you.
OTHELLO
I have a salt and sorry rheum offends me.
Lend me thy handkerchief.
DESDEMONA Here, my lord.
OTHELLO
That which I gave you.
DESDEMONA I have it not about me.
OTHELLO
Not?
DESDEMONA No, faith, my lord.
OTHELLO That's a fault.
That handkerchief
Did an Egyptian to my mother give.
She was a charmer, and could almost read
The thoughts of people. She told her, while she kept it,
'Twould make her amiable and subdue my father
Entirely to her love; but if she lost it
Or made a gift of it, my father's eye
Should hold her loathed, and his spirits should hunt
After new fancies. She, dying, gave it me,
And bid me, when my fate would have me wived,