Othello

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ACT II SCENE I	A Sea-port in Cyprus. An open place near the quay.
	Enter MONTANO and two Gentlemen.
MONTANO	What from the cape can you discern at sea?
First Gentleman	Nothing at all: it is a highwrought flood;
	I cannot, 'twixt the heaven and the main,
	Descry a sail.
MONTANO	Methinks the wind hath spoke aloud at land;
	A fuller blast ne'er shook our battlements:
	If it hath ruffian'd so upon the sea,
	What ribs of oak, when mountains melt on them,
	Can hold the mortise? What shall we hear of this?
Second Gentleman	A segregation of the Turkish fleet:		10
	For do but stand upon the foaming shore,
	The chidden billow seems to pelt the clouds;
	The wind-shaked surge, with high and monstrous mane,
	seems to cast water on the burning bear,
	And quench the guards of the ever-fixed pole:
	I never did like molestation view
	On the enchafed flood.
MONTANO	If that the Turkish fleet
	Be not enshelter'd and embay'd, they are drown'd:
	It is impossible they bear it out.
	Enter a third Gentleman.
Third Gentleman	News, lads! our wars are done.		20
	The desperate tempest hath so bang'd the Turks,
	That their designment halts: a noble ship of Venice
	Hath seen a grievous wreck and sufferance
	On most part of their fleet.
MONTANO	How! is this true?
Third Gentleman	The ship is here put in,
	A Veronesa; Michael Cassio,
	Lieutenant to the warlike Moor Othello,
	Is come on shore: the Moor himself at sea,
	And is in full commission here for Cyprus.
MONTANO	I am glad on't; 'tis a worthy governor.		30
Third Gentleman	But this same Cassio, though he speak of comfort
	Touching the Turkish loss, yet he looks sadly,
	And prays the Moor be safe; for they were parted
	With foul and violent tempest.
MONTANO	Pray heavens he be;
	For I have served him, and the man commands
	Like a full soldier. Let's to the seaside, ho!
	As well to see the vessel that's come in
	As to throw out our eyes for brave Othello,
	Even till we make the main and the aerial blue
	An indistinct regard.
Third Gentleman	Come, let's do so:		40
	For every minute is expectancy
	Of more arrivance.
	Enter CASSIO
CASSIO	Thanks, you the valiant of this warlike isle,
	That so approve the Moor! O, let the heavens
	Give him defence against the elements,
	For I have lost us him on a dangerous sea.
MONTANO	Is he well shipp'd?
CASSIO	His bark is stoutly timber'd, his pilot
	Of very expert and approved allowance;
	Therefore my hopes, not surfeited to death,		50
	Stand in bold cure.
	A cry within: 'A sail, a sail, a sail!'
	Enter a fourth Gentleman.
CASSIO	What noise?
Fourth Gentleman	The town is empty; on the brow o' the sea
	Stand ranks of people, and they cry 'A sail!'
CASSIO	My hopes do shape him for the governor.
	Guns heard
Second Gentlemen	They do discharge their shot of courtesy:
	Our friends at least.
CASSIO	I pray you, sir, go forth,
	And give us truth who 'tis that is arrived.
Second Gentleman	I shall.
	Exit
MONTANO	But, good lieutenant, is your general wived?		60
CASSIO	Most fortunately: he hath achieved a maid
	That paragons description and wild fame;
	One that excels the quirks of blazoning pens,
	And in the essential vesture of creation
	Does tire the ingener.
	Re-enter second Gentleman.
	How now! who has put in?
Second Gentleman	'Tis one Iago, ancient to the general.
CASSIO	Has had most favourable and happy speed:
	Tempests themselves, high seas, and howling winds,
	The gutter'd rocks and congregated sands--
	Traitors ensteep'd to clog the guiltless keel,--		70
	As having sense of beauty, do omit
	Their mortal natures, letting go safely by
	The divine Desdemona.
MONTANO	What is she?
CASSIO	She that I spake of, our great captain's captain,
	Left in the conduct of the bold Iago,
	Whose footing here anticipates our thoughts
	A se'nnight's speed. Great Jove, Othello guard,
	And swell his sail with thine own powerful breath,
	That he may bless this bay with his tall ship,
	Make love's quick pants in Desdemona's arms,
	Give renew'd fire to our extincted spirits		80
	And bring all Cyprus comfort!
	Enter DESDEMONA, EMILIA, IAGO, RODERIGO, and Attendants.
	O, behold,
	The riches of the ship is come on shore!
	Ye men of Cyprus, let her have your knees.
	Hail to thee, lady! and the grace of heaven,
	Before, behind thee, and on every hand,
	Enwheel thee round!
DESDEMONA	I thank you, valiant Cassio.
	What tidings can you tell me of my lord?
CASSIO	He is not yet arrived: nor know I aught
	But that he's well and will be shortly here.		90
DESDEMONA	O, but I fear--How lost you company?
CASSIO	The great contention of the sea and skies
	Parted our fellowship--But, hark! a sail.
	Within 'A sail, a sail!' [Guns heard within.]
Second Gentleman	They give their greeting to the citadel;
	This likewise is a friend.
CASSIO	See for the news.
	Exit Gentleman.
	Good ancient, you are welcome.
	To EMILIA
	Welcome, mistress.
	Let it not gall your patience, good Iago,
	That I extend my manners; 'tis my breeding
	That gives me this bold show of courtesy.		100
	Kissing her
IAGO	Sir, would she give you so much of her lips
	As of her tongue she oft bestows on me,
	You'll have enough.
DESDEMONA	Alas, she has no speech.
IAGO	In faith, too much;
	I find it still, when I have list to sleep:
	Marry, before your ladyship, I grant,
	She puts her tongue a little in her heart,
	And chides with thinking.
EMILIA	You have little cause to say so.
IAGO	Come on, come on; you are pictures out of doors,		110
	Bells in your parlors, wild-cats in your kitchens,
	Saints m your injuries, devils being offended,
	Players in your housewifery, and housewives' in your beds.
DESDEMONA	O, fie upon thee, slanderer!
IAGO	Nay, it is true, or else I am a Turk:
	You rise to play and go to bed to work.
EMILIA	You shall not write my praise.
IAGO	No, let me not.
DESDEMONA	What wouldst thou write of me, if thou shouldst
	praise me?
IAGO	O gentle lady, do not put me to't;
	For I am nothing, if not critical.		120
DESDEMONA	Come on assay. There's one gone to the harbour?
IAGO	Ay, madam.
DESDEMONA	I am not merry; but I do beguile
	The thing I am, by seeming otherwise.
	Come, how wouldst thou praise me?
IAGO	I am about it; but indeed my invention
	Comes from my pate as birdlime does from frize;
	It plucks out brains and all: but my Muse labours,
	And thus she is deliver'd.
	If she be fair and wise, fairness and wit,		130
	The one's for use, the other useth it.
DESDEMONA	Well praised! How if she be black and witty?
IAGO	If she be black, and thereto have a wit,
	She'll find a white that shall her blackness fit.
DESDEMONA	Worse and worse.
EMILIA	How if fair and foolish?
IAGO	She never yet was foolish that was fair;
	For even her folly help'd her to an heir.
DESDEMONA	These are old fond paradoxes to make fools laugh i'
	the alehouse. What miserable praise hast thou for
	her that's foul and foolish?		140
IAGO	There's none so foul and foolish thereunto,
	But does foul pranks which fair and wise ones do.
DESDEMONA	O heavy ignorance! thou praisest the worst best.
	But what praise couldst thou bestow on a deserving
	woman indeed, one that, in the authority of her
	merit, did justly put on the vouch of very malice itself?
IAGO	She that was ever fair and never proud,
	Had tongue at will and yet was never loud,		150
	Never lack'd gold and yet went never gay,
	Fled from her wish and yet said 'Now I may,'
	She that being anger'd, her revenge being nigh,
	Bade her wrong stay and her displeasure fly,
	She that in wisdom never was so frail
	To change the cod's head for the salmon's tail;
	She that could think and ne'er disclose her mind,
	See suitors following and not look behind,
	She was a wight, if ever such wight were,--
DESDEMONA	To do what?		160
IAGO	To suckle fools and chronicle small beer.
DESDEMONA	O most lame and impotent conclusion! Do not learn
	of him, Emilia, though he be thy husband. How say
	you, Cassio? is he not a most profane and liberal
	counsellor?
CASSIO	He speaks home, madam: You may relish him more in
	the soldier than in the scholar.
IAGO	Aside He takes her by the palm; ay, well said,
	whisper: with as little a web as this will I		170
	ensnare as great a fly as Cassio. Ay, smile upon
	her, do; I will gyve thee in thine own courtship.
	You say true; 'tis so, indeed: if such tricks as
	these strip you out of your lieutenantry, it had
	been better you had not kissed your three fingers so
	oft, which now again you are most apt to play the
	sir in. Very good; well kissed! an excellent
	courtesy! 'tis so, indeed. Yet again your fingers
	to your lips? would they were clyster-pipes for your sake!
	Trumpet within.
	The Moor! I know his trumpet.		180
CASSIO	'Tis truly so.
DESDEMONA	Let's meet him and receive him.
CASSIO	Lo, where he comes!
	Enter OTHELLO and Attendants.
OTHELLO	O my fair warrior!
DESDEMONA	My dear Othello!
OTHELLO	It gives me wonder great as my content
	To see you here before me. O my soul's joy!
	If after every tempest come such calms,
	May the winds blow till they have waken'd death!
	And let the labouring bark climb hills of seas
	Olympus-high and duck again as low		190
	As hell's from heaven! If it were now to die,
	'Twere now to be most happy; for, I fear,
	My soul hath her content so absolute
	That not another comfort like to this
	Succeeds in unknown fate.
DESDEMONA	The heavens forbid
	But that our loves and comforts should increase,
	Even as our days do grow!
OTHELLO	Amen to that, sweet powers!
	I cannot speak enough of this content;
	It stops me here; it is too much of joy:
	And this, and this, the greatest discords be		200
	[Kissing her.]
	That e'er our hearts shall make!
IAGO	[Aside] Oh, you are well-tun'd now!
	But I'll set down the pegs that make this music,
	As honest as I am.
OTHELLO	Come, let us to the castle.
	News, friends; our wars are done, the Turks
	are drown'd.
	How does my old acquaintance of this isle?
	Honey, you shall be well desired in Cyprus;
	I have found great love amongst them. O my sweet,
	I prattle out of fashion, and I dote		210
	In mine own comforts. I prithee, good Iago,
	Go to the bay and disembark my coffers:
	Bring thou the master to the citadel;
	He is a good one, and his worthiness
	Does challenge much respect. Come, Desdemona,
	Once more, well met at Cyprus.
	Exeunt OTHELLO, DESDEMONA, and Attendants.
IAGO	Do thou meet me presently at the harbour. Come
	hither. If thou be'st valiant,-- as, they say, base
	men being in love have then a nobility in their
	natures more than is native to them--list me. The
	lieutenant tonight watches on the court of		220
	guard:--first, I must tell thee this--Desdemona is
	directly in love with him.
RODERIGO	With him! why, 'tis not possible.
IAGO	Lay thy finger thus, and let thy soul be instructed.
	Mark me with what violence she first loved the Moor,
	but for bragging and telling her fantastical lies:
	and will she love him still for prating? let not
	thy discreet heart think it. Her eye must be fed;
	and what delight shall she have to look on the
	devil? When the blood is made dull with the act of		230
	sport, there should be, again to inflame it and to
	give satiety a fresh appetite, loveliness in favour,
	sympathy in years, manners and beauties; all which
	the Moor is defective in: now, for want of these
	required conveniences, her delicate tenderness will
	find itself abused, begin to heave the gorge,
	disrelish and abhor the Moor; very nature will
	instruct her in it and compel her to some second
	choice. Now, sir, this granted,--as it is a most
	pregnant and unforced position--who stands so
	eminent in the degree of this fortune as Cassio		240
	does? a knave very voluble; no further
	conscionable than in putting on the mere form of
	civil and humane seeming, for the better compassing
	of his salt and most hidden loose affection? why,
	none; why, none: a slipper and subtle knave, a
	finder of occasions, that has an eye can stamp and
	counterfeit advantages, though true advantage never
	present itself; a devilish knave. Besides, the
	knave is handsome, young, and hath all those
	requisites in him that folly and green minds look		250
	after: a pestilent complete knave; and the woman
	hath found him already.
RODERIGO	I cannot believe that in her; she's full of
	most blessed condition.
IAGO	Blessed fig's-end! the wine she drinks is made of
	grapes: if she had been blessed, she would never
	have loved the Moor. Blessed pudding! Didst thou
	not see her paddle with the palm of his hand? didst
	not mark that?		260
RODERIGO	Yes, that I did; but that was but courtesy.
IAGO	Lechery, by this hand; an index and obscure prologue
	to the history of lust and foul thoughts. They met
	so near with their lips that their breaths embraced
	together. Villanous thoughts, Roderigo! when these
	mutualities so marshal the way, hard at hand comes
	the master and main exercise, the incorporate
	conclusion, Pish! But, sir, be you ruled by me: I
	have brought you from Venice. Watch you to-night;
	for the command, I'll lay't upon you. Cassio knows		270
	you not. I'll not be far from you: do you find
	some occasion to anger Cassio, either by speaking
	too loud, or tainting his discipline; or from what
	other course you please, which the time shall more
	favourably minister.
RODERIGO	Well.
IAGO	Sir, he is rash and very sudden in choler, and haply
	may strike at you: provoke him, that he may; for
	even out of that will I cause these of Cyprus to
	mutiny; whose qualification shall come into no true		280
	taste again but by the displanting of Cassio. So
	shall you have a shorter journey to your desires by
	the means I shall then have to prefer them; and the
	impediment most profitably removed, without the
	which there were no expectation of our prosperity.
RODERIGO	I will do this, if I can bring it to any
	opportunity.		290
IAGO	I warrant thee. Meet me by and by at the citadel:
	I must fetch his necessaries ashore. Farewell.
RODERIGO	Adieu.
	Exit
IAGO	That Cassio loves her, I do well believe it;
	That she loves him, 'tis apt and of great credit:
	The Moor, howbeit that I endure him not,
	Is of a constant, loving, noble nature,
	And I dare think he'll prove to Desdemona
	A most dear husband. Now, I do love her too;		300
	Not out of absolute lust, though peradventure
	I stand accountant for as great a sin,
	But partly led to diet my revenge,
	For that I do suspect the lusty Moor
	Hath leap'd into my seat; the thought whereof
	Doth, like a poisonous mineral, gnaw my inwards;
	And nothing can or shall content my soul
	Till I am even'd with him, wife for wife,
	Or failing so, yet that I put the Moor
	At least into a jealousy so strong		310
	That judgment cannot cure. Which thing to do,
	If this poor trash of Venice, whom I trash
	For his quick hunting, stand the putting on,
	I'll have our Michael Cassio on the hip,
	Abuse him to the Moor in the rank garb--
	For I fear Cassio with my night-cap too--
	Make the Moor thank me, love me and reward me.
	For making him egregiously an ass
	And practising upon his peace and quiet
	Even to madness. 'Tis here, but yet confused:		320
	Knavery's plain face is never seen tin used.
	Exit

Othello, Act 2, Scene 2

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Explanatory Notes for Act 2, Scene 1

From Othello. Ed. Brainerd Kellogg. New York: Clark & Maynard.

Abbreviations. — A.-S. = Anglo-Saxon: M.E. = Middle English (from the 13th to the 15th century) ; Fr. = French ; Ger. = German ; Gr. = Greek ; Cf. = compare (Lat. confer) ; Abbott refers to the excellent Shakespearean Grammar of Dr. Abbott; Schmidt, to Dr. Schmidt's invaluable Shakespeare Lexicon.

____

3. 'Twixt the heaven and the main, on the horizon.

9. Mortise, a hole in a piece of wood to receive the tenon in carpentry.

12. Chidden, and so, angry.

13. Shaked, the old infinitive being shaken, Elizabethan writers frequently used the form of ed for the participle.

15. Molestation, disturbance.

17,18. Enchaf'd, enshelter'd, embay'd. En was a favorite prefix with Shakespeare, especially in this play. We shall find also encave, enwheel, enfetter'd, enmesh. Perhaps with participles he likes some kind of prefix as a substitute for the old prefix.

22. Their plan is foiled.

23. Sufferance, damage, loss.

26. A ship equipped by the inland city of Verona.

41. We may expect fresh arrivals any moment.

50. Not in danger from being overloaded with fear.

62. Paragons, a Spanish word formed by two prepositions— para, con — outdoes.

63. Quirks, tricks.

64. 65. In her natural beauty baffles the clever person who would describe her. Ingener, contriver. Hamlet (iii. 4, 206), "The ingener hoist with his own petard."

67. He has was often pronounced and written has.

69. Gutter'd, worn into channels.

70. Who conspire to delay.

71. From a mere love of beauty.

72. Mortal, here deadly, fatal.

76. Who lands here a week sooner than we expected.

79. Tall, a stock epithet for ships. Merchant of Venice I, 6: "The carcases of many a tall ship lie buried."

82. Riches, may be for richesse, a singular noun.

97. He explains to Iago that it would be hyper-modesty if he merely gave her a formal greeting.

105. When I wish to sleep.

115. I will not come to you for a character or an epitaph.

123. I beguile my sadness by appearing merry.

126. I am working at it.

127. Birdlime, a glutinous substance. Frize, or frieze, cloth of Friesland, from which, being rough, it was difficult to remove stains without tearing away the nap.

130, 131. The clever woman finds a means to make use of her charms.

133. Thereto, besides. Black, a brunette.

143. A plain woman is as dangerous as any other.

148. Put on the vouch, dare venture to call upon malice itself to vouch for her. S. T. Coleridge remarked that Shakespeare puts all sarcasms upon women into the mouth of villains.

156. By the despised salmon's tail he means Othello, whom she had chosen in preference to the wealthy, curled darlings of Venice.

161. His bathos means, she is only fit to have silly children, and keep the tally at a beer-house.

165. Liberal, wanton. Profane, gross.

171. Gyve, etc., fetter thee in thy courtesies.

185. I am as delighted as surprised.

194. There cannot be much more such happiness in store for me.

203. The pegs on which the strings of the instrument are strained, and so loosen the strings and cause discords.

206. Desir'd, loved.

208. Out of fashion, more than good breeding allows.

221. Directly, manifestly, unmistakably.

223. Lay thy finger thus, on thy lips.

229. Favor, face.

230. Sympathy in years. Perhaps here, as in Midsummer Nigkfs Dream, 1. i, 137, Shakespeare is thinking of his own marriage.

236. Pregnant, evident, clear. Position, assertion, capable of being defended.

240. Salt, wanton.

241. Slipper, slippery.

242. Stamp, make valid and current.

249. Condition, temper.

283. Qualification, they will be appeased only by the dismissal of Cassio.

288. Without the which, the removal of which.

296. Apt, natural,

312. Trash, drift-wood found under trees. Perhaps both are hunters' words.

313. Putting on, instigation.

314. To have at an advantage. Cf. "Now, infidel, I have you on the hip." — Merchant of Venice, iv. i, 334.

315. Garb, form, manner.

321. Evil plans are developed as they proceed.

How to cite the explanatory notes:

Shakespeare, William. Othello. Ed. Brainerd Kellogg. New York: Clark & Maynard, 1892. Shakespeare Online. 20 Feb. 2010. (date when you accessed the information) < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/othello_2_1.html >.

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