Othello

Please see the bottom of this page for full explanatory notes.

ACT IV SCENE I	Cyprus. Before the castle.
	Enter OTHELLO and IAGO.
IAGO	Will you think so?
OTHELLO	Think so, Iago!
IAGO	What,
	To kiss in private?	5
OTHELLO	An unauthorized kiss.
IAGO	Or to be naked with her friend in bed
	An hour or more, not meaning any harm?
OTHELLO	Naked in bed, Iago, and not mean harm!
	It is hypocrisy against the devil:	10
	They that mean virtuously, and yet do so,
	The devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heaven.
IAGO	So they do nothing, 'tis a venial slip:
	But if I give my wife a handkerchief,--
OTHELLO	What then?	15
IAGO	Why, then, 'tis hers, my lord; and, being hers,
	She may, I think, bestow't on any man.
OTHELLO	She is protectress of her honour too:
	May she give that?
IAGO	Her honour is an essence that's not seen;	20
	They have it very oft that have it not:
	But, for the handkerchief,--
OTHELLO	By heaven, I would most gladly have forgot it.
	Thou said'st, it comes o'er my memory,
	As doth the raven o'er the infected house,	25
	Boding to all--he had my handkerchief.
IAGO	Ay, what of that?
OTHELLO	That's not so good now.
IAGO	What,
	If I had said I had seen him do you wrong?	30
	Or heard him say,--as knaves be such abroad,
	Who having, by their own importunate suit,
	Or voluntary dotage of some mistress,
	Convinced or supplied them, cannot choose
	But they must blab--	35
OTHELLO	Hath he said any thing?
IAGO	He hath, my lord; but be you well assured,
	No more than he'll unswear.
OTHELLO	What hath he said?
IAGO	'Faith, that he did--I know not what he did.	40
OTHELLO	What? what?
IAGO	Lie--
OTHELLO	With her?
IAGO	With her, on her; what you will.
OTHELLO	Lie with her! lie on her! We say lie on her, when	45
	they belie her. Lie with her! that's fulsome.
	--Handkerchief--confessions--handkerchief!--To
	confess, and be hanged for his labour;--first, to be
	hanged, and then to confess.--I tremble at it.
	Nature would not invest herself in such shadowing	50
	passion without some instruction. It is not words
	that shake me thus. Pish! Noses, ears, and lips.
	--Is't possible?--Confess--handkerchief!--O devil!--
	Falls in a trance.
IAGO	Work on,
	My medicine, work! Thus credulous fools are caught;	55
	And many worthy and chaste dames even thus,
	All guiltless, meet reproach. What, ho! my lord!
	My lord, I say! Othello!
	Enter CASSIO.
	How now, Cassio!
CASSIO	What's the matter?	60
IAGO	My lord is fall'n into an epilepsy:
	This is his second fit; he had one yesterday.
CASSIO	Rub him about the temples.
IAGO	No, forbear;
	The lethargy must have his quiet course:	65
	If not, he foams at mouth and by and by
	Breaks out to savage madness. Look he stirs:
	Do you withdraw yourself a little while,
	He will recover straight: when he is gone,
	I would on great occasion speak with you.	70
	Exit CASSIO.
	How is it, general? have you not hurt your head?
OTHELLO	Dost thou mock me?
IAGO	I mock you! no, by heaven.
	Would you would bear your fortune like a man!
OTHELLO	A horned man's a monster and a beast.	75
IAGO	There's many a beast then in a populous city,
	And many a civil monster.
OTHELLO	Did he confess it?
IAGO	Good sir, be a man;
	Think every bearded fellow that's but yoked	80
	May draw with you: there's millions now alive
	That nightly lie in those unproper beds
	Which they dare swear peculiar: your case is better.
	O, 'tis the spite of hell, the fiend's arch-mock,
	To lip a wanton in a secure couch,	85
	And to suppose her chaste! No, let me know;
	And knowing what I am, I know what she shall be.
OTHELLO	O, thou art wise; 'tis certain.
IAGO	Stand you awhile apart;
	Confine yourself but in a patient list.	90
	Whilst you were here o'erwhelmed with your grief--
	A passion most unsuiting such a man--
	Cassio came hither: I shifted him away,
	And laid good 'scuse upon your ecstasy,
	Bade him anon return and here speak with me;	95
	The which he promised. Do but encave yourself,
	And mark the fleers, the gibes, and notable scorns,
	That dwell in every region of his face;
	For I will make him tell the tale anew,
	Where, how, how oft, how long ago, and when	100
	He hath, and is again to cope your wife:
	I say, but mark his gesture. Marry, patience;
	Or I shall say you are all in all in spleen,
	And nothing of a man.
OTHELLO	Dost thou hear, Iago?	105
	I will be found most cunning in my patience;
	But--dost thou hear?--most bloody.
IAGO	That's not amiss;
	But yet keep time in all. Will you withdraw?
	OTHELLO retires.
	Now will I question Cassio of Bianca,	110
	A housewife that by selling her desires
	Buys herself bread and clothes: it is a creature
	That dotes on Cassio; as 'tis the strumpet's plague
	To beguile many and be beguiled by one:
	He, when he hears of her, cannot refrain	115
	From the excess of laughter. Here he comes:
	Re-enter CASSIO.
	As he shall smile, Othello shall go mad;
	And his unbookish jealousy must construe
	Poor Cassio's smiles, gestures and light behavior,
	Quite in the wrong. How do you now, lieutenant?	120
CASSIO	The worser that you give me the addition
	Whose want even kills me.
IAGO	Ply Desdemona well, and you are sure on't.
	Speaking lower
	Now, if this suit lay in Bianco's power,
	How quickly should you speed!	125
CASSIO	Alas, poor caitiff!
OTHELLO	Look, how he laughs already!
IAGO	I never knew woman love man so.
CASSIO	Alas, poor rogue! I think, i' faith, she loves me.
OTHELLO	Now he denies it faintly, and laughs it out.	130
IAGO	Do you hear, Cassio?
OTHELLO	Now he importunes him
	To tell it o'er: go to; well said, well said.
IAGO	She gives it out that you shall marry hey:
	Do you intend it?	135
CASSIO	Ha, ha, ha!
OTHELLO	Do you triumph, Roman? do you triumph?
CASSIO	I marry her! what? a customer! Prithee, bear some
	charity to my wit: do not think it so unwholesome.
	Ha, ha, ha!	140
OTHELLO	So, so, so, so: they laugh that win.
IAGO	'Faith, the cry goes that you shall marry her.
CASSIO	Prithee, say true.
IAGO	I am a very villain else.
OTHELLO	Have you scored me? Well.	145
CASSIO	This is the monkey's own giving out: she is
	persuaded I will marry her, out of her own love and
	flattery, not out of my promise.
OTHELLO	Iago beckons me; now he begins the story.
CASSIO	She was here even now; she haunts me in every place.	150
	I was the other day talking on the sea-bank with
	certain Venetians; and thither comes the bauble,
	and, by this hand, she falls me thus about my neck--
OTHELLO	Crying 'O dear Cassio!' as it were: his gesture
	imports it.	155
CASSIO	So hangs, and lolls, and weeps upon me; so hales,
	and pulls me: ha, ha, ha!
OTHELLO	Now he tells how she plucked him to my chamber. O,
	I see that nose of yours, but not that dog I shall
	throw it to.	160
CASSIO	Well, I must leave her company.
IAGO	Before me! look, where she comes.
CASSIO	'Tis such another fitchew! marry a perfumed one.
	Enter BIANCA.
	What do you mean by this haunting of me?
BIANCA	Let the devil and his dam haunt you! What did you	165
	mean by that same handkerchief you gave me even now?
	I was a fine fool to take it. I must take out the
	work?--A likely piece of work, that you should find
	it in your chamber, and not know who left it there!
	This is some minx's token, and I must take out the	170
	work? There; give it your hobby-horse: wheresoever
	you had it, I'll take out no work on't.
CASSIO	How now, my sweet Bianca! how now! how now!
OTHELLO	By heaven, that should be my handkerchief!
BIANCA	An you'll come to supper to-night, you may; an you	175
	will not, come when you are next prepared for.
	Exit
IAGO	After her, after her.
CASSIO	'Faith, I must; she'll rail in the street else.
IAGO	Will you sup there?
CASSIO	'Faith, I intend so.	180
IAGO	Well, I may chance to see you; for I would very fain
	speak with you.
CASSIO	Prithee, come; will you?
IAGO	Go to; say no more.
	Exit CASSIO.
OTHELLO	Advancing
IAGO	Did you perceive how he laughed at his vice?	185
OTHELLO	O Iago!
IAGO	And did you see the handkerchief?
OTHELLO	Was that mine?
IAGO	Yours by this hand: and to see how he prizes the
	foolish woman your wife! she gave it him, and he	190
	hath given it his whore.
OTHELLO	I would have him nine years a-killing.
	A fine woman! a fair woman! a sweet woman!
IAGO	Nay, you must forget that.
OTHELLO	Ay, let her rot, and perish, and be damned to-night;	195
	for she shall not live: no, my heart is turned to
	stone; I strike it, and it hurts my hand. O, the
	world hath not a sweeter creature: she might lie by
	an emperor's side and command him tasks.
IAGO	Nay, that's not your way.	200
OTHELLO	Hang her! I do but say what she is: so delicate
	with her needle: an admirable musician: O! she
	will sing the savageness out of a bear: of so high
	and plenteous wit and invention:--
IAGO	She's the worse for all this.	205
OTHELLO	O, a thousand thousand times: and then, of so
	gentle a condition!
IAGO	Ay, too gentle.
OTHELLO	Nay, that's certain: but yet the pity of it, Iago!
	O Iago, the pity of it, Iago!	210
IAGO	If you are so fond over her iniquity, give her
	patent to offend; for, if it touch not you, it comes
	near nobody.
OTHELLO	I will chop her into messes: cuckold me!
IAGO	O, 'tis foul in her.	215
OTHELLO	With mine officer!
IAGO	That's fouler.
OTHELLO	Get me some poison, Iago; this night: I'll not
	expostulate with her, lest her body and beauty
	unprovide my mind again: this night, Iago.	220
IAGO	Do it not with poison, strangle her in her bed, even
	the bed she hath contaminated.
OTHELLO	Good, good: the justice of it pleases: very good.
IAGO	And for Cassio, let me be his undertaker: you
	shall hear more by midnight.	225
OTHELLO	Excellent good.
	A trumpet within.
	What trumpet is that same?
IAGO	Something from Venice, sure. 'Tis Lodovico
	Come from the duke: and, see, your wife is with him.
	Enter LODOVICO, DESDEMONA, and Attendants.
LODOVICO	Save you, worthy general!	230
OTHELLO	With all my heart, sir.
LODOVICO	The duke and senators of Venice greet you.
	Gives him a letter
OTHELLO	I kiss the instrument of their pleasures.
	Opens the letter, and reads.
DESDEMONA	And what's the news, good cousin Lodovico?
IAGO	I am very glad to see you, signior	235
	Welcome to Cyprus.
LODOVICO	I thank you. How does Lieutenant Cassio?
IAGO	Lives, sir.
DESDEMONA	Cousin, there's fall'n between him and my lord
	An unkind breach: but you shall make all well.	240
OTHELLO	Are you sure of that?
DESDEMONA	My lord?
OTHELLO	Reads. "That fail you not to do, as you will--"
LODOVICO	He did not call; he's busy in the paper.
	Is there division 'twixt my lord and Cassio?
DESDEMONA	A most unhappy one: I would do much	245
	To atone them, for the love I bear to Cassio.
OTHELLO	Fire and brimstone!
DESDEMONA	My lord?
OTHELLO	Are you wise?
DESDEMONA	What, is he angry?	250
LODOVICO	May be the letter moved him;
	For, as I think, they do command him home,
	Deputing Cassio in his government.
DESDEMONA	Trust me, I am glad on't.
OTHELLO	Indeed!	255
DESDEMONA	My lord?
OTHELLO	I am glad to see you mad.
DESDEMONA	Why, sweet Othello,--
OTHELLO	Striking her.
DESDEMONA	I have not deserved this.
LODOVICO	My lord, this would not be believed in Venice,	260
	Though I should swear I saw't: 'tis very much:
	Make her amends; she weeps.
OTHELLO	O devil, devil!
	If that the earth could teem with woman's tears,
	Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile.	265
	Out of my sight!
DESDEMONA	I will not stay to offend you.
	Going
LODOVICO	Truly, an obedient lady:
	I do beseech your lordship, call her back.
OTHELLO	Mistress!	270
DESDEMONA	My lord?
OTHELLO	What would you with her, sir?
LODOVICO	Who, I, my lord?
OTHELLO	Ay; you did wish that I would make her turn:
	Sir, she can turn, and turn, and yet go on,	275
	And turn again; and she can weep, sir, weep;
	And she's obedient, as you say, obedient,
	Very obedient. Proceed you in your tears.
	Concerning this, sir,--O well-painted passion!--
	I am commanded home. Get you away;	280
	I'll send for you anon. Sir, I obey the mandate,
	And will return to Venice. Hence, avaunt!
	Exit DESDEMONA.
	Cassio shall have my place. And, sir, tonight,
	I do entreat that we may sup together:
	You are welcome, sir, to Cyprus.--Goats and monkeys!	285
	Exit
LODOVICO	Is this the noble Moor whom our full senate
	Call all in all sufficient? Is this the nature
	Whom passion could not shake? whose solid virtue
	The shot of accident, nor dart of chance,
	Could neither graze nor pierce?	290
IAGO	He is much changed.
LODOVICO	Are his wits safe? is he not light of brain?
IAGO	He's that he is: I may not breathe my censure
	What he might be: if what he might he is not,
	I would to heaven he were!	295
LODOVICO	What, strike his wife!
IAGO	'Faith, that was not so well; yet would I knew
	That stroke would prove the worst!
LODOVICO	Is it his use?
	Or did the letters work upon his blood,	300
	And new-create this fault?
IAGO	Alas, alas!
	It is not honesty in me to speak
	What I have seen and known. You shall observe him,
	And his own courses will denote him so	305
	That I may save my speech: do but go after,
	And mark how he continues.
LODOVICO	I am sorry that I am deceived in him.
	Exeunt

Othello, Act 4, Scene 2

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Explanatory Notes for Act 4, 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.

____

20. Essence, an existence.

25. Where there was an invalid, this sight might be thought portentous.

27. Iago would attach no importance to that. Othello says that that is unlike his usual wisdom.

34, sq. The sentence is compressed. Some by importunity over-persuade; others give way before the forward folly of the mistress. Each class are ready enough to blab.

52. Noses, sq. Othello is imagining the familiarity which he supposes to have passed between Cassio and Desdemona.

65. Lethargy, heavy sleep.

90. In a patient list, within the limits of patience. List, literally the selvage of cloth; then a place enclosed by a ring or border.

94. Made your fit an excuse to dismiss him.

96. Encave yourself, conceal yourself behind something.

118. Unbookish, ignorant.

121. Addition, title (of lieutenant).

124. Power, or dower. Readings vary.

While lago draws out Cassio, Othello is watching and listening.

137. Shakespeare had been studying for his Roman plays about this time.

145. Have you settled with me? or have you branded me with a mark of disgrace?

156. Hale, form of haul. Cf . Acts viii. 3. "Haling men and women committed them to prison."

162. Before me, a euphemism for before God.

163. Fitchew, a pole-cat.

174. Should, used for must.

212. Patent, permission.

213. I will dispose of him.

243. Othello has reached the end of the letter, reading to himself.

246. Atone. Der. at one; to reconcile.

278. While speaking to Lodovico he pauses to rail at Desdemona.

297. Probably the second clause of Iago's speech is an aside.

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_4_1.html >.

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