Othello

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

ACT II SCENE III	A hall in the castle.
	Enter OTHELLO, DESDEMONA, CASSIO, and Attendants.
OTHELLO	Good Michael, look you to the guard to-night:
	Let's teach ourselves that honourable stop,
	Not to outsport discretion.
CASSIO	Iago hath direction what to do;	5
	But, notwithstanding, with my personal eye
	Will I look to't.
OTHELLO	Iago is most honest.
	Michael, good night: to-morrow with your earliest
	Let me have speech with you.	10
	To DESDEMONA
	Come, my dear love,
	The purchase made, the fruits are to ensue;
	That profit's yet to come 'tween me and you.
	Good night.
	Exeunt OTHELLO, DESDEMONA, and Attendants.
	Enter IAGO.
CASSIO	Welcome, Iago; we must to the watch.	15
IAGO	Not this hour, lieutenant; 'tis not yet ten o' the
	clock. Our general cast us thus early for the love
	of his Desdemona; who let us not therefore blame:
	he hath not yet made wanton the night with her; and
	she is sport for Jove.	20
CASSIO	She's a most exquisite lady.
IAGO	And, I'll warrant her, fun of game.
CASSIO	Indeed, she's a most fresh and delicate creature.
IAGO	What an eye she has! methinks it sounds a parley of
	provocation.	25
CASSIO	An inviting eye; and yet methinks right modest.
IAGO	And when she speaks, is it not an alarum to love?
CASSIO	She is indeed perfection.
IAGO	Well, happiness to their sheets! Come, lieutenant, I
	have a stoup of wine; and here without are a brace	30
	of Cyprus gallants that would fain have a measure to
	the health of black Othello.
CASSIO	Not to-night, good Iago: I have very poor and
	unhappy brains for drinking: I could well wish
	courtesy would invent some other custom of	35
	entertainment.
IAGO	O, they are our friends; but one cup! I'll drink for
	you.
CASSIO	I have drunk but one cup to-night, and that was
	craftily qualified too, and, behold, what innovation	40
	it makes here: I am unfortunate in the infirmity,
	and dare not task my weakness with any more.
IAGO	What, man! 'tis a night of revels: the gallants
	desire it.
CASSIO	Where are they?	45
IAGO	Here at the door; I pray you, call them in.
CASSIO	I'll do't; but it dislikes me.
	Exit
IAGO	If I can fasten but one cup upon him,
	With that which he hath drunk to-night already,
	He'll be as full of quarrel and offence	50
	As my young mistress' dog. Now, my sick fool Roderigo,
	Whom love hath turn'd almost the wrong side out,
	To Desdemona hath to-night caroused
	Potations pottle-deep; and he's to watch:
	Three lads of Cyprus, noble swelling spirits,	55
	That hold their honours in a wary distance,
	The very elements of this warlike isle,
	Have I to-night fluster'd with flowing cups,
	And they watch too. Now, 'mongst this flock of drunkards,
	Am I to put our Cassio in some action	60
	That may offend the isle.--But here they come:
	If consequence do but approve my dream,
	My boat sails freely, both with wind and stream.
	Re-enter CASSIO; with him MONTANO and Gentlemen; servants following with wine.
CASSIO	'Fore God, they have given me a rouse already.
MONTANO	Good faith, a little one; not past a pint, as I am	65
	a soldier.
IAGO	Some wine, ho!
	Sings
	And let me the canakin clink, clink;
	And let me the canakin clink
	A soldier's a man;	70
	A life's but a span;
	Why, then, let a soldier drink.
	Some wine, boys!
CASSIO	'Fore God, an excellent song.
IAGO	I learned it in England, where, indeed, they are	75
	most potent in potting: your Dane, your German, and
	your swag-bellied Hollander--Drink, ho!--are nothing
	to your English.
CASSIO	Is your Englishman so expert in his drinking?
IAGO	Why, he drinks you, with facility, your Dane dead	80
	drunk; he sweats not to overthrow your Almain; he
	gives your Hollander a vomit, ere the next pottle
	can be filled.
CASSIO	To the health of our general!
MONTANO	I am for it, lieutenant; and I'll do you justice.	85
IAGO	O sweet England!
	King Stephen was a worthy peer,
	His breeches cost him but a crown;
	He held them sixpence all too dear,
	With that he call'd the tailor lown.	90
	He was a wight of high renown,
	And thou art but of low degree:
	'Tis pride that pulls the country down;
	Then take thine auld cloak about thee.
	Some wine, ho!	95
CASSIO	Why, this is a more exquisite song than the other.
IAGO	Will you hear't again?
CASSIO	No; for I hold him to be unworthy of his place that
	does those things. Well, God's above all; and there
	be souls must be saved, and there be souls must not be saved.	100
IAGO	It's true, good lieutenant.
CASSIO	For mine own part,--no offence to the general, nor
	any man of quality,--I hope to be saved.
IAGO	And so do I too, lieutenant.
CASSIO	Ay, but, by your leave, not before me; the	105
	lieutenant is to be saved before the ancient. Let's
	have no more of this; let's to our affairs.--Forgive
	us our sins!--Gentlemen, let's look to our business.
	Do not think, gentlemen. I am drunk: this is my
	ancient; this is my right hand, and this is my left:	110
	I am not drunk now; I can stand well enough, and
	speak well enough.
All	Excellent well.
CASSIO	Why, very well then; you must not think then that I am drunk.
	Exit
MONTANO	To the platform, masters; come, let's set the watch.	115
IAGO	You see this fellow that is gone before;
	He is a soldier fit to stand by Caesar
	And give direction: and do but see his vice;
	'Tis to his virtue a just equinox,
	The one as long as the other: 'tis pity of him.	120
	I fear the trust Othello puts him in.
	On some odd time of his infirmity,
	Will shake this island.
MONTANO	But is he often thus?
IAGO	'Tis evermore the prologue to his sleep:	125
	He'll watch the horologe a double set,
	If drink rock not his cradle.
MONTANO	It were well
	The general were put in mind of it.
	Perhaps he sees it not; or his good nature	130
	Prizes the virtue that appears in Cassio,
	And looks not on his evils: is not this true?
	Enter RODERIGO.
IAGO	Aside to him
	I pray you, after the lieutenant; go.
	Exit RODERIGO.
MONTANO	And 'tis great pity that the noble Moor
	Should hazard such a place as his own second	135
	With one of an ingraft infirmity:
	It were an honest action to say
	So to the Moor.
IAGO	Not I, for this fair island:
	I do love Cassio well; and would do much	140
	To cure him of this evil--But, hark! what noise?
	Cry within: 'Help! help!'
	Re-enter CASSIO, driving in RODERIGO.
CASSIO	You rogue! you rascal!
MONTANO	What's the matter, lieutenant?
CASSIO	A knave teach me my duty!
	I'll beat the knave into a twiggen bottle.	145
RODERIGO	Beat me!
CASSIO	Dost thou prate, rogue?
	Striking RODERIGO.
MONTANO	Nay, good lieutenant;
	Staying him
	I pray you, sir, hold your hand.
CASSIO	Let me go, sir,	150
	Or I'll knock you o'er the mazzard.
MONTANO	Come, come,
	you're drunk.
CASSIO	Drunk!
	They fight.
IAGO	[Aside to RODERIGO] Away, I say; go out, and cry a mutiny.
	Exit RODERIGO.
	Nay, good lieutenant,--alas, gentlemen;--	155
	Help, ho!--Lieutenant,--sir,--Montano,--sir;
	Help, masters!--Here's a goodly watch indeed!
	Bell rings.
	Who's that which rings the bell?--Diablo, ho!
	The town will rise: God's will, lieutenant, hold!
	You will be shamed for ever.	160
	Re-enter OTHELLO and Attendants.
OTHELLO	What is the matter here?
MONTANO	'Zounds, I bleed still; I am hurt to the death.
	Faints
OTHELLO	Hold, for your lives!
IAGO	Hold, ho! Lieutenant,--sir--Montano,--gentlemen,--
	Have you forgot all sense of place and duty?	165
	Hold! the general speaks to you; hold, hold, for shame!
OTHELLO	Why, how now, ho! from whence ariseth this?
	Are we turn'd Turks, and to ourselves do that
	Which heaven hath forbid the Ottomites?
	For Christian shame, put by this barbarous brawl:	170
	He that stirs next to carve for his own rage
	Holds his soul light; he dies upon his motion.
	Silence that dreadful bell: it frights the isle
	From her propriety. What is the matter, masters?
	Honest Iago, that look'st dead with grieving,	175
	Speak, who began this? on thy love, I charge thee.
IAGO	I do not know: friends all but now, even now,
	In quarter, and in terms like bride and groom
	Devesting them for bed; and then, but now--
	As if some planet had unwitted men--	180
	Swords out, and tilting one at other's breast,
	In opposition bloody. I cannot speak
	Any beginning to this peevish odds;
	And would in action glorious I had lost
	Those legs that brought me to a part of it!	185
OTHELLO	How comes it, Michael, you are thus forgot?
CASSIO	I pray you, pardon me; I cannot speak.
OTHELLO	Worthy Montano, you were wont be civil;
	The gravity and stillness of your youth
	The world hath noted, and your name is great	190
	In mouths of wisest censure: what's the matter,
	That you unlace your reputation thus
	And spend your rich opinion for the name
	Of a night-brawler? give me answer to it.
MONTANO	Worthy Othello, I am hurt to danger:	195
	Your officer, Iago, can inform you,--
	While I spare speech, which something now
	offends me,--
	Of all that I do know: nor know I aught
	By me that's said or done amiss this night;	200
	Unless self-charity be sometimes a vice,
	And to defend ourselves it be a sin
	When violence assails us.
OTHELLO	Now, by heaven,
	My blood begins my safer guides to rule;	205
	And passion, having my best judgment collied,
	Assays to lead the way: if I once stir,
	Or do but lift this arm, the best of you
	Shall sink in my rebuke. Give me to know
	How this foul rout began, who set it on;	210
	And he that is approved in this offence,
	Though he had twinn'd with me, both at a birth,
	Shall lose me. What! in a town of war,
	Yet wild, the people's hearts brimful of fear,
	To manage private and domestic quarrel,	215
	In night, and on the court and guard of safety!
	'Tis monstrous. Iago, who began't?
MONTANO	If partially affined, or leagued in office,
	Thou dost deliver more or less than truth,
	Thou art no soldier.	220
IAGO	Touch me not so near:
	I had rather have this tongue cut from my mouth
	Than it should do offence to Michael Cassio;
	Yet, I persuade myself, to speak the truth
	Shall nothing wrong him. Thus it is, general.	225
	Montano and myself being in speech,
	There comes a fellow crying out for help:
	And Cassio following him with determined sword,
	To execute upon him. Sir, this gentleman
	Steps in to Cassio, and entreats his pause:	230
	Myself the crying fellow did pursue,
	Lest by his clamour--as it so fell out--
	The town might fall in fright: he, swift of foot,
	Outran my purpose; and I return'd the rather
	For that I heard the clink and fall of swords,	235
	And Cassio high in oath; which till to-night
	I ne'er might say before. When I came back--
	For this was brief--I found them close together,
	At blow and thrust; even as again they were
	When you yourself did part them.	240
	More of this matter cannot I report:
	But men are men; the best sometimes forget:
	Though Cassio did some little wrong to him,
	As men in rage strike those that wish them best,
	Yet surely Cassio, I believe, received	245
	From him that fled some strange indignity,
	Which patience could not pass.
OTHELLO	I know, Iago,
	Thy honesty and love doth mince this matter,
	Making it light to Cassio. Cassio, I love thee	250
	But never more be officer of mine.
	Re-enter DESDEMONA, attended.
	Look, if my gentle love be not raised up!
	I'll make thee an example.
DESDEMONA	What's the matter?
OTHELLO	All's well now, sweeting; come away to bed.	255
	Sir, for your hurts, myself will be your surgeon:
	Lead him off.
	To MONTANO, who is led off.
	Iago, look with care about the town,
	And silence those whom this vile brawl distracted.
	Come, Desdemona: 'tis the soldiers' life	260
	To have their balmy slumbers waked with strife.
	Exeunt all but IAGO and CASSIO.
IAGO	What, are you hurt, lieutenant?
CASSIO	Ay, past all surgery.
IAGO	Marry, heaven forbid!
CASSIO	Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost	265
	my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of
	myself, and what remains is bestial. My reputation,
	Iago, my reputation!
IAGO	As I am an honest man, I thought you had received
	some bodily wound; there is more sense in that than	270
	in reputation. Reputation is an idle and most false
	imposition: oft got without merit, and lost without
	deserving: you have lost no reputation at all,
	unless you repute yourself such a loser. What, man!
	there are ways to recover the general again: you	275
	are but now cast in his mood, a punishment more in
	policy than in malice, even so as one would beat his
	offenceless dog to affright an imperious lion: sue
	to him again, and he's yours.
CASSIO	I will rather sue to be despised than to deceive so	280
	good a commander with so slight, so drunken, and so
	indiscreet an officer. Drunk? and speak parrot?
	and squabble? swagger? swear? and discourse
	fustian with one's own shadow? O thou invisible
	spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by,	285
	let us call thee devil!
IAGO	What was he that you followed with your sword? What
	had he done to you?
CASSIO	I know not.
IAGO	Is't possible?	290
CASSIO	I remember a mass of things, but nothing distinctly;
	a quarrel, but nothing wherefore. O God, that men
	should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away
	their brains! that we should, with joy, pleasance
	revel and applause, transform ourselves into beasts!	295
IAGO	Why, but you are now well enough: how came you thus
	recovered?
CASSIO	It hath pleased the devil drunkenness to give place
	to the devil wrath; one unperfectness shows me
	another, to make me frankly despise myself.	300
IAGO	Come, you are too severe a moraler: as the time,
	the place, and the condition of this country
	stands, I could heartily wish this had not befallen;
	but, since it is as it is, mend it for your own good.
CASSIO	I will ask him for my place again; he shall tell me	305
	I am a drunkard! Had I as many mouths as Hydra,
	such an answer would stop them all. To be now a
	sensible man, by and by a fool, and presently a
	beast! O strange! Every inordinate cup is
	unblessed and the ingredient is a devil.	310
IAGO	Come, come, good wine is a good familiar creature,
	if it be well used: exclaim no more against it.
	And, good lieutenant, I think you think I love you.
CASSIO	I have well approved it, sir. I drunk!
IAGO	You or any man living may be drunk! at a time, man.	315
	I'll tell you what you shall do. Our general's wife
	is now the general: may say so in this respect, for
	that he hath devoted and given up himself to the
	contemplation, mark, and denotement of her parts and
	graces: confess yourself freely to her; importune	320
	her help to put you in your place again: she is of
	so free, so kind, so apt, so blessed a disposition,
	she holds it a vice in her goodness not to do more
	than she is requested: this broken joint between
	you and her husband entreat her to splinter; and, my	325
	fortunes against any lay worth naming, this
	crack of your love shall grow stronger than it was before.
CASSIO	You advise me well.
IAGO	I protest, in the sincerity of love and honest kindness.
CASSIO	I think it freely; and betimes in the morning I will	330
	beseech the virtuous Desdemona to undertake for me:
	I am desperate of my fortunes if they cheque me here.
IAGO	You are in the right. Good night, lieutenant; I
	must to the watch.
CASSIO	Good night, honest Iago.
	Exit
IAGO	And what's he then that says I play the villain?	335
	When this advice is free I give and honest,
	Probal to thinking and indeed the course
	To win the Moor again? For 'tis most easy
	The inclining Desdemona to subdue
	In any honest suit: she's framed as fruitful	340
	As the free elements. And then for her
	To win the Moor--were't to renounce his baptism,
	All seals and symbols of redeemed sin,
	His soul is so enfetter'd to her love,
	That she may make, unmake, do what she list,	345
	Even as her appetite shall play the god
	With his weak function. How am I then a villain
	To counsel Cassio to this parallel course,
	Directly to his good? Divinity of hell!
	When devils will the blackest sins put on,	350
	They do suggest at first with heavenly shows,
	As I do now: for whiles this honest fool
	Plies Desdemona to repair his fortunes
	And she for him pleads strongly to the Moor,
	I'll pour this pestilence into his ear,	355
	That she repeals him for her body's lust;
	And by how much she strives to do him good,
	She shall undo her credit with the Moor.
	So will I turn her virtue into pitch,
	And out of her own goodness make the net	360
	That shall enmesh them all.
	Re-enter RODERIGO.
	How now, Roderigo!
RODERIGO	I do follow here in the chase, not like a hound that
	hunts, but one that fills up the cry. My money is
	almost spent; I have been to-night exceedingly well	365
	cudgelled; and I think the issue will be, I shall
	have so much experience for my pains, and so, with
	no money at all and a little more wit, return again to Venice.
IAGO	How poor are they that have not patience!
	What wound did ever heal but by degrees?	370
	Thou know'st we work by wit, and not by witchcraft;
	And wit depends on dilatory time.
	Does't not go well? Cassio hath beaten thee.
	And thou, by that small hurt, hast cashier'd Cassio:
	Though other things grow fair against the sun,	375
	Yet fruits that blossom first will first be ripe:
	Content thyself awhile. By the mass, 'tis morning;
	Pleasure and action make the hours seem short.
	Retire thee; go where thou art billeted:
	Away, I say; thou shalt know more hereafter:	380
	Nay, get thee gone.
	Exit RODERIGO.
	Two things are to be done:
	My wife must move for Cassio to her mistress;
	I'll set her on;
	Myself the while to draw the Moor apart,	385
	And bring him jump when he may Cassio find
	Soliciting his wife: ay, that's the way
	Dull not device by coldness and delay.
	Exit

Othello, Act 3, Scene 1

___________

Explanatory Notes for Act 2, Scene 3

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.

____

39. The one cup which I have had though cleverly mixed, has upset my weak head.

47. Dislike and like were usually impersonal as synonymous with please. Cf. "The music likes you not." — Two Gentlemen of Verona, iv. 2, 56.

54. Pottle, diminutive of pot.

56. Are always on guard where their honor is concerned.

57. Elements. As it were, a pure extract or quintessence.

64. Rouse, occurs also thrice in Hamlet, a play of the same period, but not elsewhere. It is a Scandinavian word meaning a drinking-bout.

76. Potent in potting, heavy drinkers.

81. He sweats not, it is no great matter to him.

81. Almain, German.

86. The mention of England suggests the second song which is an old ballad to be found in Percy's Keliques (published 1765).

90. Lown, loon. Originally lowm. Perhaps connected with a Scotch word loamy, slow.

98. Cassio is already incoherent.

110. A British soldier is not considered drunk if he can go through his facings.

122. Odd, occasional, incidental.

126. He will keep awake twenty-four hours.

135. Should run such risks by having such a man for his second-in-command.

136. Ingraft, the omission of the ed is common in verbs whose terminations already resemble participles; eg. also hoist, disjoint, heat.

145. Twiggen, covered with straw network.

151. Mazzard, a contemptuous word for head, or possibly jaw.

172. I will kill instantly anyone who strikes a blow in his own quarrel.

178. Quarter, peace. Possibly quarter refers to the apartment assigned to the officers on guard.

186. You are thus forgot, have thus forgotten yourself.

188. Some verbs claim exemption from the use of to, on the ground of being auxiliary.

191. Censure was a colorless word meaning opinion, in Elizabethan times.

193. Opinion, reputation.

197. While I avoid speaking, which is now painful.

206. Collied, obscured.

209. In my rebuke, in receiving it.

215. Manage. Literally to handle, wield.

218. Affin'd, related.

220. Do not so press me.

270. Sense of pain.

278. He punishes more to appease the islanders than because he is angry.

278. Affright does not suit the comparison. Cassio is the dog, the natives are meant by the lion; he beats the former to appease the latter.

284. Fustian, another stuff named from the place of manufacture— Fustat, an old name of Cairo.

332. I despair of.

337. Probal, a contraction of probable.

339. She could win the Moor over to anything.

343. The cross.

347. Function, operation of reason. Iago, solus, feels the sting of conscience, but very readily settles matters with it — for the moment.

348. Parallel, level, or even, with his design.

351. Suggest, to tempt.

364. Cry, pack, where the part is a secondary one,

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_3.html >.

Related Articles

 Lectures on Othello: Play Construction and the Suffering and Murder of Desdemona
 Lectures on Othello: Othello's Jealousy
 The Moral Enigma of Shakespeare's Othello
 Othello as Tragic Hero
 Stage History of Othello
 Othello: Plot Summary
 Othello: Q & A
 Quotes from Othello

 How to Pronounce the Names in Othello
 Iago Character Introduction
 Othello Character Introduction
 Desdemona Character Introduction
 Iago's Motives: The Relationship Between Othello and Iago
 Shakespeare and Race: The Relationship Between Othello and Desdemona

 Othello: Essay Topics
 Shakespeare's Sources for Othello
 The Problem of Time in Othello