Othello

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

ACT V SCENE II	A bedchamber in the castle: DESDEMONA in bed asleep.
[Enter OTHELLO]
OTHELLO	It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul,--
	Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars!--
	It is the cause. Yet I'll not shed her blood;
	Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow,
	And smooth as monumental alabaster.
	Yet she must die, else she'll betray more men.
	Put out the light, and then put out the light:
	If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,
	I can again thy former light restore,
	Should I repent me: but once put out thy light,	10
	Thou cunning'st pattern of excelling nature,
	I know not where is that Promethean heat
	That can thy light relume. When I have pluck'd the rose,
	I cannot give it vital growth again.
	It must needs wither: I'll smell it on the tree.
[Kissing her]
	Ah balmy breath, that dost almost persuade
	Justice to break her sword! One more, one more.
	Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee,
	And love thee after. One more, and this the last:
	So sweet was ne'er so fatal. I must weep,	20
	But they are cruel tears: this sorrow's heavenly;
	It strikes where it doth love. She wakes.
DESDEMONA	Who's there? Othello?
OTHELLO	Ay. Desdemona.
DESDEMONA	Will you come to bed, my lord?
OTHELLO	Have you pray'd to-night, Desdemona?
DESDEMONA	Ay, my lord.
OTHELLO	If you bethink yourself of any crime
	Unreconciled as yet to heaven and grace,
	Solicit for it straight.	30
DESDEMONA	Alas, my lord, what do you mean by that?
OTHELLO	Well, do it, and be brief; I will walk by:
	I would not kill thy unprepared spirit;
	No; heaven forfend! I would not kill thy soul.
DESDEMONA	Talk you of killing?
OTHELLO	Ay, I do.
DESDEMONA	Then heaven
	Have mercy on me!
OTHELLO	Amen, with all my heart!
DESDEMONA	If you say so, I hope you will not kill me.	40
OTHELLO	Hum!
DESDEMONA	And yet I fear you; for you are fatal then
	When your eyes roll so: why I should fear I know not,
	Since guiltiness I know not; but yet I feel I fear.
OTHELLO	Think on thy sins.
DESDEMONA	They are loves I bear to you.
OTHELLO	Ay, and for that thou diest.
DESDEMONA	That death's unnatural that kills for loving.
	Alas, why gnaw you so your nether lip?
	Some bloody passion shakes your very frame:	50
	These are portents; but yet I hope, I hope,
	They do not point on me.
OTHELLO	Peace, and be still!
DESDEMONA	I will so. What's the matter?
OTHELLO	That handkerchief which I so loved and gave thee
	Thou gavest to Cassio.
DESDEMONA	No, by my life and soul!
	Send for the man, and ask him.
OTHELLO	Sweet soul, take heed,
	Take heed of perjury; thou art on thy deathbed.	60
DESDEMONA	Ay, but not yet to die.
OTHELLO	Yes, presently:
	Therefore confess thee freely of thy sin;
	For to deny each article with oath
	Cannot remove nor choke the strong conception
	That I do groan withal. Thou art to die.
DESDEMONA	Then Lord have mercy on me!
OTHELLO	I say, amen.
DESDEMONA	And have you mercy too! I never did
	Offend you in my life; never loved Cassio	70
	But with such general warranty of heaven
	As I might love: I never gave him token.
OTHELLO	By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in's hand.
	O perjured woman! thou dost stone my heart,
	And makest me call what I intend to do
	A murder, which I thought a sacrifice:
	I saw the handkerchief.
DESDEMONA	He found it then;
	I never gave it him: send for him hither;
	Let him confess a truth.	80
OTHELLO	He hath confess'd.
DESDEMONA	What, my lord?
OTHELLO	That he hath used thee.
DESDEMONA	How? unlawfully?
OTHELLO	Ay.
DESDEMONA	He will not say so.
OTHELLO	No, his mouth is stopp'd;
	Honest Iago hath ta'en order for't.
DESDEMONA	O! my fear interprets: what, is he dead?
OTHELLO	Had all his hairs been lives, my great revenge	90
	Had stomach for them all.
DESDEMONA	Alas! he is betray'd and I undone.
OTHELLO	Out, strumpet! weep'st thou for him to my face?
DESDEMONA	O, banish me, my lord, but kill me not!
OTHELLO	Down, strumpet!
DESDEMONA	Kill me to-morrow: let me live to-night!
OTHELLO	Nay, if you strive--
DESDEMONA	But half an hour!
OTHELLO	Being done, there is no pause.
DESDEMONA	But while I say one prayer!	100
OTHELLO	It is too late.
[He stifles her]
EMILIA	[Within] My lord, my lord! what, ho! my lord, my lord!
OTHELLO	What noise is this? Not dead? not yet quite dead?
	I that am cruel am yet merciful;
	I would not have thee linger in thy pain: So, so.
EMILIA	[Within] What, ho! my lord, my lord!
OTHELLO	Who's there?
EMILIA	[Within] O, good my lord, I would speak a word with you!
OTHELLO	Yes: 'tis Emilia. By and by. She's dead.
	'Tis like she comes to speak of Cassio's death.--	110
	The noise was here. Ha! no more moving?
	Still as the grave. Shall she come in? were't good?--
	I think she stirs again:--no. What's best to do?
	If she come in, she'll sure speak to my wife:
	My wife! my wife! what wife? I have no wife.
	O insupportable! O heavy hour!
	Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse
	Of sun and moon, and that the affrighted globe
	Should yawn at alteration.
EMILIA	[Within] I do beseech you	120
	That I may speak with you, O, good my lord!
OTHELLO	I had forgot thee: O, come in, Emilia;
	Soft; by and by. Let me the curtains draw.
	Where art thou?
[Unlocks the door]
[Enter EMILIA]
	What's the matter with thee now?
EMILIA	O, my good lord, yonder's foul murders done!
OTHELLO	What, now?
EMILIA	But now, my lord.
OTHELLO	It is the very error of the moon;
	She comes more nearer earth than she was wont,	130
	And makes men mad.
EMILIA	Cassio, my lord, hath kill'd a young Venetian
	Call'd Roderigo.
OTHELLO	Roderigo kill'd!
	And Cassio kill'd!
EMILIA	No, Cassio is not kill'd.
OTHELLO	Not Cassio kill'd! then murder's out of tune,
	And sweet revenge grows harsh.
DESDEMONA	O, falsely, falsely murder'd!
EMILIA	Alas, what cry is that?	140
OTHELLO	That! what?
EMILIA	Out, and alas! that was my lady's voice.
	Help! help, ho! help! O lady, speak again!
	Sweet Desdemona! O sweet mistress, speak!
DESDEMONA	A guiltless death I die.
EMILIA	O, who hath done this deed?
DESDEMONA	Nobody; I myself. Farewell
	Commend me to my kind lord: O, farewell!
[Dies]
OTHELLO	Why, how should she be murder'd?
EMILIA	Alas, who knows?	150
OTHELLO	You heard her say herself, it was not I.
EMILIA	She said so: I must needs report the truth.
OTHELLO	She's, like a liar, gone to burning hell:
	'Twas I that kill'd her.
EMILIA	O, the more angel she,
	And you the blacker devil!
OTHELLO	She turn'd to folly, and she was a whore.
EMILIA	Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil.
OTHELLO	She was false as water.
EMILIA	Thou art rash as fire, to say	160
	That she was false: O, she was heavenly true!
OTHELLO	Cassio did top her; ask thy husband else.
	O, I were damn'd beneath all depth in hell,
	But that I did proceed upon just grounds
	To this extremity. Thy husband knew it all.
EMILIA	My husband!
OTHELLO	Thy husband.
EMILIA	That she was false to wedlock?
OTHELLO	Ay, with Cassio. Nay, had she been true,
	If heaven would make me such another world	170
	Of one entire and Perfect chrysolite,
	I'ld not have sold her for it.
EMILIA	My husband!
OTHELLO	Ay, 'twas he that told me first:
	An honest man he is, and hates the slime
	That sticks on filthy deeds.
EMILIA	My husband!
OTHELLO	What needs this iteration, woman? I say thy husband.
EMILIA	O mistress, villany hath made mocks with love,
	My husband say that she was false!	180
OTHELLO	He, woman;
	I say thy husband: dost understand the word?
	My friend, thy husband, honest, honest Iago.
EMILIA	If he say so, may his pernicious soul
	Rot half a grain a day! he lies to the heart:
	She was too fond of her most filthy bargain.
OTHELLO	Ha!
EMILIA	Do thy worst:
	This deed of thine is no more worthy heaven
	Than thou wast worthy her.	190
OTHELLO	Peace, you were best.
EMILIA	Thou hast not half that power to do me harm
	As I have to be hurt. O gull! O dolt!
	As ignorant as dirt! thou hast done a deed--
	I care not for thy sword; I'll make thee known,
	Though I lost twenty lives.--Help! help, ho! help!
	The Moor hath kill'd my mistress! Murder! murder!
[Enter MONTANO, GRATIANO, IAGO, and others]
MONTANO	What is the matter? How now, general!
EMILIA	O, are you come, Iago? you have done well,
	That men must lay their murders on your neck.	200
GRATIANO	What is the matter?
EMILIA	Disprove this villain, if thou be'st a man:
	He says thou told'st him that his wife was false:
	I know thou didst not, thou'rt not such a villain:
	Speak, for my heart is full.
IAGO	I told him what I thought, and told no more
	Than what he found himself was apt and true.
EMILIA	But did you ever tell him she was false?
IAGO	I did.
EMILIA	You told a lie, an odious, damned lie;	210
	Upon my soul, a lie, a wicked lie.
	She false with Cassio!--did you say with Cassio?
IAGO	With Cassio, mistress. Go to, charm your tongue.
EMILIA	I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to speak:
	My mistress here lies murder'd in her bed,--
All	O heavens forfend!
EMILIA	And your reports have set the murder on.
OTHELLO	Nay, stare not, masters: it is true, indeed.
GRATIANO	'Tis a strange truth.
MONTANO	O monstrous act!	220
EMILIA	Villany, villany, villany!
	I think upon't, I think: I smell't: O villany!--
	I thought so then:--I'll kill myself for grief:--
	O villany, villany!
IAGO	What, are you mad? I charge you, get you home.
EMILIA	Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak:
	'Tis proper I obey him, but not now.
	Perchance, Iago, I will ne'er go home.
OTHELLO	O! O! O!
[He falls on the bed]
EMILIA	Nay, lay thee down and roar;	230
	For thou hast kill'd the sweetest innocent
	That e'er did lift up eye.
OTHELLO	[Rising] O, she was foul!
	I scarce did know you, uncle: there lies your niece,
	Whose breath, indeed, these hands have newly stopp'd:
	I know this act shows horrible and grim.
GRATIANO	Poor Desdemona! I am glad thy father's dead:
	Thy match was mortal to him, and pure grief
	Shore his old thread in twain: did he live now,
	This sight would make him do a desperate turn,	240
	Yea, curse his better angel from his side,
	And fall to reprobation.
OTHELLO	'Tis pitiful; but yet Iago knows
	That she with Cassio hath the act of shame
	A thousand times committed; Cassio confess'd it:
	And she did gratify his amorous works
	With that recognizance and pledge of love
	Which I first gave her; I saw it in his hand:
	It was a handkerchief, an antique token
	My father gave my mother.	250
EMILIA	O heaven! O heavenly powers!
IAGO	Come, hold your peace.
EMILIA	'Twill out, 'twill out: I peace!
	No, I will speak as liberal as the north:
	Let heaven and men and devils, let them all,
	All, all, cry shame against me, yet I'll speak.
IAGO	Be wise, and get you home.
EMILIA	I will not.
[IAGO offers to stab EMILIA]
GRATIANO	Fie!
	Your sword upon a woman?	260
EMILIA	O thou dull Moor! that handkerchief thou speak'st of
	I found by fortune and did give my husband;
	For often, with a solemn earnestness,
	More than indeed belong'd to such a trifle,
	He begg'd of me to steal it.
IAGO	Villanous whore!
EMILIA	She give it Cassio! no, alas! I found it,
	And I did give't my husband.
IAGO	Filth, thou liest!
EMILIA	By heaven, I do not, I do not, gentlemen.	270
	O murderous coxcomb! what should such a fool
	Do with so good a woman?
OTHELLO	Are there no stones in heaven
	But what serve for the thunder?--Precious villain!
[He runs at IAGO IAGO, from behind, stabs EMILIA, and exit]
GRATIANO	The woman falls; sure, he hath kill'd his wife.
EMILIA	Ay, ay: O, lay me by my mistress' side.
GRATIANO	He's gone, but his wife's kill'd.
MONTANO	'Tis a notorious villain. Take you this weapon,
	Which I have here recover'd from the Moor:
	Come, guard the door without; let him not pass,	280
	But kill him rather. I'll after that same villain,
	For 'tis a damned slave.
[Exeunt MONTANO and GRATIANO]
OTHELLO	I am not valiant neither,
	But ever puny whipster gets my sword:
	But why should honour outlive honesty?
	Let it go all.
EMILIA	What did thy song bode, lady?
	Hark, canst thou hear me? I will play the swan.
	And die in music.
[Singing]
	Willow, willow, willow,--	290
	Moor, she was chaste; she loved thee, cruel Moor;
	So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true;
	So speaking as I think, I die, I die.
[Dies]
OTHELLO	I have another weapon in this chamber;
	It is a sword of Spain, the ice-brook's temper:--
	O, here it is. Uncle, I must come forth.
GRATIANO	[Within] If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear:
	Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer.
OTHELLO	Look in upon me then and speak with me,
	Or, naked as I am, I will assault thee.	300
[Re-enter GRATIANO]
GRATIANO	What is the matter?
OTHELLO	Behold, I have a weapon;
	A better never did itself sustain
	Upon a soldier's thigh: I have seen the day,
	That, with this little arm and this good sword,
	I have made my way through more impediments
	Than twenty times your stop: but, O vain boast!
	Who can control his fate? 'tis not so now.
	Be not afraid, though you do see me weapon'd;
	Here is my journey's end, here is my butt,	310
	And very sea-mark of my utmost sail.
	Do you go back dismay'd? 'tis a lost fear;
	Man but a rush against Othello's breast,
	And he retires. Where should Othello go?
	Now, how dost thou look now? O ill-starr'd wench!
	Pale as thy smock! when we shall meet at compt,
	This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven,
	And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl!
	Even like thy chastity. O cursed slave!
	Whip me, ye devils,	320
	From the possession of this heavenly sight!
	Blow me about in winds! roast me in sulphur!
	Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!
	O Desdemona! Desdemona! dead!
	Oh! Oh! Oh!
[ Enter LODOVICO. MONTANO, CASSIO carried in a chair, and Officers with IAGO, prisoner ]
LODOVICO	Where is this rash and most unfortunate man?
OTHELLO	That's he that was Othello: here I am.
LODOVICO	Where is that viper? bring the villain forth.
OTHELLO	I look down towards his feet; but that's a fable.
	If that thou best a devil, I cannot kill thee.	330
[Wounds IAGO]
LODOVICO	Wrench his sword from him.
IAGO	I bleed, sir; but not kill'd.
OTHELLO	I am not sorry neither: I'ld have thee live;
	For, in my sense, 'tis happiness to die.
LODOVICO	O thou Othello, thou wert once so good,
	Fall'n in the practise of a damned slave,
	What shall be said to thee?
OTHELLO	Why, any thing:
	An honourable murderer, if you will;
	For nought I did in hate, but all in honour.	340
LODOVICO	This wretch hath part confess'd his villany:
	Did you and he consent in Cassio's death?
OTHELLO	Ay.
CASSIO	Dear general, I never gave you cause.
OTHELLO	I do believe it, and I ask your pardon.
	Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil
	Why he hath thus ensnared my soul and body?
IAGO	Demand me nothing: what you know, you know:
	From this time forth I never will speak word.
LODOVICO	What, not to pray?	350
GRATIANO	Torments will ope your lips.
OTHELLO	Well, thou dost best.
LODOVICO	Sir, you shall understand what hath befall'n,
	Which, as I think, you know not. Here is a letter
	Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigo;
	And here another: the one of them imports
	The death of Cassio to be undertook
	By Roderigo.
OTHELLO	O villain!
CASSIO	Most heathenish and most gross!	360
LODOVICO	Now here's another discontented paper,
	Found in his pocket too; and this, it seems,
	Roderigo meant to have sent this damned villain;
	But that belike Iago in the interim
	Came in and satisfied him.
OTHELLO	O the pernicious caitiff!
	How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief
	That was my wife's?
CASSIO	I found it in my chamber:
	And he himself confess'd but even now	370
	That there he dropp'd it for a special purpose
	Which wrought to his desire.
OTHELLO	O fool! fool! fool!
CASSIO	There is besides in Roderigo's letter,
	How he upbraids Iago, that he made him
	Brave me upon the watch; whereon it came
	That I was cast: and even but now he spake,
	After long seeming dead, Iago hurt him,
	Iago set him on.
LODOVICO	You must forsake this room, and go with us:	380
	Your power and your command is taken off,
	And Cassio rules in Cyprus. For this slave,
	If there be any cunning cruelty
	That can torment him much and hold him long,
	It shall be his. You shall close prisoner rest,
	Till that the nature of your fault be known
	To the Venetian state. Come, bring him away.
OTHELLO	Soft you; a word or two before you go.
	I have done the state some service, and they know't.
	No more of that. I pray you, in your letters,	390
	When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
	Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
	Nor set down aught in malice: then must you speak
	Of one that loved not wisely but too well;
	Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought
	Perplex'd in the extreme; of one whose hand,
	Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away
	Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued eyes,
	Albeit unused to the melting mood,
	Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees	400
	Their medicinal gum. Set you down this;
	And say besides, that in Aleppo once,
	Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk
	Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,
	I took by the throat the circumcised dog,
	And smote him, thus.
[Stabs himself]
LODOVICO	O bloody period!
GRATIANO	All that's spoke is marr'd.
OTHELLO	I kiss'd thee ere I kill'd thee: no way but this;
	Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.	410
[Falls on the bed, and dies]
CASSIO	This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon;
	For he was great of heart.
LODOVICO	[To IAGO] O Spartan dog,
	More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea!
	Look on the tragic loading of this bed;
	This is thy work: the object poisons sight;
	Let it be hid. Gratiano, keep the house,
	And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor,
	For they succeed on you. To you, lord governor,
	Remains the censure of this hellish villain;	420
	The time, the place, the torture: O, enforce it!
	Myself will straight aboard: and to the state
	This heavy act with heavy heart relate.
[Exeunt]

Return to Othello, Scenes

___________

Explanatory Notes for Act 5, Scene 2

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.

____

11. Pattern, example, masterpiece.

12. Prometheus stole fire from heaven and gave it to man.

19. Kissing her again.

20. I cannot help weeping, but I am pitiless ; my sorrow is like the love of the gods, who take those they love.

29. Grace, pardon, mercy.

48. My only sin consists in loving you with all my heart and against my father's wishes.

62. Presently = immediately — in Shakespeare's day.

77. If I hate you (for your denials) it ceases to be a sacrifice.

129. Error, movement, wandering.

159. False as water. The comparison is as old as Jacob's farewell to his sons: "Reuben, unstable as water." — Gen. xlix. 4. The poet Keats chose for his epitaph, "Here lies one whose name was writ in water."

171. Chrysolite, from two Greek words signifying gold and stone.

179. His villany has deceived your love.

187. Othello threatens Emilia.

198. Must say that you have instigated them to murder.

214. Charm, restrain, hold. Cf. "To tame a shrew, and charm her chattering-tongue." — Taming of the Shrew, iv. 2. 58.

222. When she gave the handkerchief to lago.

247. Recognizance, badge, token.

254. As liberal as the north, as free in my speech as the north wind in its blasts.

262. By fortune, by chance.

271. Coxcomb, a fool. From the crest in the fool's cap.

284. Puny is for puisne, a law term implying inferior in rank. Latin post natus, born after. Whipster. Originally -ster was the feminine suffix of agency — e.g. brewster, tappestre (Chaucer, a barmaid — but the distinction was soon lost, and maltster, huckster, baxter (baker) were masculine.

287. I will play the swan. Cf. Tennyson —

"The wild swan's death-hymn took the soul
Of that waste place with joy
Hidden in sorrow."

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