Othello, William Shakespeare [best books for students to read .TXT] 📗

more than he’ll unswear. Othello What hath he said? Iago ’Faith, that he did⁠—I know not what he did. 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
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
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;
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? 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:
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. 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. 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
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,
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.
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;
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
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?
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,
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
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?

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 Bianca’s power,
How quickly should you speed!

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. 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?

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! 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 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 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 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