monkeys,
As salt 447 as wolves in pride, and fools as gross
As ignorance made drunk. But yet, I say,
If imputation and strong circumstances 449
Which lead directly to the door of truth
Will give you satisfaction, you might have’t.
OTHELLO Give me a living reason she’s disloyal.
IAGO I do not like the office,
But sith I am entered in this cause so far —
Pricked 455 to’t by foolish honesty and love —
I will go on. I lay 456 with Cassio lately,
And being troubled with a raging tooth
I could not sleep. There are a kind of men
So loose of soul that in their sleeps will mutter
Their affairs: one of this kind is Cassio.
In sleep I heard him say, ‘Sweet Desdemona,
Let us be wary, let us hide our loves’:
And then, sir, would he grip and wring my hand,
Cry ‘O sweet creature!’ then kiss me hard,
As if he plucked up kisses by the roots
That grew upon my lips, laid his leg
O’er my thigh, and sigh 467 , and kiss, and then
Cry, ‘Cursèd fate that gave thee to the Moor!’
OTHELLO O monstrous! Monstrous!
IAGO Nay, this was but his dream.
OTHELLO But this denoted a foregone conclusion 471 :
’Tis a shrewd doubt 472 , though it be but a dream.
IAGO And this may help to thicken other proofs
That do demonstrate thinly.
OTHELLO I’ll tear her all to pieces.
IAGO Nay, yet be wise: yet we 476 see nothing done,
She may be honest yet. Tell me but this:
Have you not sometimes seen a handkerchief
Spotted with strawberries in your wife’s hand?
OTHELLO I gave her such a one: ’twas my first gift.
IAGO I know not that, but such a handkerchief —
I am sure it was your wife’s — did I today
See Cassio wipe his beard with.
OTHELLO If it be that—
IAGO If it be that, or any it was hers,
It speaks against her with the other proofs.
OTHELLO O, that the slave 487 had forty thousand lives:
One is too poor, too weak for my revenge.
Now do I see ’tis true. Look here, Iago,
All my fond 490 love thus do I blow to heaven.
’Tis gone.
Arise, black vengeance, from thy hollow hell!
Yield up, O love, thy crown and hearted 493 throne
To tyrannous hate! Swell, bosom, with thy fraught 494 ,
For ’tis of aspics 495 ’ tongues!
IAGO Yet be content.
OTHELLO O, blood, blood, blood!
IAGO Patience, I say: your mind may change.
OTHELLO Never, Iago. Like to the Pontic sea 499 ,
Whose icy current and compulsive 500 course
Ne’er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on
To the Propontic 502 and the Hellespont,
Even so my bloody thoughts with violent pace
Shall ne’er look back, ne’er ebb to humble love,
Till that a capable 505 and wide revenge
Swallow them up. Now, by yond marble 506 heaven,
Kneels
In the due reverence of a sacred vow
I here engage 508 my words.
Attempts to rise
IAGO Do not rise yet.
Kneels
Witness, you ever-burning lights above,
You elements that clip 511 us round about,
Witness that here Iago doth give up
The execution 513 of his wit, hands, heart,
To wronged Othello’s service! Let him command,
And to obey shall be in me remorse 515 ,
What bloody business ever 516 .
They rise
OTHELLO I greet thy love,
Not with vain thanks, but with acceptance bounteous,
And will upon the instant put thee to’t 519 :
Within these three days let me hear thee say
That Cassio’s not alive.
IAGO My friend is dead:
’Tis done at your request. But let her
As salt 447 as wolves in pride, and fools as gross
As ignorance made drunk. But yet, I say,
If imputation and strong circumstances 449
Which lead directly to the door of truth
Will give you satisfaction, you might have’t.
OTHELLO Give me a living reason she’s disloyal.
IAGO I do not like the office,
But sith I am entered in this cause so far —
Pricked 455 to’t by foolish honesty and love —
I will go on. I lay 456 with Cassio lately,
And being troubled with a raging tooth
I could not sleep. There are a kind of men
So loose of soul that in their sleeps will mutter
Their affairs: one of this kind is Cassio.
In sleep I heard him say, ‘Sweet Desdemona,
Let us be wary, let us hide our loves’:
And then, sir, would he grip and wring my hand,
Cry ‘O sweet creature!’ then kiss me hard,
As if he plucked up kisses by the roots
That grew upon my lips, laid his leg
O’er my thigh, and sigh 467 , and kiss, and then
Cry, ‘Cursèd fate that gave thee to the Moor!’
OTHELLO O monstrous! Monstrous!
IAGO Nay, this was but his dream.
OTHELLO But this denoted a foregone conclusion 471 :
’Tis a shrewd doubt 472 , though it be but a dream.
IAGO And this may help to thicken other proofs
That do demonstrate thinly.
OTHELLO I’ll tear her all to pieces.
IAGO Nay, yet be wise: yet we 476 see nothing done,
She may be honest yet. Tell me but this:
Have you not sometimes seen a handkerchief
Spotted with strawberries in your wife’s hand?
OTHELLO I gave her such a one: ’twas my first gift.
IAGO I know not that, but such a handkerchief —
I am sure it was your wife’s — did I today
See Cassio wipe his beard with.
OTHELLO If it be that—
IAGO If it be that, or any it was hers,
It speaks against her with the other proofs.
OTHELLO O, that the slave 487 had forty thousand lives:
One is too poor, too weak for my revenge.
Now do I see ’tis true. Look here, Iago,
All my fond 490 love thus do I blow to heaven.
’Tis gone.
Arise, black vengeance, from thy hollow hell!
Yield up, O love, thy crown and hearted 493 throne
To tyrannous hate! Swell, bosom, with thy fraught 494 ,
For ’tis of aspics 495 ’ tongues!
IAGO Yet be content.
OTHELLO O, blood, blood, blood!
IAGO Patience, I say: your mind may change.
OTHELLO Never, Iago. Like to the Pontic sea 499 ,
Whose icy current and compulsive 500 course
Ne’er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on
To the Propontic 502 and the Hellespont,
Even so my bloody thoughts with violent pace
Shall ne’er look back, ne’er ebb to humble love,
Till that a capable 505 and wide revenge
Swallow them up. Now, by yond marble 506 heaven,
Kneels
In the due reverence of a sacred vow
I here engage 508 my words.
Attempts to rise
IAGO Do not rise yet.
Kneels
Witness, you ever-burning lights above,
You elements that clip 511 us round about,
Witness that here Iago doth give up
The execution 513 of his wit, hands, heart,
To wronged Othello’s service! Let him command,
And to obey shall be in me remorse 515 ,
What bloody business ever 516 .
They rise
OTHELLO I greet thy love,
Not with vain thanks, but with acceptance bounteous,
And will upon the instant put thee to’t 519 :
Within these three days let me hear thee say
That Cassio’s not alive.
IAGO My friend is dead:
’Tis done at your request. But let her
Similar Books
