There’s a
Gives money
poor piece of gold for thee: if the gentlewoman24 that attends
the general be stirring25, tell her there’s one Cassio entreats
her a little favour of speech: wilt thou do this?
CLOWN She is stirring, sir: if she will stir hither, I shall seem27
to notify unto her.
Exit Clown
Enter Iago
CASSIO In happy time29, Iago.
IAGO You have not been a-bed, then?
CASSIO Why, no: the day had broke
Before we parted. I have made bold, Iago,
To send in to your wife: my suit to her
Is that she will to virtuous Desdemona
Procure me some access.
IAGO I’ll send her to you presently36,
And I’ll devise a mean37 to draw the Moor
Out of the way, that your converse and business
May be more free.
Exit
CASSIO I humbly thank you for’t.— I never knew
A Florentine41 more kind and honest.
Enter Emilia
EMILIA Good morrow, good Lieutenant: I am sorry
For your displeasure43, but all will sure be well.
The general and his wife are talking of it,
And she speaks for you stoutly: the Moor replies
That he you hurt is of great fame46 in Cyprus
And great affinity47, and that in wholesome wisdom
He might not but refuse you: but he protests he loves you
And needs no other suitor49 but his likings
To bring you in again.
CASSIO Yet, I beseech you,
If you think fit, or that it may be done,
Give me advantage of53 some brief discourse
With Desdemon alone.
EMILIA Pray you come in:
I will bestow you where you shall have time
To speak your bosom57 freely.
CASSIO I am much bound to you.
[Exeunt]
Act 3 Scene 2
running scene 7 continues
Enter Othello, Iago and Gentlemen
OTHELLO These letters give, Iago, to the pilot,
Gives him letters
And by him do my duties2 to the senate:
That done, I will be walking on the works3.
Repair4 there to me.
IAGO Well, my good lord, I’ll do’t.
OTHELLO This fortification, gentlemen, shall we see’t?
GENTLEMEN We’ll wait upon your lordship.
Exeunt
Act 3 Scene 3
running scene 7 continues
Enter Desdemona, Cassio and Emilia
DESDEMONA Be thou assured, good Cassio, I will do
All my abilities in thy behalf.
EMILIA Good madam, do: I warrant3 it grieves my husband
As if the cause were his.
DESDEMONA O, that’s an honest fellow. Do not doubt, Cassio,
But I will have my lord and you again
As friendly as you were.
CASSIO Bounteous madam,
Whatever shall become of Michael Cassio,
He’s never anything but your true servant.
DESDEMONA I know’t: I thank you. You do love my lord:
You have known him long, and be you well assured
He shall in strangeness13 stand no further off
Than in a politic14 distance.
CASSIO Ay, but, lady,
That policy may either last so long,
Or feed upon such nice and waterish17 diet,
Or breed itself so out of circumstances18,
That I being absent and my place supplied19,
My general will forget my love and service.
DESDEMONA Do not doubt21 that: before Emilia here
I give thee warrant22 of thy place. Assure thee,
If I do vow a friendship, I’ll perform it
To the last article: my lord shall never rest,
I’ll watch him tame25 and talk him out of patience;
His bed shall seem a school, his board a shrift26:
I’ll intermingle everything he does
With Cassio’s suit. Therefore be merry, Cassio,
For thy solicitor29 shall rather die
Than give thy cause away30.
Enter Othello and Iago
EMILIA Madam, here comes my lord.
CASSIO Madam, I’ll take my leave.
DESDEMONA Why, stay and hear me speak.
CASSIO Madam, not now: I am very ill at ease,
Unfit for mine own purposes.
DESDEMONA Well, do your discretion36.
Exit Cassio
IAGO Ha? I like not that.
OTHELLO What dost thou say?
IAGO Nothing, my lord; or if — I know not what.
OTHELLO Was not that Cassio parted from my wife?
IAGO Cassio, my lord? No, sure, I cannot think it,
That he would steal away so guilty-like,
Seeing your coming.
OTHELLO I do believe ’twas he.
DESDEMONA How now, my lord?
I have been talking with a suitor46 here,
A man that languishes in your displeasure.
OTHELLO Who is’t you mean?
DESDEMONA Why, your lieutenant, Cassio. Good my lord,
If I have any grace50 or power to move you,
His present reconciliation take51,
For if he be not one that truly loves you,
That errs in ignorance and not in cunning53,
I have no judgement in an honest face.
I prithee call him back.
OTHELLO Went he hence now?
DESDEMONA Ay, sooth57; so humbled
That he hath left part of his grief with me
To suffer with him. Good love, call him back.
OTHELLO Not now, sweet Desdemon: some other time.
DESDEMONA But shall’t be shortly?
OTHELLO The sooner, sweet, for you.
DESDEMONA Shall’t be tonight at supper?
OTHELLO No, not tonight.
DESDEMONA Tomorrow dinner65, then?
OTHELLO I shall not dine at home:
I meet the captains at the citadel.
DESDEMONA Why then, tomorrow night, on Tuesday morn,
On Tuesday noon, or night; on Wednesday morn:
I prithee name the time, but let it not
Exceed three days. In faith, he’s penitent:
And yet his trespass72, in our common reason —
Save that they say the wars must make example
Out of her best74 — is not almost a fault
T’incur a private check75. When shall he come?
Tell me, Othello: I wonder in my soul
What you would ask me that I should deny,
Or stand so mamm’ring78 on. What? Michael Cassio,
That came a-wooing with you, and so many a time —
When I have spoke of you dispraisingly —
Hath ta’en your part: to have so much to do
To brin82g him in! Trust me, I could do much—
OTHELLO Prithee, no more: let him come when he will:
I will deny thee nothing.
DESDEMONA Why, this is not a boon85:
’Tis as I should entreat you wear your gloves,
Or feed on nourishing dishes, or keep you warm,
Or sue to you to do a peculiar88 profit
To your own person: nay, when I have a suit
Wherein I mean to touch90 your love indeed,
It shall be full of poise91 and difficult weight,
And fearful to be granted.
OTHELLO I will deny thee nothing:
Whereon94, I do beseech thee, grant me this,
To leave me but a little to myself.
DESDEMONA Shall I deny you? No. Farewell, my lord.
OTHELLO Farewell, my Desdemona, I’ll come to thee straight97.
DESDEMONA Emilia, come.— Be as your fancies98 teach you:
Whate’er you be, I am obedient.
Exeunt [Desdemona and Emilia]
OTHELLO Excellent wretch! Perdition100 catch my soul,
But I do love thee! And when I love thee not,
Chaos is come again.
IAGO My noble lord—
OTHELLO What dost thou say, Iago?
IAGO Did Michael Cassio, when you wooed my lady,
Know of your love?
OTHELLO He did, from first to last: why dost thou ask?
IAGO But for a satisfaction of my thought,
No further harm.
OTHELLO Why of thy thought, Iago?
IAGO I did not think he had been acquainted with her.
OTHELLO O, yes, and went between us very oft.
IAGO Indeed?
OTHELLO Indeed? Ay, indeed. Discern’st thou aught114 in that?
Is he not honest?
IAGO Honest, my lord?
OTHELLO Honest, ay, honest.
IAGO My lord, for aught I know.
OTHELLO What dost thou think?
IAGO Think, my lord?
OTHELLO ‘Think, my lord?’ Alas, thou echo’st me,
As if there were some monster in thy thought
Too hideous to be shown. Thou dost mean something.
I heard thee say even now, thou lik’st not that,
When Cassio left my wife: what didst not like?
And when I told thee he was of my counsel126
Of my whole course of wooing, thou cried’st ‘Indeed?’
And didst contract and purse128 thy brow together
As if thou then hadst shut up in thy brain
Some horrible conceit130: if thou dost love me,
Show me thy thought.
IAGO My lord, you know I love you.
OTHELLO I think thou dost,
And for134 I know thou’rt full of love and honesty,
And weigh’st thy words before thou giv’st them breath,
Therefore these stops136 of thine fright me the more,
For such things in a false137 disloyal knave
Are tricks of custom138, but in a man that’s just
They’re close dilations139, working from the heart
That passion cannot rule140.
IAGO For Michael Cassio,
I dare be sworn I think that he is honest.
OTHELLO I think so too.
IAGO Men should be what they seem,
Or those that be not, would they might seem none145.
OTHELLO Certain, men should be what they seem.
IAGO Why then, I think Cassio’s an honest man.
OTHELLO Nay, yet there’s more in this!
I prithee speak to me as to thy thinkings,
As thou dost ruminate, and give thy worst of thoughts
The worst of words.
IAGO Good my lord, pardon me:
Though I am bound to every act of duty,
I am not bound to that all slaves are free154.
Utter my thoughts? Why, say they are vile and false,
As where’s that palace whereinto foul things
Sometimes intrude not? Who has that breast so pure,
Where no uncleanly158 apprehensions
Keep leets159 and law-days and in sessions sit
With160 meditations lawful?
OTHELLO Thou dost conspire against thy friend161, Iago,
If thou but think’st him wronged and mak’st his ear
A stranger to thy thoughts.
IAGO I do beseech you,
Though I perchance am vicious165 in my guess —
As I confess it is my nature’s plague
To spy into abuses, and oft my jealousy167
Shapes faults that are not — that your wisdom,
From one that so imperfectly conceits169,
Would take no notice, nor build yourself a trouble
Out of his scattering171 and unsure observance.
It were not for your quiet nor your good,
Nor for my manhood, honesty and wisdom,
To let you know my thoughts.
OTHELLO What dost thou mean?
IAGO Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,
Is the immediate177 jewel of their souls.
Who steals my purse steals trash, ’tis something, nothing;
’Twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands:
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him
And makes me poor indeed.
OTHELLO I’ll know thy thoughts.
IAGO You cannot, if184 my heart were in your hand,
Nor shall not, whilst ’tis in my custody.
OTHELLO Ha?
IAGO O, beware, my lord, of jealousy:
It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock188
The meat it feeds on. That cuckold189 lives in bliss
Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger190:
But, O, what damnèd minutes tells191 he o’er
Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet soundly loves!
OTHELLO O misery!
IAGO Poor and content is rich and rich enough,
But riches fineless195 is as poor as winter
To him that ever fears he shall be poor.
Good heaven, the souls of all my tribe defend
From jealousy!
OTHELLO Why? Why is this?
Think’st thou I’d make a life of jealousy,
To follow still the changes of the moon201
With fresh suspicions? No: to be once in doubt
Is to be resolved. Exchange me for a goat203
When I shall turn the business of my soul
To such exsufflicate205 and blowed surmises
Matching thy inference206. ’Tis not to make me jealous
To say my wife is fair, feeds well, loves company,
Is free of speech, sings, plays and dances:
Where virtue is, these are more virtuous:
Nor from mine own weak merits210 will I draw
The smallest fear or doubt of her revolt211,
For she had eyes, and chose me. No, Iago,
I’ll see before I doubt; when I doubt, prove;
And on the proof, there is no more but this:
Away at once with love or jealousy.
IAGO I am glad of this, for now I shall have reason
To show the love and duty that I bear you
With franker spirit: therefore, as I am bound,
Receive it from me. I speak not yet of proof:
Look to your wife, observe her well with Cassio,
Wear your eyes thus, not jealous nor secure221.
I would not have your free and noble nature,
Out of self-bounty223, be abused: look to’t.
I know our country224 disposition well:
In Venice they do let heaven see the pranks225
They dare not show their husbands: their best conscience
Is not to leave’t undone227, but kept unknown.
OTHELLO Dost thou say so?
IAGO She did deceive her father, marrying you:
And when she seemed to shake and fear your looks,
She loved them most.
OTHELLO And so she did.
IAGO Why, go to233 then:
She that so young could give out such a seeming,
To seel235 her father’s eyes up close as oak,
He thought ’twas witchcraft. But I am much to blame:
I humbly do beseech you of your pardon
For too much loving you.
OTHELLO I am bound239 to thee for ever.
IAGO I see this hath a little dashed your spirits.
OTHELLO Not a jot, not a jot.
IAGO Trust me, I fear it has.
I hope you will consider what is spoke
Comes from your love244. But I do see you’re moved:
I am to pray you not to strain my speech
To grosser246 issues nor to larger reach
Than to suspicion247.
OTHELLO I will not.
IAGO Should you do so, my lord,
My speech should fall into such vile success250
Which my thoughts aimed not. Cassio’s my worthy friend.
My lord, I see you’re moved.
OTHELLO No, not much moved:
I do not think but Desdemona’s honest254.
IAGO Long live she so; and long live you to think so!
OTHELLO And yet, how nature erring from itself—
IAGO Ay, there’s the point: as — to be bold with you —
Not to affect258 many proposèd matches
Of her own clime, complexion and degree259,
Whereto we see in all things nature tends—
Foh, one may smell in such a will261 most rank,
Foul262 disproportions, thoughts unnatural.
But pardon me: I do not in position263
Distinctly264 speak of her, though I may fear
Her will, recoiling to her better judgement,
May fall to match you with her country forms266
And happily267 repent.
OTHELLO Farewell, farewell.
If more thou dost perceive, let me know more:
Set on thy wife to observe. Leave me, Iago.
IAGO My lord, I take my leave.
Starts to leave
OTHELLO Why did I marry? This honest creature doubtless
Sees and knows more, much more, than he unfolds.
IAGO My lord, I would I might entreat your honour
Returns
To scan275 this thing no further: leave it to time.
Although ’tis fit that Cassio have his place276,
For sure he fills it up with great ability,
Yet, if you please to put him off awhile,
You shall by that perceive him and his means279.
Note, if your lady strain his entertainment280
With any strong or vehement importunity,
Much will be seen in that. In the meantime,
Let me be thought too busy283 in my fears —
As worthy cause I have to fear I am —
And hold her free285, I do beseech your honour.
OTHELLO Fear not my government286.
IAGO I once more take my leave.
Exit
OTHELLO This fellow’s of exceeding honesty,
And knows all quantities289, with a learnèd spirit,
Of human dealings290. If I do prove her haggard,
Though that her jesses291 were my dear heartstrings,
I’d whistle her off and let her down the wind292
To prey at fortune293. Haply, for I am black
And have not those soft parts of conversation294
That chamberers295 have, or for I am declined
Into the vale of years — yet that’s not much —
She’s gone. I am abused297, and my relief
Must be to loathe her. O curse of marriage!
That we can call these delicate299 creatures ours
And not their appetites! I had rather be a toad
And live upon the vapour of a dungeon
Than keep a corner302 in the thing I love
For others’ uses303. Yet, ’tis the plague to great ones,
Prerogatived304 are they less than the base:
’Tis destiny unshunnable, like death:
Even then this forkèd plague306 is fated to us
When we do quicken307. Look where she comes:
If she be false, heaven mocked308 itself!
I’ll not believe’t.
Enter Desdemona and Emilia
DESDEMONA How now, my dear Othello?
Your dinner, and the generous311 islanders
By you invited, do attend312 your presence.
OTHELLO I am to blame.
DESDEMONA Why do you speak so faintly?
Are you not well?
OTHELLO I have a pain upon my forehead316 here.
DESDEMONA Why, that’s with watching317.
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