William Shakespeare

Othello


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CASSIO

       I know not neither: I found it in my chamber.

       I like the work well: ere it be demanded,—

       As like enough it will,—I’d have it copied:

       Take it, and do’t; and leave me for this time.

       BIANCA

       Leave you! wherefore?

       CASSIO

       I do attend here on the general;

       And think it no addition, nor my wish,

       To have him see me woman’d.

       BIANCA

       Why, I pray you?

       CASSIO

       Not that I love you not.

       BIANCA

       But that you do not love me.

       I pray you, bring me on the way a little;

       And say if I shall see you soon at night.

       CASSIO

       ‘Tis but a little way that I can bring you,

       For I attend here: but I’ll see you soon.

       BIANCA

       ‘Tis very good; I must be circumstanc’d.

       [Exeunt.]

       Table of Contents

      SCENE I. Cyprus. Before the Castle.

       [Enter Othello and Iago.]

       IAGO

       Will you think so?

       OTHELLO

       Think so, Iago?

       IAGO

       What,

       To kiss in private?

       OTHELLO

       An unauthoriz’d kiss.

       IAGO

       Or to be naked with her friend in bed

       An hour or more, not meaning any harm?

       OTHELLO

       Naked in bed, Iago, and not mean harm!

       It is hypocrisy against the devil:

       They that mean virtuously and yet do so,

       The devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heaven.

       IAGO

       So they do nothing, ‘tis a venial slip:

       But if I give my wife a handkerchief,—

       OTHELLO

       What then?

       IAGO

       Why, then, ‘tis hers, my lord, and being hers,

       She may, I think, bestow’t on any man.

       OTHELLO

       She is protectress of her honour too:

       May she give that?

       IAGO

       Her honour is an essence that’s not seen;

       They have it very oft that have it not:

       But, for the handkerchief,—

       OTHELLO

       By heaven, I would most gladly have forgot it:—

       Thou said’st,—O, it comes o’er my memory,

       As doth the raven o’er the infected house,

       Boding to all,—he had my handkerchief.

       IAGO

       Ay, what of that?

       OTHELLO

       That’s not so good now.

       IAGO

       What,

       If I had said I had seen him do you wrong?

       Or heard him say,—as knaves be such abroad,

       Who having, by their own importunate suit,

       Or voluntary dotage of some mistress,

       Convincèd or supplied them, cannot choose

       But they must blab,—

       OTHELLO

       Hath he said anything?

       IAGO

       He hath, my lord; but be you well assur’d,

       No 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 fallen 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 hornèd man’s a monster and a beast.