Othello (15 page)

OTHELLO
   What, not a whore?

DESDEMONA
   No, as I shall be saved.

OTHELLO
   Is’t possible?

DESDEMONA
   O, heaven forgive us!

OTHELLO
   I
cry you mercy
⁹⁷
, then:
     I took you for that cunning whore of Venice
     That married with Othello.— You, mistress,

Calls

Enter Emilia

     That have the
office opposite
¹⁰⁰
to Saint Peter
     And keeps the
gate of hell
¹⁰¹
! You, you, ay, you!
     We have
done our course
¹⁰²
: there’s money for your pains.
     I pray you turn the key and keep our
counsel
¹⁰³
.

Exit
Gives money

EMILIA
   Alas, what does this gentleman
conceive
¹⁰⁴
?
     How do you, madam? How do you, my good lady?

DESDEMONA
   Faith, half
asleep
¹⁰⁶
.

EMILIA
   Good madam, what’s the matter with my lord?

DESDEMONA
   With who?

EMILIA
   Why, with my lord, madam.

DESDEMONA
   Who is thy lord?

EMILIA
   He that is yours, sweet lady.

DESDEMONA
   I have none. Do not talk to me, Emilia:
     I cannot weep, nor answers have I none
     But what should
go by water
¹¹⁴
. Prithee, tonight
     Lay on my bed my wedding sheets: remember,
     And call thy husband hither.

EMILIA
   Here’s a change indeed!

Exit

DESDEMONA
   ’Tis
meet
¹¹⁸
I should be used so, very meet.
     
How have I been behaved, that he might stick
     The small’st opinion on my least misuse
¹¹⁹
?

Enter Iago and Emilia

IAGO
   What is your pleasure, madam?
     How is’t with you?

DESDEMONA
   I cannot tell. Those that do teach young babes
     Do it with gentle means and easy tasks:
     He might have chid me so, for, in good faith,
     I am
a child to chiding
¹²⁶
.

IAGO
   What’s the matter, lady?

EMILIA
   Alas, Iago, my lord hath so
bewhored her
¹²⁸
,
     Thrown such
despite
¹²⁹
and heavy terms upon her,
     That true hearts cannot bear it.

DESDEMONA
   Am I that name, Iago?

IAGO
   What name, fair lady?

DESDEMONA
   Such as she said my lord did say I was.

EMILIA
   He called her whore: a beggar in his drink
     Could not have laid such terms upon his
callet
¹³⁵
.

IAGO
   Why did he so?

DESDEMONA
   I do not know: I am sure I am none such.

Weeps

IAGO
   Do not weep, do not weep. Alas the day!

EMILIA
   Hath she
forsook
¹³⁹
so many noble matches?
     Her father? And her country? And her friends?
     To be called whore? Would it not make one weep?

DESDEMONA
   It is my wretched fortune.

IAGO
  
Beshrew
¹⁴³
him for’t!
     How comes this
trick
¹⁴⁴
upon him?

DESDEMONA
   Nay, heaven doth know.

EMILIA
   I will be hanged if some eternal villain,
     Some busy and insinuating rogue,
     Some
cogging
¹⁴⁸
, cozening slave, to get some office,
     Have not devised this slander: I will be hanged else.

IAGO
   Fie, there is no such man: it is impossible.

DESDEMONA
   If any such there be, heaven pardon him!

EMILIA
   A
halter
¹⁵²
pardon him! And hell gnaw his bones!
     Why should he call her whore? Who keeps her company?
     What place? What time? What
form
¹⁵⁴
? What likelihood?
     The Moor’s abused by some most villainous knave,
     Some base notorious knave, some
scurvy
¹⁵⁶
fellow.
     O heavens, that such
companions
¹⁵⁷
thou’dst unfold,
     And put in every honest hand a whip
     To lash the rascals naked through the world
     Even from the east to th’west!

IAGO
   Speak
within door
¹⁶¹
.

EMILIA
   O, fie upon them! Some such
squire
¹⁶²
he was
     That turned your wit
the seamy side without
¹⁶³
     And made you to suspect me with the Moor.

IAGO
   You are a fool: go to.

DESDEMONA
   Alas, Iago,
     What shall I do to win my lord again?
     Good friend, go to him, for, by this light of heaven,
     I know not how I lost him. Here I kneel:

Kneels

     If e’er my will did trespass gainst his love,
     Either in
discourse
¹⁷¹
of thought or actual deed,
     Or
that
¹⁷²
mine eyes, mine ears, or any sense
     Delighted them, or any other form,
     Or that I do not
yet
¹⁷⁴
, and ever did,
     And ever will — though he do shake me off
     To beggarly divorcement — love him dearly,
     Comfort
forswear
¹⁷⁷
me! Unkindness may do much,
     And his unkindness may defeat my life,
     But never taint my love. I cannot say ‘whore’:
     It does
abhor
¹⁸⁰
me now I speak the word:
     To do the act that might the
addition
¹⁸¹
earn
     Not the world’s mass of
vanity
¹⁸²
could make me.

IAGO
   I pray you be content: ’tis but his
humour
¹⁸³
.
     The business of the state does him offence.

DESDEMONA
   If ’twere no other—

IAGO
   It is but so, I warrant.

Trumpets within

     Hark, how these instruments summon to supper!
     The messengers of Venice
stays
¹⁸⁸
the meat:
     Go in, and weep not: all things shall be well.

Exeunt Desdemona and Emilia

Enter Rodorigo

     How now, Rodorigo?

RODORIGO
   I do not find that thou deal’st justly with me.

IAGO
   What in the contrary?

RODORIGO
   Every day thou
daff’st me
¹⁹³
with some device, Iago,
     and rather, as it seems to me now, keep’st from me all
     
conveniency
¹⁹⁵
than suppliest me with the least advantage of
     hope. I will indeed no longer endure it, nor am I yet
     persuaded to
put up
¹⁹⁷
in peace what already I have foolishly
     suffered.

IAGO
   Will you hear me, Rodorigo?

RODORIGO
   I have heard too much, and your words and
     performances are no kin together.

IAGO
   You charge me most unjustly.

RODORIGO
   With naught but truth: I have wasted myself out
     of my means. The jewels you have had from me to
     deliver Desdemona would half have corrupted a
votarist
²⁰⁵
:
     you have told me she hath received them and returned
     me expectations and
comforts
²⁰⁷
of sudden respect and
     
acquaintance
²⁰⁸
, but I find none.

IAGO
   Well,
go to
²¹⁰
, very well.

RODORIGO
   ‘Very well’! ‘Go to’! I cannot go to, man, nor ’tis not
     very well: nay, I think it is scurvy, and begin to find myself
     
fopped
²¹²
in it.

IAGO
   Very well.

RODORIGO
   I tell you ’tis not very well. I will make myself
     known to Desdemona: if she will return me my jewels, I will
     give over my suit and repent my unlawful solicitation: if not,
     assure yourself I will seek
satisfaction
²¹⁷
of you.

IAGO
   You have
said
²¹⁸
now.

RODORIGO
   Ay, and said nothing but what I
protest intendment
²¹⁹
     of doing.

IAGO
   Why, now I see there’s
mettle
²²¹
in thee, and even from
     this instant do build on thee a better opinion than ever
     before. Give me thy hand, Rodorigo: thou hast taken against
     me a most just
exception
²²⁴
, but yet I protest I have dealt most
     
directly
²²⁵
in thy affair.

RODORIGO
   It hath not appeared.

IAGO
   I grant indeed it hath not appeared, and your
     suspicion is not without wit and judgement. But, Rodorigo, if
     thou hast that in thee indeed which I have greater reason to
     believe now than ever — I mean purpose, courage and
     valour — this night show it: if thou the next night following
     enjoy not Desdemona, take me from this world with
     treachery and devise
engines
²³³
for my life.

RODORIGO
   Well, what is it? Is it within reason and
compass
²³⁴
?

IAGO
   Sir, there is especial commission come from Venice
     to depute Cassio in Othello’s place.

RODORIGO
   Is that true? Why then Othello and Desdemona
     return again to Venice.

IAGO
   O, no. He goes into
Mauritania
²³⁹
and taketh away
     with him the fair Desdemona, unless his
abode be lingered
²⁴⁰
     here by some accident, wherein none can be so
determinate
²⁴¹
     as the removing of Cassio.

RODORIGO
   How do you mean, removing him?

IAGO
   Why, by making him uncapable of Othello’s place:
     knocking out his brains.

RODORIGO
   And that you would have me to do?

IAGO
   Ay, if you dare do yourself a profit and a right. He
     sups tonight with a
harlotry
²⁴⁸
, and thither will I go to him. He
     knows not yet of his honourable fortune: if you will watch
     his going thence — which I will
fashion to fall out
²⁵⁰
between
     twelve and one — you may take him at your pleasure. I will
     be near to
second
²⁵²
your attempt, and he shall fall between us.
     Come, stand not
amazed
²⁵³
at it, but go along with me: I will
     show you such a necessity in his death that you shall think
     yourself bound to put it on him. It is now
high
²⁵⁵
suppertime,
     and the night
grows to waste
²⁵⁶

RODORIGO
   I will hear further reason for this.

IAGO
   And you shall be satisfied.

Exeunt

Enter Othello, Lodovico, Desdemona, Emilia and Attendants

LODOVICO
   I do beseech you, sir, trouble yourself no further.

OTHELLO
   O, pardon me: ’twill do me good to walk.

LODOVICO
   Madam, goodnight. I humbly thank your ladyship.

DESDEMONA
   Your honour is most welcome.

OTHELLO
   Will you walk, sir?— O, Desdemona!

DESDEMONA
   My lord?

Exeunt
[
Othello, Lodovico and Attendants
]

OTHELLO
   Get you to bed on th’instant, I will be returned
     forthwith. Dismiss your attendant there: look’t be done.

DESDEMONA
   I will, my lord.

EMILIA
   How goes it now? He looks gentler than he did.

DESDEMONA
   He says he will return
incontinent
¹¹
,
     And hath commanded me to go to bed,
     And bid me to dismiss you.

EMILIA
   Dismiss me?

DESDEMONA
   It was his bidding: therefore, good Emilia,
     Give me my
nightly wearing
¹⁶
, and adieu.
     We must not now displease him.

EMILIA
   I would you had never seen him.

DESDEMONA
   So would not I: my love doth so
approve
¹⁹
him
     That even his
stubbornness
²⁰
, his checks, his frowns —
     Prithee
unpin me
²¹
— have grace and favour.

EMILIA
   I have laid those sheets you bade me on the bed.

DESDEMONA
  
All’s one
²³
.— Good father, how foolish are our
     minds!—
     If I do die
before
²⁴
, prithee shroud me
     In one of these same sheets.