Othello (6 page)

DUKE
   Whoe’er he be that in this foul
proceeding
⁷³
     Hath thus
beguiled
⁷⁴
your daughter of herself,
     And you of her, the
bloody
⁷⁵
book of law
     You shall yourself read in the bitter letter
     
After your own sense
⁷⁷
: yea, though our proper son
     
Stood in your action
⁷⁸
.

BRABANTIO
   Humbly I thank your grace.
     Here is the man: this Moor, whom now it seems
     Your special mandate for the state affairs
     Hath hither brought.

ALL
   We are very sorry for’t.

To Othello

DUKE
   What, in your own part, can you say
     to this?

BRABANTIO
   Nothing,
but
⁸⁵
this is so.

OTHELLO
   Most potent,
grave
⁸⁶
and reverend signiors,
     My very noble and
approved
⁸⁷
good masters:
     That I have ta’en away this old man’s daughter,
     It is most true: true I have married her;
     The very
head and front
⁹⁰
of my offending
     Hath this extent, no more.
Rude
⁹¹
am I in my speech,
     And little blessed with the soft phrase of peace;
     For
since these arms of mine had seven years’ pith
⁹³
,
     
Till now some nine moons wasted
⁹⁴
, they have used
     Their
dearest
⁹⁵
action in the tented field,
     And little of this great world can I speak
     More than pertains to feats of
broils
⁹⁷
and battle,
     And therefore little shall I grace my cause
     In speaking for myself. Yet, by your gracious patience,
     I will a
round
¹⁰⁰
unvarnished tale deliver
     Of my whole course of love: what drugs, what charms,
     What
conjuration
¹⁰²
and what mighty magic —
     For such proceeding I am charged
withal
¹⁰³
—
     I won his daughter.

BRABANTIO
   A maiden never bold,
     Of spirit so still and quiet that her
motion
¹⁰⁶
     Blushed at herself: and she, in spite of nature,
     Of
years
¹⁰⁸
, of country, credit, everything,
     To fall in love with what she feared to look on!
     It is a judgement maimed and most imperfect
     That will confess perfection so could err
     Against all rules of nature, and must be driven
     To find out
practices
¹¹³
of cunning hell
     Why this should be. I therefore
vouch
¹¹⁴
again
     That with some
mixtures
¹¹⁵
pow’rful o’er the blood,
     Or with some
dram
¹¹⁶
, conjured to this effect,
     He
wrought
¹¹⁷
upon her.

DUKE
   To vouch this is no proof,
     Without more wider and more overt
test
¹¹⁹
     Than these thin
habits
¹²⁰
and poor likelihoods
     Of
modern seeming
¹²¹
do prefer against him.

FIRST SENATOR
   But, Othello, speak:
     Did you by
indirect
¹²³
and forcèd courses
     Subdue and poison this young maid’s affections?
     Or came it by request and such fair
question
¹²⁵
     As soul to soul
affordeth
¹²⁶
?

OTHELLO
   I do beseech you,
     Send for the lady to the Sagittary
     And let her speak of me before her father:
     If you do find me foul in her report,
     The trust, the
office
¹³¹
I do hold of you
     Not only take away, but let your sentence
     Even fall upon my life.

DUKE
   Fetch Desdemona hither.

OTHELLO
   Ancient, conduct them: you best know

To Iago

     the place.—

[Exeunt Iago and Attendants]

     And, till she come, as truly as to heaven
     I do confess the vices of my
blood
¹³⁷
,
     So
justly
¹³⁸
to your grave ears I’ll present
     How I did thrive in this fair lady’s love,
     And she in mine.

DUKE
   Say it, Othello.

OTHELLO
   Her father loved me, oft invited me,
     
Still
¹⁴³
questioned me the story of my life
     From year to year: the battle, sieges, fortune,
     That I have
passed
¹⁴⁵
.
     I ran it through, even from my boyish days
     To th’very moment that he bade me tell it,
     Wherein I spoke of most
disastrous
¹⁴⁸
chances,
     Of
moving
¹⁴⁹
accidents by flood and field,
     Of hair-breadth
scapes
¹⁵⁰
i’th’imminent deadly breach,
     Of being taken by the
insolent
¹⁵¹
foe
     And sold to slavery, of my redemption thence,
     And
portance
¹⁵³
in my traveller’s history,
     Wherein of
antres
¹⁵⁴
vast and deserts idle,
     Rough quarries, rocks, hills whose head touch heaven,
     It was my
hint
¹⁵⁶
to speak: such was my process.
     And of the cannibals that each other eat,
     The
Anthropophagi
¹⁵⁸
and men whose heads
     Grew beneath their shoulders: these things to hear
     Would Desdemona
seriously
¹⁶⁰
incline,
     But still the house-affairs would draw her thence,
     Which ever as she could with haste dispatch,
     She’d come again, and with a greedy ear
     Devour up my discourse: which I observing,
     Took once a
pliant
¹⁶⁵
hour, and found good means
     To draw from her a prayer of earnest heart
     That I would all my
pilgrimage
¹⁶⁷
dilate,
     Whereof by
parcels
¹⁶⁸
she had something heard,
     But not
intentively
¹⁶⁹
. I did consent,
     And often did
beguile her of
¹⁷⁰
her tears,
     When I did speak of some distressful
stroke
¹⁷¹
     That my youth suffered. My story being done,
     She gave me for my pains a world of
kisses
¹⁷³
:
     She swore, ‘In faith ’twas strange, ’twas
passing
¹⁷⁴
strange,
     ’Twas pitiful, ’twas wondrous pitiful!’
     She wished she had not heard it, yet she wished
     That heaven had
made her
¹⁷⁷
such a man. She thanked me,
     And bade me, if I had a friend that loved her,
     I should but teach him how to tell my story,
     And that would woo her. Upon this
hint
¹⁸⁰
I spake:
     She loved me for the dangers I had passed,
     And I loved her that she did pity them.
     This only is the witchcraft I have used.
     Here comes the lady: let her
witness
¹⁸⁴
it.

Enter Desdemona, Iago, Attendants

DUKE
   I think this tale would win my daughter too.
     Good Brabantio,
     
Take up this mangled matter at the best
¹⁸⁷
:
     Men do their broken weapons rather use
     Than their bare hands.

BRABANTIO
   I pray you hear her speak:
     If she confess that she was half the wooer,
     Destruction on my head if my
bad
¹⁹²
blame
     Light on the man!— Come hither, gentle

To Desdemona

     mistress.
     Do you perceive in all this noble company
     Where most you owe obedience?

DESDEMONA
   My noble father,
     I do perceive here a divided duty.
     To you I am bound for life and
education
¹⁹⁸
:
     My life and education both do
learn
¹⁹⁹
me
     How to respect you. You are the lord of duty,
     I am
hitherto
²⁰¹
your daughter. But here’s my husband,
     And so much duty as my mother showed
     To you,
preferring
²⁰³
you before her father,
     So much I
challenge
²⁰⁴
that I may profess
     Due to the Moor my lord.

BRABANTIO
   God be with you! I have done.
     
Please it
²⁰⁷
your grace, on to the state affairs.
     I had rather to adopt a child than
get
²⁰⁸
it.
     Come hither, Moor:
     I here do give thee that with all my heart
     Which
but
²¹¹
thou hast already, with all my heart
     I would keep from thee.—
For your sake
²¹²
, jewel,

To Desdemona

     I am glad at soul I have no other child,
     For thy
escape
²¹⁴
would teach me tyranny,

To the Duke

     To hang
clogs
²¹⁵
on them.— I have done, my lord.

DUKE
   Let me speak
like yourself
²¹⁶
, and lay a sentence
     Which, as a
grise
²¹⁷
or step, may help these lovers.
     When
remedies are past
²¹⁸
, the griefs are ended
     By seeing the worst, which
late
²¹⁹
on hopes depended.
     To mourn a
mischief
²²⁰
that is past and gone
     Is the
next
²²¹
way to draw new mischief on.
     What cannot be preserved when fortune
takes
²²²
,
     
Patience her injury a mock’ry makes
²²³
.
     The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief:
     He robs himself that
spends
²²⁵
a bootless grief.

BRABANTIO
   So let the Turk of Cyprus us
beguile
²²⁶
,
     We lose it not, so long as we can smile.
     
He bears the sentence well that nothing bears
²²⁸
     But the
free
²²⁹
comfort which from thence he hears:
     But he bears both the sentence and the sorrow
     That,
to pay grief, must of poor patience borrow
²³¹
.
     
These sentences, to sugar or to gall,
²³²
     Being strong on both sides, are equivocal
.
     But words are words: I never yet did hear
     That the
bruisèd
²³⁵
heart was pierced through the ears.
     I humbly beseech you proceed to th’affairs of state.

DUKE
   The Turk with a most mighty preparation makes for
     Cyprus. Othello, the
fortitude
²³⁸
of the place is best known to
     you, and though we have there a substitute of most
allowed
²³⁹
     sufficiency
, yet
opinion
²⁴⁰
, a more sovereign mistress of effects,
     
throws a more safer voice on you
²⁴¹
: you must therefore be
     content to
slubber
²⁴²
the gloss of your new fortunes with this
     more
stubborn
²⁴³
and boisterous expedition.

OTHELLO
   The tyrant custom, most grave senators,
     Hath made the
flinty
²⁴⁵
and steel couch of war
     My
thrice-driven
²⁴⁶
bed of down: I do agnize
     A natural and prompt
alacrity
²⁴⁷
     I find in
hardness
²⁴⁸
, and do undertake
     This present wars against the Ottomites.
     Most humbly therefore
bending to your state
²⁵⁰
,
     I crave
fit disposition
²⁵¹
for my wife,
     Due
reference of place and exhibition
²⁵²
,
     With such
accommodation
²⁵³
and besort
     As
levels with
²⁵⁴
her breeding.

DUKE
   Why, at her fathers.

BRABANTIO
   I will not have it so.

OTHELLO
   Nor I.

DESDEMONA
   Nor would I there reside,
     To put my father in impatient thoughts
     By being in his
eye
²⁶⁰
. Most gracious duke,
     To my
unfolding
²⁶¹
lend your prosperous ear,
     And let me find a
charter
²⁶²
in your voice
     T’assist my
simpleness
²⁶³
.

DUKE
   What would you, Desdemona?

DESDEMONA
   That I love the Moor to live with him,
     My downright
violence
²⁶⁶
and storm of fortunes
     May trumpet to the world. My heart’s
subdued
²⁶⁷
     Even to
the
very quality
²⁶⁸
of my lord.
     I saw Othello’s visage in his mind,
     And to his honours and his valiant
parts
²⁷⁰
     Did I my soul and fortunes
consecrate
²⁷¹
:
     So that, dear lords, if I be left behind
     A
moth
²⁷³
of peace, and he go to the war,
     The
rites
²⁷⁴
for why I love him are bereft me,
     And I a heavy interim shall support
     By his
dear
²⁷⁶
absence. Let me go with him.