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Enter MONTANO and two GENTLEMEN.
MONTANO
1 What from the cape can you discern at sea?
First Gentleman
2 Nothing at all: it is a highwrought flood;
3 I cannot, 'twixt the heaven and the main,
4 Descry a sail.
MONTANO
5 Methinks the wind hath spoke aloud at land;
6 A fuller blast ne'er shook our battlements:
7 If it hath ruffian'd so upon the sea,
8 What ribs of oak, when mountains melt on them,
9 Can hold the mortise? What shall we hear of this?
Second Gentleman
10 A segregation of the Turkish fleet:
11 For do but stand upon the foaming shore,
12 The chidden billow seems to pelt the clouds;
13 The wind-shaked surge, with high and monstrous main,
14 seems to cast water on the burning bear,
15 And quench the guards of the ever-fixed pole:
16 I never did like molestation view
17 On the enchafed flood.
MONTANO
17 If that the Turkish fleet
18 Be not enshelter'd and embay'd, they are drown'd:
19 It is impossible they bear it out.
Enter a [third] GENTLEMAN.
Third Gentleman
20 News, lads! our wars are done.
21 The desperate tempest hath so bang'd the Turks,
22 That their designment halts: a noble ship of Venice
23 Hath seen a grievous wreck and sufferance
24 On most part of their fleet.
MONTANO
25 How! is this true?
Third Gentleman
25 The ship is here put in,
26 A Veronesa; Michael Cassio,
27 Lieutenant to the warlike Moor Othello,
28 Is come on shore: the Moor himself at sea,
29 And is in full commission here for Cyprus.
MONTANO
30 I am glad on't; 'tis a worthy governor.
Third Gentleman
31 But this same Cassio, though he speak of comfort
32 Touching the Turkish loss, yet he looks sadly,
33 And prays the Moor be safe; for they were parted
34 With foul and violent tempest.
MONTANO
34 Pray heavens he be;
35 For I have served him, and the man commands
36 Like a full soldier. Let's to the seaside, ho!
37 As well to see the vessel that's come in
38 As to throw out our eyes for brave Othello,
39 Even till we make the main and the aerial blue
40 An indistinct regard.
Third Gentleman
40 Come, let's do so:
41 For every minute is expectancy
42 Of more arrivance.
Enter CASSIO.
CASSIO
43 Thanks, you the valiant of this warlike isle,
44 That so approve the Moor! O, let the heavens
45 Give him defence against the elements,
46 For I have lost us him on a dangerous sea.
MONTANO
47 Is he well shipp'd?
CASSIO
48 His bark is stoutly timber'd, his pilot
49 Of very expert and approved allowance;
50 Therefore my hopes, not surfeited to death,
51 Stand in bold cure.
[A cry] within, "A sail, a sail, a sail!"
[Enter a fourth Gentleman.]
CASSIO
52 What noise?
Fourth Gentleman
53 The town is empty; on the brow o' the sea
54 Stand ranks of people, and they cry "A sail!"
CASSIO
55 My hopes do shape him for the governor.
[Guns heard.]
Second Gentlemen
56 They do discharge their shot of courtesy:
57 Our friends at least.
CASSIO
57 I pray you, sir, go forth,
58 And give us truth who 'tis that is arrived.
Second Gentleman
59 I shall.
Exit.
MONTANO
60 But, good lieutenant, is your general wived?
CASSIO
61 Most fortunately: he hath achieved a maid
62 That paragons description and wild fame;
63 One that excels the quirks of blazoning pens,
64 And in the essential vesture of creation
65 Does tire the ingener.
Enter [second] GENTLEMAN.
65 How now! who has put in?
Second Gentleman
66 'Tis one Iago, ancient to the general.
CASSIO
67 H'as had most favorable and happy speed:
68 Tempests themselves, high seas, and howling winds,
69 The gutter'd rocks and congregated sands—
70 Traitors ensteep'd to clog the guiltless keel,—
71 As having sense of beauty, do omit
72 Their mortal natures, letting go safely by
73 The divine Desdemona.
MONTANO
73 What is she?
CASSIO
74 She that I spake of, our great captain's captain,
75 Left in the conduct of the bold Iago,
76 Whose footing here anticipates our thoughts
77 A se'nnight's speed. Great Jove, Othello guard,
78 And swell his sail with thine own powerful breath,
79 That he may bless this bay with his tall ship,
80 Make love's quick pants in Desdemona's arms,
81 Give renew'd fire to our extincted spirits
82 And bring all Cyprus comfort!
Enter DESDEMONA, IAGO, RODERIGO,
and EMILIA.
82 O, behold,
83 The riches of the ship is come on shore!
84 Ye men of Cyprus, let her have your knees.
85 Hail to thee, lady! and the grace of heaven,
86 Before, behind thee, and on every hand,
87 Enwheel thee round!
DESDEMONA
87 I thank you, valiant Cassio.
88 What tidings can you tell me of my lord?
CASSIO
89 He is not yet arrived: nor know I aught
90 But that he's well and will be shortly here.
DESDEMONA
91 O, but I fear—How lost you company?
CASSIO
92 The great contention of the sea and skies
93 Parted our fellowship.
Within "A sail, a sail!"
93 But, hark! a sail.
Second Gentleman
94 They give their greeting to the citadel;
95 This likewise is a friend.
CASSIO
95 See for the news.
[Exit Second Gentleman.]
96 Good ancient, you are welcome.
[To Emilia.]
96 Welcome, mistress.
97 Let it not gall your patience, good Iago,
98 That I extend my manners; 'tis my breeding
99 That gives me this bold show of courtesy.
[Kissing her.]
IAGO
100 Sir, would she give you so much of her lips
101 As of her tongue she oft bestows on me,
102 You would have enough.
DESDEMONA
102 Alas, she has no speech.
IAGO
103 In faith, too much;
104 I find it still, when I have list to sleep:
105 Marry, before your ladyship, I grant,
106 She puts her tongue a little in her heart,
107 And chides with thinking.
EMILIA
108 You have little cause to say so.
IAGO
109 Come on, come on; you are pictures out of doors,
110 Bells in your parlors, wild-cats in your kitchens,
111 Saints in your injuries, devils being offended,
112 Players in your huswifery, and huswives in your beds.
DESDEMONA
113 O, fie upon thee, slanderer!
IAGO
114 Nay, it is true, or else I am a Turk:
115 You rise to play and go to bed to work.
EMILIA
116 You shall not write my praise.
IAGO
116 No, let me not.
DESDEMONA
117 What wouldst thou write of me, if thou shouldst praise me?
IAGO
118 O gentle lady, do not put me to't;
119 For I am nothing, if not critical.
DESDEMONA
120 Come on, assay. —There's one gone to the harbor?
IAGO
121 Ay, madam.
DESDEMONA
122 I am not merry; but I do beguile
123 The thing I am, by seeming otherwise.—
124 Come, how wouldst thou praise me?
IAGO
125 I am about it; but indeed my invention
126 Comes from my pate as birdlime does from frieze;
127 It plucks out brains and all: but my Muse labors,
128 And thus she is deliver'd.
129 If she be fair and wise, fairness and wit,
130 The one's for use, the other useth it.
DESDEMONA
131 Well praised! How if she be black and witty?
IAGO
132 If she be black, and thereto have a wit,
133 She'll find a white that shall her blackness hit.
DESDEMONA
134 Worse and worse.
EMILIA
135 How if fair and foolish?
IAGO
136 She never yet was foolish that was fair;
137 For even her folly help'd her to an heir.
DESDEMONA
138 These are old fond paradoxes to make fools laugh i'
139 the alehouse. What miserable praise hast thou for
140 her that's foul and foolish?
IAGO
141 There's none so foul and foolish thereunto,
142 But does foul pranks which fair and wise ones do.
DESDEMONA
143 O heavy ignorance! thou praisest the worst
144 best. But what praise couldst thou bestow on a
145 deserving woman indeed,—one that, in the authority
146 of her merit, did justly put on the vouch of very malice
147 itself?
IAGO
148 She that was ever fair and never proud,
149 Had tongue at will and yet was never loud,
150 Never lack'd gold and yet went never gay,
151 Fled from her wish and yet said "Now I may,"
152 She that being anger'd, her revenge being nigh,
153 Bade her wrong stay and her displeasure fly,
154 She that in wisdom never was so frail
155 To change the cod's head for the salmon's tail;
156 She that could think and ne'er disclose her mind,
157 See suitors following and not look behind,
158 She was a wight, if ever such wight were,—
DESDEMONA
159 To do what?
IAGO
160 To suckle fools and chronicle small beer.
DESDEMONA
161 O most lame and impotent conclusion! Do not learn
162 of him, Emilia, though he be thy husband. How say
163 you, Cassio? is he not a most profane and liberal
164 counsellor?
CASSIO
165 He speaks home, madam: You may relish him more
166 in the soldier than in the scholar.
IAGO [Aside.]
167 He takes her by the palm: ay, well said,
168 whisper: with as little a web as this will I
169 ensnare as great a fly as Cassio. Ay, smile upon
170 her, do; I will gyve thee in thine own courtship.
171 You say true; 'tis so, indeed: if such tricks as
172 these strip you out of your lieutenantry, it had
173 been better you had not kissed your three fingers so
174 oft, which now again you are most apt to play the
175 sir in. Very good; well kissed! an excellent
176 courtesy! 'tis so, indeed. Yet again your fingers
177 to your lips? would they were clyster-pipes for your sake!
[Trumpet within.]
178 The Moor! I know his trumpet.
CASSIO
179 'Tis truly so.
DESDEMONA
180 Let's meet him and receive him.
CASSIO
181 Lo, where he comes!
Enter OTHELLO and Attendants.
OTHELLO
182 O my fair warrior!
DESDEMONA
182 My dear Othello!
OTHELLO
183 It gives me wonder great as my content
184 To see you here before me. O my soul's joy!
185 If after every tempest come such calms,
186 May the winds blow till they have waken'd death!
187 And let the laboring bark climb hills of seas
188 Olympus-high and duck again as low
189 As hell's from heaven! If it were now to die,
190 'Twere now to be most happy; for, I fear,
191 My soul hath her content so absolute
192 That not another comfort like to this
193 Succeeds in unknown fate.
DESDEMONA
193 The heavens forbid
194 But that our loves and comforts should increase,
195 Even as our days do grow!
OTHELLO
195 Amen to that, sweet powers!
196 I cannot speak enough of this content;
197 It stops me here; it is too much of joy:
198 And this, and this, the greatest discords be
[They kiss.]
199 That e'er our hearts shall make!
IAGO [Aside.]
199 O, you are well tuned now!
200 But I'll set down the pegs that make this music,
201 As honest as I am.
OTHELLO
201 Come, let us to the castle.
202 News, friends; our wars are done, the Turks are drown'd.
203 How does my old acquaintance of this isle?
204 Honey, you shall be well desir'd in Cyprus;
205 I have found great love amongst them. O my sweet,
206 I prattle out of fashion, and I dote
207 In mine own comforts. I prithee, good Iago,
208 Go to the bay and disembark my coffers:
209 Bring thou the master to the citadel;
210 He is a good one, and his worthiness
211 Does challenge much respect. Come, Desdemona,
212 Once more, well met at Cyprus.
Exeunt Othello and Desdemona [with all but
Iago and Roderigo].
IAGO [To an attendant.]
213 Do thou meet me presently at the harbour.
[To Roderigo.]
214 Come hither. If thou be'st valiant,— as, they say, base
215 men being in love have then a nobility in their
216 natures more than is native to them—list me. The
217 lieutenant tonight watches on the court of
218 guard. First, I must tell thee this—Desdemona is
219 directly in love with him.
RODERIGO
220 With him! why, 'tis not possible.
IAGO
221 Lay thy finger thus, and let thy soul be instructed.
222 Mark me with what violence she first loved the Moor,
223 but for bragging and telling her fantastical lies: To
224 love him still for prating—let not thy discreet heart
225 think it. Her eye must be fed; and what delight shall
226 she have to look on the devil? When the blood is
227 made dull with the act of sport, there should be, again
228 to inflame it and to give satiety a fresh appetite,
229 loveliness in favor, sympathy in years, manners and
230 beauties; all which the Moor is defective in: now, for
231 want of these required conveniences, her delicate
232 tenderness will find itself abused, begin to heave the
233 gorge, disrelish and abhor the Moor; very nature will
234 instruct her in it and compel her to some second choice.
235 Now, sir, this granted,—as it is a most pregnant and
236 unforced position—who stands so eminent in the degree
237 of this fortune as Cassio does? a knave very voluble;
238 no further conscionable than in putting on the mere
239 form of civil and humane seeming, for the better
240 compassing of his salt and most hidden loose affection?
241 why, none; why, none: a slipper and subtle knave, a
242 finder of occasions, that has an eye can stamp and
243 counterfeit advantages, though true advantage never
244 present itself; a devilish knave. Besides, the knave
245 is handsome, young, and hath all those requisites in
246 him that folly and green minds look after: a pestilent
247 complete knave; and the woman hath found him
248 already.
RODERIGO
249 I cannot believe that in her; she's full of
250 most blessed condition.
IAGO
251 Blessed fig's-end! the wine she drinks is made of
252 grapes: if she had been blessed, she would never
253 have loved the Moor. Blessed pudding! Didst thou
254 not see her paddle with the palm of his hand? didst
255 not mark that?
RODERIGO
256 Yes, that I did; but that was but courtesy.
IAGO
257 Lechery, by this hand; an index and obscure prologue
258 to the history of lust and foul thoughts. They met
259 so near with their lips that their breaths embraced
260 together. Villanous thoughts, Roderigo! when these
261 mutualities so marshal the way, hard at hand comes
262 the master and main exercise, the incorporate
263 conclusion, Pish! But, sir, be you ruled by me: I
264 have brought you from Venice. Watch you tonight;
265 for the command, I'll lay't upon you. Cassio knows
266 you not. I'll not be far from you: do you find
267 some occasion to anger Cassio, either by speaking
268 too loud, or tainting his discipline; or from what
269 other course you please, which the time shall more
270 favorably minister.
RODERIGO
271 Well.
IAGO
272 Sir, he is rash and very sudden in choler, and haply
273 may strike at you: provoke him, that he may; for
274 even out of that will I cause these of Cyprus to
275 mutiny; whose qualification shall come into no true
276 taste again but by the displanting of Cassio. So
277 shall you have a shorter journey to your desires by
278 the means I shall then have to prefer them; and the
279 impediment most profitably removed, without the
280 which there were no expectation of our prosperity.
RODERIGO
281 I will do this, if I can bring it to any
282 opportunity.
IAGO
283 I warrant thee. Meet me by and by at the citadel:
284 I must fetch his necessaries ashore. Farewell.
RODERIGO
285 Adieu.
Exit.
IAGO
286 That Cassio loves her, I do well believe it;
287 That she loves him, 'tis apt and of great credit.
288 The Moor, howbeit that I endure him not,
289 Is of a constant, loving, noble nature,
290 And I dare think he'll prove to Desdemona
291 A most dear husband. Now, I do love her too;
292 Not out of absolute lust, though peradventure
293 I stand accountant for as great a sin,
294 But partly led to diet my revenge,
295 For that I do suspect the lusty Moor
296 Hath leap'd into my seat; the thought whereof
297 Doth, like a poisonous mineral, gnaw my inwards;
298 And nothing can or shall content my soul
299 Till I am even'd with him, wife for wife,
300 Or failing so, yet that I put the Moor
301 At least into a jealousy so strong
302 That judgment cannot cure. Which thing to do,
303 If this poor trash of Venice, whom I trace
304 For his quick hunting, stand the putting on,
305 I'll have our Michael Cassio on the hip,
306 Abuse him to the Moor in the rank garb—
307 For I fear Cassio with my night-cap too—
308 Make the Moor thank me, love me and reward me.
309 For making him egregiously an ass
310 And practising upon his peace and quiet
311 Even to madness. 'Tis here, but yet confused:
312 Knavery's plain face is never seen till used.
Exit.
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