16 Ah balmy breath, that dost almost persuade
17 Justice to break her sword! One more, one more.
[Kisses her.]
18 Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee,
19 And love thee after. One more, and this the last:
[Kisses her.]
20 So sweet was ne'er so fatal. I must weep,
21 But they are cruel tears: this sorrow's heavenly;
22 It strikes where it doth love. She wakes.
DESDEMONA
23 Who's there? Othello?
OTHELLO
23 Ay, Desdemona.
DESDEMONA
24 Will you come to bed, my lord?
OTHELLO
25 Have you pray'd tonight, Desdemon?
DESDEMONA
25 Ay, my lord.
OTHELLO
26 If you bethink yourself of any crime
27 Unreconciled as yet to heaven and grace,
28 Solicit for it straight.
DESDEMONA
29 Alas, my lord, what do you mean by that?
OTHELLO
30 Well, do it, and be brief; I will walk by:
31 I would not kill thy unprepared spirit;
32 No; heaven forfend! I would not kill thy soul.
DESDEMONA
33 Talk you of killing?
OTHELLO
33 Ay, I do.
DESDEMONA
33 Then heaven
34 Have mercy on me!
OTHELLO
34 Amen, with all my heart!
DESDEMONA
35 If you say so, I hope you will not kill me.
OTHELLO
36 Humh!
DESDEMONA
37 And yet I fear you; for you are fatal then
38 When your eyes roll so: why I should fear I know not,
39 Since guiltiness I know not; but yet I feel I fear.
OTHELLO
40 Think on thy sins.
DESDEMONA
40 They are loves I bear to you.
OTHELLO
41 Ay, and for that thou diest.
DESDEMONA
42 That death's unnatural that kills for loving.
43 Alas, why gnaw you so your nether lip?
44 Some bloody passion shakes your very frame:
45 These are portents; but yet I hope, I hope,
46 They do not point on me.
OTHELLO
46 Peace, and be still!
DESDEMONA
47 I will so. What's the matter?
OTHELLO
48 That handkerchief which I so loved and gave thee
49 Thou gavest to Cassio.
DESDEMONA
49 No, by my life and soul!
50 Send for the man, and ask him.
OTHELLO
50 Sweet soul, take heed,
51 Take heed of perjury; thou art on thy deathbed.
DESDEMONA
52 Ay, but not yet to die.
OTHELLO
52 Yes, presently:
53 Therefore confess thee freely of thy sin;
54 For to deny each article with oath
55 Cannot remove nor choke the strong conception
56 That I do groan withal. Thou art to die.
DESDEMONA
57 Then Lord have mercy on me!
OTHELLO
57 I say, amen.
DESDEMONA
58 And have you mercy too! I never did
59 Offend you in my life; never loved Cassio
60 But with such general warranty of heaven
61 As I might love: I never gave him token.
OTHELLO
62 By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in's hand.
63 O perjured woman! thou dost stone my heart,
64 And makest me call what I intend to do
65 A murder, which I thought a sacrifice:
66 I saw the handkerchief!
DESDEMONA
66 He found it then;
67 I never gave it him: send for him hither;
68 Let him confess a truth.
OTHELLO
68 He hath confess'd.
DESDEMONA
69 What, my lord?
OTHELLO
70 That he hath used thee.
DESDEMONA
70 How? unlawfully?
OTHELLO
70 Ay.
DESDEMONA
71 He will not say so.
OTHELLO
71 No, his mouth is stopp'd;
72 Honest Iago hath ta'en order for't.
DESDEMONA
73 O! my fear interprets: what, is he dead?
OTHELLO
74 Had all his hairs been lives, my great revenge
75 Had stomach for them all.
DESDEMONA
76 Alas! he is betray'd and I undone.
OTHELLO
77 Out, strumpet! weep'st thou for him to my face?
DESDEMONA
78 O, banish me, my lord, but kill me not!
OTHELLO
79 Down, strumpet!
DESDEMONA
80 Kill me tomorrow, let me live tonight!
OTHELLO
81 Nay, if you strive—
DESDEMONA
82 But half an hour!
OTHELLO
82 Being done, there is no pause.
DESDEMONA
83 But while I say one prayer!
OTHELLO
83 It is too late.
Smothers her.
EMILIA (At the door.)
84 My lord, my lord! what, ho! my lord, my lord!
OTHELLO
85 What noise is this? Not dead? not yet quite dead?
86 I that am cruel am yet merciful;
87 I would not have thee linger in thy pain:
88 So, so.
[Dispatches her.]
EMILIA (Within.)
89 What, ho! my lord, my lord!
OTHELLO
89 Who's there?
EMILIA [At the door.]
90 O, good my lord, I would speak a word with you!
OTHELLO
91 Yes: 'tis Emilia. By and by. She's dead.
92 'Tis like she comes to speak of Cassio's death.—
93 The noise was high. Ha! no more moving?
94 Still as the grave. Shall she come in? were't good?—
95 I think she stirs again:—no. What's best to do?
96 If she come in, she'll sure speak to my wife.
97 My wife! my wife! what wife? I have no wife.
98 O insupportable! O heavy hour!
99 Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse
100 Of sun and moon, and that the affrighted globe
101 Should yawn at alteration.
EMILIA [At the door.]
101 I do beseech you
102 That I may speak with you, O, good my lord!
OTHELLO
103 I had forgot thee: O, come in, Emilia.—
104 Soft; by and by. Let me the curtains draw.—
105 Where art thou?
[Unlocks the door.]
Enter EMILIA.
105 What's the matter with thee now?
EMILIA
106 O, my good lord, yonder's foul murders done!
OTHELLO
107 What, now?
EMILIA
108 But now, my lord.
OTHELLO
109 It is the very error of the moon;
110 She comes more nearer earth than she was wont,
111 And makes men mad.
EMILIA
112 Cassio, my lord, hath kill'd a young Venetian
113 Call'd Roderigo.
OTHELLO
113 Roderigo kill'd?
114 And Cassio kill'd?
EMILIA
114 No, Cassio is not kill'd.
OTHELLO
115 Not Cassio kill'd! then murder's out of tune,
116 And sweet revenge grows harsh.
DESDEMONA
117 O, falsely, falsely murder'd!
EMILIA
117 Alas, what cry is that?
OTHELLO
118 That? what?
EMILIA
119 Out, and alas! that was my lady's voice.
120 Help! help, ho! help! O lady, speak again!
121 Sweet Desdemona! O sweet mistress, speak!
DESDEMONA
122 A guiltless death I die.
EMILIA
123 O, who hath done this deed?
DESDEMONA
124 Nobody; I myself. Farewell
125 Commend me to my kind lord: O, farewell!
[Dies.]
OTHELLO
126 Why, how should she be murder'd?
EMILIA
126 Alas, who knows?
OTHELLO
127 You heard her say herself, it was not I.
EMILIA
128 She said so; I must needs report the truth.
OTHELLO
129 She's, like a liar, gone to burning hell:
130 'Twas I that kill'd her.
EMILIA
130 O, the more angel she,
131 And you the blacker devil!
OTHELLO
132 She turn'd to folly, and she was a whore.
EMILIA
133 Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil.
OTHELLO
134 She was false as water.
EMILIA
134 Thou art rash as fire, to say
135 That she was false: O, she was heavenly true!
OTHELLO
136 Cassio did top her; ask thy husband else.
137 O, I were damn'd beneath all depth in hell,
138 But that I did proceed upon just grounds
139 To this extremity. Thy husband knew it all.
EMILIA
140 My husband!
OTHELLO
141 Thy husband.
EMILIA
142 That she was false to wedlock?
OTHELLO
143 Ay, with Cassio. Nay, had she been true,
144 If heaven would make me such another world
145 Of one entire and perfect chrysolite,
146 I'ld not have sold her for it.
EMILIA
146 My husband!
OTHELLO
147 Ay, 'twas he that told me first:
148 An honest man he is, and hates the slime
149 That sticks on filthy deeds.
EMILIA
149 My husband!
OTHELLO
150 What needs this iteration, woman? I say thy husband.
EMILIA
151 O mistress, villany hath made mocks with love!
152 My husband say that she was false!
OTHELLO
152 He, woman;
153 I say thy husband: dost understand the word?
154 My friend, thy husband, honest, honest Iago.
EMILIA
155 If he say so, may his pernicious soul
156 Rot half a grain a day! he lies to the heart:
157 She was too fond of her most filthy bargain.
OTHELLO
158 Ha!
EMILIA
159 Do thy worst!
160 This deed of thine is no more worthy heaven
161 Than thou wast worthy her.
OTHELLO
161 Peace, you were best.
EMILIA
162 Thou hast not half that power to do me harm
163 As I have to be hurt. O gull! O dolt!
164 As ignorant as dirt! thou hast done a deed—
165 I care not for thy sword; I'll make thee known,
166 Though I lost twenty lives.—Help! help, ho! help!
167 The Moor hath kill'd my mistress! Murder! murder!
167 [with others.]
Enter MONTANO, GRATIANO, IAGO, [with others].
MONTANO
168 What is the matter? How now, general!
EMILIA
169 O, are you come, Iago? you have done well,
170 That men must lay their murders on your neck.
GRATIANO
171 What is the matter?
EMILIA
172 Disprove this villain, if thou be'st a man:
173 He says thou told'st him that his wife was false:
174 I know thou didst not, thou'rt not such a villain:
175 Speak, for my heart is full.
IAGO
176 I told him what I thought, and told no more
177 Than what he found himself was apt and true.
EMILIA
178 But did you ever tell him she was false?
IAGO
179 I did.
EMILIA
180 You told a lie, an odious, damned lie;
181 Upon my soul, a lie, a wicked lie.
182 She false with Cassio!—did you say with Cassio?
IAGO
183 With Cassio, mistress. Go to, charm your tongue.
EMILIA
184 I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to speak:
185 My mistress here lies murder'd in her bed—
All
186 O heavens forfend!
EMILIA
187 And your reports have set the murder on.
OTHELLO
188 Nay, stare not, masters: it is true, indeed.
GRATIANO
189 'Tis a strange truth.
MONTANO
190 O monstrous act!
EMILIA
190 Villany, villany, villany!
191 I think upon't, I think: I smell't: O villany!—
192 I thought so then:—I'll kill myself for grief:—
193 O villany, villany!
IAGO
194 What, are you mad? I charge you, get you home.
EMILIA
195 Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak:
196 'Tis proper I obey him, but not now.
197 Perchance, Iago, I will ne'er go home.
OTHELLO
198 O! O! O!
[He falls on the bed.]
EMILIA
198 Nay, lay thee down and roar;
199 For thou hast kill'd the sweetest innocent
200 That e'er did lift up eye.
OTHELLO
200 O, she was foul!
201 I scarce did know you, uncle: there lies your niece,
202 Whose breath, indeed, these hands have newly stopp'd:
203 I know this act shows horrible and grim.
GRATIANO
204 Poor Desdemon! I am glad thy father's dead:
205 Thy match was mortal to him, and pure grief
206 Shore his old thread in twain: did he live now,
207 This sight would make him do a desperate turn,
208 Yea, curse his better angel from his side,
209 And fall to reprobation.
OTHELLO
210 'Tis pitiful; but yet Iago knows
211 That she with Cassio hath the act of shame
212 A thousand times committed; Cassio confess'd it:
213 And she did gratify his amorous works
214 With that recognizance and pledge of love
215 Which I first gave her; I saw it in his hand:
216 It was a handkerchief, an antique token
217 My father gave my mother.
EMILIA
218 O God! O heavenly God!
IAGO
219 Come, hold your peace.
EMILIA
219 'Twill out, 'twill out: I peace!
220 No, I will speak as liberal as the north:
221 Let heaven and men and devils, let them all,
222 All, all, cry shame against me, yet I'll speak.
IAGO
223 Be wise, and get you home.
EMILIA
223 I will not.
[Iago tries to stab Emilia.]
GRATIANO
223 Fie!
224 Your sword upon a woman?
EMILIA
225 O thou dull Moor! that handkerchief thou speak'st of
226 I found by fortune and did give my husband;
227 For often, with a solemn earnestness,
228 More than indeed belong'd to such a trifle,
229 He begg'd of me to steal it.
IAGO
229 Villanous whore!
EMILIA
230 She give it Cassio! no, alas! I found it,
231 And I did give't my husband.
IAGO
231 Filth, thou liest!
EMILIA
232 By heaven, I do not, I do not, gentlemen.
233 O murderous coxcomb! what should such a fool
234 Do with so good a woman?
OTHELLO
234 Are there no stones in heaven
235 But what serve for the thunder?—Precious villain!
Othello attacks Iago; Montano and others
disarm Othello. Iago stabs Emilia, and runs
away.
GRATIANO
236 The woman falls; sure, he hath kill'd his wife.
EMILIA
237 Ay, ay: O, lay me by my mistress' side.
GRATIANO
238 He's gone, but his wife's kill'd.
MONTANO
239 'Tis a notorious villain. Take you this weapon,
240 Which I have here recover'd from the Moor:
241 Come, guard the door without; let him not pass,
242 But kill him rather. I'll after that same villain,
243 For 'tis a damned slave.
Exit [with all but Othello and Emilia].
OTHELLO
243 I am not valiant neither,
244 But every puny whipster gets my sword:
245 But why should honor outlive honesty?
246 Let it go all.
EMILIA
246 What did thy song bode, lady?
247 Hark, canst thou hear me? I will play the swan.
248 And die in music.
[Singing.]
248 "Willow, willow, willow,"—
249 Moor, she was chaste; she loved thee, cruel Moor;
250 So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true;
251 So speaking as I think, alas, I die.
[Dies.]
OTHELLO
252 I have another weapon in this chamber;
253 It is a sword of Spain, the ice-brook's temper:—
254 O, here it is. Uncle, I must come forth.
GRATIANO [Within.]
255 If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear:
256 Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer.
OTHELLO
257 Look in upon me then and speak with me,
258 Or, naked as I am, I will assault thee.
[Enter Gratiano.]
GRATIANO
259 What is the matter?
OTHELLO
259 Behold, I have a weapon;
260 A better never did itself sustain
261 Upon a soldier's thigh: I have seen the day,
262 That, with this little arm and this good sword,
263 I have made my way through more impediments
264 Than twenty times your stop. But (O vain boast!)
265 Who can control his fate? 'tis not so now.
266 Be not afraid, though you do see me weapon'd;
267 Here is my journey's end, here is my butt,
268 And very sea-mark of my utmost sail.
269 Do you go back dismay'd? 'tis a lost fear;
270 Man but a rush against Othello's breast,
271 And he retires. Where should Othello go?
272 Now — how dost thou look now? O ill-starr'd wench!
273 Pale as thy smock! when we shall meet at compt,
274 This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven,
275 And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl!
276 Even like thy chastity. O cursed, cursed slave!
277 Whip me, ye devils,
278 From the possession of this heavenly sight!
279 Blow me about in winds! roast me in sulphur!
280 Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!
281 O Desdemon! Desdemon! dead!
282 O, O!
Enter LODOVICO, CASSIO [in a chair],
MONTANO, and IAGO [guarded], with
OFFICERS.
LODOVICO
283 Where is this rash and most unfortunate man?
OTHELLO
284 That's he that was Othello: here I am.
LODOVICO
285 Where is that viper? bring the villain forth.
OTHELLO
286 I look down towards his feet; but that's a fable.
287 If that thou be'st a devil, I cannot kill thee.
[Wounds Iago.]
LODOVICO
288 Wrench his sword from him.
IAGO
288 I bleed, sir; but not kill'd.
OTHELLO
289 I am not sorry neither: I'ld have thee live;
290 For, in my sense, 'tis happiness to die.
LODOVICO
291 O thou Othello, thou wert once so good,
292 Fall'n in the practise of a damned slave,
293 What shall be said to thee?
OTHELLO
293 Why, any thing:
294 An honorable murderer, if you will;
295 For nought I did in hate, but all in honor.
LODOVICO
296 This wretch hath part confess'd his villany:
297 Did you and he consent in Cassio's death?
OTHELLO
298 Ay.
CASSIO
299 Dear general, I never gave you cause.
OTHELLO
300 I do believe it, and I ask your pardon.
301 Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil
302 Why he hath thus ensnared my soul and body?
IAGO
303 Demand me nothing: what you know, you know:
304 From this time forth I never will speak word.
LODOVICO
305 What, not to pray?
GRATIANO
305 Torments will ope your lips.
OTHELLO
306 Well, thou dost best.
LODOVICO
307 Sir, you shall understand what hath befall'n,
308 Which, as I think, you know not. Here is a letter
309 Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigo;
310 And here another: the one of them imports
311 The death of Cassio to be undertook
312 By Roderigo.
OTHELLO
313 O villain!
CASSIO
313 Most heathenish and most gross!
LODOVICO
314 Now here's another discontented paper,
315 Found in his pocket too; and this, it seems,
316 Roderigo meant to have sent this damned villain;
317 But that belike Iago in the interim
318 Came in and satisfied him.
OTHELLO
318 O the pernicious caitiff!
319 How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief
320 That was my wife's?
CASSIO
320 I found it in my chamber:
321 And he himself confess'd but even now
322 That there he dropp'd it for a special purpose
323 Which wrought to his desire.
OTHELLO
323 O fool! fool! fool!
CASSIO
324 There is besides in Roderigo's letter,
325 How he upbraids Iago, that he made him
326 Brave me upon the watch; whereon it came
327 That I was cast: and even but now he spake,
328 After long seeming dead, Iago hurt him,
329 Iago set him on.
LODOVICO
330 You must forsake this room, and go with us:
331 Your power and your command is taken off,
332 And Cassio rules in Cyprus. For this slave,
333 If there be any cunning cruelty
334 That can torment him much and hold him long,
335 It shall be his. You shall close prisoner rest,
336 Till that the nature of your fault be known
337 To the Venetian state. Come, bring away.
OTHELLO
338 Soft you; a word or two before you go.
339 I have done the state some service, and they know't —
340 No more of that. I pray you, in your letters,
341 When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
342 Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
343 Nor set down aught in malice: then must you speak
344 Of one that loved not wisely but too well;
345 Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought
346 Perplex'd in the extreme; of one whose hand,
347 Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away
348 Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdu'd eyes,
349 Albeit unused to the melting mood,
350 Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees
351 Their medicinable gum. Set you down this;
352 And say besides, that in Aleppo once,
353 Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk
354 Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,
355 I took by the throat the circumcised dog,
356 And smote him, thus.
[Stabs himself.]
LODOVICO
357 O bloody period!
GRATIANO
357 All that's spoke is marr'd.
OTHELLO
358 I kiss'd thee ere I kill'd thee: no way but this;
359 Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.
[Falls on the bed, and] dies.
CASSIO
360 This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon;
361 For he was great of heart.
LODOVICO [To Iago.]
361 O Spartan dog,
362 More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea!
363 Look on the tragic loading of this bed;
364 This is thy work: the object poisons sight;
365 Let it be hid. Gratiano, keep the house,
366 And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor,
367 For they succeed on you. To you, lord governor,
368 Remains the censure of this hellish villain;
369 The time, the place, the torture: O, enforce it!
370 Myself will straight aboard: and to the state
371 This heavy act with heavy heart relate.
Exeunt.