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ACT V. SCENE I.

Cyprus. A street.

Enter Iago and Roderigo:

IAGO. Here, stand behind this bulk; straight will he come.

Wear thy good rapier bare, and put it home.

Quick, quick; fear nothing; I’ll be at thy elbow.

It makes us, or it mars us; think on that, And fix most firm thy resolution.

RODERIGO. Be near at hand; I may miscarry in’t.

IAGO. Here, at thy hand, be bold, and take thy stand.

Retires.

RODERIGO. I have no great devotion to the deed; And yet he hath given me satisfying reasons.

‘Tis but a man gone. Forth, my sword; he dies.

IAGO. I have rubb’d this young quat almost to the sense, And he grows angry. Now, whether he kill Cassio, Or Cassio him, or each do kill the other, Every way makes my gain. Live Roderigo, He calls me to a restitution large

Of gold and jewels that I bobb’d from him, As gifts to Desdemona;

It must not be. If Cassio do remain,

He hath a daily beauty in his life

That makes me ugly; and besides, the Moor May unfold me to him; there stand I in much peril.

No, he must die. Be’t so. I hear him coming.

Enter Cassio.

RODERIGO. I know his gait; ‘tis he. Villain, thou diest!

Makes a pass at Cassio.

CASSIO. That thrust had been mine enemy indeed, But that my coat is better than thou know’st; I will make proof of thine. Draws, and wounds Roderigo.

RODERIGO. O, I am slain!

Iago from behind wounds Cassio in the leg, and exit.

CASSIO. I am maim’d forever. Help, ho! Murther! Murther!

Falls.

Enter Othello.

OTHELLO. The voice of Cassio; Iago keeps his word.

RODERIGO. O, villain that I am!

OTHELLO. It is even so.

CASSIO. O, help, ho! Light! A surgeon!

OTHELLO. ‘Tis he. O brave Iago, honest and just, That hast such noble sense of thy friend’s wrong!

Thou teachest me. Minion, your dear lies dead, And your unblest fate hies. Strumpet, I come!

Forth of my heart those charms, thine eyes, are blotted; Thy bed lust-stain’d shall with lust’s blood be spotted.

Exit.

Enter Lodovico and Gratiano.

CASSIO. What, ho! No watch? No passage? Murther! Murther!

GRATIANO. ‘Tis some mischance; the cry is very direful.

CASSIO. O, help!

LODOVICO. Hark!

RODERIGO. O wretched villain!

LODOVICO. Two or three groan; it is a heavy night.

These may be counterfeits; let’s think’t unsafe To come in to the cry without more help.

RODERIGO. Nobody come? Then shall I bleed to death.

LODOVICO. Hark!

Re-enter Iago, with a light.

GRATIANO. Here’s one comes in his shirt, with light and weapons.

IAGO. Who’s there? Whose noise is this that cries on murther?

LODOVICO. We do not know.

IAGO. Did not you hear a cry?

CASSIO. Here, here! for heaven’s sake, help me!

IAGO. What’s the matter?

GRATIANO. This is Othello’s ancient, as I take it.

LODOVICO. The same indeed; a very valiant fellow.

IAGO. What are you here that cry so grievously?

CASSIO. Iago? O, I am spoil’d, undone by villains!

Give me some help.

IAGO. O me, lieutenant! What villains have done this?

CASSIO. I think that one of them is hereabout, And cannot make away.

IAGO. O treacherous villains!

[To Lodovico and Gratiano.] What are you there?

Come in and give some help.

RODERIGO. O, help me here!

CASSIO. That’s one of them.

IAGO. O murtherous slave! O villain!

Stabs Roderigo.

RODERIGO. O damn’d Iago! O inhuman dog!

IAGO. Kill men i’ the dark! Where be these bloody thieves?

How silent is this town! Ho! Murther! Murther!

What may you be? Are you of good or evil?

LODOVICO. As you shall prove us, praise us.

IAGO. Signior Lodovico?

LODOVICO. He, sir.

IAGO. I cry you mercy. Here’s Cassio hurt by villains.

GRATIANO. Cassio?

IAGO. How is’t, brother?

CASSIO. My leg is cut in two.

IAGO. Marry, heaven forbid!

Light, gentlemen; I’ll bind it with my shirt.

Enter Bianca.

BIANCA. What is the matter, ho? Who is’t that cried?

IAGO. Who is’t that cried?

BIANCA. O my dear Cassio, my sweet Cassio! O Cassio, Cassio, Cassio!

IAGO. O notable strumpet! Cassio, may you suspect Who they should be that have thus mangled you?

CASSIO. No.

GRATIANO. I am sorry to find you thus; I have been to seek you.

IAGO. Lend me a garter. So. O, for a chair, To bear him easily hence!

BIANCA. Alas, he faints! O Cassio, Cassio, Cassio!

IAGO. Gentlemen all, I do suspect this trash To be a party in this injury.

Patience awhile, good Cassio. Come, come; Lend me a light. Know we this face or no?

Alas, my friend and my dear countryman Roderigo? No-yes, sure. O heaven! Roderigo.

GRATIANO. What, of Venice?

IAGO. Even he, sir. Did you know him?

GRATIANO. Know him! ay.

IAGO. Signior Gratiano? I cry you gentle pardon; These bloody accidents must excuse my manners, That so neglected you.

GRATIANO. I am glad to see you.

IAGO. How do you, Cassio? O, a chair, a chair!

GRATIANO. Roderigo!

IAGO. He, he, ‘tis he. [A chair brought in.] O, that’s well said: the chair.

Some good man bear him carefully from hence; I’ll fetch the general’s surgeon. [To Bianca.] For you, mistress, Save you your labor. He that lies slain here, Cassio, Was my dear friend; what malice was between you?

CASSIO. None in the world; nor do I know the man.

IAGO. [To Bianca.] What, look you pale? O, bear him out o’ the air.

Cassio and Roderigo are borne off.

Stay you, good gentlemen. Look you pale, mistress?

Do you perceive the gastness of her eye?

Nay, if you stare, we shall hear more anon.

Behold her well; I pray you, look upon her.

Do you see, gentlemen? Nay, guiltiness will speak, Though tongues were out of use.

Enter Emilia.

EMILIA. ‘Las, what’s the matter? What’s the matter, husband?

IAGO. Cassio hath here been set on in the dark By Roderigo, and fellows that are ‘scaped; He’s almost slain, and Roderigo dead.

EMILIA. Alas, good gentleman! alas, good Cassio!

IAGO. This is the fruit of whoring. Prithee, Emilia, Go know of Cassio where he supp’d tonight.

What, do you shake at that?

BIANCA. He supp’d at my house; but I therefore shake not.

IAGO. O, did he so? I charge you, go with me.

EMILIA. Fie, fie upon thee, strumpet!

BIANCA. I am no strumpet, but of life as honest As you that thus abuse me.

EMILIA. As I! foh! fie upon thee!

IAGO. Kind gentlemen, let’s go see poor Cassio dress’d.

Come, mistress, you must tell’s another tale.

Emilia, run you to the citadel,

And tell my lord and lady what hath happ’d!

Will you go on? [Aside.] This is the night That either makes me or fordoes me quite. Exeunt.

SCENE II.

A bedchamber in the castle. Desdemona in bed asleep; a light burning.

Enter Othello.

OTHELLO. It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul.

Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars!

It is the cause. Yet I’ll not shed her blood, Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow And smooth as monumental alabaster.

Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men.

Put out the light, and then put out the light.

If I quench thee, thou flaming minister, I can again thy former light restore, Should I repent me; but once put out thy light, Thou cunning’st pattern of excelling nature, I know not where is that Promethean heat That can thy light relume. When I have pluck’d the rose, I cannot give it vital growth again,

It must needs wither; I’ll smell it on the tree. Kisses her.

O, balmy breath, that dost almost persuade Justice to break her sword! One more, one more; Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee, And love thee after. One more, and this the last; So sweet was ne’er so fatal. I must weep, But they are cruel tears; this sorrow’s heavenly, It strikes where it doth love. She wakes.

DESDEMONA. Who’s there? Othello?

OTHELLO. Ay, Desdemona.

DESDEMONA. Will you come to bed, my lord?

OTHELLO. Have you pray’d tonight, Desdemona?

DESDEMONA. Ay, my lord.

OTHELLO. If you bethink yourself of any crime Unreconciled as yet to heaven and grace, Solicit for it straight.

DESDEMONA. Alas, my lord, what may you mean by that?

OTHELLO. Well, do it, and be brief; I will walk by.

I would not kill thy unprepared spirit.

No, heaven forfend! I would not kill thy soul.

DESDEMONA. Talk you of killing?

OTHELLO. Ay, I do.

DESDEMONA. Then heaven have mercy on me!

OTHELLO. Amen, with all my heart!

DESDEMONA. If you say so, I hope you will not kill me.

OTHELLO. Hum!

DESDEMONA. And yet I fear you, for you are fatal then When your eyes roll so. Why I should fear I know not, Since guiltiness I know not; but yet I feel I fear.

OTHELLO. Think on thy sins.

DESDEMONA. They are loves I bear to you.

OTHELLO. Ay, and for that thou diest.

DESDEMONA. That death’s unnatural that kills for loving.

Alas, why gnaw you so your nether lip?

Some bloody passion shakes your very frame.

These are portents; but yet I hope, I hope, They do not point on me.

OTHELLO. Peace, and be still!

DESDEMONA. I will so. What’s the matter?

OTHELLO. That handkerchief which I so loved and gave thee Thou gavest to Cassio.

DESDEMONA. No, by my life and soul!

Send for the man, and ask him.

OTHELLO. Sweet soul, take heed, Take heed of perjury; thou are on thy deathbed.

DESDEMONA. Ay, but not yet to die.

OTHELLO. Yes, presently: Therefore confess thee freely of thy sin, For to deny each article with oath

Cannot remove nor choke the strong conception That I do groan withal. Thou art to die.

DESDEMONA. Then Lord have mercy on me!

OTHELLO. I say, amen.

DESDEMONA. And have you mercy too! I never did Offend you in my life; never loved Cassio But with such general warranty of heaven As I might love. I never gave him token.

OTHELLO. By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in ‘s hand.

O perjured woman! Thou dost stone my heart, And makest me call what I intend to do A murther, which I thought a sacrifice.

I saw the handkerchief.

DESDEMONA. He found it then; I never gave it him. Send for him hither; Let him confess a truth.

OTHELLO. He hath confess’d.

DESDEMONA. What, my lord?

OTHELLO. That he hath used thee.

DESDEMONA. How? unlawfully?

OTHELLO. Ay.

DESDEMONA. He will not say so.

OTHELLO. No, his mouth is stopp’d; Honest Iago hath ta’en order for’t.

DESDEMONA. O, my fear interprets! What, is he dead?

OTHELLO. Had all his hairs been lives, my great revenge Had stomach for them all.

DESDEMONA. Alas, he is betray’d, and I undone!

OTHELLO. Out, strumpet! Weep’st thou for him to my face?

DESDEMONA. O, banish me, my lord, but kill me not!

OTHELLO. Down, strumpet!

DESDEMONA. Kill me tomorrow; let me live tonight!

OTHELLO. Nay, if you strive—

DESDEMONA. But half an hour!

OTHELLO. Being done, there is no pause.

DESDEMONA. But while I say one prayer!

OTHELLO. It is too late. He stifles her.

EMILIA. [Within.] My lord, my lord! What, ho! my lord, my lord!

OTHELLO. What noise is this? Not dead? not yet quite dead?

I that am cruel am yet merciful;

I would not have thee linger in thy pain.

So, so.

EMILIA. [Within.] What, ho! my lord, my lord!

OTHELLO. Who’s there?

EMILIA. [Within.] O, good my lord, I would speak a word with you!

OTHELLO. Yes, ‘tis Emilia. By and by. She’s dead.