The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare (moboreader .TXT) 📕

The noise was here. Ha! no more moving?

Still as the grave. Shall she come in? were’t good?

I think she stirs again. No. What’s best to do?

If she come in, she’ll sure speak to my wife.

My wife! My wife! What wife? I have no wife.

O, insupportable! O heavy hour!

Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse Of sun and moon, and that the affrighted globe Should yawn at alteration.

EMILIA. [Within.] I do beseech you

That I may speak with you, O, good my lord!

OTHELLO. I had forgot thee. O, come in, Emilia.

Soft, by and by. Let me the curtains draw.

Where art thou? Unlocks the door.

Enter Emilia.

What’s the matter with thee now?

EMILIA. O, my good lord, yonder’s foul murthers done!

OTHELLO. What, now?

EMILIA. But now, my lord.

OTHELLO. It is the very error of the moon; She comes more nearer earth than she was wont And makes men mad.

EMILIA. Cassio, my lord, hath kill’d a young Venetian Call’d Roderigo.

OTHELLO. Roderigo kill’d?

And Cassio kill’d?

EMILIA. No, Cassio is not kill’d.

OTHELLO. Not Cassio kill’d! Then murther’s out of tune, And sweet revenge grows harsh.

DESDEMONA. O, falsely, falsely murther’d!

EMILIA. Alas, what cry is that?

OTHELLO. That? what?

EMILIA. Out, and alas! That was my lady’s voice.

Help! help, ho! help! O lady, speak again!

Sweet Desdemona! O sweet mistress, speak!

DESDEMONA. A guiltless death I die.

EMILIA. O, who hath done this deed?

DESDEMONA. Nobody; I myself. Farewell;

Commend me to my kind lord. O, farewell! Dies.

OTHELLO. Why, how should she be murther’d?

EMILIA. Alas, who knows?

OTHELLO. You heard her say herself, it was not I.

EMILIA. She said so; I must needs report the truth.

OTHELLO. She’s like a liar gone to burning hell; ‘Twas I that kill’d her.

EMILIA. O, the more angel she, And you the blacker devil!

OTHELLO. She turn’d to folly, and she was a whore.

EMILIA. Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil.

OTHELLO. She was false as water.

EMILIA. Thou art rash as fire, to say That she was false. O, she was heavenly true!

OTHELLO. Cassio did top her; ask thy husband else.

O, I were damn’d beneath all depth in hell, But that I did proceed upon just grounds To this extremity. Thy husband knew it all.

EMILIA. My husband?

OTHELLO. Thy husband.

EMILIA. That she was false to wedlock?

OTHELLO. Ay, with Cassio. Nay, had she been true, If heaven would make me such another world Of one entire and perfect chrysolite, I’ld not have sold her for it.

EMILIA. My husband?

OTHELLO. Ay, ‘twas he that told me first.

An honest man he is, and hates the slime That sticks on filthy deeds.

EMILIA. My husband?

OTHELLO. What needs this iteration, woman? I say thy husband.

EMILIA. O mistress, villainy hath made mocks with love!

My husband say that she was false!

OTHELLO. He, woman; I say thy husband. Dost understand the word?

My friend, thy husband, honest, honest Iago.

EMILIA. If he say so, may his pernicious soul Rot half a grain a day! He lies to the heart.

She was too fond of her most filthy bargain.

OTHELLO. Ha!

EMILIA. Do thy worst;

This deed of thine is no more worthy heaven Than thou wast worthy her.

OTHELLO. Peace, you were best.

EMILIA. Thou hast not half that power to do me harm As I have to be hurt. O gull! O dolt!

As ignorant as dirt! Thou hast done a deed-I care not for thy sword; I’ll make thee known, Though I lost twenty lives. Help! help, ho! help!

The Moor hath kill’d my mistress! Murther, murther!

Enter Montano, Gratiano, Iago, and others.

MONTANO. What is the matter? How now, general?

EMILIA. O, are you come, Iago? You have done well, That men must lay their murthers on your neck.

GRATIANO. What is the matter?

EMILIA. Disprove this villain, if thou be’st a man.

He says thou told’st him that his wife was false; I know thou didst not, thou’rt not such a villain.

Speak, for my heart is full.

IAGO. I told him what I thought, and told no more Than what he found himself was apt and true.

EMILIA. But did you ever tell him she was false?

IAGO. I did.

EMILIA. You told a lie, an odious, damned lie; Upon my soul, a lie, a wicked lie!

She false with Cassio? Did you say with Cassio?

IAGO. With Cassio, mistress. Go to, charm your tongue.

EMILIA. I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to speak.

My mistress here lies murther’d in her bed-ALL. O heavens forfend!

EMILIA. And your reports have set the murther on.

OTHELLO. Nay, stare not, masters; it is true indeed.

GRATIANO. ‘Tis a strange truth.

MONTANO. O monstrous act!

EMILIA. Villainy, villainy, villainy!

I think upon’t, I think, I smell’t, O villainy!

I thought so then. I’ll kill myself for grief.

O villainy, villainy!

IAGO. What, are you mad? I charge you, get you home.

EMILIA. Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak; ‘Tis proper I obey him, but not now.

Perchance, Iago, I will ne’er go home.

OTHELLO. O! O! O! Falls on the bed.

EMILIA. Nay, lay thee down and roar; For thou hast kill’d the sweetest innocent That e’er did lift up eye.

OTHELLO. [Rises.] O, she was foul!

I scarce did know you, uncle; there lies your niece, Whose breath indeed these hands have newly stopp’d.

I know this act shows horrible and grim.

GRATIANO. Poor Desdemon! I am glad thy father’s dead.

Thy match was mortal to him, and pure grief Shore his old thread in twain; did he live now, This sight would make him do a desperate turn, Yea, curse his better angel from his side, And fall to reprobation.

OTHELLO. ‘Tis pitiful, but yet Iago knows That she with Cassio hath the act of shame A thousand times committed. Cassio confess’d it, And she did gratify his amorous works With that recognizance and pledge of love Which I first gave her. I saw it in his hand, It was a handkerchief, an antique token My father gave my mother.

EMILIA. O heaven! O heavenly powers!

IAGO. ‘Zounds! Hold your peace.

EMILIA. ‘Twill out, ‘twill. I peace?

No, I will speak as liberal as the north; Let heaven and men and devils, let them all, All, all, cry shame against me, yet I’ll speak.

IAGO. Be wise, and get you home.

EMILIA. I will not.

Iago offers to stab Emilia.

GRATIANO. Fie!

Your sword upon a woman?

EMILIA. O thou dull Moor! That handkerchief thou speak’st of I found by fortune and did give my husband, For often with a solemn earnestness,

More than indeed belong’d to such a trifle, He begg’d of me to steal it.

IAGO. Villainous whore!

EMILIA. She give it Cassio? No, alas, I found it, And I did give’t my husband.

IAGO. Filth, thou liest!

EMILIA. By heaven, I do not, I do not, gentlemen.

O murtherous coxcomb! What should such a fool Do with so good a wife?

OTHELLO. Are there not stones in heaven But what serve for thunder? Precious villain!

He runs at Iago, but Montano disarms him. Iago stabs Emilia.

GRATIANO. The woman falls; sure, he hath kill’d his wife.

EMILIA. Ay, ay! O, lay me by my mistress’ side. Exit Iago.

GRATIANO. He’s gone, but his wife’s kill’d.

MONTANO. ‘Tis a notorious villain. Take you this weapon, Which I have here recover’d from the Moor.

Come, guard the door without; let him not pass, But kill him rather. I’ll after that same villain, For ‘tis a damned slave. Exeunt all but Othello and Emilia.

OTHELLO. I am not valiant neither, But every puny whipster gets my sword.

But why should honor outlive honesty?

Let it go all.

EMILIA. What did thy song bode, lady?

Hark, canst thou hear me? I will play the swan, And die in music. [Sings.] “Willow, willow, willow.”

Moor, she was chaste; she loved thee, cruel Moor; So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true; So speaking as I think, I die, I die. Dies.

OTHELLO. I have another weapon in this chamber; It is a sword of Spain, the ice-brook’s temper-O, here it is. Uncle, I must come forth.

GRATIANO. [Within.] If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear.

Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer.

OTHELLO. Look in upon me then, and speak with me, Or, naked as I am, I will assault thee.

Re-enter Gratiano.

GRATIANO. What is the matter?

OTHELLO. Behold, I have a weapon; A better never did itself sustain

Upon a soldier’s thigh. I have seen the day That with this little arm and this good sword I have made my way through more impediments Than twenty times your stop. But, O vain boast!

Who can control his fate? ‘Tis not so now.

Be not afraid, though you do see me weapon’d; Here is my journey’s end, here is my butt And very sea-mark of my utmost sail.

Do you go back dismay’d? ‘Tis a lost fear.

Man but a rush against Othello’s breast, And he retires. Where should Othello go?

Now, how dost thou look now? O ill-starr’d wench!

Pale as thy smock! When we shall meet at compt, This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven, And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl?

Even like thy chastity. O cursed, cursed slave!

Whip me, ye devils,

From the possession of this heavenly sight!

Blow me about in winds! Roast me in sulphur!

Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!

O Desdemon! dead, Desdemon! dead!

O! O! O!

Enter Lodovico, Montano, Cassio carried in a chair, and Officers with Iago, prisoner.

LODOVICO. Where is this rash and most unfortunate man?

OTHELLO. That’s he that was Othello. Here I am.

LODOVICO. Where is that viper? Bring the villain forth.

OTHELLO. I look down towards his feet; but that’s a fable.

If that thou be’st a devil, I cannot kill thee. Wounds Iago.

LODOVICO. Wrench his sword from him.

IAGO. I bleed, sir, but not kill’d.

OTHELLO. I am not sorry neither. I’ld have thee live, For, in my sense, ‘tis happiness to die.

LODOVICO. O thou Othello, that wert once so good, Fall’n in the practice of a damned slave, What shall be said to thee?

OTHELLO. Why, anything; An honorable murtherer, if you will,

For nought did I in hate, but all in honor.

LODOVICO. This wretch hath part confess’d his villainy.

Did you and he consent in Cassio’s death?

OTHELLO. Ay.

CASSIO. Dear general, I never gave you cause.

OTHELLO. I do believe it, and I ask your pardon.

Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil Why he hath thus ensnared my soul and body?

IAGO. Demand me nothing; what you know, you know.

From this time forth I never will speak word.

LODOVICO. What, not to pray?

GRATIANO. Torments will ope your lips.

OTHELLO. Well, thou dost best.

LODOVICO. Sir, you shall understand what hath befall’n, Which, as I think, you know not. Here is a letter Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigo, And here another. The one of them imports The death of Cassio to be undertook

By Roderigo.

OTHELLO. O villain!

CASSIO. Most heathenish and most gross!

LODOVICO. Now here’s another discontented paper, Found in his pocket too; and this, it seems, Roderigo meant to have sent this damned villain; But that, belike, Iago in the interim Came in and satisfied him.

OTHELLO. O the pernicious caitiff!

How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief That was my wife’s?

CASSIO. I found it in my chamber; And he himself confess’d but even now That there he dropp’d it for a special purpose Which wrought to his desire.

OTHELLO.