READ STUDY GUIDE: Act IV, scene i |
|
Act IV, Scene i:
Cyprus. Before the Castle.
Cyprus. Before the Castle.
| [Enter Othello and Iago.] |
| IAGO: |
| Will you think so? |
| OTHELLO: |
| Think so, Iago? |
| IAGO: |
| What, |
| To kiss in private? |
| OTHELLO: |
| An unauthoriz'd kiss. |
| IAGO: |
| Or to be naked with her friend in bed |
| An hour or more, not meaning any harm? |
| OTHELLO: |
| Naked in bed, Iago, and not mean harm! |
| It is hypocrisy against the devil: |
| They that mean virtuously and yet do so, |
| The devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heaven. |
| IAGO: |
| So they do nothing, 'tis a venial slip: |
| But if I give my wife a handkerchief,— |
| OTHELLO: |
| What then? |
| IAGO: |
| Why, then, 'tis hers, my lord, and being hers, |
| She may, I think, bestow't on any man. |
| OTHELLO: |
| She is protectress of her honour too: |
| May she give that? |
| IAGO: |
| Her honour is an essence that's not seen; |
| They have it very oft that have it not: |
| But, for the handkerchief,— |
| OTHELLO: |
| By heaven, I would most gladly have forgot it:— |
| Thou said'st,—O, it comes o'er my memory, |
| As doth the raven o'er the infected house, |
| Boding to all,—he had my handkerchief. |
| IAGO: |
| Ay, what of that? |
| OTHELLO: |
| That's not so good now. |
| IAGO: |
| What, |
| If I had said I had seen him do you wrong? |
| Or heard him say,—as knaves be such abroad, |
| Who having, by their own importunate suit, |
| Or voluntary dotage of some mistress, |
| Convinced or supplied them, cannot choose |
| But they must blab,— |
| OTHELLO: |
| Hath he said anything? |
| IAGO: |
| He hath, my lord; but be you well assur'd, |
| No more than he'll unswear. |
| OTHELLO: |
| What hath he said? |
| IAGO: |
| Faith, that he did,—I know not what he did. |
| OTHELLO: |
| What? what? |
| IAGO: |
| Lie,— |
| OTHELLO: |
| With her? |
| IAGO: |
| With her, on her, what you will. |
| OTHELLO: |
| Lie with her! lie on her!—We say lie on her when they |
| belie her.—Lie with her! that's fulsome.—Handkerchief- |
| -confessions—handkerchief!—To confess, and be hanged |
| for his labour,—first, to be hanged, and then to confess.—I |
| tremble at it. Nature would not invest herself in such shadowing |
| passion without some instruction. It is not words that shake me |
| thus:—pish!—noses, ears, and lips.—Is't possible?—Confess,— |
| handkerchief!—O devil!— |
| [Falls in a trance.] |
| IAGO: |
| Work on, |
| My medicine, work! Thus credulous fools are caught; |
| And many worthy and chaste dames even thus, |
| All guiltless, meet reproach.—What, ho! my lord! |
| My lord, I say! Othello! |
| [Enter Cassio.] |
| How now, Cassio! |
| CASSIO: |
| What's the matter? |
| IAGO: |
| My lord is fallen into an epilepsy: |
| This is his second fit; he had one yesterday. |
| CASSIO: |
| Rub him about the temples. |
| IAGO: |
| No, forbear; |
| The lethargy must have his quiet course: |
| If not, he foams at mouth, and by and by |
| Breaks out to savage madness. Look, he stirs: |
| Do you withdraw yourself a little while, |
| He will recover straight: when he is gone, |
| I would on great occasion speak with you. |
| [Exit Cassio.] |
| How is it, general? have you not hurt your head? |
| OTHELLO: |
| Dost thou mock me? |
| IAGO: |
| I mock you! no, by heaven. |
| Would you would bear your fortune like a man! |
| OTHELLO: |
| A horned man's a monster and a beast. |
| IAGO: |
| There's many a beast, then, in a populous city, |
| And many a civil monster. |
| OTHELLO: |
| Did he confess it? |
| IAGO: |
| Good sir, be a man; |
| Think every bearded fellow that's but yok'd |
| May draw with you: there's millions now alive |
| That nightly lie in those unproper beds |
| Which they dare swear peculiar: your case is better. |
| O, 'tis the spite of hell, the fiend's arch-mock, |
| To lip a wanton in a secure couch, |
| And to suppose her chaste! No, let me know; |
| And knowing what I am, I know what she shall be. |
| OTHELLO: |
| O, thou art wise; 'tis certain. |
| IAGO: |
| Stand you awhile apart; |
| Confine yourself but in a patient list. |
| Whilst you were here o'erwhelmed with your grief,— |
| A passion most unsuiting such a man,— |
| Cassio came hither: I shifted him away, |
| And laid good 'scuse upon your ecstasy; |
| Bade him anon return, and here speak with me; |
| The which he promis'd. Do but encave yourself, |
| And mark the fleers, the gibes, and notable scorns, |
| That dwell in every region of his face; |
| For I will make him tell the tale anew,— |
| Where, how, how oft, how long ago, and when |
| He hath, and is again to cope your wife: |
| I say, but mark his gesture. Marry, patience; |
| Or I shall say you are all in all in spleen, |
| And nothing of a man. |
| OTHELLO: |
| Dost thou hear, Iago? |
| I will be found most cunning in my patience; |
| But,—dost thou hear?—most bloody. |
| IAGO: |
| That's not amiss; |
| But yet keep time in all. Will you withdraw? |
| [Othello withdraws.] |
| Now will I question Cassio of Bianca, |
| A housewife that, by selling her desires, |
| Buys herself bread and clothes: it is a creature |
| That dotes on Cassio,—as 'tis the strumpet's plague |
| To beguile many and be beguil'd by one:— |
| He, when he hears of her, cannot refrain |
| From the excess of laughter:—here he comes:— |
| As he shall smile Othello shall go mad; |
| And his unbookish jealousy must construe |
| Poor Cassio's smiles, gestures, and light behavior |
| Quite in the wrong. |
| [Re-enter Cassio.] |
| How do you now, lieutenant? |
| CASSIO: |
| The worser that you give me the addition |
| Whose want even kills me. |
| IAGO: |
| Ply Desdemona well, and you are sure on't. |
| Now, if this suit lay in Bianca's power,[Speaking lower.] |
| How quickly should you speed! |
| CASSIO: |
| Alas, poor caitiff! |
| OTHELLO: |
| [Aside.] Look, how he laughs already! |
| IAGO: |
| I never knew a woman love man so. |
| CASSIO: |
| Alas, poor rogue! I think, i'faith, she loves me. |
| OTHELLO: |
| [Aside.] Now he denies it faintly and laughs it out. |
| IAGO: |
| Do you hear, Cassio? |
| OTHELLO: |
| [Aside.] Now he importunes him |
| To tell it o'er: go to; well said, well said. |
| IAGO: |
| She gives it out that you shall marry her: |
| Do you intend it? |
| CASSIO: |
| Ha, ha, ha! |
| OTHELLO: |
| [Aside.] Do you triumph, Roman? do you triumph? |
| CASSIO: |
| I marry her!—what? A customer! I pr'ythee, bear some |
| charity to my wit; do not think it so unwholesome:—ha, ha, ha! |
| OTHELLO: |
| [Aside.] So, so, so, so: they laugh that win. |
| IAGO: |
| Faith, the cry goes that you shall marry her. |
| CASSIO: |
| Pr'ythee, say true. |
| IAGO: |
| I am a very villain else. |
| OTHELLO: |
| [Aside.] Have you scored me? Well. |
| CASSIO: |
| This is the monkey's own giving out: she is persuaded I |
| will marry her, out of her own love and flattery, not out of |
| my promise. |
| OTHELLO: |
| [Aside.] Iago beckons me; now he begins the story. |
| CASSIO: |
| She was here even now; she haunts me in every place. I |
| was the other day talking on the sea bank with certain Venetians, |
| and thither comes the bauble, and falls thus about my neck,— |
| OTHELLO: |
| [Aside.] Crying, "O dear Cassio!" as it were: his gesture imports |
| it. |
| CASSIO: |
| So hangs, and lolls, and weeps upon me; so hales and |
| pulls me: ha, ha, ha! |
| OTHELLO: |
| [Aside.] Now he tells how she plucked him to my chamber. O, I see |
| that nose of yours, but not that dog I shall throw it to. |
| CASSIO: |
| Well, I must leave her company. |
| IAGO: |
| Before me! look where she comes. |
| CASSIO: |
| 'Tis such another fitchew! marry, a perfumed one. |
| [Enter Bianca.] |
| What do you mean by this haunting of me? |
| BIANCA: |
| Let the devil and his dam haunt you! What did you mean |
| by that same handkerchief you gave me even now? I was a fine |
| fool to take it. I must take out the work?—A likely piece of |
| work that you should find it in your chamber and not know who |
| left it there! This is some minx's token, and I must take out the |
| work? There,—give it your hobby-horse: wheresoever you had it, |
| I'll take out no work on't. |
| CASSIO: |
| How now, my sweet Bianca! how now! how now! |
| OTHELLO: |
| [Aside.] By heaven, that should be my handkerchief! |
| BIANCA: |
| An you'll come to supper to-night, you may; an you will |
| not, come when you are next prepared for. |
| [Exit.] |
| IAGO: |
| After her, after her. |
| CASSIO: |
| Faith, I must; she'll rail in the street else. |
| IAGO: |
| Will you sup there? |
| CASSIO: |
| Faith, I intend so. |
| IAGO: |
| Well, I may chance to see you; for I would very fain |
| speak with you. |
| CASSIO: |
| Pr'ythee, come; will you? |
| IAGO: |
| Go to; say no more. |
| [Exit Cassio.] |
| OTHELLO: |
| [Coming forward.] How shall I murder him, Iago? |
| IAGO: |
| Did you perceive how he laughed at his vice? |
| OTHELLO: |
| O Iago! |
| IAGO: |
| And did you see the handkerchief? |
| OTHELLO: |
| Was that mine? |
| IAGO: |
| Yours, by this hand: and to see how he prizes the foolish woman |
| your wife! she gave it him, and he hath given it his whore. |
| OTHELLO: |
| I would have him nine years a-killing.—A fine woman! a fair |
| woman! a sweet woman! |
| IAGO: |
| Nay, you must forget that. |
| OTHELLO: |
| Ay, let her rot, and perish, and be damned to-night; for |
| she shall not live: no, my heart is turned to stone; I strike |
| it, and it hurts my hand.—O, the world hath not a sweeter |
| creature: she might lie by an emperor's side, and command him |
| tasks. |
| IAGO: |
| Nay, that's not your way. |
| OTHELLO: |
| Hang her! I do but say what she is:—so delicate with her |
| needle!—an admirable musician! O, she will sing the savageness |
| out of a bear!—Of so high and plenteous wit and invention!— |
| IAGO: |
| She's the worse for all this. |
| OTHELLO: |
| O, a thousand, a thousand times:—and then, of so gentle a |
| condition! |
| IAGO: |
| Ay, too gentle. |
| OTHELLO: |
| Nay, that's certain:—but yet the pity of it, Iago! |
| O Iago, the pity of it, Iago! |
| IAGO: |
| If you are so fond over her iniquity, give her patent to |
| offend; for, if it touch not you, it comes near nobody. |
| OTHELLO: |
| I will chop her into messes.—Cuckold me! |
| IAGO: |
| O, 'tis foul in her. |
| OTHELLO: |
| With mine officer! |
| IAGO: |
| That's fouler. |
| OTHELLO: |
| Get me some poison, Iago; this night.—I'll not expostulate |
| with her, lest her body and beauty unprovide my mind again:— |
| this night, Iago. |
| IAGO: |
| Do it not with poison; strangle her in her bed, even the |
| bed she hath contaminated. |
| OTHELLO: |
| Good, good: the justice of it pleases: very good. |
| IAGO: |
| And for Cassio,—let me be his undertaker:—you shall hear |
| more by midnight. |
| OTHELLO: |
| Excellent good.[A trumpet within.]What trumpet is that same? |
| IAGO: |
| Something from Venice, sure. 'Tis Lodovico |
| Come from the duke: and, see, your wife is with him. |
| [Enter Lodovico, Desdemona, and Attendants.] |
| LODOVICO: |
| Save you, worthy general! |
| OTHELLO: |
| With all my heart, sir. |
| LODOVICO: |
| The duke and senators of Venice greet you. |
| [Gives him a packet.] |
| OTHELLO: |
| I kiss the instrument of their pleasures. |
| [Opens the packet and reads.] |
| DESDEMONA: |
| And what's the news, good cousin Lodovico? |
| IAGO: |
| I am very glad to see you, signior; |
| Welcome to Cyprus. |
| LODOVICO: |
| I thank you. How does Lieutenant Cassio? |
| IAGO: |
| Lives, sir. |
| DESDEMONA: |
| Cousin, there's fall'n between him and my lord |
| An unkind breach: but you shall make all well. |
| OTHELLO: |
| Are you sure of that? |
| DESDEMONA: |
| My lord? |
| OTHELLO: |
| [Reads.] "This fail you not to do, as you will,—" |
| LODOVICO: |
| He did not call; he's busy in the paper. |
| Is there division 'twixt my lord and Cassio? |
| DESDEMONA: |
| A most unhappy one: I would do much |
| To atone them, for the love I bear to Cassio. |
| OTHELLO: |
| Fire and brimstone! |
| DESDEMONA: |
| My lord? |
| OTHELLO: |
| Are you wise? |
| DESDEMONA: |
| What, is he angry? |
| LODOVICO: |
| May be the letter mov'd him; |
| For, as I think, they do command him home, |
| Deputing Cassio in his government. |
| DESDEMONA: |
| Trust me, I am glad on't. |
| OTHELLO: |
| Indeed! |
| DESDEMONA: |
| My lord? |
| OTHELLO: |
| I am glad to see you mad. |
| DESDEMONA: |
| Why, sweet Othello,— |
| OTHELLO: |
| Devil![Striking her.] |
| DESDEMONA: |
| I have not deserv'd this. |
| LODOVICO: |
| My lord, this would not be believ'd in Venice, |
| Though I should swear I saw't: 'tis very much: |
| Make her amends; she weeps. |
| OTHELLO: |
| O devil, devil! |
| If that the earth could teem with woman's tears, |
| Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile.— |
| Out of my sight! |
| DESDEMONA: |
| [Going.] I will not stay to offend you. |
| LODOVICO: |
| Truly, an obedient lady:— |
| I do beseech your lordship, call her back. |
| OTHELLO: |
| Mistress! |
| DESDEMONA: |
| My lord? |
| OTHELLO: |
| What would you with her, sir? |
| LODOVICO: |
| Who, I, my lord? |
| OTHELLO: |
| Ay; you did wish that I would make her turn: |
| Sir, she can turn, and turn, and yet go on, |
| And turn again; and she can weep, sir, weep; |
| And she's obedient, as you say,—obedient,— |
| Very obedient.—Proceed you in your tears.— |
| Concerning this, sir,—O well-painted passion! |
| I am commanded home.—Get you away; |
| I'll send for you anon.—Sir, I obey the mandate, |
| And will return to Venice.—Hence, avaunt! |
| [Exit Desdemona.] |
| Cassio shall have my place. And, sir, to-night, |
| I do entreat that we may sup together: |
| You are welcome, sir, to Cyprus.—Goats and monkeys! |
| [Exit.] |
| LODOVICO: |
| Is this the noble Moor whom our full senate |
| Call all-in-all sufficient? Is this the nature |
| Whom passion could not shake? whose solid virtue |
| The shot of accident nor dart of chance |
| Could neither graze nor pierce? |
| IAGO: |
| He is much chang'd. |
| LODOVICO: |
| Are his wits safe? is he not light of brain? |
| IAGO: |
| He's that he is: I may not breathe my censure |
| What he might be,—if what he might he is not,— |
| I would to heaven he were! |
| LODOVICO: |
| What, strike his wife! |
| IAGO: |
| Faith, that was not so well; yet would I knew |
| That stroke would prove the worst! |
| LODOVICO: |
| Is it his use? |
| Or did the letters work upon his blood, |
| And new-create this fault? |
| IAGO: |
| Alas, alas! |
| It is not honesty in me to speak |
| What I have seen and known. You shall observe him; |
| And his own courses will denote him so |
| That I may save my speech: do but go after, |
| And mark how he continues. |
| LODOVICO: |
| I am sorry that I am deceiv'd in him. |
| [Exeunt.] |
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