ACT IV. SCENE I. Cyprus. Before the Castle.

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• Othello, the Moor of Venice   SCENE II. Cyprus. 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 thy rose, I cannot give it vital growth again, It must needs wither. I’ll smell it on the tree.[Kissing 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 crue

• Othello, the Moor of Venice   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 to a little distance.]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.[Goes to his stand.]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

• Othello, the Moor of Venice   SCENE III. Cyprus. Another Room in the Castle.

  Enter Othello, Lodovico, Desdemona, Emilia and Attendants.LODOVICO. I do beseech you, sir, trouble yourself no further.OTHELLO. O, pardon me; ’twill do me good to walk.LODOVICO. Madam, good night. I humbly thank your ladyship.DESDEMONA. Your honour is most welcome.OTHELLO. Will you walk, sir?— O, Desdemona,—DESDEMONA. My lord?OTHELLO. Get you to bed on th’ instant, I will be return’d forthwith. Dismiss your attendant there. Look ’t be done.DESDEMONA. I will, my lord.[Exeunt Othello, Lodovico and Attendants.]EMILIA. How goes it now? He looks gentler than he did.DESDEMONA. He says he will return incontinent, He hath commanded me to go to bed, And bade me to dismiss you.EMILIA. Dismiss me?DESDEMONA. It was his bidding. Therefore, good Emilia, Give me my nightly wearing, and adieu. We must not now displease him.EMILIA. I would you had never seen him!DESDEMONA. So would not I. My love doth so approve him, That even his stubbornness, his checks, his frowns,— Pri

• Othello, the Moor of Venice   SCENE II. Cyprus. A Room in the Castle.

  Enter Othello and Emilia.OTHELLO. You have seen nothing, then?EMILIA. Nor ever heard, nor ever did suspect.OTHELLO. Yes, you have seen Cassio and she together.EMILIA. But then I saw no harm, and then I heard Each syllable that breath made up between them.OTHELLO. What, did they never whisper?EMILIA. Never, my lord.OTHELLO. Nor send you out o’ the way?EMILIA. Never.OTHELLO. To fetch her fan, her gloves, her mask, nor nothing?EMILIA. Never, my lord.OTHELLO. That’s strange.EMILIA. I durst, my lord, to wager she is honest, Lay down my soul at stake: if you think other, Remove your thought, it doth abuse your bosom. If any wretch have put this in your head, Let heaven requite it with the serpent’s curse, For if she be not honest, chaste, and true, There’s no man happy. The purest of their wives Is foul as slander.OTHELLO. Bid her come hither. Go.[Exit Emilia.]She says enough. Yet she’s a simple bawd That cannot say as much. This is a subtle whore, A closet lock

• Othello, the Moor of Venice   ACT IV. SCENE I. 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.

• Othello, the Moor of Venice   SCENE IV. Cyprus. Before the Castle.

  Enter Desdemona, Emilia and Clown.DESDEMONA. Do you know, sirrah, where Lieutenant Cassio lies?CLOWN. I dare not say he lies anywhere.DESDEMONA. Why, man?CLOWN. He’s a soldier; and for one to say a soldier lies is stabbing.DESDEMONA. Go to. Where lodges he?CLOWN. To tell you where he lodges is to tell you where I lie.DESDEMONA. Can anything be made of this?CLOWN. I know not where he lodges; and for me to devise a lodging, and say he lies here, or he lies there, were to lie in mine own throat.DESDEMONA. Can you inquire him out, and be edified by report?CLOWN. I will catechize the world for him, that is, make questions and by them answer.DESDEMONA. Seek him, bid him come hither. Tell him I have moved my lord on his behalf, and hope all will be well.CLOWN. To do this is within the compass of man’s wit, and therefore I will attempt the doing it.[Exit.]DESDEMONA. Where should I lose that handkerchief, Emilia?EMILIA. I know not, madam.DESDEMONA. Believe me, I