Othello. William Shakespeare
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CASSIO
I know not neither: I found it in my chamber.
I like the work well: ere it be demanded,—
As like enough it will,—I’d have it copied:
Take it, and do’t; and leave me for this time.
BIANCA
Leave you! wherefore?
CASSIO
I do attend here on the general;
And think it no addition, nor my wish,
To have him see me woman’d.
BIANCA
Why, I pray you?
CASSIO
Not that I love you not.
BIANCA
But that you do not love me.
I pray you, bring me on the way a little;
And say if I shall see you soon at night.
CASSIO
‘Tis but a little way that I can bring you,
For I attend here: but I’ll see you soon.
BIANCA
‘Tis very good; I must be circumstanc’d.
[Exeunt.]
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
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,
Convincèd 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 hornèd man’s a monster and a beast.