Othello Page #19

---

Sing willow, willow, willow;

Prithee, hie thee; he'll come anon:--

Singing

Sing all a green willow must be my garland.

Let nobody blame him; his scorn I approve,-

Nay, that's not next.--Hark! who is't that knocks?

EMILIA:

It's the wind.

DESDEMONA:

[Singing] I call'd my love false love; but what

said he then?

Sing willow, willow, willow:

If I court moe women, you'll couch with moe men!

So, get thee gone; good night Ate eyes do itch;

Doth that bode weeping?

EMILIA:

'Tis neither here nor there.

DESDEMONA:

I have heard it said so. O, these men, these men!

Dost thou in conscience think,--tell me, Emilia,--

That there be women do abuse their husbands

In such gross kind?

EMILIA:

There be some such, no question.

DESDEMONA:

Wouldst thou do such a deed for all the world?

EMILIA:

Why, would not you?

DESDEMONA:

No, by this heavenly light!

EMILIA:

Nor I neither by this heavenly light;

I might do't as well i' the dark.

DESDEMONA:

Wouldst thou do such a deed for all the world?

EMILIA:

The world's a huge thing: it is a great price.

For a small vice.

DESDEMONA:

In troth, I think thou wouldst not.

EMILIA:

In troth, I think I should; and undo't when I had

done. Marry, I would not do such a thing for a

joint-ring, nor for measures of lawn, nor for

gowns, petticoats, nor caps, nor any petty

exhibition; but for the whole world,--why, who would

not make her husband a cuckold to make him a

monarch? I should venture purgatory for't.

DESDEMONA:

Beshrew me, if I would do such a wrong

For the whole world.

EMILIA:

Why the wrong is but a wrong i' the world: and

having the world for your labour, tis a wrong in your

own world, and you might quickly make it right.

DESDEMONA:

I do not think there is any such woman.

EMILIA:

Yes, a dozen; and as many to the vantage as would

store the world they played for.

But I do think it is their husbands' faults

If wives do fall: say that they slack their duties,

And pour our treasures into foreign laps,

Or else break out in peevish jealousies,

Throwing restraint upon us; or say they strike us,

Or scant our former having in despite;

Why, we have galls, and though we have some grace,

Yet have we some revenge. Let husbands know

Their wives have sense like them: they see and smell

And have their palates both for sweet and sour,

As husbands have. What is it that they do

When they change us for others? Is it sport?

I think it is:
and doth affection breed it?

I think it doth:
is't frailty that thus errs?

It is so too:
and have not we affections,

Desires for sport, and frailty, as men have?

Then let them use us well: else let them know,

The ills we do, their ills instruct us so.

DESDEMONA:

Good night, good night: heaven me such uses send,

Not to pick bad from bad, but by bad mend!

Exeunt

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. But 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 for ever. Help, ho! murder! murder!

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? murder! murder!

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 ones on murder?

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!

What are you there? come in, and give some help.

To LODOVICO and GRATIANO

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote