Scene I

[Cyprus. Before the castle.]

Enter Iago and Othello.

IAGO:

Will you think so?

OTHELLO:

Think so, Iago?

IAGO:

What,
To kiss in private?

OTHELLO:

An unauthorized kiss.(5)

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,(10)
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,(15)
She may, I think, bestow't on any man.

OTHELLO:

She is protectress of her honor too:
May she give that?

IAGO:

Her honor is an essence that's not seen;
They have it very oft that have it not:(20)
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.(25)

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,(30)
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 assured,(35)
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—(40)

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! 'Zounds, that's fulsome!
Handkerchief—confessions—handkerchief! To confess(45)
and be hanged for his labor 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 shakes me thus. Pish! Noses, ears, and
lips. Is't possible? Confess?—Handkerchief?—O devil!(50)

He falls down [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!(55)

Enter Cassio.

How now, Cassio!

CASSIO:

What's the matter?

IAGO:

My lord is fall'n into an epilepsy:
This is his second fit; he had one yesterday.

CASSIO:

Rub him about the temples.(60)

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,(65)
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.(70)
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?(75)

IAGO:

Good sir, be a man;
Think every bearded fellow that's but yoked
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.(80)
O, 'tis the spite of hell, the fiend's archmock,
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.(85)

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,(90)
And laid good ‘scuse upon your ecstasy;
Bade him anon return and here speak with me;
The which he promised. Do but encave yourself,
And mark the fleers, the gibes, and notable scorns,
That dwell in every region of his face;(95)
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,(100)
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;(105)
But yet keep time in all. Will you withdraw?
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(110)
To beguile many and be beguiled by one.
He, when he hears of her, cannot refrain
From the excess of laughter. Here he comes.

Eenter Cassio.

As he shall smile, Othello shall go mad;
And his unbookish jealousy must construe(115)
Poor Cassio's smiles, gestures, and light behavior,
Quite in the wrong. 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.(120)
Now, if this suit lay in Bianca's power,
How quickly should you speed!

CASSIO:

Alas, poor caitiff!

OTHELLO:

Look, how he laughs already!

IAGO:

I never knew a woman love man so.(125)

CASSIO:

Alas, poor rogue! I think, i'faith, she loves me.

OTHELLO:

Now he denies it faintly and laughs it out.

IAGO:

Do you hear, Cassio?

OTHELLO:

Now he importunes him
To tell it o'er. Go to; well said, well said.(130)

IAGO:

She gives it out that you shall marry her;
Do you intend it?

CASSIO:

Ha, ha, ha!

OTHELLO:

Do you triumph, Roman? Do you triumph?

CASSIO:

I marry her! What? A customer! I prithee, bear some(135)
charity to my wit; do not think it so unwholesome. Ha,
ha, ha!