Moor, she was chaste; she loved thee, cruel Moor;
So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true;
So speaking as I think, I die, I die.
Dies OTHELLO I have another weapon in this chamber;
It is a sword of Spain, the ice-brook's temper:--
O, here it is. Uncle, I must come forth. GRATIANO [Within] If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear:
Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer. OTHELLO Look in upon me then and speak with me, Or, naked as I am, I will assault thee.
Re-enter GRATIANO GRATIANO What is the matter? OTHELLO Behold, I have a weapon;
A better never did itself sustain Upon a soldier's thigh: I have seen the day, That, with this little arm and this good sword, I have made my way through more impediments Than twenty times your stop: but, O vain boast!
Who can control his fate? 'tis not so now.
Be not afraid, though you do see me weapon'd;
Here is my journey's end, here is my butt, And very sea-mark of my utmost sail.
Do you go back dismay'd? 'tis a lost fear;
Man but a rush against Othello's breast, And he retires. Where should Othello go?
Now, how dost thou look now? O ill-starr'd wench!
Pale as thy smock! when we shall meet at compt, This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven, And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl!
Even like thy chastity. O cursed slave!
Whip me, ye devils, From the possession of this heavenly sight!
Blow me about in winds! roast me in sulphur!
Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!
O Desdemona! Desdemona! dead!
Oh! Oh! Oh!
Enter LODOVICO. MONTANO, CASSIO carried in a chair, and Officers with IAGO, prisoner LODOVICO Where is this rash and most unfortunate man? OTHELLO That's he that was Othello: here I am. LODOVICO Where is that viper? bring the villain forth. OTHELLO I look down towards his feet; but that's a fable.
If that thou best a devil, I cannot kill thee.
Wounds IAGO LODOVICO Wrench his sword from him. IAGO I bleed, sir; but not kill'd. OTHELLO I am not sorry neither: I'ld have thee live;
For, in my sense, 'tis happiness to die. LODOVICO O thou Othello, thou wert once so good, Fall'n in the practise of a damned slave, What shall be said to thee? OTHELLO Why, any thing:
An honourable murderer, if you will;
For nought I did in hate, but all in honour. LODOVICO This wretch hath part confess'd his villany:
Did you and he consent in Cassio's death? OTHELLO Ay. CASSIO Dear general, I never gave you cause. OTHELLO I do believe it, and I ask your pardon.
Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil Why he hath thus ensnared my soul and body? IAGO Demand me nothing: what you know, you know:
From this time forth I never will speak word. LODOVICO What, not to pray? GRATIANO Torments will ope your lips. OTHELLO Well, thou dost best. LODOVICO Sir, you shall understand what hath befall'n, Which, as I think, you know not. Here is a letter Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigo;
And here another: the one of them imports The death of Cassio to be undertook By Roderigo. OTHELLO O villain! CASSIO Most heathenish and most gross! LODOVICO Now here's another discontented paper, Found in his pocket too; and this, it seems, Roderigo meant to have sent this damned villain;
But that belike Iago in the interim Came in and satisfied him. OTHELLO O the pernicious caitiff!
How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief That was my wife's? CASSIO I found it in my chamber:
And he himself confess'd but even now That there he dropp'd it for a special purpose Which wrought to his desire. OTHELLO O fool! fool! fool! CASSIO There is besides in Roderigo's letter, How he upbraids Iago, that he made him Brave me upon the watch; whereon it came That I was cast: and even but now he spake, After long seeming dead, Iago hurt him, Iago set him on. LODOVICO You must forsake this room, and go with us:
Your power and your command is taken off, And Cassio rules in Cyprus. For this slave, If there be any cunning cruelty That can torment him much and hold him long, It shall be his. You shall close prisoner rest, Till that the nature of your fault be known To the Venetian state. Come, bring him away. OTHELLO Soft you; a word or two before you go.
I have done the state some service, and they know't.
No more of that. I pray you, in your letters, When you shall these unlucky deeds relate, Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate, Nor set down aught in malice: then must you speak Of one that loved not wisely but too well;
Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought Perplex'd in the extreme; of one whose hand, Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued eyes, Albeit unused to the melting mood, Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees Their medicinal gum. Set you down this;
And say besides, that in Aleppo once, Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk Beat a Venetian and traduced the state, I took by the throat the circumcised dog, And smote him, thus.
Stabs himself LODOVICO O bloody period! GRATIANO All that's spoke is marr'd. OTHELLO I kiss'd thee ere I kill'd thee: no way but this;
Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.
Falls on the bed, and dies CASSIO This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon;
For he was great of heart. LODOVICO [To IAGO] O Spartan dog, More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea!
Look on the tragic loading of this bed;
This is thy work: the object poisons sight;
Let it be hid. Gratiano, keep the house, And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor, For they succeed on you. To you, lord governor, Remains the censure of this hellish villain;
The time, the place, the torture: O, enforce it!
Myself will straight aboard: and to the state This heavy act with heavy heart relate.
