Othello: Act 1, Scene 3
Enter DUKE, Senators and Officers.
DUKE
1 There is no composition in these news
1. composition: consistency.
2 That gives them credit.
First Senator
Indeed, they are disproportion'd;
2. disproportion'd: inconsistent.
3 My letters say a hundred and seven galleys.
"And mine, a hundred and forty"
DUKE
4 And mine, a hundred and forty.
Second Senator
And mine, two hundred!
5 But though they jump not on a just account, —
5. jump: agree. just: exact. account: accounting, number.
6 As in these cases, where the aim reports,
6. the aim: i.e., conjecture.
7 'Tis oft with difference — yet do they all confirm
8 A Turkish fleet, and bearing up to Cyprus.
DUKE
9 Nay, it is possible enough to judgment:
10 I do not so secure me in the error
11 But the main article I do approve
10-11. I do not so secure me in the error, / But the main article I do approve: I don't find so much safety in the discrepancies [in the number of Turkish ships reported] but I believe the main message [that the Turks are mounting an attack on Cyprus].
12 In fearful sense.
Sailor (Within.)
What, ho! what, ho! what, ho!
Officer
13 A messenger from the galleys.
Enter SAILOR.
DUKE
Now, what's the business?
Sailor
14 The Turkish preparation makes for Rhodes;
14. preparation: force prepared for war.
15 So was I bid report here to the state
16 By Signior Angelo.
DUKE
17 How say you by this change?
17. by: about.
First Senator
This cannot be,
18 By no assay of reason: 'tis a pageant,
18. assay of reason: test of common sense. pageant: mere show.
19 To keep us in false gaze. When we consider
19. in false gaze: looking in the wrong direction.
20 The importancy of Cyprus to the Turk,
21 And let ourselves again but understand,
22 That as it more concerns the Turk than Rhodes,
23 So may he with more facile question bear it,
23. with . . . it: capture it (Cyprus) more easily.
24 For that it stands not in such warlike brace,
24. brace: readiness, state of defense.
25 But altogether lacks the abilities
25. abilities: defensive capabilities.
26 That Rhodes is dress'd in: if we make thought of this,
27 We must not think the Turk is so unskilful
27. unskilful: unable to weigh the situation, undiscriminating.
28 To leave that latest which concerns him first,
28. latest: last.
29 Neglecting an attempt of ease and gain,
29. of ease and gain: i.e., that will yield easy success.
30 To wake and wage a danger profitless.
30. wage: risk.
DUKE
31 Nay, in all confidence, he's not for Rhodes.
Officer
32 Here is more news.
Enter a MESSENGER.
Messenger
33 The Ottomites, reverend and gracious,
34 Steering with due course towards the isle of Rhodes,
35 Have there injointed them with an after fleet.
35. injointed them: joined themselves. after: second.
First Senator
36 Ay, so I thought. How many, as you guess?
Messenger
37 Of thirty sail: and now they do restem
37. restem: steer again.
38 Their backward course, bearing with frank appearance
38. with frank appearance: openly, without disguising their intention.
39 Their purposes toward Cyprus. Signior Montano,
40 Your trusty and most valiant servitor,
41 With his free duty recommends you thus,
41. his free duty: i.e., expressions of unwavering loyalty. recommends you: reports to you.
42 And prays you to believe him.
DUKE
43 'Tis certain, then, for Cyprus.
44 Marcus Luccicos, is not he in town?
First Senator
45 He's now in Florence.
DUKE
46 Write from us to him; post-post-haste. Dispatch!
First Senator
47 Here comes Brabantio and the valiant Moor.
Enter BRABANTIO, OTHELLO, CASSIO,
IAGO, RODERIGO, and OFFICERS.
DUKE
48 Valiant Othello, we must straight employ you
49 Against the general enemy Ottoman.
49. general enemy: enemy of all Christendom.
[To Brabantio.]
50 I did not see you; welcome, gentle signior;
50. gentle: noble.
51 We lack'd your counsel and your help tonight.
BRABANTIO
52 So did I yours. Good your grace, pardon me;
53 Neither my place nor aught I heard of business
54 Hath raised me from my bed, nor doth the general care
55 Take hold on me, for my particular grief
55. particular: private.
56 Is of so flood-gate and o'erbearing nature
56. flood-gate: i.e., overwhelming (like the onrushing water when flood-gates are opened).
57 That it engluts and swallows other sorrows
57. engluts: engulfs.
58 And it is still itself.
DUKE
Why, what's the matter?
BRABANTIO
59 My daughter! O, my daughter!
All
Dead?
BRABANTIO
Ay, to me;
60 She is abus'd, stol'n from me, and corrupted
60. abus'd: deceived, deluded.
61 By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks;
61. mountebanks: snake-oil salesmen.
62 For nature so preposterously to err,
62. nature . . . err: human nature to make such a preposterous mistake.
63 Being not deficient, blind, or lame of sense,
63. deficient: defective.
64 Sans witchcraft could not.
64. Sans witchcraft could not: Without witchcraft [nature] could not [make such a mistake].
DUKE
65 Whoe'er he be that in this foul proceeding
66 Hath thus beguiled your daughter of herself
67 And you of her, the bloody book of law
68 You shall yourself read in the bitter letter
68. the bitter letter: the harsh letter of the law.
69 After your own sense, yea, though our proper son
69. After your own sense: giving it your own interpretation. our proper: my own.
70 Stood in your action.
70. Stood in your action: was the one who faced your charges.
BRABANTIO
Humbly I thank your grace.
71 Here is the man, this Moor, whom now, it seems,
72 Your special mandate for the state-affairs
73 Hath hither brought.
All
We are very sorry for't.
DUKE [To Othello.]
74 What, in your own part, can you say to this?
BRABANTIO
75 Nothing, but this is so.
OTHELLO
76 Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors,
77. approv'd: proved.
77 My very noble and approv'd good masters,
78 That I have ta'en away this old man's daughter,
79 It is most true; true, I have married her:
80. The very head and front of my offending: i.e., my offense at the utmost. front: forehead, face. 81. Rude: unpolished.
80 The very head and front of my offending
81 Hath this extent, no more. Rude am I in my speech,
82 And little bless'd with the soft phrase of peace:
83. seven years' pith: the strength of [a boy of] seven years. 84. Till now some nine moons wasted: until some nine months ago (during which time Othello has evidently not been on active duty, but in Venice).
83 For since these arms of mine had seven years' pith,
84 Till now some nine moons wasted, they have used
85 Their dearest action in the tented field,
86 And little of this great world can I speak,
87 More than pertains to feats of broil and battle,
88 And therefore little shall I grace my cause
89 In speaking for myself. Yet, by your gracious patience,
90. round: plain.
90 I will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver
91 Of my whole course of love; what drugs, what charms,
92 What conjuration and what mighty magic,
93. withal: with.
93 For such proceeding I am charged withal,
94 I won his daughter.
BRABANTIO
A maiden never bold;
95-96. her motion / Blush'd at herself: any stirring of her feelings made her blush (as if her feelings were improper).
95 Of spirit so still and quiet, that her motion
96 Blush'd at herself; and she, in spite of nature,
97. credit: virtuous reputation.
97 Of years, of country, credit, every thing,
98 To fall in love with what she fear'd to look on!
99 It is a judgment maim'd and most imperfect
100. confess: concede (that), aver, or declare.
100 That will confess perfection so could err
101. must: i.e., the unmaimed judgment must.
101 Against all rules of nature, and must be driven
102. practices: plots.
102 To find out practises of cunning hell,
103. vouch: assert, affirm.
103 Why this should be. I therefore vouch again
104. blood: passions.
104 That with some mixtures powerful o'er the blood,
105. conjur'd to this effect: made thus efficacious by spells.
105 Or with some dram conjur'd to this effect,
106 He wrought upon her.
DUKE
106 To vouch this, is no proof,
107. more wider: i.e., fuller.
107 Without more wider and more overt test
108. thin habits: thin clothing; i.e., slight appearances.
108 Than these thin habits and poor likelihoods
109. modern: commonplace, insignificant. seeming: assumption, supposition. prefer: present.
109 Of modern seeming do prefer against him.
First Senator
110 But, Othello, speak:
111 Did you by indirect and forced courses
112 Subdue and poison this young maid's affections?
113. question: conversation.
113 Or came it by request and such fair question
114 As soul to soul affordeth?
OTHELLO
I do beseech you,
115 Send for the lady to the Sagittary,
116 And let her speak of me before her father:
117 If you do find me foul in her report,
118 The trust, the office I do hold of you,
119 Not only take away, but let your sentence
120 Even fall upon my life.
DUKE
Fetch Desdemona hither.
OTHELLO
121 Ancient, conduct them: you best know the place.
[Exeunt IAGO and Attendants.]
122 And, till she come, as truly as to heaven
123. vices of my blood: my human failings. blood: passions.
123 I do confess the vices of my blood,
124. justly: exactly, truthfully.
124 So justly to your grave ears I'll present
125 How I did thrive in this fair lady's love,
126 And she in mine.
"I ran it through, even from my boyish days"
DUKE
127 Say it, Othello.
OTHELLO
128 Her father loved me; oft invited me;
129 Still question'd me the story of my life,
129. Still: Continually.
130 From year to year, the battles, sieges, fortunes,
131 That I have passed.
132 I ran it through, even from my boyish days,
133 To the very moment that he bade me tell it;
134 Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances,
135 Of moving accidents by flood and field
135. moving accidents: frightening events.
136 Of hair-breadth scapes i' the imminent deadly breach,
136. imminent deadly: threatening death. breach: gap made in a fortification.
137 Of being taken by the insolent foe
138 And sold to slavery, of my redemption thence
139 And portance in my travels' history:
139. portance: conduct, behavior.
140 Wherein of antres vast and deserts idle,
140. antres: caves. idle: barren, empty.
141 Rough quarries, rocks and hills whose heads touch heaven
141. Rough quarries: rugged stone-masses.
142 It was my hint to speak, — such was the process;
142. hint: occasion. such was the process: i.e., in order to tell my story truthfully, I had to speak of such strange things.
143 And of the Cannibals that each other eat,
144 The Anthropophagi and men whose heads
144. Anthropophagi: man-eaters.
145 Do grow beneath their shoulders. This to hear
146 Would Desdemona seriously incline:
147 But still the house-affairs would draw her thence:
148 Which ever as she could with haste dispatch,
149 She'ld come again, and with a greedy ear
150 Devour up my discourse: which I observing,
151 Took once a pliant hour, and found good means
152 To draw from her a prayer of earnest heart
152. prayer: request.
153 That I would all my pilgrimage dilate,
153. dilate: relate in detail.
154 Whereof by parcels she had something heard,
154. by parcels: by snatches, in bits and pieces.
155 But not intentively: I did consent,
155. intentively: with full and continuous attention.
156 And often did beguile her of her tears,
157 When I did speak of some distressful stroke
158 That my youth suffer'd. My story being done,
159 She gave me for my pains a world of sighs:
160 She swore, in faith, 'twas strange, 'twas passing strange,
161 'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful:
162 She wish'd she had not heard it, yet she wish'd
163 That heaven had made her such a man: she thank'd me,
163. made her such a man: made such a man for her (to love).
164 And bade me, if I had a friend that loved her,
165 I should but teach him how to tell my story.
166 And that would woo her. Upon this hint I spake:
166. hint: opportunity. I spake: i.e., I asked her to marry me.
167 She loved me for the dangers I had pass'd,
168 And I loved her that she did pity them.
169 This only is the witchcraft I have used:
170 Here comes the lady; let her witness it.
Enter DESDEMONA, IAGO, ATTENDANTS.
DUKE
171 I think this tale would win my daughter too.
172 Good Brabantio,
173 Take up this mangled matter at the best:
173. Take up this mangled matter at the best: Make the best of this complicated situation.
174 Men do their broken weapons rather use
175 Than their bare hands.
BRABANTIO
"but here's my husband"
I pray you, hear her speak:
176 If she confess that she was half the wooer,
177 Destruction on my head, if my bad blame
178 Light on the man! Come hither, gentle mistress:
179 Do you perceive in all this noble company
180 Where most you owe obedience?
DESDEMONA
My noble father,
181 I do perceive here a divided duty:
182 To you I am bound for life and education;
182. education: upbringing.
183 My life and education both do learn me
183. learn: teach.
184 How to respect you; you are the lord of duty;
184. respect: regard.
185 I am hitherto your daughter: but here's my husband,
185. I am hitherto your daughter: i.e., until now I have owed all my obedience to you as my father.
186 And so much duty as my mother show'd
187 To you, preferring you before her father,
188 So much I challenge that I may profess
188. challenge: claim.
189 Due to the Moor, my lord.
BRABANTIO
God be with you! I have done.
189. God be with you: good-bye.
190 Please it your grace, on to the state affairs:
191 I had rather to adopt a child than get it.
191. get: beget. (If he had adopted her, he could tell himself that her bad behavior was the fault of her bad blood.)
192 Come hither, Moor:
193 I here do give thee that with all my heart
194 Which, but thou hast already, with all my heart
195 I would keep from thee. For your sake, jewel,
195. For your sake: on your account, because of what you have done.
196 I am glad at soul I have no other child:
197 For thy escape would teach me tyranny,
197. escape: transgression.
198 To hang clogs on them. I have done, my lord.
198. clogs: blocks of wood hung on criminals or animals to prevent their running away.
DUKE
199 Let me speak like yourself, and lay a sentence,
199. like yourself: i.e., as you should in your proper temper. sentence: adage. (It's the rhymed part that follows.)
200 Which, as a grise or step, may help these lovers
200. grise: degree, step.
201 Into your favor.
202 When remedies are past, the griefs are ended
202. remedies: i.e., hopes of remedy.
203 By seeing the worst, which late on hopes depended.
203. which: i.e., the griefs. hopes: anticipations.
204 To mourn a mischief that is past and gone
204. mischief: injury.
205 Is the next way to draw new mischief on.
205. next: nearest.
206 What cannot be preserved when fortune takes
206. What: Whatever.
207 Patience her injury a mockery makes.
207. Patience . . . makes: patient endurance of a loss makes a mockery of Fortune's injury [and thus eases the pain].
208 The robb'd that smiles steals something from the thief;
209 He robs himself that spends a bootless grief.
209. spends a bootless grief: i.e., wastes time on useless grief.
BRABANTIO
210 So let the Turk of Cyprus us beguile;
210-211. beguile . . . smile: Brabantio mocks the duke by also rhyming.
211 We lose it not, so long as we can smile.
212 He bears the sentence well that nothing bears
213 But the free comfort which from thence he hears,
213. free: i.e., unmixed with sorrow.
214 But he bears both the sentence and the sorrow
215 That, to pay grief, must of poor patience borrow.
212-215. He bears . . . borrow: i.e., your maxim does well for the person who finds in it only comfort free from sorrow; but anyone whose sorrow overwhelms his patience is left with his sorrow and the guilt of not having the patience to overcome it.
216 These sentences, to sugar, or to gall,
217 Being strong on both sides, are equivocal:
218 But words are words; I never yet did hear
219. pierced: i.e., relieved as by a surgeon's lancet.
219 That the bruised heart was pierced through the ear.
220 I humbly beseech you, proceed to the affairs of state.
DUKE
221 The Turk with a most mighty preparation makes for
221. preparation: preparation for battle.
222 Cyprus. Othello, the fortitude of the place is best
222. fortitude: military strength.
223. substitute: deputy, representative.
223 known to you; and though we have there a substitute
224 of most allow'd sufficiency, yet opinion, a
224. allow'd: acknowledged.
225 sovereign mistress of effects, throws a more safer
224-225. opinion . . . effects: public opinion, a powerful arbiter of what needs to be done.
226 voice on you: you must therefore be content to
225-226. throws . . . you: says you are the safer choice.
227 slubber the gloss of your new fortunes with this
227. slubber: soil, sully.
228 more stubborn and boisterous expedition.
228. stubborn and boisterous: difficult and rough.
OTHELLO
229 The tyrant custom, most grave senators,
230 Hath made the flinty and steel couch of war
231 My thrice-driven bed of down: I do agnize
231. thrice-driven: thrice-winnowed (to obtain the softest feathers). agnize: acknowledge, recognize.
232 A natural and prompt alacrity
232. alacrity: readiness.
233 I find in hardness, and do undertake
233. hardness: hardship.
234 These present wars against the Ottomites.
235 Most humbly therefore bending to your state,
235. bending to your state: i.e., bowing to your authority.
236 I crave fit disposition for my wife.
236. fit disposition: suitable provision.
237 Due reference of place and exhibition,
237. reference of place: assignment of residence. exhibition: allowance of money.
238 With such accommodation and besort
238. accommodation: apparel. besort: suitable company.
239 As levels with her breeding.
239. levels: equals, suits.
DUKE
If you please,
240 Be't at her father's.
BRABANTIO
I'll not have it so.
OTHELLO
241 Nor I.
DESDEMONA
Nor I; I would not there reside,
242 To put my father in impatient thoughts
243 By being in his eye. Most gracious duke,
244 To my unfolding lend your prosperous ear;
244. my unfolding: my revelation of what I really want.
prosperous: favorable.
245 And let me find a charter in your voice,
245. charter: approval.
246 To assist my simpleness.
DUKE
247 What would you, Desdemona?
DESDEMONA
248 That I did love the Moor to live with him,
249 My downright violence and storm of fortunes
249. My . . . fortunes: my boldly aggressive action of taking my fortune by storm. (Instead of getting her father's permission and approval.)
250 May trumpet to the world. My heart's subdued
251 Even to the very quality of my lord:
250-251. subdu'd / Even to: brought completely into accord with. quality: nature, character.
252 I saw Othello's visage in his mind,
253 And to his honor and his valiant parts
253. parts: qualities.
254 Did I my soul and fortunes consecrate.
255 So that, dear lords, if I be left behind,
256 A moth of peace, and he go to the war,
256. moth: meek idle consumer, parasite.
257 The rites for which I love him are bereft me,
257. rites: i.e., Othello's performance as a warrior and leader of men, which make me love him.
258 And I a heavy interim shall support
259 By his dear absence. Let me go with him.
259. dear: emotionally costly.
 | Othello and Desdemona pleading to the Doge of Venice, by Karl Becker |
OTHELLO
260 Let her have your voices.
261 Vouch with me, heaven, I therefore beg it not,
262 To please the palate of my appetite,
263 Nor to comply with heat — the young affects
264 In me defunct — and proper satisfaction.
263-264. to comply . . . defunct: to serve sexual appetite — since the excesses of youthful passion in me are over and done with. proper: personal, private.
265 But to be free and bounteous to her mind:
266 And heaven defend your good souls, that you think
266. defend: forbid.
267 I will your serious and great business scant
268 For she is with me: no, when light-wing'd toys
268. For: Because.
269 Of feather'd Cupid seel with wanton dullness
269. seel: blind. wonton: sensual.
270 My speculative and officed instruments,
270. My . . . instruments: My mental faculties when they have duties to perform.
271 That my disports corrupt and taint my business,
271. That: so that. disports: pastimes.
272 Let housewives make a skillet of my helm,
273 And all indign and base adversities
273. indign: unworthy, shameful.
274 Make head against my estimation!
274. Make head: raise an armed force. estimation: reputation.
DUKE
275 Be it as you shall privately determine,
276 Either for her stay or going: the affair cries haste,
277 And speed must answer it.
First Senator
You must away tonight.
DESDEMONA
278 Tonight, my lord?
DUKE
This night.
OTHELLO
With all my heart.
DUKE
279 At nine i' the morning here we'll meet again.
280 Othello, leave some officer behind,
281 And he shall our commission bring to you;
282 With such things else of quality and respect
282. of quality and respect: pertaining to your rank and privilege.
283 As doth import you.
283. import: concern.
OTHELLO
So please your grace, my ancient;
284 A man he is of honesty and trust.
284. honesty: honor.
285 To his conveyance I assign my wife,
286 With what else needful your good grace shall think
287 To be sent after me.
DUKE
Let it be so.
288 Good night to every one.
[To Brabantio.]
And, noble signior,
289 If virtue no delighted beauty lack,
289. delighted: delightful.
290 Your son-in-law is far more fair than black.
First Senator
291 Adieu, brave Moor, use Desdemona well.
BRABANTIO
292 Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see:
293 She has deceived her father, and may thee.
Exeunt [Duke, Senators, Officers, &c.]
OTHELLO
294 My life upon her faith! Honest Iago,
295 My Desdemona must I leave to thee:
296 I prithee, let thy wife attend on her:
297 And bring them after in the best advantage.
297. in the best advantage: at the most favorable opportunity.
298 Come, Desdemona: I have but an hour
299 Of love, of worldly matters and direction,
299. direction: plans for the future.
300 To spend with thee: we must obey the time.
Exit [with Desdemona].
RODERIGO
301 Iago, —
"I will incontinently drown myself"
IAGO
302 What say'st thou, noble heart?
RODERIGO
303 What will I do, thinkest thou?
IAGO
304 Why, go to bed, and sleep.
RODERIGO
305 I will incontinently drown myself.
305. incontinently: immediately, at once.
IAGO
306 If thou dost, I shall never love thee after. Why,
307 thou silly gentleman?
RODERIGO
308 It is silliness to live when to live is torment; and
309 then have we a prescription to die when death is
309. prescription: (1) perfect right; (2) doctor's order.
310 our physician.
IAGO
311 O villainous! I have looked upon the world for four
311. villainous: wretched nonsense.
312 times seven years; and since I could distinguish
313 betwixt a benefit and an injury, I never found man
314 that knew how to love himself. Ere I would say, I
315 would drown myself for the love of a guinea-hen, I
315. guinea-hen: prostitute.
316 would change my humanity with a baboon.
316. change: exchange.
RODERIGO
317 What should I do? I confess it is my shame to be so
318 fond; but it is not in my virtue to amend it.
318. fond: infatuated. virtue: strength, nature.
IAGO
319 Virtue! a fig! 'tis in ourselves that we are thus or
320 thus. Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our
319-320. 'tis . . . thus: it is in our own power to make ourselves this or that.
321 wills are gardeners: so that if we will plant nettles,
322 or sow lettuce, set hyssop and weed up tine, supply
322. hyssop: a fragrant herb. tine: tares, a weed.
323 it with one gender of herbs, or distract it with many,
323. gender: kind. distract: pull to pieces.
324 either to have it sterile with idleness, or manured with
324. idleness: lack of cultivation. manured: fertilized.
325 industry, why, the power and corrigible authority of
325. corrigible: corrective.
326 this lies in our wills. If the beam of our lives had not
326. beam: balance beam.
327 one scale of reason to poise another of sensuality, the
327. poise: counterbalance.
328 blood and baseness of our natures would conduct us
328. blood and baseness: base passions.
329 to most preposterous conclusions: but we have
330 reason to cool our raging motions, our carnal
330. motions: desires, appetites.
331 stings, our unbitted lusts, whereof I take this that
331. unbitted: uncontrolled.
332 you call love to be a sect or scion.
332. sect or scion: cutting or offshoot.
RODERIGO
"if we will plant nettles"
333 It cannot be!
IAGO
334 It is merely a lust of the blood and a permission of
335 the will. Come, be a man. Drown thyself! drown
336 cats and blind puppies. I have professed me thy
337 friend and I confess me knit to thy deserving with
338 cables of perdurable toughness; I could never
338. perdurable: very durable, lasting.
339 better stead thee than now. Put money in thy
339. stead: serve, help.
340 purse; follow thou the wars; defeat thy favor with
340. defeat thy favor: alter your appearance.
341 an usurped beard; I say, put money in thy purse. It
341. usurped beard: false beard.
342 cannot be that Desdemona should long continue her
343 love to the Moor, — put money in thy purse, — nor he
344 his to her: it was a violent commencement, and thou
345 shalt see an answerable sequestration: — put but
345. answerable sequestration: correspondingly abrupt ending.
346 money in thy purse. These Moors are changeable in
347 their wills: fill thy purse with money: — the food
347. wills: carnal appetites, lusts.
348 that to him now is as luscious as locusts, shall be
348. locusts: the sweet fruit of the carob tree. . . . more
349 to him shortly as bitter as coloquintida. She must
349. coloquintida: colocynth, or "bitter apple," used as a purgative.
350 change for youth: when she is sated with his body,
351 she will find the error of her choice: she must
352 have change, she must: therefore put money in thy
353 purse. If thou wilt needs damn thyself, do it a
354 more delicate way than drowning. Make all the money
354. Make: raise, collect, get together.
355 thou canst: if sanctimony and a frail vow betwixt
355. sanctimony: religious bond or ceremony.
356 an erring barbarian and a super-subtle Venetian be not
356. super-subtle: highly refined and sensitive.
357 too hard for my wits and all the tribe of hell, thou
358 shalt enjoy her; therefore make money. A pox of
359 drowning thyself! it is clean out of the way: seek
360 thou rather to be hanged in compassing thy joy than
361 to be drowned and go without her.
RODERIGO
362 Wilt thou be fast to my hopes, if I depend on
362. fast: true.
363 the issue?
IAGO
364 Thou art sure of me: — go, make money: — I have told
365 thee often, and I re-tell thee again and again, I
366 hate the Moor: my cause is hearted; thine hath no
366. hearted: rooted in my heart, i.e., deeply and passionately felt.
367 less reason. Let us be conjunctive in our revenge
367. conjunctive: united.
368 against him: if thou canst cuckold him, thou dost
369 thyself a pleasure, me a sport. There are many
370 events in the womb of time which will be delivered.
371 Traverse! go, provide thy money. We will have more
371. Traverse: go forward (a military term).
372 of this tomorrow. Adieu.
RODERIGO
373 Where shall we meet i' the morning?
IAGO
374 At my lodging.
RODERIGO
375 I'll be with thee betimes.
375. betimes: first thing in the morning.
IAGO
376 Go to; farewell. Do you hear, Roderigo?
376. Go to: it's ok, forget about it, get out of here, etc. Do you hear?: listen up.
RODERIGO
377 What say you?
IAGO
378 No more of drowning, do you hear?
RODERIGO
379 I am chang'd.
IAGO
380 Go to, farewell. Put money enough in your
381 purse.
RODERIGO
382 I'll sell all my land.
Exit.
IAGO
383 Thus do I ever make my fool my purse:
384 For I mine own gain'd knowledge should profane,
385 If I would time expend with such a snipe,
385. snipe: woodcock, a proverbially stupid bird.
386 But for my sport and profit. I hate the Moor:
387 And it is thought abroad, that 'twixt my sheets
387. it is thought abroad: there is gossip.
388 He has done my office: I know not if't be true;
388. done my office: done what I am entitled to do (have sex with my wife).
389 But I, for mere suspicion in that kind,
390 Will do as if for surety. He holds me well;
390. do as if for surety: act as if on the basis of proven fact.
391 The better shall my purpose work on him.
392 Cassio's a proper man: let me see now:
392. proper: handsome.
393 To get his place and to plume up my will
393. plume up my will: pamper my ego.
394 In double knavery — How, how? Let's see: —
395 After some time, to abuse Othello's ear
396 That he is too familiar with his wife.
396. he: i.e., Cassio. his wife: i.e., Othello's wife.
397 He hath a person and a smooth dispose
397. dispose: manner, bearing.
398 To be suspected, framed to make women false.
399 The Moor is of a free and open nature,
399. free: frank, generous. open: unsuspicious.
400 That thinks men honest that but seem to be so,
401 And will as tenderly be led by the nose
401. tenderly: readily.
402 As asses are.
403 I have't. It is engender'd. Hell and night
404 Must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light.
[Exit.]