Othello: Act 4, Scene 1
Laurence Fishburne as Othello and Kenneth Branagh as Iago
1995 film
Enter OTHELLO and IAGO.
IAGO
1 Will you think so?
OTHELLO
Think so, Iago!
IAGO
What,
2 To kiss in private?
OTHELLO
An unauthorized kiss.
IAGO
3 Or to be naked with her friend in bed
4 An hour or more, not meaning any harm?
OTHELLO
5 Naked in bed, Iago, and not mean harm!
6 It is hypocrisy against the devil:
7 They that mean virtuously, and yet do so,
8 The devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heaven.
IAGO
9 So they do nothing, 'tis a venial slip;
10 But if I give my wife a handkerchief —
OTHELLO
11 What then?
IAGO
12 Why, then, 'tis hers, my lord; and, being hers,
13 She may, I think, bestow't on any man.
OTHELLO
14 She is protectress of her honor too:
15 May she give that?
IAGO
16 Her honor is an essence that's not seen;
17 They have it very oft that have it not:
17. They have it very oft that have it not: i.e., often individuals who have a reputation for honor don't have any honor.
18 But, for the handkerchief —
OTHELLO
19 By heaven, I would most gladly have forgot it.
20 Thou said'st (O, it comes o'er my memory,
21 As doth the raven o'er the infected house,
21. raven o'er the infected house: This is an allusion to the belief that a raven would hover over a house of sickness or infection, such as one visited by the plague.
22 Boding to all) he had my handkerchief.
IAGO
23 Ay, what of that?
OTHELLO
That's not so good now.
IAGO
What
24 If I had said I had seen him do you wrong?
25 Or heard him say — as knaves be such abroad,
25. abroad: around or about.
26 Who having, by their own importunate suit,
27 Or voluntary dotage of some mistress,
28 Convinced or supplied them, cannot choose
28. Convinced or supplied them: Seduced or satisfied them.
29 But they must blab —
OTHELLO
Hath he said any thing?
IAGO
30 He hath, my lord; but be you well assured,
31 No more than he'll unswear.
OTHELLO
What hath he said?
IAGO
32 Faith, that he did—I know not what he did.
OTHELLO
33 What? what?
IAGO
34 Lie—
OTHELLO
With her?
IAGO
With her, on her; what you will.
OTHELLO
35 Lie with her! lie on her! We say lie on her, when
36 they belie her. Lie with her! that's fulsome.
37 —Handkerchief—confessions—handkerchief!—To
38 confess, and be hanged for his labor;—first, to be
39 hanged, and then to confess.—I tremble at it.
40 Nature would not invest herself in such shadowing
41 passion without some instruction. It is not words
40-41. Nature would not invest herself in such shadowing / passion without some instruction: i.e., It is not natural that I would feel such overwhelming ("shadowing") emotion without some foundation in fact. instruction: cause.
42 that shake me thus. Pish! Noses, ears, and lips.
43 —Is't possible?—Confess—handkerchief!—O devil!
Falls in a trance.
"Work on, my medicine, Work!"
Illustrator: H.C. Selous
IAGO
44 Work on,
45 My medicine, work! Thus credulous fools are caught;
46 And many worthy and chaste dames even thus,
47 All guiltless, meet reproach. —What, ho! my lord!
48 My lord, I say! Othello!
Enter CASSIO.
48 How now, Cassio!
CASSIO
49 What's the matter?
IAGO
50 My lord is fall'n into an epilepsy.
51 This is his second fit; he had one yesterday.
CASSIO
52 Rub him about the temples.
IAGO
No, forbear;
53 The lethargy must have his quiet course:
53. lethargy: morbid drowsiness. must have his quiet course: run its course quietly.
54 If not, he foams at mouth and by and by
55 Breaks out to savage madness. Look he stirs:
56 Do you withdraw yourself a little while,
57 He will recover straight: when he is gone,
58 I would on great occasion speak with you.
[Exit Cassio.]
59 How is it, general? Have you not hurt your head?
59. hurt your head: Othello takes this as alluding to a cuckold's horns.
OTHELLO
60 Dost thou mock me?
IAGO
I mock you not, by heaven.
61 Would you would bear your fortune like a man!
OTHELLO
62 A horned man's a monster and a beast.
IAGO
63 There's many a beast then in a populous city,
64 And many a civil monster.
64. civil monster: i.e., monster among the citizenry.
OTHELLO
65 Did he confess it?
IAGO
Good sir, be a man;
66 Think every bearded fellow that's but yoked
66. yoked: married.
67 May draw with you. There's millions now alive
67. draw with you: i.e., share your fate as cuckold.
68 That nightly lie in those unproper beds
68. lie in . . . peculiar: lie in beds which are not exclusively their own, which they dare to swear are their own. your case is better: Othello's case is better because he knows the truth.
69 Which they dare swear peculiar: your case is better.
70 O, 'tis the spite of hell, the fiend's arch-mock,
71 To lip a wanton in a secure couch,
71. lip: kiss. secure: unsuspected.
72 And to suppose her chaste! No, let me know;
73 And knowing what I am, I know what she shall be.
OTHELLO
74 O, thou art wise; 'tis certain.
IAGO
Stand you awhile apart;
75 Confine yourself but in a patient list.
75. Confine yourself but in a patient list: hold yourself within the bounds of patience.
76 Whilst you were here o'erwhelmed with your grief—
77 A passion most unsuiting such a man—
78 Cassio came hither: I shifted him away,
79 And laid good 'scuse upon your ecstasy,
79. laid good 'scuse upon your ecstasy: made a plausible excuse for you trance.
80 Bade him anon return and here speak with me;
81. encave: conceal.
81 The which he promised. Do but encave yourself,
82 And mark the fleers, the gibes, and notable scorns,
82. fleers: sneers. notable scorns: obvious instances of disrespect.
83 That dwell in every region of his face,
84 For I will make him tell the tale anew:
85 Where, how, how oft, how long ago, and when
86 He hath, and is again to cope your wife.
86. cope: copulate with.
87 I say, but mark his gesture. Marry, patience;
88 Or I shall say you are all in all in spleen,
88. all in all in spleen: utterly governed by passionate impulses.
89 And nothing of a man.
Illustrator: Kenny Meadows
OTHELLO
Dost thou hear, Iago?
90 I will be found most cunning in my patience;
91 But—dost thou hear?—most bloody.
IAGO
That's not amiss;
92 But yet keep time in all. Will you withdraw?
[Othello hides himself where he can see
what is happening.]
93 Now will I question Cassio of Bianca,
94 A huswife that by selling her desires
94. huswife: hussy.
95 Buys herself bread and clothes: it is a creature
96 That dotes on Cassio; as 'tis the strumpet's plague
96. strumpet: prostitute.
97 To beguile many and be beguiled by one:
98 He, when he hears of her, cannot refrain
99 From the excess of laughter. Here he comes:
Enter CASSIO.
100 As he shall smile, Othello shall go mad;
101 And his unbookish jealousy must construe
101. unbookish: uninstructed; ignorant. construe: interpret.
102 Poor Cassio's smiles, gestures and light behavior,
103 Quite in the wrong. How do you now, lieutenant?
CASSIO
104 The worser that you give me the addition
104. the addition: the title of "lieutenant."
105 Whose want even kills me.
105. want: lack. Being addressed as "lieutenant" makes Cassio feel "worser" because he is no longer a lieutenant.
IAGO
106 Ply Desdemona well, and you are sure on't.
[Speaking "Bianca" lower, so Othello
can't hear.]
107 Now, if this suit lay in Bianca's power,
108 How quickly should you speed!
CASSIO
Alas, poor caitiff!
108. caitiff: wretch.
OTHELLO
109 Look, how he laughs already!
IAGO
110 I never knew woman love man so.
CASSIO
111 Alas, poor rogue! I think, i' faith, she loves me.
OTHELLO
112 Now he denies it faintly, and laughs it out.
112. faintly: not very earnestly.
IAGO
113 Do you hear, Cassio?
OTHELLO
113 Now he importunes him
114 To tell it o'er: go to; well said, well said.
IAGO
115 She gives it out that you shall marry her:
116 Do you intend it?
CASSIO
117 Ha, ha, ha!
OTHELLO
118 Do you triumph, Roman? do you triumph?
118. Roman: the Romans were noted for their triumphal processions, called "triumphs."
CASSIO
119 I marry her! what? a customer! Prithee,
119. customer: prostitute.
120 bear some charity to my wit: do not think
121 it so unwholesome. Ha, ha, ha!
121. unwholesome: unsound, sick.
OTHELLO
122 So, so, so, so: they laugh that win.
122. they laugh that win: i.e., they that laugh last laugh best.
IAGO
123 Faith, the cry goes that you shall marry her.
CASSIO
124 Prithee, say true.
IAGO
125 I am a very villain else.
OTHELLO
126 Have you scor'd me? Well.
126. you: i.e., Cassio. scor'd me: scored off me, made a joke of me
CASSIO
127 This is the monkey's own giving out. She is
127. the monkey's own giving out: i.e., Bianca's own story.
128 persuaded I will marry her, out of her own
128-129. her own / love and flattery: her self-love and self-satisfaction.
129 love and flattery, not out of my promise.
OTHELLO
130 Iago beckons me; now he begins the
130. beckons: signals.
131 story.
CASSIO
132 She was here even now; she haunts me in
133 every place. I was the other day talking on
134 the sea-bank with certain Venetians; and
135 thither comes the bauble, and, by this hand,
135. bauble: plaything; toy.
136 she falls me thus about my neck—
OTHELLO
137 Crying "O dear Cassio!" as it were: his gesture
138 imports it.
CASSIO
139 So hangs, and lolls, and weeps upon me; so hales,
139. hales: tugs.
140 and pulls me: ha, ha, ha!
OTHELLO
141 Now he tells how she plucked him to my chamber.
142 O, I see that nose of yours, but not that dog I shall
143 throw it to.
CASSIO
144 Well, I must leave her company.
IAGO
145 Before me! look, where she comes.
145. Before me: i.e., on my soul.
Enter BIANCA.
CASSIO
146 'Tis such another fitchew! marry, a perfumed one.—
146. fitchew: polecat (thought to be very lecherous as well as strong smelling); also a slang word for prostitute.
147 What do you mean by this haunting of me?
BIANCA
148 Let the devil and his dam haunt you! What did you
149 mean by that same handkerchief you gave me even
150 now? I was a fine fool to take it. I must take out the
151 work?—A likely piece of work, that you should
150-151. take out the work: i.e., sew another handkerchief with the same design.
152 find it in your chamber, and not know who left it
153 there! This is some minx's token, and I must take
154 out the work? There; give it your hobby-horse:
154. hobby-horse: harlot; woman of easy virtue.
155 wheresoever you had it, I'll take out no work on't.
Patrick Vaill as Cassio; Natascia Diaz as Bianca
--Shakespeare Theatre Company, 2016--
CASSIO
156 How now, my sweet Bianca! how now! how
157 now!
OTHELLO
158 By heaven, that should be my handkerchief!
BIANCA
159 An you'll come to supper tonight, you may;
160 an you will not, come when you are next
161 prepared for.
Exit.
IAGO
162 After her, after her.
CASSIO
163 Faith, I must; she'll rail in the street else.
IAGO
164 Will you sup there?
CASSIO
165 Faith, I intend so.
IAGO
166 Well, I may chance to see you; for I would
167 very fain speak with you.
CASSIO
168 Prithee, come; will you?
IAGO
169 Go to; say no more.
[Exit Cassio.]
OTHELLO [Coming out of hiding.]
170 How shall I murder him, Iago?
IAGO
171 Did you perceive how he laughed at his vice?
OTHELLO
172 O Iago!
IAGO
173 And did you see the handkerchief?
OTHELLO
174 Was that mine?
IAGO
175 Yours by this hand: and to see how he prizes the
176 foolish woman your wife! she gave it him, and he
177 hath given it his whore.
OTHELLO
178 I would have him nine years a-killing.
179 A fine woman! a fair woman! a sweet woman!
IAGO
180 Nay, you must forget that.
OTHELLO
181 Ay, let her rot, and perish, and be damned tonight;
182 for she shall not live: no, my heart is turned to
183 stone; I strike it, and it hurts my hand. O, the
184 world hath not a sweeter creature! she might lie by
185 an emperor's side and command him tasks.
IAGO
186 Nay, that's not your way.
186. your way: your proper course, the direction your mind should take; i.e., the way you should think of her.
OTHELLO
187 Hang her! I do but say what she is. So delicate
188 with her needle: an admirable musician! O, she
189 will sing the savageness out of a bear. Of so high
190 and plenteous wit and invention!
IAGO
191 She's the worse for all this.
OTHELLO
192 O, a thousand thousand times: and then, of so
192-193. of so gentle a condition: so nobly born and bred.
193 gentle a condition!
IAGO
194 Ay, too gentle.
194. gentle: i.e., generous with her favors.
OTHELLO
195 Nay, that's certain. But yet the pity of it, Iago!
196 O Iago, the pity of it, Iago!
IAGO
197 If you are so fond over her iniquity, give her
197. fond: dotingly foolish.
198 patent to offend; for, if it touch not you, it comes
198. patent: license.
199 near nobody.
OTHELLO
200 I will chop her into messes. Cuckold me!
200. messes: portions of food. i.e., little pieces.
IAGO
201 O, 'tis foul in her.
OTHELLO
202 With mine officer!
IAGO
203 That's fouler.
OTHELLO
204 Get me some poison, Iago; this night. I'll not
205 expostulate with her, lest her body and beauty
205. body and beauty: physical beauty.
206 unprovide my mind again. This night, Iago.
IAGO
207 Do it not with poison, strangle her in her bed,
208 even the bed she hath contaminated.
OTHELLO
209 Good, good: the justice of it pleases: very
210 good.
IAGO
211 And for Cassio, let me be his undertaker: you
211. be his undertaker: be the one to undertake his killing.
212 shall hear more by midnight.
OTHELLO
213 Excellent good.
[A trumpet within.]
What trumpet is that same?
IAGO
214 I warrant something from Venice.
Enter LODOVICO, DESDEMONA,
and ATTENDANTS.
'Tis Lodovico—
215 This comes from the Duke. See, your wife's with him.
LODOVICO
216 God save you, worthy general!
OTHELLO
With all my heart, sir.
216. With all my heart: i.e., I heartily thank you.
LODOVICO
217 The duke and senators of Venice greet you.
[Gives him a letter.]
OTHELLO
218 I kiss the instrument of their pleasures.
[Opens the letter, and reads.]
DESDEMONA
219 And what's the news, good cousin Lodovico?
IAGO
220 I am very glad to see you, signior
221 Welcome to Cyprus.
LODOVICO
222 I thank you. How does Lieutenant Cassio?
IAGO
223 Lives, sir.
DESDEMONA
224 Cousin, there's fall'n between him and my lord
225 An unkind breach; but you shall make all well.
OTHELLO
226 Are you sure of that?
DESDEMONA
227 My lord?
OTHELLO [Reads.]
228 "This fail you not to do, as you
229 will—"
LODOVICO
230 He did not call; he's busy in the paper.
231 Is there division 'twixt my lord and Cassio?
DESDEMONA
232 A most unhappy one. I would do much
233 To atone them, for the love I bear to Cassio.
233. atone them: reconcile them.
OTHELLO
234 Fire and brimstone!
DESDEMONA
My lord?
OTHELLO
Are you wise?
DESDEMONA
235 What, is he angry?
LODOVICO
May be the letter moved him;
236 For, as I think, they do command him home,
237 Deputing Cassio in his government.
237. Deputing Cassio in his government: naming Cassio as his replacement.
DESDEMONA
238 By my troth, I am glad on't.
OTHELLO
Indeed!
DESDEMONA
My lord?
OTHELLO
239 I am glad to see you mad.
DESDEMONA
Why, sweet Othello,—
OTHELLO [Striking her.]
240 Devil!
DESDEMONA
241 I have not deserved this.
LODOVICO
242 My lord, this would not be believed in Venice,
243 Though I should swear I saw't: 'tis very much:
244 Make her amends; she weeps.
OTHELLO
O devil, devil!
245 If that the earth could teem with woman's tears,
245. teem with: breed, be made pregnant by.
246 Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile.
246. falls: lets fall. crocodile: Crocodiles were supposed to weep hypocritical tears for their victims.
247 Out of my sight!
DESDEMONA
I will not stay to offend you.
[Going.]
LODOVICO
248 Truly, an obedient lady:
249 I do beseech your lordship, call her back.
OTHELLO
250 Mistress!
DESDEMONA
My lord?
OTHELLO
What would you with her, sir?
LODOVICO
251 Who, I, my lord?
OTHELLO
252 Ay; you did wish that I would make her turn:
253 Sir, she can turn, and turn, and yet go on,
254 And turn again; and she can weep, sir, weep;
255 And she's obedient, as you say, obedient,
256 Very obedient. —Proceed you in your tears.—
257 Concerning this, sir,—O well-painted passion!—
258 I am commanded home. —Get you away;
259 I'll send for you anon. —Sir, I obey the mandate,
260 And will return to Venice. —Hence, avaunt!
260. avaunt: begone.
[Exit Desdemona.]
261 Cassio shall have my place. And, sir, tonight,
262 I do entreat that we may sup together:
263 You are welcome, sir, to Cyprus.—Goats and monkeys!
263. Goats and monkeys!: Both animals were known to be extremely lecherous.
Exit.
LODOVICO
264 Is this the noble Moor whom our full senate
265 Call all in all sufficient? Is this the nature
266 Whom passion could not shake? whose solid virtue
267 The shot of accident, nor dart of chance,
268 Could neither graze nor pierce?
IAGO
He is much changed.
LODOVICO
269 Are his wits safe? is he not light of brain?
269. safe: sound.
IAGO
270 He's that he is; I may not breathe my censure
271 What he might be. If what he might he is not,
272 I would to heaven he were!
270-272. I may not . . . he were!: I dare not venture an opinion as to whether he's of unsound mind, as you suggest; but if he isn't, then it might be better to wish he were in fact insane, since only that could excuse his wild behavior.
LODOVICO
What, strike his wife!
IAGO
273 'Faith, that was not so well; yet would I knew
274 That stroke would prove the worst!
LODOVICO
Is it his use?
274. use: custom, habit.
275 Or did the letters work upon his blood,
275. blood: passions.
276 And new-create this fault?
IAGO
Alas, alas!
277 It is not honesty in me to speak
278 What I have seen and known. You shall observe him,
279 And his own courses will denote him so
280 That I may save my speech: do but go after,
281 And mark how he continues.
LODOVICO
282 I am sorry that I am deceived in him.
Exeunt.