Cyprus. Before the Castle.
 Enter OTHELLO and IAGO.

Iago	Will you think so?

Othello						Think so, Iago?

Iago										What,
	To kiss in private?

Othello							An unauthorized kiss.

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,
	The devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heaven.

Iago	If 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,
	She may, I think, bestow't on any man.

Othello	She is protectress of her honour too;
	May she give that?

Iago	Her honour is an essence that's not seen;
	They have it very oft that have it not.
	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.

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
	Or voluntary dotage of some mistress
	Convincd or supplied them, cannot choose
	But they must blab-

Othello								Hath he said anything?

Iago	He hath, my lord; but be you well assured,
	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.

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 and be hanged for 
	his labour. 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 shake me thus. Pish! Noses, ears, and lips. Is't 
	possible? - Confess? Handkerchief? - O devil!
												[Falls 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!

                              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.

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.
	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 not, by heaven.
	Would you would bear your fortune like a man!

Othello	A hornd 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?

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.
	O, 'tis the spite of hell, the fiend's arch-mock,
	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.

Iago									Stand you awhile apart;
	Confine yourself but in a patient list.
	Whilst you were here o'erwhelmd with your grief,
	- A passion most unsuiting such a man-
	Cassio came hither. I shifted him away,
	And laid good 'scuses 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;
	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're all in all in spleen,
	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;
	But yet keep time in all. Will you withdraw?
												[OTHELLO withdraws.
	Now will I question Cassio of Bianca,
	A huswife that by selling her desires
	Buys herself bread and clothes. It is a creature
	That dotes on Cassio, as 'tis the strumpet's plague
	To beguile many and be beguiled by one.
	He, when he hears of her, cannot refrain
	From the excess of laughter.

                             Re-enter CASSIO.

								Here he comes.
	As he shall smile, Othello shall go mad;
	And his unbookish jealousy must construe
	Poor Cassio's smiles, gestures, and light behaviours
	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.
	[Speaking lower.] Now, if this suit lay in Bianca's power,
	How quickly should you speed!

Cassio								Alas, poor caitiff!

Othello	[Aside.] Look how he laughs already!

Iago	I never knew woman love man so.

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

Othello	[Aside.] Now he denies it faintly, and laughs it out.

Iago	Do you hear, Cassio?

Othello	[Aside.]					Now he importunes him
	To tell it o'er. Go to; well said, well said.

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

Cassio	Ha, ha, ha!

Othello	[Aside.] Do you triumph, Roman? Do you triumph?

Cassio	I marry her! What, a customer? Prithee bear some charity to 
	my wit: do not think it so unwholesome. Ha, ha, ha!

Othello	[Aside.] So, so, so, so; they laugh that wins.

Iago	Faith, the cry goes that you marry her.

Cassio	Prithee say true.

Iago	I am a very villain else.

Othello	[Aside.] Have you scored me? Well.

Cassio	This is the monkey's own giving out. She is persuaded I 
	will marry her out of her own love and flattery, not out of 
	my promise.

Othello	[Aside.] Iago beckons me. Now he begins the story.

Cassio	She was here even now. She haunts me in every place. I was 
	the other day talking on the sea-bank with certain 
	Venetians, and thither comes the bauble and falls me thus 
	about my neck.

Othello	[Aside.] Crying "O dear Cassio" as it were: his gesture 
	imports it.

Cassio	So hangs and lolls and weeps upon me; so hales and pulls 
	me. Ha, ha, ha!

Othello	[Aside.] Now he tells how she plucked him to my chamber. O, 
	I see that nose of yours, but not that dog I shall throw it 
	to.

Cassio	Well, I must leave her company.

                              Enter BIANCA.

Iago	Before me, look where she comes!

Cassio	'Tis such another fitchew! Marry, a perfumed one.
	What do you mean by this haunting of me?

Bianca	Let the devil and his dam haunt you! What did you mean by 
	that same handkerchief you gave me even now? I was a fine 
	fool to take it. I must take out the work! A likely piece 
	of work that you should find it in your chamber and not 
	know who left it there! This is some minx's token, and I 
	must take out the work? There, give it your hobby-horse, 
	wheresoever you had it; I'll take out no work on't.

Cassio	How now, my sweet Bianca! How now, how now!

Othello	[Aside.] By heaven, that should be my handkerchief!

Bianca	If you'll come to supper tonight, you may; if you will not, 
	come when you are next prepared for.
												[Exit.
Iago	After her, after her.

Cassio	Faith, I must; she'll rail in the street else.

Iago	Will you sup there?

Cassio	Faith, I intend so.

Iago	Well, I may chance to see you; for I would very fain speak 
	with you.

Cassio	Prithee come, will you?

Iago	Go to; say no more.
												[Exit CASSIO.
Othello	[Advancing.] How shall I murder him, Iago?

Iago	Did you perceive how he laughed at his vice?

Othello	O, Iago!

Iago	And did you see the handkerchief?

Othello	Was that mine?

Iago	Yours, by this hand. And to see how he prizes the foolish 
	woman your wife! She gave it him, and he hath giv'n it his 
	whore.

Othello	I would have him nine years a-killing. A fine woman, a fair 
	woman, a sweet woman!

Iago	Nay, you must forget that.

Othello	Ay, let her rot and perish, and be damned tonight, for she 
	shall not live. No, my heart is turned to stone: I strike 
	it, and it hurts my hand. O, the world hath not a sweeter 
	creature. She might lie by an emperor's side, and command 
	him tasks.

Iago	Nay, that's not your way.

Othello	Hang her! I do but say what she is: so delicate with her 
	needle, an admirable musician - O, she will sing the 
	savageness out of a bear! - of so high and plenteous wit 
	and invention.

Iago	She's the worse for all this.

Othello	O, a thousand, a thousand times. And then of so gentle a 
	condition.

Iago	Ay, too gentle.

Othello	Nay, that's certain; but yet the pity of it, Iago. O Iago, 
	the pity of it, Iago!

Iago	If you are so fond over her iniquity, give her patent to 
	offend; for if it touche not you, it comes near nobody.

Othello	I will chop her into messes. Cuckold me!

Iago	O, 'tis foul in her.

Othello	With mine officer!

Iago	That's fouler.

Othello	Get me some poison, Iago, this night; I'll not expostulate 
	with her, lest her body and beauty unprovide my mind again. 
	This night, Iago.

Iago	Do it not with poison: strangle her in her bed, even the 
	bed she hath contaminated.

Othello	Good, good: the justice of it pleases; very good.

Iago	And for Cassio, let me be his undertaker. You shall hear 
	more by midnight.

Othello	Excellent good.
												[A trumpet sounds.
						What trumpet is that same?

Iago	I warrant something from Venice.

                Enter LODOVICO, DESDEMONA, and ATTENDANTS.

										'Tis Lodovico.
	This comes from the duke. See, your wife's with him.

Lodovico	God save you, worthy general!

Othello								With all my heart, sir.

Lodovico	[Giving a letter.]
	The duke and senators of Venice greet you.

Othello	I kiss the instrument of their pleasures.
												[Reads.
Desdemona	And what's the news, good cousin Lodovico?

Iago	I am very glad to see you, signor.
	Welcome to Cyprus.

Lodovico	I thank you. How does Lieutenant Cassio?

Iago	Lives, sir.

Desdemona	Cousin, there's fall'n between him and my lord
	An unkind breach; but you shall make all well.

Othello	Are you sure of that?

Desdemona	My lord?

Othello	[Reads.]	"This fail you not to do, as you will-"

Lodovico	He did not call; he's busy in the paper.
	Is there division 'twixt my lord and Cassio?

Desdemona	A most unhappy one. I would do much
	T'atone them, for the love I bear to Cassio.

Othello	Fire and brimstone!

Desdemona	My lord?

Othello	Are you wise?

Desdemona	What, is he angry?

Lodovico						Maybe the letter moved him;
	For, as I think, they do command him home,
	Deputing Cassio in his government.

Desdemona	By my troth, I am glad on't.

Othello								Indeed?

Desdemona										My lord?

Othello	I am glad to see you mad.

Desdemona							Why, sweet Othello!

Othello	Devil!
												[Strikes her.
Desdemona	I have not deserved this.

Lodovico	My lord, this would not be believed in Venice
	Though I should swear I saw't. 'Tis very much.
	Make her amends; she weeps.

Othello									O devil, devil!
	If that the earth could teem with woman's tears,
	Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile.
	Out of my sight!

Desdemona					I will not stay to offend you.

Lodovico	Truly an obedient lady.
	I do beseech your lordship call her back.

Othello	Mistress!

Desdemona	My lord?

Othello	What would you with her, sir?

Lodovico								Who? I, my lord?

Othello	Ay, you did wish that I would make her turn.
	Sir, she can turn, and turn, and yet go on,
	And turn again; and she can weep, sir, weep;
	And she's obedient, as you say, obedient,
	Very obedient. - Proceed you in your tears.-
	Concerning this, sir - O, well-painted passion!-
	I am commanded home. - Get you away;
	I'll send for you anon. - Sir, I obey the mandate,
	And will return to Venice. - Hence, avaunt!
												[Exit DESDEMONA.
	Cassio shall have my place; and, sir, tonight,
	I do entreat that we may sup together.
	You are welcome, sir, to Cyprus. Goats and monkeys!
												[Exit.
Lodovico	Is this the noble Moor whom our full senate
	Call all in all sufficient? Is this the noble nature
	Whom passion could not shake? Whose solid virtue
	The shot of accident nor dart of chance
	Could neither graze nor pierce?

Iago										He is much changed.

Lodovico	Are his wits safe? Is he not light of brain?

Iago	He's that he is. I may not breathe my censure
	What he might be. If what he might he is not,
	I would to heaven he were.

Lodovico								What, strike his wife!

Iago	Faith, that was not so well; yet would I knew
	That stroke would prove the worst!

Lodovico										Is it his use?
	Or did the letters work upon his blood,
	And new create this fault?

Iago									Alas, alas!
	It is not honesty in me to speak
	What I have seen and known. You shall observe him,
	And his own courses will denote him so,
	That I may save my speech. Do but go after,
	And mark how he continues.

Lodovico	I am sorry that I am deceived in him.
												[Exeunt.
